Futures vs CFD Prop Firms: The First Decision

The first choice is not the drawdown type or the price. It is the market. 5 futures-only firms sit among the 30 firms with structured programme data in our dataset as of 13 September 2026: Apex, Lucid Trading, MFFU, Topstep and TradeDay. Trade The Pool trades US stocks, The5ers runs a futures line beside its CFD business, and 23 firms offer CFDs, 21 of them multi-asset and 2 CFD-only, Alpha Capital Group and Hola Prime.

Two industries under one name

Futures firms give you a simulated account on exchange-listed futures contracts through Tradovate, Rithmic or a proprietary platform. Apex lists Tradovate, Rithmic and other vendors; Topstep runs its own TopstepX; Tradeify lists Tradovate, WealthCharts and Rithmic. All 5 futures-only firms are US companies: Topstep and TradeDay in Chicago, Apex in Austin, Lucid Trading in Delaware, MFFU in the USA. Their rules speak in dollars and contracts. Apex caps a $100K account at 8 minis and Topstep at 10.

CFD firms give you a simulated account on over-the-counter contracts through MetaTrader 5, cTrader, TradeLocker, MatchTrader or DXtrade. FTMO lists MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView via a broker connection; E8 Markets lists MT5, TradeLocker, cTrader, MatchTrader and its own E8 Terminal; Alpha Capital lists MT5, cTrader, TradeLocker and DXtrade. The entities sit in Prague (FTMO), London (Alpha Capital, FXIFY, OneFunded), Dubai (FundingPips, IQ Capital), Ajman (FundedNext) and Amsterdam (BrightFunded). Their rules speak in percentages of account size.

How the rules differ

Drawdown is the sharpest split. Apex's $100K account carries a $3,000 trailing drawdown against a $6,000 target as of 13 September 2026. FTMO's $100K account carries a 10 percent static maximum loss, $10,000, against a 10 percent target on its 1-Step and 10 then 5 percent on its 2-Step. The futures trader has half the target as room to lose and a floor that follows equity upward; the CFD trader has room equal to the target and a floor that stays put. Of the 16 firms in our dataset that record a drawdown mode, 9 use end-of-day trailing, and 4 of those 9 are futures-only firms: Apex, Lucid Trading, MFFU and TradeDay.

Consistency caps run through both camps. Topstep sets 50 percent, TradeDay 30, Trade The Pool 30 on stocks, Blue Guardian 40 on its futures line, MFFU 50 on some programmes. On the CFD side FTMO applies a 50 percent Best Day Rule on its 1-Step only, Alpha Capital 40, Hola Prime 50, Goat Funded 15, SabioTrade 55. Apex states no consistency rule on its current evaluation.

Pricing and billing

Futures evaluations cost less at $100K and, until this year, billed monthly. Topstep's Combine costs $99 per month and TradeDay's Intraday $240 per month, $108 on promotion; those two products account for all 7 monthly-billed rows of 159 in our dataset. Apex's Standard evaluation lists at $399 one-time, $39.90 on promotion. The median list price at $100K across all 26 firms that price that size is $489, and the CFD examples cluster around it: FTMO 2-Step EUR 540, FundedNext Stellar 2-Step $549.99, FundingPips Master $555, E8 Markets E8 One $216.

The billing gap is closing. On 6 September 2026 our changelog recorded MyFundedFutures ending subscriptions for one-time plans, Bulenox dropping monthly billing for a one-time fee with 30-day access, and DNA Funded, a CFD firm, moving to a single one-time fee per size.

Payout behaviour

Futures firms pay faster and, at the top, pay everything. Apex pays 100 percent flat and allows a first payout after 5 active trading days. TradeDay allows a first request after 1 day but starts its split at 50 percent, rising to 90. Topstep allows a first request after 3 days, pays from $10, and caps each cycle at $12,000 and each account at $250,000.

CFD firms pay a fixed high split on a longer clock. FTMO pays 90 percent flat with a first window of 14 days. FundingPips pays 95 percent flat with a $1 minimum. FundedNext pays 80 to 95 percent from day 3 with a $10 minimum. Across the 29 firms that state a first window as of 5 November 2026, the median of each firm's shortest window is 4 days; as of 13 September 2026, 14 days was the most common value, at 6 firms. The profit split floor is 80 percent at most firms on both sides.

Who stands behind the account

Two futures firms now own CFTC-registered introducing brokers. Topstep Brokerage, an NFA member clearing through Plus500, opened its waitlist on 27 January 2026 ^[1]. Tradeify Brokerage LLC, trading as Slay Markets with NFA ID 0575972 and NinjaTrader clearing, launched on 19 May 2026 ^[2]. Topstep also obtained CTA approval in April 2026 and registered as a swap firm with the NFA on 2 May 2026, voluntarily ^[6]. Position as of 17 August 2026, per Dechert's note on the CFTC's 2026 regulatory priorities agenda: the agenda omits evaluation-based prop firms, and neither the CFTC nor the NFA has issued a statement on them ^[3].

CFD firms depend on a platform vendor and a broker. In mid-February 2024 MetaQuotes forced white-label brokers to cut off prop firms with active US accounts; Funding Pips, via BlackBull, was first, and FundedNext, The5ers and FTMO were also affected ^[4]; see our research on broker-dependencies. FTMO's answer was to buy a broker: its purchase of OANDA closed on 1 December 2025 ^[5]. FXIFY's trading side is Prime Intermarket Group Eurasia Ltd in Mauritius, Investment Dealer Licence GB24204066; FXIFY Solutions Limited in the UK is payment agent; and on 6 September 2026 its restricted list grew to about 35 countries including the United States. Most CFD firms disclose neither their liquidity provider nor their execution model.

Which to choose

Choose by the product you trade first. Index and commodity futures in contract sizes point you to the 5 futures firms; forex, metals and multi-asset CFDs point you to the 23 CFD firms. Then check residency: several CFD firms lost US MetaTrader access in February 2024 and FXIFY now bars the United States, while the 5 futures firms are US companies. Then check automation. FTMO, E8 Markets and Alpha Capital list MT5 and cTrader; Topstep runs TopstepX only; Apex lets you pick Tradovate, Rithmic or another vendor at checkout. Our dataset records platform lists, not automation permissions, so confirm those on the terms page before you pay.

What this means for you

Compare futures firms with futures firms. A $3,000 trailing floor and a $10,000 static floor are not the same product at a different price, and a $99 monthly bill and a EUR 540 one-time fee do not sit on the same cost line.

Read the payout page before the split. Apex's 100 percent flat and TradeDay's 1-day first window are real, but TradeDay's split starts at 50 percent and Topstep caps each cycle at $12,000.

Use the entity behind the account as a filter. Two futures firms and one CFD firm now own a broker; most firms disclose nothing beyond a platform list. Absence of disclosure is a data point.

Data note

Figures marked "our dataset" come from the PropTraderCheck structured dataset, and each carries its own date. Figures as of 13 September 2026 come from that snapshot: 30 firms with structured programme data (of 37 tracked), 159 programme rows, 48 programmes. Figures as of 5 November 2026 come from that snapshot: 36 firms with structured programme data, 916 programme rows. Regulatory positions are stated as of the date given and change.