CMC Markets Funded: A London-Listed Name, a Dubai Operator, and the Gap Between Them
CMC Markets Funded went live on 1 October. The branding belongs to a company listed on the London Stock Exchange and regulated by the FCA. The entity you actually contract with is True North Tech L.L.C-FZ, a Dubai free-zone company that CMC does not own or control — and the terms state that CMC’s regulatory status does not extend to the programme. None of this is hidden. All of it is easy to miss, and it’s the first time a major listed broker has lent its name to a prop firm it doesn’t operate.
The question isn’t whether this is legal. It’s what you think you’re buying when you see the name.
What the structure actually is
| Role | Entity | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Brand on the website | CMC Markets | London-listed, FCA-regulated UK entities |
| Operator and counterparty | True North Tech L.L.C-FZ | Dubai free zone, reg. 2646504 |
| Named partner | CMC Markets Singapore Pte. Ltd. | Marketing services agreement |
True North Tech is the party responsible for fees, participant accounts, rewards and refunds. CMC Markets Singapore is described as the exclusive financial services and brokerage partner, providing brand, data and governance support under a marketing agreement — explicitly not the operator and not a guarantor. The reporting states that True North Tech is not owned or controlled by CMC Markets Singapore, CMC Markets plc, or any other CMC Group entity. (Finance Magnates)
The registered address is Meydan Grandstand, 6th floor, Meydan Road, Nad Al Sheba, Dubai — an address shared with a very large number of free-zone registrations.
The programme’s own site displays Trustpilot reviews alongside a disclaimer reading “Reviews shown are of CMC Markets, not CMC Funded.” The reputation on the page belongs to the broker. The obligations belong to the Dubai company. That sentence is an accurate disclosure and an unusually frank description of the entire arrangement.
What it costs and what you get
This is a CFD programme on Match-Trader, not a futures product — worth saying plainly, since the account sizes look familiar to futures traders and the rules don’t work the same way.
| Account | Fee | Max loss (10%) | Daily limit (5%) | Profit to get funded (13%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $99 | $1,000 | $500 | $1,300 |
| $25,000 | $199 | $2,500 | $1,250 | $3,250 |
| $50,000 | $299 | $5,000 | $2,500 | $6,500 |
| $100,000 | $499 | $10,000 | $5,000 | $13,000 |
Classic 2-Step: 8% target in phase one, 5% in phase two, 10% maximum loss, 5% daily loss limit, minimum three qualifying days, no time limit. Profit split 80%, rising to 90%. A Direct 1-Step option exists with a 4% daily limit, but its target and maximum loss aren’t published on the main page. Leverage runs from 1:10 to 1:500, with checkout defaulting to 1:10.
Credit where it’s due on the drawdown. A 10% maximum loss on a $50,000 account is $5,000 — double the $2,500 a typical futures 50K carries, and a fixed rather than trailing limit. Measured as 25 losing trades of room, that’s $200 a trade against the $100 a futures 50K supports. On the rules alone this is a reasonable product.
On price it sits in the upper half. Our cheapest tracked 50K runs about $70 and the top of the range is around $380; CMC Funded’s $299 is nearer the expensive end, though with no activation fee and no monthly billing.
Why the structure matters even though it’s disclosed
Nothing above alleges wrongdoing. Brand licensing is legal, common across industries, and the arrangement is written into the terms. The issue is narrower and more practical: what recourse do you have, and against whom?
- FCA protections don’t apply. A trader seeing an FCA-regulated badge may reasonably assume the Financial Ombudsman Service or FSCS is available. They aren’t — those cover the regulated UK entities, not a Dubai free-zone operator running a simulated-account programme.
- Your counterparty is the one holding your money. If a payout is disputed, the party on the other side of that argument is True North Tech, not a listed plc with a share price to protect.
- Brand and obligation can separate again. A marketing agreement can be terminated. If it were, the operator would continue and the name would not — which is precisely the scenario where a trader’s assumptions about who stands behind the programme matter most.
- And CMC hasn’t publicly explained the arrangement. Finance Magnates reported no response from CMC Markets or Match-Trader before publication, and we found no public statement from CMC plc. That’s not evidence of anything, but a listed company lending its name to a third-party prop firm is a question its own shareholders might reasonably ask about.
Where this sits on our list
We’re tracking it, not recommending it, and not flagging it.
It doesn’t meet our bar for a flag. There’s no payout dispute, no collapse, no retroactive rule change, no fabricated history, and nothing undisclosed — the structure is in the terms for anyone who reads them. Compare that with the firms we do flag for brand-borrowing, where the pattern was borrowing an unrelated company’s statistics or cloning a competitor’s website outright. This is a licensed arrangement between real parties, and the disclaimers are more explicit than most.
But it can’t be recommended either. It launched on 1 October with no payout record, the operator has no track record under any name we can verify, and the headline instrument set isn’t even specified on the main page. “Launched this month, no payout history” is the same position we took on FTMO Futures, and consistency requires the same answer here.
