Fondeo review: a 70% split that the homepage calls 90%

Verdict: Fondeo is a Wyoming-registered crypto prop firm that runs evaluations on Bybit demo accounts or its own beta terminal. It suits disciplined, manual perpetual-futures traders who always trade with a stop-loss and can live with a 50% minimum win rate. It does not suit scalpers who use bots, news traders or anyone chasing the advertised 90% split. The biggest caveat: its own rules document starts funded traders at 70%, and 90% arrives only after 16 months.

Key terms (as published by Fondeo, checked 17 September 2026)

• Challenge fee: $159 for a 10,000 USDT Two-Step, $219 for a 10,000 USDT One-Step, $1,399 for a 200,000 USDT One-Step; subscription from $49 a month (Fondeo homepage challenge catalogue)
• Account sizes: 5,000 to 200,000 USDT in the challenge catalogue
• Profit split: 70% at the start, rising 5 points every 4 months to a 90% maximum (Fondeo Trading Rules)
• Profit target: 10% (One-Step and Subscription); 10% then 5% (Two-Step)
• Maximum loss: 6% One-Step, 10% Two-Step Phase 1, 5% Two-Step Phase 2 and Subscription, measured on equity from the initial balance
• Daily drawdown: 4% One-Step and Subscription, 5% Two-Step, trailing from the day’s equity high
• Payout frequency: first request 1 calendar day after the first funded trade; processed in USDT or USDC within 12 to 48 hours; each payout capped at 5% profit
• Minimum trading days: 10 (5 in Two-Step Phase 2), each needing at least 3 trades and a daily P&L outside the -1% to +1% band

Fondeo sells crypto trading challenges from a website registered to Red G Tech LLC in Sheridan, Wyoming. The oldest Internet Archive capture of fondeo.xyz is dated 14 April 2025, and the challenge products embedded in its site code carry a creation timestamp of 7 May 2025. So the firm has been trading for roughly 17 months. Its pitch is familiar to anyone who has read our HyroTrader review or our Crypto Fund Trader review: pass an evaluation on a Bybit demo account, then get paid a share of simulated profits in stablecoins.

Related:Tiger Funded review: a 2% floating loss closes every position

What sets Fondeo apart is how far its marketing drifts from its rulebook. This review reads the rulebook.

How Fondeo’s challenges and platforms work

Fondeo offers three routes. The One-Step Challenge asks for a 10% gain over at least 10 trading days. The Two-Step asks for 10% and then 5%, with more drawdown room in the first phase. The Subscription Challenge uses the One-Step targets, but you pay monthly instead of once, and a failed account stays active so you can try again. The site lists the subscription at $49 a month for 5,000 USDT, $150 for 50,000 USDT and $300 for 100,000 USDT.

Traders can plug in a Bybit account through its API, which the site says needs “read-write permissions”, or use Fondeo Terminal. That in-house platform launched in beta in March 2026 with TradingView charts and leverage of up to 100x. Announcing it, COO Jake Salomon wrote: “Nothing changes about how our challenges work.” The rules document confirms that MT4, MT5 and direct TradingView execution are not supported.

We checked the platform for signs of a white-label. Fondeo does not run on the FPFX/PropAccount or Trade Tech Solutions stacks that sit behind dozens of forex prop brands. Its dashboard, checkout and terminal are all served from fondeo.xyz. Its terms name only Red G Tech LLC, and PropFirmMap lists its technology as proprietary.

What Fondeo says about payouts, and what could not be verified

Fondeo’s homepage claims 12,000+ accounts, 1,000+ rewarded traders and more than $1 million paid out. It publishes no audited payout ledger, no processor statements and no public list of payout certificates that would let an outsider check those figures. The Industry Spread could not verify any of the three numbers.

The payout terms themselves are stated in several places, and the figures do not agree:

• Timing. The homepage promises payouts “as soon as 24 hours after your first trade” and “fast daily payouts”. The rules document says payouts are processed within 12 to 48 hours. But one FAQ answer served in the homepage’s code says profit payouts “are processed bi-weekly” and arrive in 2 to 3 business days.
• Split. The FAQ says funded traders “keep 90% of all profits”. The rules document sets the starting split at 70% and reaches 90% only “after 16 months of consistent trading”.
• Size cap. Each payout is capped at 5% profit. Once an account is 5% up, the trader “must withdraw before continuing to trade”. On a 100,000 USDT account, that caps any single withdrawal at $5,000 of gross profit, or $3,500 at the 70% starting split.
• Fee refund. The rules say the challenge fee comes back with the first profit split. The terms and conditions say registration fees are non-refundable once trading has started and “No refund applies to the service offered by Fondeo.xyz.”

Independent evidence is thin. Searches of Reddit, Forex Peace Army and the main prop-firm forums turned up no first-hand, dated Fondeo payout reports. Trustpilot’s page for fondeo.xyz blocked automated access, so we could not read its reviews directly. PropFirmMap, which tracks the listing, recorded a 3.4 Trustpilot rating from 8 reviews and gave Fondeo a composite trust score of 30 out of 100. By contrast, Fondeo’s homepage shows a “5.0 from 200+ reviews” badge next to a carousel of named testimonials. Those testimonials, timestamps like “2 hours ago” included, are hard-coded into the page’s HTML rather than pulled from a live review feed. Its LinkedIn company page showed 6 followers when checked.

The rules that fail Fondeo accounts

Fondeo’s rulebook is stricter than most crypto evaluations. Several of the rules below are unusual.

