Glow-Node: The Definitive Prop Firm Review

This post contains affiliate links. I have voluntarily chosen to become an affiliate of this prop firm after doing thorough research and asking questions to a representative of Glow Node. I believe this is a quality experience for prop traders looking for a new set of challenge rules.

Finding the Diamond in the Rough

As someone who has been solely trading prop firm funds for over two years, I am a trader who is always keeping an eye out for firms that offer more realistic challenge rules and better benefits. For the most part, when I see new firms pop up, I immediately avoid all marketing material and go straight to their challenge rules and FAQ pages. If any of the rules mostly mimic FTMO, MyForexFunds (MFF), or Funded Trading Plus (FTP), I pass on the opportunity. I’m picky – I don’t want to try or recommend anything that will take advantage of traders – we both deserve better than hype and scams. FTMO, MFF, and FTP have plenty of third-party validity and exhibition of proof of payout. I only want to share and promote firms that reward traders for responsible and (realistic) profitable trading while minimizing the number of hurdles a trader needs to jump through in order to see any kind of payout.

However, when there are new offerings and features that promise a slightly easier challenge and greater payout benefits, then I dig in to learn more. I want to make sure the firm is run by professionals, has a solid business plan and team, and shows promise of continually seeking ways to offer more to the trading community. 

Today, I’m here to share with you a new diamond in the rough – Glow Node. 

Luckily, I don’t always need to search for new firms. Some of the best ones (Funded Trading Plus, for example) find me. Recently, a member of Glow Node, Isiah, e-mailed me to share information about their firm and affiliate opportunities. Originally established in 2022 as a trading education and indicator provider, they are now offering prop firm challenges to responsible traders.

I’ve turned down plenty of prop firms in the past because they don’t meet my criteria for offering something easier/better than FTMO, MFF, or FTP. 

Glow Node is the first, in a while, that has impressed me from the start because it does so much more than just beat the industry gold standard! In this review, I’m going to tell you why.

glow-node about us

Okay, Andrew, enough context, now tell us – What’s so AWESOME about Glow Node?

Alright, let’s dive in – to start, we’re going to cover Glow Node’s main account offerings and rules. Remember, I am writing a review of this firm and am expressing my own analysis and opinions. Please do your own research and inquiry by visiting www.glow-node.com and using their chatbot or contact information to get accurate and verified details. Rules and criteria frequently change in this industry, so there may come a time when what’s presented here is outdated.

ALWAYS READ THROUGH THE FAQ OF ANY PROP FIRM BEFORE SIGNING UP!

Glow Node currently offers a 2-Phase Evaluation, 1-Phase Evaluation, and Instant Funding through the brokerage firm 8-cap. 

As of 2.15.2023:

glow-node 2-phase challenge

2-Phase Evaluation

Account Sizes: $10,000 – $200,000

Cost of $100k account: $499

Profit Split: 80/20 (up to 90/10)

Phase 1 Target: 8%

Phase 2 Target: 5%

Time limit: NONE

Daily Drawdown: 5% (Relative)

Max Drawdown: 10% (Trailing)

Trading Time: Okay to trade News, Overnight, Weekends

Live Account: Same daily/max drawdown rules and no restrictions on trading time

glow-node 1 phase prop firm challenge

1-Phase Evaluation

Account Sizes: $10,000 – $100,000

Cost of $100k account: $599

Profit Split: 80/20 (up to 90/10)

Phase 1 Target: 10%

Time limit: NONE

Daily Drawdown: 4% (Relative)

Max Drawdown: 8% (Trailing)

Trading Time: Okay to trade News, Overnight, Weekends

Live Account: Same daily/max drawdown rules and no restrictions on trading time

glow-node instant funding prop firm

Instant Funding

Account Sizes: $10,000 – $100,000

Cost of $100k account: $4500 

Profit Split: 80/20 (up to 90/10)

Daily Drawdown: none

Max Drawdown: 5% (Absolute)

Trading Time: Okay to trade News, Overnight, Weekends

Other Things to Keep in Mind:

  • You can request withdrawals from the account every 14 days by contacting support
  • Be careful of news trading – if there are abnormal price movements after a news release the firm can reset your trade. Learn more under “CAN I TRADE NEWS” in Frequently Asked Questions.
  • They charge $3.50 commission per lot for Forex pairs
  • Max Leverage: 1:30 for Forex, 1:10 for indices, 1:3 for cryptocurrencies
  • You cannot hold over 30% margin during the weekend with your funded account (volatility protection) 
  • You can maintain a maximum of 3 accounts with a total of $300,000 starting balance
  • EA copy traders and bots are allowed
  • The firm offers a scaling plan, that more or less bumps up the account 30% when, over 3 months, there are 10% profits withdrawn from the challenge accounts or 15% achieved through instant funding
  • Refund of challenge fee only after achieving 15% profit

The Pros of Trading with Glow Node

Just by observing the above rules, you can already tell that there are two MAJOR features that this firm offers:

  1. No time-limit challenges
  2. Easier profit targets (compared to FTMO and Funded Trading Plus)
  3. Short-term swing-trading-friendly

I’m a huge fan of prop firms that don’t have a time limit. Responsible trading often involves placing small lot sizes and risking closer to 1% or less per trade. It’s really tough to hit 10% profit when you’re given only 20 or less days to trade (After factoring weekends and holidays). So too, anyone who relies upon higher time frames with trades held longer than a few hours often struggle to hit time-limit challenges without risking more per trade. Unless you are a scalper or have a high-return-per-trade/high win-rate, 30 day challenges are designed to psychologically trap you and lead you to failure by over-risking.

