IQ Capital review
Dubai-linked CFD, crypto and futures prop firm launched in 2025 with $9 one-step challenges
- CEO
- Christoph Radecker
- Headquarters
- United Arab Emirates
- Founded
- 2025
- In business
- 1 year
- Trustpilot
- 4.7(533)
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Our grade
Good
6.5 / 10 · #5 of 22
4.7
Trustpilot
533 reviews
- 5★90%
- 4★5%
- 3★1%
- 2★1%
- 1★4%
IQ Capital rules & hidden risks
The fine print that costs traders accounts
Hidden Risk score
3.7/10
Moderate risk
Average: 5.5
IQ Capital's written rules are detailed and mostly consistent, but real hidden risk sits in the gap between its marketing and its rulebook: a per-trade loss cap that halves after funding, a payout gate (the Microscalping Rule) that isn't surfaced on the main rules pages, and an inactivity clause the public FAQ denies exists.
Hidden rules to know before you buy
- highother
A reviewer alleges pressure to remove a negative review
Two verified reviewers (March 16, 2026) describe a chaotic live sales webinar with the founder four days earlier where checkout failed and promised discounts didn't apply; one says she was repeatedly contacted afterward and asked to edit or delete her review.
Source - mediumlot-size
Max per-trade risk is cut in half the moment you get funded
Max Position Loss is 1% of balance during the Challenge but drops to 0.5% of starting balance on Funded and Instant Funding accounts. Several reviewers say this step-down wasn't obvious until they were already live.
Source - mediumpayout
Payouts are gated by an unpublicized Microscalping Rule
At least 50% of trades and 50% of total profit must come from positions held longer than 15 seconds or a payout request is withheld. The mechanic is only spelled out in a payout-conditions walkthrough article, not on the main pricing or rules pages.
Source - mediumaccount
FAQ and Terms of Use disagree on account inactivity
The public FAQ says 'we don't have an inactivity rule' as long as the monthly subscription is paid, but Section 9 of the Terms of Use states accounts inactive for more than 30 days may be suspended or terminated.
Source - mediumpayout
A verified reviewer reports a payout refused over a retroactive-feeling rule read
A verified Trustpilot reviewer (July 2026) says a roughly $1,500 payout was declined and the account marked breached for Max-Position-Loss violations she says predate her last approved payout. It is the only payout-denial complaint in the sampled negative reviews, not a pattern.
Source - mediumcosts
A second activation fee is due before the funded account opens
Passing a Challenge doesn't fund you automatically: a further non-refundable activation fee, separate from the challenge fee already paid, is charged to open the funded account — $199 to $1,499 depending on size.
Source - lowconsistency
Rapid Challenge enforces a 40% consistency rule before you're even funded
Unlike the Core Challenge (no consistency rule until funded), the Rapid Challenge applies a 40% best-day cap from day one of the unfunded evaluation — unusual among single-phase challenge formats.
Source - lowcosts
Challenge pricing has risen sharply since early-2026 launch levels
A detailed reviewer account traces the discounted $50,000 Core Challenge price roughly doubling to tripling between January and September 2026, even though the advertised '-80% off' label has stayed the same throughout.
Source
The rulebook
Drawdown & risk limits3 rules
- EOD trailing drawdown: 6% of starting balance on $50k/$100k Core and Rapid Crypto/CFD accounts, 5% on the $200k Core Master and the $100k Futures Instant account; the line only moves up and freezes at the starting balance after your first payout.
- Max position loss is 1% of balance during the Challenge and 0.5% of starting balance once funded or instant-funded; a soft breach auto-closes the position, a third breach closes the account.
- No daily loss limit on the standard Core/Rapid/Instant lines; a Core-DLL futures variant swaps the per-position cap for a $1,000-$1,500 daily loss limit instead.
Consistency & payout eligibility4 rules
- Core and Instant funded accounts carry a 30% consistency rule: your single best day can't exceed 30% of total profit, recalculated after every payout.
- Rapid accounts apply a 40% consistency rule from the Challenge onward (futures Rapid drops it on the default 1-day funded track but reinstates it on the 3-day track).
- A Microscalping Rule requires at least 50% of trades and 50% of total profit to come from positions held longer than 15 seconds, or the payout is withheld.
- Each payout request is capped at 50% of total profit, with dollar caps that rise as you request more payouts.
Prohibited strategies3 rules
- Copy trading, mirrored trades and external signal services are banned; EAs and auto-trading bots are allowed only with full source-code access and demonstrable control.
- Latency arbitrage, quote manipulation, spoofing/layering and HFT-style execution are banned and can trigger immediate termination.
- Hedging is allowed only on a dedicated hedging-account type for CFD/crypto; cross-account or correlated-market hedging is prohibited, and hedging is banned outright on futures accounts.
News, timing & holding periods2 rules
- News trading is fully allowed on CFD, crypto and futures accounts with no restriction.
- CFD and crypto positions can be held overnight and over the weekend; futures positions must flatten by the daily close (auto-closed at 22:45 CET/4:45pm ET) with no overnight or weekend carry.
Account, KYC & costs4 rules
- KYC identity verification can be requested at any time; non-compliance can restrict or terminate access and forfeit payouts.
- A $5/month account-management subscription applies to funded and instant Crypto/CFD accounts ($19/month on futures); the Terms of Use also list a 30-day inactivity clause that the public FAQ says doesn't exist.
- Challenge fees are non-refundable, and a further activation fee (separate from the challenge fee, up to $1,499 on the $200k account) is due before a passed Challenge becomes a funded account.
- Only one discounted promo account (one Crypto/CFD, one Futures) is allowed per person; multiple accounts or identities used to bypass this are grounds for suspension and forfeiture.
What IQ Capital allows
RestrictedEAs / botsRestricted
Allowed only with full source-code access and demonstrable control over the system; black-box, commercial or third-party EAs are banned.
AllowedNews tradingAllowed
Fully allowed on CFD, crypto and futures accounts with no additional restriction or blackout window.
AllowedWeekend holdingAllowed
No restriction on CFD or crypto accounts; not permitted on futures accounts, which must flatten daily.
AllowedOvernight holdingAllowed
Allowed on CFD and crypto accounts with standard swap charges; futures positions are auto-closed at the daily close (22:45 CET / 4:45pm ET).
Not allowedCopy tradingNot allowed
Copy trading, mirror trading and external signal providers are banned; trades must reflect the trader's own analysis.
RestrictedHedgingRestricted
Allowed only on a dedicated hedging-account type for CFD/crypto, not on standard netting accounts; cross-account hedging and all hedging on futures accounts is prohibited.
RestrictedScalpingRestricted
Manual scalping is allowed, but the Microscalping Rule requires at least 50% of trades and 50% of profit from positions held over 15 seconds before a payout is approved; tick-level/HFT scalping is banned.