Read the terms and conditions specifically for the operator’s name, not the brand. Then decide whether you’d buy the same product from a Dubai free-zone company with no track record if the website said “True North Tech Funded” at the top. If the answer is yes, the structure isn’t a problem for you. If the answer is no, you’ve learned that you were buying the name.
The bigger question this raises
This is the first time a major listed broker’s brand has appeared on a prop firm it doesn’t own or operate, and the structure solves a genuine problem for them. Prop trading is lucrative and growing, but a regulated broker taking it on directly invites regulatory attention it would rather avoid. Licensing the brand to an offshore operator captures the upside while keeping the regulated entity at arm’s length from the activity.
If it works commercially, it will be copied — and the result is a market where brand recognition and regulatory protection come apart. The industry already has a brand-borrowing problem at the fraudulent end. A legitimate, contractual version of the same gap is harder to warn people about, because there’s nothing to expose: it’s all in the terms, and almost nobody reads them.
The honest limits
This is a structural analysis, not an accusation. CMC Markets Funded may run flawlessly and pay every trader on time. Nothing here suggests otherwise, and the rules are genuinely competitive. The argument is about what you can rely on if something goes wrong, not a prediction that it will.
Details come from the programme’s own pages and contemporaneous reporting, read 12 October 2026. Terms published close to launch change frequently — verify the current ones, and specifically read the operator clause rather than the marketing copy.
And CMC hasn’t given its side. We found no public statement explaining the relationship, and the trade press reported no response. If CMC publishes one, this page gets updated and the update will be dated.
The short version
CMC Markets Funded launched on 1 October: a CFD prop programme on Match-Trader at $99 to $499 for $10,000 to $100,000 accounts, with an 8% then 5% two-step target, a fixed 10% maximum loss, a 5% daily limit and an 80–90% split. The rules are decent — a $5,000 fixed drawdown on a 50K is double what a futures 50K typically carries — and the $299 price sits in the upper half of our board. The structure is the story: the operator and contractual counterparty is True North Tech L.L.C-FZ, a Dubai free-zone company that CMC does not own or control, with CMC Markets Singapore acting only as a marketing partner and the terms stating that CMC’s regulatory status does not extend to the programme. The site even displays CMC Markets’ Trustpilot reviews under a disclaimer that they are not reviews of the programme. Nothing is hidden and nothing here is an accusation, but FCA protections do not apply and your counterparty in any dispute is the Dubai entity. Tracked, not recommended, not flagged — and if this structure works, expect it to be copied.
Frequently asked questions
Who operates CMC Markets Funded?
True North Tech L.L.C-FZ, registration number 2646504, based at Meydan Grandstand in Dubai. It is responsible for fees, participant accounts, rewards and refunds. CMC Markets Singapore Pte. Ltd. is named as the exclusive financial services and brokerage partner under a marketing services agreement, but is not the operator or a guarantor, and reporting indicates True North Tech is not owned or controlled by any CMC Group entity.
Is CMC Markets Funded regulated by the FCA?
No. The FCA regulates relevant CMC Markets UK entities, and the programme’s terms state that CMC’s regulatory status does not extend to it. The programme is operated by a Dubai free-zone company and provides simulated accounts rather than brokerage accounts, so UK protections such as the Financial Ombudsman Service and FSCS do not apply to it.
How much does CMC Markets Funded cost?
One-time evaluation fees of $99 for a $10,000 account, $199 for $25,000, $299 for $50,000 and $499 for $100,000, with no activation fee or monthly billing. The Classic 2-Step requires an 8% profit target in phase one and 5% in phase two — 13% of the account in total — against a 10% maximum loss and a 5% daily loss limit, with a minimum of three qualifying days and no time limit.
Is CMC Markets Funded a scam?
There is no evidence of that and nothing here alleges it. The programme discloses its structure in its own terms, the parties are real, the rules are competitive and brand licensing is legal. The practical caution is narrower: your contractual counterparty is a Dubai free-zone company rather than the listed broker whose name appears on the site, so consider what recourse you would have in a dispute before treating the brand as a guarantee.
Does CMC Markets Funded offer futures?
It appears to be a CFD programme rather than a futures one. The rules are expressed as percentages of account value — 8% and 5% targets against a 10% maximum loss — which is CFD convention, and it runs on Match-Trader with leverage options from 1:10 to 1:500. The instruments FAQ on the main page was unanswered at the time of writing, so confirm directly with the programme before purchasing if the instrument set matters to you.
Related on this site: the firms we flag · the FTMO Futures launch · true cost rankings · picking a prop firm and account size
Programme terms, pricing and operator details are taken from the CMC Markets Funded website and contemporaneous trade reporting, read 12 October 2026. Nothing in this article alleges misconduct by CMC Markets plc, CMC Markets Singapore Pte. Ltd., or True North Tech L.L.C-FZ; the structure described is disclosed in the programme’s own terms. We hold no affiliate relationship with this programme and this page carries no affiliate link. Verify current terms directly before purchasing. Nothing here is financial advice. Trading carries substantial risk of loss.