• Mandatory stop-loss within 5 minutes. Every trade needs a stop set through Bybit’s TP/SL function; conditional orders do not count. The first miss earns a one-hour warning. After a second miss, the account is “permanently closed with no appeal”. Cancelling a stop counts as a violation.
• 50% minimum win rate. During evaluation, at least half of closed trades must be winners. Strategies with a low win rate and big winners, such as trend following, fail this rule even when profitable.
• Trailing daily drawdown. The daily limit is measured from the day’s highest equity, not the opening balance, so intraday gains lift the floor.
• Trading-day definition. A day counts only with at least 3 trades, each worth at least 5% of the starting balance, and a daily result outside ±1%. Quiet days do not count towards the 10-day minimum.
• 40% consistency rule. In evaluation, no single day may supply more than 40% of total profit.
• Exposure caps. Open positions may not exceed 2 times the initial balance in notional value, total open risk may not exceed 25%, and risk per trade is capped at 3%.
• Bans. Bots and any automated execution, martingale sizing, hedging across accounts, and low-cap altcoin positions above 5% of balance. News trading is “restricted” around high-impact events, but the rules name no specific window or event list, so traders cannot tell exactly when they are exposed.

Fondeo also says accounts “are manually reviewed” for gambling-style behaviour and that it can restrict accounts showing those patterns. That discretion sits on top of the written rules.

How Fondeo compares with other crypto prop firms

The table compares one-phase programmes, using figures each firm published on its own website on 17 September 2026.

Sources: Fondeo Trading Rules, HyroTrader, Crypto Fund Trader. On price, Fondeo charges $159 for a 10,000 USDT Two-Step, against $119 at HyroTrader for the same account size. On the headline terms, Fondeo matches its two best-known rivals. It asks for more trading days, and starts traders on a lower split. For a wider price comparison, see our survey of what a $100K account costs across 23 firms.

Regulatory posture: unregulated and simulated

The terms name the operator as Red G Tech LLC, with a registered office at 30 N Gould St, Ste R, Sheridan, WY 82801, and give a “registration number” of 35-2900121. That number is formatted like a US federal Employer Identification Number, not a Wyoming Secretary of State filing ID. The Industry Spread did not obtain a Wyoming filing record for the entity.

Fondeo holds no licence from the CFTC, NFA, SEC or any other financial regulator, and it does not claim one. The footer states that “Fondeo only offers simulated trading services” and that it does not act as a broker or accept deposits. Its About page nonetheless says the firm’s US roots provide “a bedrock of regulatory compliance and trust”. Its rules also refer to KYC “before trading on a funded account with real capital”. Both passages sit awkwardly beside the simulated-only disclaimer. The homepage describes the funded stage as “a funded demo account”. Read together, the documents indicate that funded accounts are simulated and payouts are paid by the firm. Our explainer on where prop-firm regulation actually bites sets out why that model mostly sits outside the regulatory perimeter.

Who Fondeo is for

Fondeo fits a manual crypto trader who already uses hard stops, trades several times a day and wins more often than not. The terminal removes the Bybit API setup, and the subscription option lowers the upfront cost of retries. It is a poor fit for systematic traders, for swing traders who place few trades, and for anyone who wants payout evidence before paying. Anyone who reads “90% profit share” as the day-one split should also look elsewhere. Before buying, read the trading rules and the terms and conditions side by side, because they do not say the same thing about refunds.

Fondeo FAQ

Is Fondeo a legitimate prop firm?

Fondeo is a real, operating business. Red G Tech LLC of Sheridan, Wyoming runs it, the site has been live since at least April 2025, and it is selling challenges. Legitimacy of payouts is a separate question. The firm publishes no audited payout data, and The Industry Spread found no independent, dated payout reports to confirm its claim of more than $1 million paid.

What profit split does Fondeo pay?

The rules document sets a 70% starting split for funded traders. It rises by 5 percentage points every 4 months, reaching 90% after 16 months. Marketing pages and the FAQ describe the split as “up to 90%” or say traders keep 90%, which is only true at the top of the scale.

Does Fondeo require a stop-loss?

Yes. Every position needs a stop-loss within 5 minutes of opening, set through Bybit’s TP/SL or trailing-stop function. Conditional or limit close orders do not count. A first miss triggers a one-hour warning, available once per account. A second violation closes the account permanently with no appeal.

How are Fondeo payouts made?

Payouts are made in USDT or USDC with no withdrawal fee, according to the rules document, which gives a 12 to 48 hour processing window. The first request is allowed one calendar day after the first funded trade. Each payout is capped at 5% profit, and a $100 minimum threshold applies. One FAQ answer describes bi-weekly processing instead.

Is Fondeo regulated?

No. Fondeo holds no licence from any financial regulator and says it offers only simulated trading services, does not act as a broker and does not accept deposits. Challenge fees buy access to an evaluation, and any payout depends on the firm’s own terms and willingness to pay.

Can I use bots or trade the news at Fondeo?

Bots, algorithmic execution and any automated trading are banned outright. News trading is described as restricted around high-impact economic announcements, but the rules give no defined time window or list of events. Scalping, overnight and weekend holding, and any technical indicators are explicitly allowed.

This review is independent editorial analysis and is not financial, investment, or trading advice, and is not an endorsement or solicitation. The Industry Spread has no affiliate or referral relationship with the firms covered. Proprietary trading challenges carry a fee that is generally non-refundable, most participants do not reach a funded account, and funded capital is the firm’s capital, not the trader’s. Terms change frequently — always verify current rules directly with the firm before paying any fee.