Phidias Propfirm Competition: $30 Entry Fee via 55% Discount

Passing my evaluation and getting KYC approved felt like a huge win, but unfortunately, that’s where the positive experience ended.
I bought a ETL 25k account on Oct 14th, passed my evaluation, cash account, and then was pushed to live same day. I was KYC approved the following day, and the bonus payout that was promised was in my Rise account by the weekend. I was pretty impressed by this point.
Since receiving that bonus on Oct 16th, I still don’t have access to trade my live account on NinjaTrader. When I log in, it has zero equity and hasn’t been funded. I first reached out to their Discord channel for support and, after pressing for a timeline, was given a 1–5-day processing time. Then the 5-day timeline passed, and I reached out again only to be told to keep waiting. So I reached out to the broker directly, and their support confirmed in writing that the account doesn't have an active membership and that the prop firm needs to set it up or renew it on the backend. When I ask Phidias’s support for help, I get the same runaround. They claim that it's a delay on the broker's side, completely contradicting what the broker told me.
What makes it more frustrating is that support tickets get marked as "resolved" by staff even when nothing has been fixed, and requests to speak with management are ignored. I have only been apologized to by their AI Bot in their Discord, which is pretty wild and sort of ironic.
I’ve also noticed multiple other traders in the community dealing with this same issue. It’s exhausting and stressful to have your funds and your time handled this way. A prop firm should be transparent and reliable when things break down. If you're looking for a reliable prop firm with transparent communication, functional backend processing, and accountable support, I unfortunately cannot recommend Phidias based on how this has been handled. What they promote and what I received in services, in my opinion, is false advertising. They promote this specific account on their website to be set up for live trading and your first payout the same day; nearly a month later, here I am still waiting.

"Phidias Prop Firm appears to be a scam. I have purchased multiple evaluation accounts and recently requested my very first payout. Immediately after submitting the payout request, my account access was blocked. I attempted to contact customer support via email, but my ticket was marked as 'resolved' without any assistance, and further communication was blocked. I then submitted a support ticket on their Discord server, only to be banned from the server entirely. Is anyone from Phidias able to explain why account access is revoked upon payout requests?"

Very disappointed with Phidias.
I purchased three 25K E2L accounts. I fully accept that two of them reached the drawdown limit. I am not disputing those losses.
My issue is with the third account.
At first, support told me in writing:
“You have 2 accounts that have reached the maximum drawdown; only account number 3 remains valid.”
But the third account was still blocked and showed admin-only restrictions.
Later, Phidias changed the explanation and told me that all three accounts had been liquidated, including one because of slippage.
I repeatedly asked for the exact technical proof for the third account:
exact equity/balance at the moment of breach,
exact drawdown trigger value,
exact slippage amount,
timestamp.
Instead of providing a clear numerical breakdown, they only showed that Rithmic performed an Auto Liquidation.
One account later showed around $25,100+ in Rithmic while still being marked as liquidated, which made the situation even more confusing.
When I continued asking for the exact trigger value, support finally replied:
“Your accounts were explained to you, please stop insisting.”
This is the first time in years of trading prop accounts that I have experienced something like this.
I accept my losing trades. What I do not accept is contradictory support answers and the lack of transparent technical evidence for a disputed liquidation.
After this experience, I also no longer put much weight on the many payout screenshots posted in their Discord. What matters more to me is how a firm behaves when there is a real technical dispute.
I have screenshots of the Rithmic data and support emails.
I will not purchase another account from Phidias.

Awesome prop firm. Payout is fast. Customer support is helpful. Prices are good. No nonsense rules. Very clear path to live. Static drawdown accounts are great!

I traded Phidias Premium and was paid out on October 13, 2026, with 9 paid evaluations still open on monthly subscriptions.
On October 14 Phidias emailed that it was creating my LIVE account. I did not ask for it, and support said I could not decline. That same day all 9 evaluations were deactivated without notice. Support (ticket TT-10322) replied: "Nothing has been taken from you: all of this is clearly stated in the contracts you signed."
Their contract (Article 6.3) and rules page (section 12, LIVE ACCOUNT RULES) both say a LIVE trader who passes a challenge gets the LIVE credit added to the existing LIVE account. Nothing says challenges you already paid for will be shut down.
I asked for reactivation or a refund. Both were refused, and support wrote: "submitting refund requests goes against our rules and will result in your Phidias account being permanently blocked." I gave them a written deadline of October 16, 2026, and they ignored it. I have filed an FTC complaint and a card dispute.
Read every document before buying multiple evaluations here.