Forex demo contests are one of the advertising methods that some forex brokers use in order to attract clients and is a good opportunity for traders to make some money and build up their trading accounts.
Although demo competitions seem appealing, winning them is not an easy task to pull off because first, lots of people take part in them and secondly, most traders take a very aggressive approach and risk too much.
You definitely can’t rank up there or even finish in the money in forex demo contests if you follow a strict money management plan as you should normally do when you trade with your own real account.
These types of contests are not suitable for the newbies who just start trading forex and want to get their feet wet because they start trading the wrong way and break all the money management rules.
As a result, they grow bad trading habits and may end up losing their own money in the future.
On the other hand, if you know trading well and are aware of the risk involved in high leverage trading, demo contests are where you can go nuts and satisfy all the cravings that sometimes tell you to risk more when you’re trading with your real account.
All in all, you should know that the conditions of forex demo contests are not like your real account. The latter is not a competition at all and not burning your account should be your first priority.
Save all that crazy trading when you are in a forex demo contest.
Ok, enough of all this chit chat. Let’s cut to the chase and become familiar with the demo contests offered by forex brokers.
If you don’t feel like reading, you can watch the following video which is a summary of this post.
Note: for withdrawing your probable prize, you need to submit your documents to be verified. The documents include proof of address (utility bill, bank statement, etc) and proof of identity (ID card, passport, etc)
Forex Demo Contests List
Here’s a list of Forex demo contests along with some of their conditions. The conditions are an excerpt of the main ones so you can make your initial decision based on.
Make sure to read the full version of the contests’ terms and condition, on the brokers’ websites — you can find the links to the conditions page inside each contest below.
1- Virtual to Real Demo Contest – Hotforex
Contest Date: every month
Initial balance: $10000
Leverage: 1:200
Prize pool: $3500
Prize Spots: 3
Banned Country: the US, Canada
Ranking
| Position | Prize |
| 1 | $2000 |
| 2 | $1000 |
| 3 | $500 |
Conditions:
- You can’t have more than
one contest account at the same time - The winners are the ones
with the highest balance - The prizes are not
withdrawable but you can withdraw the profits after trading with them - For withdrawing the
profits, you need to open and close at least 50 trades and complete 10 lots. - You can only withdraw your
profits once
Example: You finish in second place and win $1000 credit. You can’t withdraw the $1000 but you can trade and take out your profits.
You trade and make a $500 profit. You can only withdraw that $500 if you’ve traded 50 positions and 10 lots.
If you’ve traded 50 positions and 10 lots, you can withdraw your profits now, however, if you withdraw that, you can’t trade with that account anymore because you are allowed to withdraw once and after that, the account will be removed — See Terms and Conditions
2- Drag Trade – Grand Capital
Contest Date: every Friday from 5 pm to 6 pm (terminal time) — for one hour
Initial balance: $100000
Leverage: 1:100
Prize pool: $640
Prize Spots: 10
Banned Country: available for all
Ranking
| Position | Prize |
| 1 | $200 |
| 2 | $100 |
| 3 | $90 |
| 4 | $80 |
The ranking continues to the 10th place — $70, $60, $50, $40, $30, and $20.
Conditions:
- Registration ends one hour before the contest starts
- You can only open one demo contest account at the same time
- There’s no limitation on the open positions at the same time
- The winners are the ones with the highest profits
- The prize of first place, $200, is withdrawable without any restrictions
- The prize of second, third…, tenth places can’t be withdrawn and act as margin supporter
- For keeping the prize of second, third…, tenth places, you need to deposit equal to the prize at the least
Example 1: You finish first in the demo contest and win $200. You can withdraw the $200 right away.
Example2: You win the third place and receive $90 credit. You can’t withdraw that money and you need to deposit at least $90 to keep the prize.
If you deposit $90, your account becomes $180 so you can trade larger lot sizes and that $90 credit prize supports your margin and enables you to trade with a larger size account.
You can find the complete version of the terms and conditions here.
3- Rally Trade – Grand Capital
Contest Date: every two weeks from Thursday 3 pm to Friday 3 pm (terminal time)
Initial balance: $100000
Leverage: 1:100
Prize pool: $1335
Prize Spots: 10
Banned Country: available for all
Ranking
| Position | Prize |
| 1 | $500 |
| 2 | $200 |
| 3 | $150 |
| 4 | $125 |
There are 6 other places that receive $100, $90,$80, $70, $60 , and $50.
Conditions:
The conditions of Rally Trade are like the Drag Trade, previous contests, except the first place is awarded $500 and it’s not withdrawable but you can withdraw the profits that you make using it.
