HFM Demo Contest: Rules, Prizes and How the Ranking Works

We read HFM’s contest rules and the contest screens in our own HFM Client Area. To enter, you open a Demo Contest account in your HFM Client Area, and it needs no deposit.

Is the HFM Demo Contest Worth Entering?

The HFM demo contest is free to enter every month, but only the top three win, and the prize is credit on a live trading account that you cannot withdraw. Only the profit that you later make with the prize can come out.

So the contest is good practice but a hard way to win money. HFM runs a separate contest for each of its companies, and in September every winner grew the $10,000 demo balance by more than 5,000% in one month.

September winner	South Africa	International
1st place	15,734%	42,756%
2nd place	9,923%	23,758%
3rd place	5,112%	23,632%

Even the third place in South Africa’s smaller contest turned the $10,000 into about $521,000. So a place in the top three needs your demo balance to grow more than 50 times within one month.

How Do You Join the HFM Demo Contest?

You join the HFM demo contest by opening a Demo Contest account in your HFM Client Area. HFM has no separate sign-up form, so the new account is your entry for the month.

Every contestant starts with the same $10,000 at 1:200, and you cannot change either of them. You can hold one Demo Contest account at a time, and two contestants who use the same internet connection cannot both take part.

What Are the Prizes, and Can You Withdraw Them?

In HFM’s international demo contest, the prizes are $2,000, $1,000 and $500, paid as credit into a live trading account. HFM Kenya and HFM South Africa run their own contests with smaller prizes, as the table shows.

	International contest	Kenya and South Africa
1st place	$2,000	$500
2nd place	$1,000	$300
3rd place	$500	$100

The name of your HFM company is in the Legal line at the bottom of every page in your HFM Client Area. If it says HF Markets (SV) Ltd, your account is in the international contest.

You cannot withdraw the prize itself, only the profit that you make with it. That profit can come out after you have made at least 50 round-turn trades and traded at least 10 standard lots in total. HFM’s own example shows the amount.

You can send only one withdrawal request for this profit. After it, HFM removes the prize and archives the account, so withdraw once you have finished trading with the prize. An account left unused for 60 days can also lose the prize and the profit.

How Is the Ranking Decided?

HFM ranks contestants by the percentage gain on their Demo Contest account at the end of the month. At the end, HFM closes every open trade, compares the final balance with the $10,000 at the start, and counts any loss as 0%.

So a contestant who loses most of the account gets the same score as one who loses a little, and only a gain moves you up the ranking.

HFM’s contest page (opens in a new tab) shows the leaderboard of the top 10 and updates it once a day.

You compete only with clients of your own HFM company. South Africa, for example, has its own contest page and its own top 10, so traders there are not ranked in the international contest.

When Does Each Round Start and End?

Each HFM demo contest round runs for one calendar month, from 00:01 on the 1st to 23:59 on the last day, in HFM server time. You can join at any time in the month, but a late start leaves you fewer days to trade.

HFM’s server clock is GMT+3 in summer and GMT+2 in winter, so in your own time zone the end of the round can move by one hour when the clocks change.

At the end of the month, HFM deletes every Demo Contest account, so for the next round you open a new one. HFM announces the winners on its contest page at the end of each month.

Do You Need a Real Account to Join?

No. You can join the HFM demo contest without a deposit, but you need an HFM Client Area profile, and a verified one to receive a prize. In the international contest, the profile must be fully verified before you can join at all.

• Age
  You must be 18 or older, or the legal age in your country.
• Verification
  A winner who does not pass HFM’s identity checks for a live account loses the prize. The prize also arrives only when your wallet is fully approved.
• One win
  A trader who has already won an HFM contest cannot win again, and neither can their close family.
• Country
  In the international contest, residents of China and Bangladesh cannot take part.

If you have no HFM profile yet, you can register at HFM (opens in a new tab) and verify the profile before the round ends, so that a prize can reach you.

How Is It Different From the XM Demo Competition?

The HFM demo contest pays trading credit to its top three each month, while the XM Demo Weekly pays cash that you can withdraw to its top 100 each week.

	HFM demo contest	XM Demo Weekly
How often	Every month	Every week
Entry	Free every month	2 free entries, then $25
Demo balance	$10,000 at 1:200	$1,000 at 1:100
Prize	Trading credit for the top 3	Cash for the top 100

XM also ends your entry when your demo account falls 20% from its highest point. So at XM a large loss takes you out of the competition, while at HFM it only counts as 0%. Our XM demo competition guide explains the XM rules and fees.

FAQ About the HFM Demo Contest

What can you trade in the HFM demo contest?

In the HFM demo contest, you can trade forex, metals, energies, bonds, EU shares and stock market indices. HFM’s contest page lists these markets.

Can you join the HFM demo contest every month?

Yes. You can join every monthly round, each time with a new Demo Contest account. After you have won once, though, you cannot win again.

Is a demo contest account the same as a normal HFM demo account?

No. An HFM Demo Contest account has a fixed balance and leverage, and HFM deletes it at the end of the month.

On a Demo Premium or Demo Zero account, you choose both yourself. Our comparison of demo accounts shows how long a normal demo account lasts at each broker.

Which Page Do You Need Next?

For practice with a balance that you choose, the demo accounts comparison shows how long a normal demo account lasts at each broker.