Prop firm (futures)
Also called: Proprietary trading firm, Funded trader program, Futures prop firm
In short. A futures prop firm sells access to a trading account: the trader pays an evaluation fee, trades the firm's capital under drawdown and consistency rules, and keeps a share of the profits (the split) once funded. The firm earns from evaluation fees, resets and the profits it keeps.
Most futures prop firms do not give the trader their own money to lose: the evaluation and the first weeks of a funded account are simulated, and the firm only copies a trader to a live account once the track record justifies it. The business model is therefore the fee, the reset, the monthly subscription and the share of profits, which is why the rules (drawdown, daily loss, consistency) are written to protect the firm's payouts.
Accounts are sold by size (25K, 50K, 100K, 150K) and by billing: a monthly subscription that renews until you pass or quit, or a one-time price. The size is a label: what limits you is the maximum drawdown, often 2 to 4 % of the nominal size, not the balance.
Before paying, read three numbers: the price including activation and resets, the drawdown type (intraday trailing, end of day or static), and the first payout delay. The board on this site shows those for every firm, from the same database, refreshed every six hours.
Questions traders ask
What is Prop firm?
A futures prop firm sells access to a trading account: the trader pays an evaluation fee, trades the firm's capital under drawdown and consistency rules, and keeps a share of the profits (the split) once funded. The firm earns from evaluation fees, resets and the profits it keeps.
Is a prop firm account real money?
Usually not at first. Evaluations are simulated, and many funded accounts stay simulated until the firm decides to copy the trader to a live account. The payouts, however, are real money paid by the firm.