Example: You take the first spot and win $500 no deposit bonus. you can’t withdraw that. You trade with a $500 account and make a $100, $200, etc profits. Now you can withdraw the profits — see terms and conditions.
4- Futures Trade – Grand Capital
Contest Date: every first week of the month from Monday at 3 pm to Friday at 3 pm (terminal time).
Initial balance: $100000
Leverage: 1:100
Prize pool: $1925
Prize Spots: 10
Banned Country: available for all
Ranking
| Position | Prize |
| 1 | $1000 |
| 2 | $200 |
| 3 | $150 |
| 4 | $125 |
6 other spots get $100, $90, $80, $70, $60, and $50 in order
Conditions:
all the conditions are just like the previous demo contest, Rally Trade.
5- FBSPRO – FBS
Contest Date: every two weeks, for two weeks
Initial balance: $10000
Leverage: 1:100
Prize pool: more than $1000
Prize Spots: 5
Banned Country: the US, Russia, Belize, Cyprus
Ranking
| Position | Prize |
| 1 | $450 |
| 2 | $250 |
| 3 | $150 |
| 4 | $100 |
| 5 | $50 |
Conditions:
- You must only have one
contest account at the same time - Don’t use any proxies such
as VPN or VPS that changes your ip address - The winners are the ones
with the highest balance - The prizes are withdrawable
without any restrictions
Example: You are on the second spot and win $250. The prize will be credited to your real FBS account and you can either withdraw that or trade with it.
You will see a full version of FBS demo contest in your cabinet after joining below
6- Virtual Reality – Alpari
Contest Date:
| ROUND 1 | Registration from 21/12/2019 to 21/03/2020 | Start — 01:00, 13/01/2020 End — 01:00, 21/03/2020 |
| ROUND 2 | Registration from 21/03/2020 to 20/06/2020 | Start — 02:00, 06/04/2020 End — 02:00, 20/06/2020 |
| ROUND 3 | Registration from 20/06/2020 to 19/09/2020 | Start — 02:00, 06/07/2020 End — 02:00, 19/09/2020 |
| ROUND 4 | Registration from 19/09/2020 to 19/12/2020 | Start — 01:00, 05/10/2020 End — 01:00, 19/12/2020 |
Initial balance: $100000
Leverage: 1:10
Prize pool: $2190 + 47000 ALP*
Prize Spots: 10 Cash + 20 ALP
Banned Country: the US, Canada, Japan
*ALP: Alpari points that can be exchanged with money or used for the discounts on spreads, negative swaps, and etc. find out more
Ranking:
| Position | Prize |
| 1st | $500 |
| 2nd | $400 |
| 3rd | $350 |
| 4th | $250 |
| 5th | $200 |
| 6th | $150 |
| 7th | $100 |
| 8th | $90 |
| 9th | $80 |
| 10th | $70 |
| Position | Prize (ALP) |
| 11 | 10000 |
| 12 | 7000 |
| 13 | 5000 |
| 14 | 3000 |
| 15 | 2500 |
| 16 | 2000 |
| 17 | 2000 |
| 18 | 2000 |
| 19 | 2000 |
| 20 | 2000 |
| 21 | 1500 |
| 22 | 1500 |
| 23 | 1500 |
| 24 | 1500 |
| 25 | 1500 |
| 26 | 1000 |
| 27 | 1000 |
| 28 | 1000 |
| 29 | 1000 |
| 30 | 1000 |
Conditions:
- Each contestant must open only one demo contest account
- Do not use VPS, VPN, or any other types of proxies
- The winners are determined by first, the highest balance; second, the lowest drawdown; third, profit factor
- The prize will be credited to your real Alpari account and is withdrawable without restrictions
Example: You finish 3rd and are entitled for $350. Next you need to open an Alpari Standard.mt4 account so that the prize can be deposited to that.
After that, you can either withdraw your prize or continue trading using your real account.
If two traders have the same balance at the end of the contest, the one with the lowest Max drawdown is placed higher in the ranking and if they have the same drawdown as well, profit factor is taken to account.
7- BEST OF THE BEST – LiteForex
Contest Date: monthly, from the first of each month to the last of the month
Initial balance: $5000
Leverage: 1:400
Prize pool: $10000
Prize Spots: 5
Banned Country: the US, Japan, Israel, EU countries
Ranking
| Position | Prize |
| 1 | $4000 |
| 2 | $2500 |
| 3 | $1500 |
| 4 | $1000 |
| 5 | $1000 |
Conditions:
- You must only have one demo contest account at the same time
- Do not use different IP address or any VPN, VPS, or any kinds of proxies
- The maximum drawdown is 25%
- The demo contest account must not be inactive for 10 days in a row
- You can’t hedge but EAs are allowed
- Winners are determined by profitability (the highest balance) and risk ratio
- If risk factor exceeds 5, you are disqualified
- The prize is not withdrawable and is for trading but the profits made by it can be withdrawn without any restrictions.
