Prop firm: definition and what it changes
A prop firm, in the modern sense of proprietary trading, sells evaluations on simulated accounts and pays those who pass a share of the profits made on a funded account.
Updated 15 September 2026Of the 13 evaluation programs we track, 13 are concerned: they offer at least one active evaluation program. Recomputed from the records on 20 September 2026.
Two trades under the same name
The term historically described firms that employed traders to commit their own capital, on salary and bonus, with selection at hiring. The current sense, the one covering the firms compared here, is different: access is not a job but a purchase, the capital is nominal and usually simulated, and the firm's revenue comes first from selling evaluations.
Confusing the two leads to the wrong expectation. A trader taken on by a prop firm in the old sense was paid to learn; a trader who buys an evaluation pays to take a shot, and most do not pass.
How they make money
Three sources, in this order of weight for most futures firms: evaluation fees, reset fees after a failure, and the share of profit kept on funded accounts. Some also pass on market data or platform fees. That model explains why the risk rules are strict: they limit how many accounts reach a payout.
What it means for the trader
A prop firm is not a regulated broker, and the money paid is not a protected deposit. The quality of a firm therefore reads less in its marketing than in three checkable things: how stable its rules are over time, whether payout proofs exist, and how clear its terms are about what triggers the loss of an account.
Where Prop firm shows up on real firms
Of the 13 prop firms we track, 13 meet the “for futures” criterion. The ranking sorts them on verified fields, and every row leads to the record where the rule is detailed program by program.
Related terms
- Evaluation
- An evaluation, or challenge, is the paid test on a simulated account that a trader must pass to obtain a funded account: reaching a profit target without crossing the loss thresholds.
- Funded account
- A funded account is the account, usually simulated, that a prop firm entrusts to a trader after a passed evaluation, and on which they receive a share of the profits made.
- Profit split
- The profit split is the share of simulated profits paid to the trader on a funded account, the rest going to the prop firm: 80% and 90% are the most common levels.