Thus, Glow Node is a fantastic option for traders who want a lot of wiggle room and freedom to hit the target when the markets (rather than the prop firm) decide. Furthermore, this is a great resource for swing traders who like the easier target of 8% profit but need more time to complete the challenge than what MyForexFunds or other time-based firms offer.

Additional Offerings – How This Firm is Positioning Itself to Grow as a Company

There are a couple of other things that make Glow Node a reliable and reputable firm beyond offering a more realistic and easier challenge. They are also preparing to launch FREE trading education for traders. Currently, the firm runs an active Discord group and offers a subscription to indicator-based signals. After a brief review of the indicator’s sales page, I am not entirely clear what the philosophy or features of this indicator entail, but the upcoming launch of their free education may explain more. 

glow-node prop firm education indicators

Now for the Cons

As I’ve explained in other prop firm reviews, while we traders may groan and moan over the variety of rules set by prop firms, at some point every prop firm needs to make a trade-off or two in order to stay profitable as a business and ensure that only consistently profitable and responsible traders make the cut. This is why you’ll see firms requiring 2-phase challenges, high profit targets, rules for lot sizes or stop losses, etc. 

However, we also want to make sure that the firms we trade with is offering ethically-sound rules and requirements. This means that responsible traders who can show consistent profit should be able to receive a payout for their work and application of solid trading skills without hassle. And when a firm promises to pay its traders, it should do so! We want to avoid challenges that require the trader to take greater risks than what’s advisable by professional trading philosophy.

Sometimes it can be tricky to determine whether rules are set for the protection of the firm or to make money off of unrealistic trading conditions. 

For Glow Node, I believe their rules are reasonable. 

The greatest con’s I see here are just standard trade-offs:

  1. The firm withholds a refund for the challenge fee until 15% profit is withdrawn
  2. The chance of resetting a trade during a news event is a problem for scalpers who trade based upon news events
  3. No more than 30% of margin can be held over the weekend – this can make trading difficult for long-term swing traders (Although it’s actually a good protection in disguise)

**Also, being a new firm, they may lack the proof of payout by individual traders that other long-standing firms do. But this is something that will change as more individuals become funded and paid.

Why these trade-offs are not a concern:

  1. The majority of prop firm income is generated from challenge fees. 

In a world where 95% of traders fail, you don’t need to guess why these challenge fees are pricey. Thus, one way a firm can make a trade off between offering relaxed rules and ensuring they still profit is to do what it can to keep the challenge fee. While the firm is making it easier to beat their challenge, staying profitable once funded is a whole other beast. Only those who are  truly consistent in profiting can hold through. Again, this is a reward for responsible traders over the long run, so I’m not too worried. You’ll just have to wait for that nice little bonus in your payout for a few weeks or months.

However, this is a trade-off – there are other firms who will return your fee to you with your first payout. But those same firms will ask that you achieve unreasonable profit within 30 days. You can pick which one works best for your style of trading.

  1. The news rule may only apply to rare occasions. 

I’m not entirely sure what the range of instances for resetting a trade include, whether it’s a highly abnormal release or just extra volatility from major economic data, like the NFP. I imagine this isn’t a concern for most traders, especially when using higher time frames. Nonetheless, be sure to contact the firm and ask more questions if news scalping is part of your main trading system. You can also stick to other firms that allow for more wiggle room around news trading.

  1. We probably shouldn’t be holding over the weekend, anyways. There’s a ton of volatility after weekend news is digested. It’s like turning your phone on after a 14-hour flight and being bombarded with text messages. The market deals with all of the changes to orders at once.

Personally, when I swing trade for prop firm accounts, I’m looking to hold a trade no longer than 1-4 days, tops, and never on the weekends. My impression of other short-term swing traders who have funded accounts is that this is their approach, too. 

However, if you are swing trading for a longer period of time, your stop loss is a lot larger than intraday traders and your position size far smaller. It’s likely that if you’re risking less than 1% per trade and you don’t hold a lot of positions, then you should be fine and this rule won’t affect you. However, be sure to contact the firm and ask more questions before deciding to sign up for a challenge. Better safe than sorry.

One last thing – I should also note that, while this isn’t necessarily a con, it can be a bit of an adjustment to go from trading with absolute drawdowns to having a trailing drawdown. If you’re used to FTMO or MyForexFunds, then you can’t go into Glow Node blindly trading with the same lot sizes and risk percentages per trade. You need to keep an eye on where your trailing drawdown is before each trading session.

I recommend dialing down your risk a notch to something like 1% or less – time is on your side and a smaller risk per trade helps take the stress out of trading when you do lose or experience losing streaks. However, if your strategy has a low win-rate but high return, then you may want to seek out a different firm as it’s likely that the trailing drawdown may catch up with you at some point.

Who Benefits The Most From Taking a Glow Node Challenge?

Okay, so now that we’ve covered the basics, pros, and cons, let’s determine who may benefit the most from trading with this firm.

Given that this is a no-time-limit challenge with a reasonable profit target, and a few rules regarding news and weekend trading with the live accounts, I think these trading styles will have the best probability of regularly receiving payouts from Glow Node:

  • Short-term swing traders – holds trades for 1-4 days
  • Day traders who trade around news events
  • Scalpers who avoid news
  • Individuals who know they can achieve 1-5% profitability per month but can’t fathom hitting 8% or 10% within 30 days
  • Folks who have failed MyForexFunds challenges due to hitting the time limit
  • Traders who are looking for educational support from their prop firm

 

Overall, this relatively new firm offers a unique set of rules and features that help responsible and patient traders make a solid living off of well-honed trading skills. I’m looking forward to trading with them in the future and seeing what their upcoming education launch has in store!