After winning the prize, it’s credited to a social trading account where you can trade and make profits. Some profits that are generated from the people register under that account will be given to you as well.
Example: You finish fourth place in the demo contest and win $1000. The $1000 prize is credited to a social trading service. A few investors register with that social trading account. You trade and make a $500 profit. You can withdraw that profit plus a part of the profits of the investors.
Basically, this broker is looking for the real traders that first are profitable and second, their strategies are not too risky so that they can build up their social trading platform.
You can see a complete version of the terms and conditions of the demo contest in the button below.
8- Forexcup – FXOpen
Contest Date: 3/8/2020, 5:10:00 PM – 4/3/2020, 4:00:00 PM
Initial balance: $5000
Leverage: 1:10
Prize pool: $3000
Prize Spots: 10
Banned Country: the US
Ranking
| Position | Prize |
| 1 | $1050 |
| 2 | $750 |
| 3 | $300 |
| 4 | $240 |
| 5 | $180 |
| 6 | $150 |
| 7 | $120 |
| 8 | $90 |
| 9 | $60 |
| 10 | $60 |
Note: FXOpen through Forexcup holds different types of contests and the current one is CryptoMania. The trading instruments for this contest are crypto currencies.
Conditions:
- You must have only one trading demo contest at the same time
- You must not use any proxies or different IP address
- The first place gets real money except for Cryptomania contest (current one)
- The prizes for Cryptomania are not withdrawable and are only for trading using a crypto account
- You can withdraw the profits made by the prizes without any restrictions
- Hedging is not allowed but you can use EAs
These conditions are the main ones related to Cryptomania contest. Other demo contests held by FXOpen may have some different conditions.
For example, the person that stands on the first spot in other competitions receives a withdrawable prize. For more information about other terms and conditions, you want to check here.
Example: You finish third in the contest and win $300. You can’t withdraw $300. You need to open a Crypto account with FXopen and the $300 will be credited to that. Then, you can trade and make profits and take them out.
9- Learn&Earn – LMFX
Contest Date: monthly, starts from the first day of each month and ends the last day of the month
Initial balance: $100000
Leverage: 1:400
Prize pool: $1750
Prize Spots: 3
Banned Country: available for all
Ranking
| Position | Prize |
| 1 | $1000 |
| 2 | $500 |
| 3 | $250 |
Conditions:
- Every contestant can
register for each round (month) of the demo contest once - You can join the contest
anytime even when it’s already started - One IP address can be used
by 2 contestants at the most - The participants with the
highest balance are the winners - The prizes are not
withdrawable but you can withdraw the profits made by them without restrictions
Example: You take the first place and win $1000. You need to open a real account with the broker so that the prize can be credited to your account.
You can’t withdraw the $1000. You trade with the $1000 account and make a $500 profit. now, you can withdraw the profit without any restrictions.
10- FX-1 Rally – Instaforex
Contest Date: weekly, for one day (24 hours)
Initial balance: $40000
Leverage: 1:500
Prize pool: $1500
Prize Spots: 5
Banned Country: the US
Ranking
| Position | Prize |
| 1 | $500 |
| 2 | $400 |
| 3 | $300 |
| 4 | $200 |
| 5 | $100 |
Conditions:
- You are not allowed to open more than one demo contest account
- If you use more than one IP address, you’ll be disqualified
- The maximum open trades including pending orders must not exceed 7
- You can only win a prize once a month
- Winners are the one with the highest balance
- The prizes are not withdrawable but the profits gained over it are ready to withdraw without restrictions
- You can only withdraw once and after that, the prize will be canceled
Example: you take the fifth place and win $100. You can’t withdraw the $100 and it’s only tradable. You open a live account within 30 days, trade (no time limit) and make a $50 profit and decide to withdraw that. You take out that $50 and the $100 account will be canceled — see the entire terms and conditions
11- One Million Option – Instaforex
Contest Date: weekly, for one week
Initial balance: 1000 points (trading options)
Prize pool: $1500
Prize Spots: 5
Banned Country: the US
Ranking
| Position | Prize |
