EntityOptimus Futures, LLC — US Independent Introducing Broker (NFA ID 0481133). ⚠ Registration: Pending Withdrawal / Firm On Withdrawal Hold (NFA BASIC, June 2026)JurisdictionUnited States — no CIPF; entity-mismatch fires for Canadian clients; provincial availability unverifiedRegulatorCFTC (IIB) + NFA — registration PENDING WITHDRAWAL with NFA hold as of June 2026. Not an FCM — customer funds held at the client-selected clearing FCM (ADMIS / Wedbush / Plus500 / StoneX / Phillip Capital). Founded Jan 2004 by Matt Zimberg.SchemeNo compensation scheme — SIPC excludes futures; no CIPF equivalent at the IB or FCM layer
Capped at 7.0/10 — no negative-balance protection (jurisdiction not mandating it).
Transparency & Conduct5.8/108%
Withdrawal Integrity — dimension ceiling
No (jurisdiction not mandating it). Withdrawal Integrity is capped at 7.0/10 regardless of other withdrawal performance (it would otherwise be 7.2). Approximate composite impact: −0.2 points.
Verdict
Optimus Futures scores 44/100 (Caution) — and the score is about the entity's status, not its conduct record. As of June 2026, NFA BASIC shows the firm's CFTC/NFA registration as Pending Withdrawal with an NFA-imposed hold on the exit — the onboarding broker is in the process of ending its registration, for reasons it has not publicly explained. The structural story underneath is honestly built: Optimus never touches customer funds (deposits wire directly to the §1.20 segregated account of a clearing FCM the client selects from ADMIS, Wedbush, Plus500, StoneX, and Phillip Capital), founder Matt Zimberg has run the firm under his own name since 2004, and no concluded enforcement action appears in 22 years of public record. But a registration exit with a regulator hold of undisclosed cause is exactly the kind of open question our scoring treats conservatively — and it puts forward operational continuity in doubt. If the withdrawal completes, this entity will be unregistered and we will re-score or delist.
Best for
Nobody, until the registration status resolves — verify the current NFA BASIC status (ID 0481133) yourself before opening an account. Existing customers: your funds sit at your clearing FCM under §4d, not at Optimus — confirm your FCM relationship survives any transition.
Skip if
Anyone opening a new account while the withdrawal pends; Canadians (no CIPF, entity-mismatch); anyone who requires a stable, registered counterparty of record.
TraderVerdict brokerage scores assess custodial safety from a Canadian investor perspective. Scores do not constitute investment advice. Verify all details directly with the broker before opening an account.
Evidence & Sources
Scores are on a 1–10 scale. = one step on the scoring ladder. Source links open primary evidence.
“NFA BASIC, ID 0481133 (operator-verified by direct human pull, June 2026): registration status "Pending Withdrawal"; "Firm On Withdrawal Hold". The firm has filed to withdraw its CFTC/NFA registration and NFA has placed a hold on the withdrawal. (Host blocks automated checks — extract is the operator's verified read.)”
“Independent Introducing Broker — CFTC registered, NFA member; supervision via periodic NFA examination and capital filings to NFA. Supervision continues while the registration withdrawal pends.”
“SIPC explicitly excludes commodity futures contracts and futures accounts from coverage. Optimus customers hold futures accounts at US clearing FCMs (ADMIS, Wedbush, Plus500, StoneX, Phillip Capital) — not eligible for SIPC coverage at any link in the chain. No CIPF equivalent exists.”
“No compensation scheme membership — see d2_scheme_membership. No per-customer coverage limit exists at the IB or at any of the five clearing FCMs for futures accounts.”
“Client funds are held at the selected clearing firm in fully segregated customer accounts in accordance with CFTC Regulation 1.20; Optimus Futures does not custody customer funds. Your trading capital is kept entirely separate from the corporate operating funds of both Optimus Futures and the clearing firm.”
“Customer funds are held and invested (if at all) by the selected clearing FCM under CFTC Regulation 1.25 — Optimus has no custody or investment authority. Per-FCM investment practice varies across the five offered FCMs.”
“Independent (non-guaranteed) Introducing Broker — maintains its own adjusted net capital against the CFTC IB minimum ($45,000). IB financial filings go to NFA and are not published; no public capital figures exist for Optimus Futures.”
“Founded January 2004 (~22 years of operation) — BUT NFA BASIC shows registration "Pending Withdrawal" / "Firm On Withdrawal Hold" (operator-verified, June 2026): the firm has filed to end its registered operation.”
“Privately held LLC, founder-owned (Matt Zimberg, Founder & President); no parent company, institutional shareholder, or group capital backstop referenced in any public material reviewed June 2026.”
“Withdrawals are processed by the clearing FCM holding the funds. No documented systemic withdrawal failures, delays, or withdrawal-related complaint patterns against Optimus Futures or its current FCM chain found in evidence review June 2026.”
“Standard ACH/wire withdrawal via the clearing FCM; no unusual documentation requirements or hold policies documented in public materials reviewed June 2026.”
“Commission-based introducing broker; no percentage-based exit fees, forced-haircut paths, or above-norm flat withdrawal fees documented in account documents or public pricing reviewed June 2026.”
“No dormancy-seizure or freeze-forfeiture clauses found in Optimus Futures account documents or public materials reviewed June 2026; customer balances sit at the clearing FCM under §4d.”
“Founded by Matt Zimberg, a futures industry veteran — Founder & President, publicly named on the firm site, industry press, and Crunchbase; Boca Raton, FL office published. NOTE: no public communication from the firm regarding the pending NFA registration withdrawal was found at scoring date.”
“NFA BASIC, ID 0481133 (operator-verified by direct human pull, June 2026): "Firm On Withdrawal Hold." NFA has placed a hold on the firm's registration withdrawal. Withdrawal holds commonly indicate unresolved regulatory obligations; the cause of this hold is not publicly disclosed. No concluded enforcement ACTION against Optimus was found in 22 years of public record.”
“Independent Introducing Broker — agency model: introduces accounts to client-selected clearing FCMs; does not hold funds, clear trades, or act as principal counterparty.”
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Risk notice
NFA withdrawal pending as of June 2026 — verify current registration status before opening an account
Primary sources
Every Optimus Futures variable score traces to a public, primary source. The full verbatim extract and verification date for each is in the Evidence tab above; the underlying documents are listed here.