👀 ATFunded pauses operations, says current models are not sustainable

Hi everyone, another week is upon us, the markets are open and there's lots going on across the industry, so let's get straight into it.

A surprise shutdown on the CFD side last week. ATFunded, one of the most respected firms, has paused operations to conduct “a full review of their business and current operations.”

The constant battle against cheaters and the diminishing margins of the CFD model appears to have been too much of a risk. Rather than add arbitrary rules to trip up traders, they have decided to just pause and review the business model before returning, which does make sense.

Some additional info provided inside their discord.

As for current traders, they say all active accounts will be refunded, and payouts processed this week.

As for what model they might return with:

This A/B model does look very promising and by the end of the year I would expect to see this rolled out across many firms. If you are not familiar with how it works, check out Fundedhive.

📢  Firm Announcements

• FundingPips made its PRIME Scaling Plan fully optional. After the third reward, traders can remain on their Master Account, move into PRIME, or do both if they hold multiple Master Accounts. PRIME continues to offer access to larger capital allocations, daily rewards, and scaling opportunities.

• MyFundedFutures acquired an equity stake in Funding Predicts, becoming one of the first established prop firms to enter the rapidly emerging prediction markets space.

• Top One Trader launched a new Payday Account, a short duration challenge model where traders can earn multiples of their initial stake based on hitting a small number of winning trades within a defined session.

• FundingPips launched a new 14 day Pro Trial, allowing traders to experience a realistic evaluation environment with live challenge rules and risk limits.

• Hola Prime announced it will stop onboarding new clients from Pakistan due to regulatory challenges and restrictions imposed by local authorities.

• Apex Trader Funding acknowledged an issue affecting a small number of Tradovate Performance Accounts that were incorrectly deactivated and confirmed an investigation is underway.

• See all announcements → x.com/promojunction

• Set alerts for your favourite firms → promojunction.io.

Here are the firms who paid out the most over the last 7 days 🏆️.

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🕜 Red Folder News

Here are this week’s red folder news events. Inflation (CPI Wednesday & PPI Thursday) in focus this week. The market is currently pricing only a 3.3% chance of a rate cut, and 0% for a rate rise, at the fed meeting next week, so even a shock print will be unlikely to change that.

📈 Markets

Nasdaq Bloodbath

What an end to the week. Nasdaq down 5% on Friday alone. The biggest down day since “Liberation Day” in April 2025. Nasdaq has been on a +35% tear since April this year, so 5% makes barely a dent in that, but we haven’t even tested the 38% fib level of that rally yet so we could be in for a testing time. the 50% level is 26969, which sits another 7% lower than where we closed last week.

VIX Seasonality nailed it..

On a 20 year lookback, the VIX (Volatility Index) usually spikes in the first week of June (due to a market shock). This typically continues all month, returning to calm equity markets by July. Let’s see how it plays out this year.

A brutal week for Bitcoin

Another shocker of a week for BTC, down over 20% in the last 9 days.

Standard Chartered Bank thinks the Bitcoin bottom is in..

The bank's Global Head of Digital Assets Research, Geoffrey Kendrick, said in a note entitled "The Low Is Almost In", the bitcoin market is close to a bottom, arguing that structurally resilient spot exchange-traded fund holdings and an anticipated large buyback by Strategy make a compelling case that the worst of the current sell-off is over.

Add to that huge liquidations and we’ve got the recipe for a rapid reversal. Could go the other way of course though, so stay risk managed and keep an open mind!

OK you’re all caught up. Have a good week!

Kieran

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