| 1 | $500 |
| 2 | $400 |
| 3 | $300 |
| 4 | $200 |
| 5 | $100 |
Conditions:
- You should set an option one minute before it’s executed
- For each closed option, you’ll receive +/- 10 points
- If your position gets to the break-even point, you lose and 10 points are deducted from your account
- The winners are the ones with the highest ratings
- The prizes are not withdrawable but you can take out the profits earned by that without any restrictions
Other general conditions are the same as the FX-1 Rally contest — see a complete version of the terms and conditions
12- Real Scalping – Instaforex
Contest Date: monthly, for one month
Initial balance: $20000
Leverage: 1:500
Prize pool: $6000
Prize Spots: 8
Banned Country: the US
Ranking
| Position | Prize |
| 1 | $2000 |
| 2 | $1500 |
| 3 | $1000 |
| 4 | $500 |
| 5 | $400 |
| 6 | $300 |
| 7 | $200 |
| 8 | $100 |
Conditions:
- All the strategies and EAs
are allowed - You can have 5 open
positions at the same time including pending orders - Winners are traders with
the highest balance - You can’t withdraw the
prizes but the profits gained over it are withdrawable without any limits
Other general conditions are the same as two previous contests — see terms and conditions
13- Lucky Trader – Instaforex
Contest Date: monthly, for two weeks
Initial balance: $30000
Leverage: 1:500
Prize pool: $3000
Prize Spots: 8
Banned Country: the US
Ranking
| Position | Prize |
| 1 | $1000 |
| 2 | $750 |
| 3 | $500 |
| 4 | $250 |
| 5 | $200 |
| 6 | $150 |
| 7 | $100 |
| 8 | $50 |
Conditions:
- All trading strategies and
EAs are allowed - The number of open
positions, including pending orders, must not exceed 10 - The winners are determined by
ratings calculated by Instaforex based on pip accumulation (see below) - You can’t withdraw the
prize but the profits made over that are withdrawable without any restrictions
General conditions are the same as other demo contests of Instaforex mentioned above.
It’s stated that the winners are determined by the ratings but what those ratings are and how the system works, let’s see.
For positive pips, you receive up to 10 points or rating points; For example, 8 pips get 8 points, however, if you gain more than 10 pips from a trade, let’s say 20 pips, you still get 10 points in rating.
On the other hand, if you lose some pips, they are deducted from your positive points but this time; all the negative pips are counted.
For example, if you lose 8 pips, your rating points decrease 8 and if you lose 30 pips in a trade, 30 points are deducted from your rating.
Conclusion: go for 10 pips at the most in every trade — see the terms and conditions
14- Sniper – Instaforex
Contest Date: weekly, for one week
Initial balance: $10000
Leverage: 1:500
Prize pool: $1500
Prize Spots: 5
Banned Country: the US
Ranking
| Position | Prize |
| 1 | $500 |
| 2 | $400 |
| 3 | $300 |
| 4 | $200 |
| 5 | $100 |
Conditions:
- All strategies and EAs are allowed
- The maximum open orders including pending orders must not be more than 5
- The winners are the ones with the largest balance
- You can withdraw the profits made over your prize, not the prize itself
All other conditions are the general conditions mentioned in the other InstaForex contests above — see the conditions
15- Great Race – Instaforex
Contest Date: month after a month, for one month
Initial balance: $100000
Leverage: 1:500
Prize pool: $9300 first 4 rounds and $17800 for the final rounds
Prize Spots: 11 for first 4 rounds and 14 for the final round
Banned Country: the US
Ranking
First 4 rounds
| Position | Prize |
| 1 | $3000 |
| 2 | $2000 |
| 3 | $1500 |
| 4 | $800 |
| 5 | $600 |
| 6 | $400 |
| 7 | $300+40 *bonus points |
| 8 | $250+30 bonus points |
| 9 | $200+20 bonus points |
| 10 | $150+10 bonus points |
| 11 | $100+5 bonus points |
*bonus points can be used for the final round. You can exchange one bonus point for extra $1000 to your balance in the final round.
Final round
| Position | Prize |
| 1 | $6000 |
| 2 | $3500 |
| 3 | $2300 |
| 4 | $1500 |
| 5 | $1000 |
| 6 | $850 |
| 7 | $750 |
| 8 | $550 |
| 9 | $350 |
| 10 | $300 |
| 11 | $250 |
| 12 | $200 |
| 13 | $150 |
| 14 | $100 |
Conditions:
- All strategies and EAs are allowed
- You can have 5 open orders including pendings at the same time
- The highest balance holders are the winners
- You can withdraw the profits, not the prize itself
Other general conditions set for Instaforex demo contests are applied here, see full terms and conditions.
