Frequently Asked Questions

A proprietary trading ("prop") firm gives traders access to the firm's capital to trade. In the modern retail model, you typically pay a fee to take an evaluation that tests whether you can hit a profit target without breaking the firm's risk rules. Pass it, and you receive a funded account — usually a simulated account mirrored to the firm's real positions — and keep a share (commonly 80–100%) of the profits you generate. The firm makes money from evaluation fees, resets and from the spread between your performance and what they pay out.

Most evaluations ask you to grow a demo balance to a set profit target (often 6–10%) while staying within a maximum drawdown and, usually, a daily loss limit. Evaluations come in several formats: one-step (a single target), two-step (a Challenge plus a Verification phase, common in forex), three-step, and instant funding (you skip the test and pay for a funded account directly, usually with stricter rules). Some firms also require a minimum number of trading days so you can't pass in a single lucky session.

Most retail prop firms fund you on a simulated (demo) account and pay your profit share from their own capital, hedging or mirroring the trades they choose to take live. A smaller number of firms place you on a live, real-money brokerage account. Neither is inherently better — what matters is whether the firm pays reliably. "Sim-funded" is not a red flag by itself; it's the industry norm.

Earnings depend on your skill, the account size, the profit split and how reliably the firm pays. A consistently profitable trader on a 100K account keeping 90% might withdraw a few hundred to a few thousand dollars in a good month, scaling up as they unlock larger accounts. But the majority of evaluation buyers never reach a payout. Treat the evaluation fee as the cost of a test, trade the funded account conservatively, and scale only once you have proven consistency.

Start with the drawdown model (static and EOD are friendlier than intraday trailing), then the rules that matter for your style — news trading, overnight/weekend holds, EAs and copy trading. Next weigh payout reliability and speed, the profit split and scaling plan, the platforms offered, and total cost including activation and reset fees. Finally, sanity-check the firm's reputation: Trustpilot score, company age, ownership transparency and community sentiment. Our reviews and comparison tools score every firm on exactly these dimensions.

The drawdown model is the single most important rule to understand. A trailing (intraday) drawdown follows your account's highest point tick-by-tick, so as your unrealised profit rises, your loss buffer shrinks in real time — this is the most punishing model. A trailing end-of-day (EOD) drawdown only moves up once per day at the close, giving you room to breathe intraday. A static drawdown never moves at all: your loss limit stays fixed regardless of profit, which is the most forgiving and easiest to manage. Always check which model a firm uses before buying.

A daily loss limit (DLL) caps how much you can lose in a single trading day. If your balance or equity drops by more than the limit on any day, the account is failed — even if your overall drawdown is still intact. The DLL is usually measured from your starting balance each day (or from your highest equity that day), so it pays to know exactly how your firm calculates it. Disciplined traders set a personal stop well inside the DLL to avoid accidental breaches.

A consistency rule limits how much of your total profit can come from a single day or trade — for example, no single day may exceed 30–40% of your total profit before a payout. It is designed to reward steady, repeatable trading rather than one oversized gamble. Consistency rules most often apply before your first withdrawal. If you make most of your money in one session, you may have to keep trading to "balance out" your profit distribution before you can withdraw.

Breaching a hard rule — exceeding the maximum drawdown or daily loss limit — almost always ends ("blows") the account immediately, and you forfeit any unpaid profit. Soft rule violations (trading a banned news event, exceeding max contracts, or breaking a consistency target) may instead void specific trades, delay a payout, or require you to reset. Always read the rulebook: enforcement differs between firms, and some apply rules retroactively, which is a common source of complaints.

Payout speed varies widely. Some futures firms offer on-demand or sub-24-hour payouts, while many forex firms pay bi-weekly. Always check the minimum trading days and first-payout rules.

Payout speed varies enormously. Many futures firms now offer on-demand or sub-24-hour payouts once you meet the minimum trading days and a small profit buffer; some forex firms still pay bi-weekly. Reliability matters more than speed: a firm that pays in a week but sometimes denies withdrawals is worse than one that pays in two weeks every time. Look for documented payout proof, the firm's track record, and read the fine print on first-payout requirements, consistency rules and minimum withdrawal amounts.

Yes — discount codes reduce the evaluation or activation fee at checkout (they never change your risk rules or profit split). Futures firms are especially aggressive, frequently running 50–90% off, while forex firms typically discount 10–50%. Codes come from site-wide sales, affiliate partners and seasonal promotions like Black Friday. Most firms allow only one code per purchase. We keep a verified, up-to-date list of current codes on our discount-codes page.

The evaluation fee is what you pay to attempt the challenge. Some firms then charge a one-time or monthly activation fee to switch on the funded account after you pass. A reset is what you pay to restart a failed (or struggling) evaluation without buying a brand-new account — usually cheaper than a fresh evaluation. Cheap resets are a genuine cost advantage, so factor them in when comparing firms.