16- Trade Day – RoboForex
Contest Date: weekly, for one day, Starts at 12:00:00 p.m. Wednesday, Finishes at 11:59:59 a.m. Thursday
Initial balance: $1000
Leverage: 1:2000
Prize pool: $1000
Prize Spots: 10
Banned Country: the US, Canada
Ranking
| Position | Prize |
| 1 | $350 |
| 2 | $200 |
| 3 | $100 |
| 4 | $50 |
The rest of the 6 positions gets $50
Conditions:
- You are only allowed to
open one account for the contest - There’s no limit on the
number of open trades at the same time nor on position sizes - EAs are prohibited
- Traders with the highest
balance are the winners - You can’t withdraw the
prizes but the profits earned over them are withdrawable without any
restrictions
Example: you finish third and receive $100 credit which is not withdrawable. You open a Pro-Cent or Pro Standard account so that the $100 can be credited to that. You trade and make a $50 profit. You can withdraw your profit without any restrictions, see terms and conditions
17- Demo Forex – Roboforex
Contest Date: monthly, for one month
Initial balance: $5000
Leverage: 1:100
Prize pool: $3000
Prize Spots: 10
Banned Country: the US, Canada
Ranking
| Position | Prize |
| 1 | $700 |
| 2 | $550 |
| 3 | $420 |
| 4 | $350 |
| 5 | $290 |
| 6 | $240 |
| 7 | $180 |
| 8 | $130 |
| 9 | $90 |
| 10 | $50 |
Conditions:
- Only one contest account is
allowed per trader - You can open only 10 trades
and the maximum lot size is 0.1 - You can’t use EAs
- The winners are the ones
with the largest balance - Prizes are not withdrawable
but the profits made over them can be withdrawn
See the full version of terms and conditions
18- Week with CFD – Roboforex
Contest Date: weekly, for one week, Starts at 12:00:00 a.m. Monday, Finishes at 11:59:59 p.m. Friday
Initial balance: $3000
Leverage: 1:300
Prize pool: $1500
Prize Spots: 10
Banned Country: the US, Canada
Ranking: The prize will be distributed between the top 10 according to their rankings proportionally based on their final balance.
Conditions:
- No more than one contest
account per trader - There are no limitations on
the number of open positions or lots at the same time - EAs are not allowed
- Contestants with the
largest balances are the winners - You can’t withdraw the
prizes but the profits gained over them are available for withdrawal
 Find out more about the terms and conditions
19- KingSize MT5 – Roboforex
Contest Date: weekly, for 24 hours, Starts at 8:00:00 p.m. Thursday, Finishes at 7:59:59 p.m. Friday
Initial balance: $1000
Leverage: 1:200
Prize pool: $1000
Prize Spots: 10
Banned Country: the US, Canada
Ranking: the prize will be distributed to the top 10 proportionally according to their profit they’ve made in the contest.
For example, if all the top 10 contestants made $1000 profits in total and you are one of them that has made $100, you’ll receive 10% of the prize pool which is $100.
Conditions:
- Only one account per
contestant are allowed - No limitations on the
number of open positions or lots - Expert advisors are
prohibited - The contestants who opened
the order with the biggest volume are the winners - The prizes can’t be
withdrawn but the profits made over them can
See the rest of the terms and conditions
General Terms and Conditions of Forex Demo Contests
Every forex demo contest has its own set of rules; however, there are some terms and conditions that are in common among all of them.
Conditions such as:
You are not allowed to register for a demo contest more than once at the same time.
It means if you try to open two or more forex demo contests accounts, it’s considered cheating and you’ll be disqualified and crossed out of that demo contest or maybe all other contests held by that broker.
You shouldn’t use any form of proxies or software that changes your IP address such as VPN, VPS, and etc.
It’s related to the previous condition where you’re not permitted to enter a competition more than once. One of the ways they detect you is through your IP address and when you change it via proxy software or systems, it’s considered hiding your identity and consequently breaking the rules.
You can’t use the same IP address for registering two or more people in forex demo contests unless stated otherwise in the conditions.
For example, you and your friends or your family members can’t use the same IP or internet connection to register for the same contest.
Your account must be fully verified
Some forex demo contests holders ask you to have your documents verified in the first place and others want that when you decide to withdraw your prize or profits.
No matter when, you need to provide documents such as proof of address and proof of identity so that they can verify your account.
The terms and conditions mentioned in this post are based on my understanding of the terms and conditions of the contests as well as conversations I had with the contests holders so use them at your own discretion and make sure to read and understand the full version on the websites of the contests holders. Offbeatforex.com is not responsible in any ways for any probable damage caused by the misunderstanding of the terms and conditions of the contests mentioned here.
Is this all legit sites?
They are all reputable brokers that are in the industry for more than one decade.
David, very useful info but it needs updating for 2021