What is a prop firm? How prop trading firms work

A prop firm evaluation is a paid test. You pay a one-time fee or a monthly subscription, trade a simulated account to a profit target while staying inside loss limits, and, if you pass, trade a funded account whose profits the firm shares with you. The fee runs from $74 to $3,495 at $100K across the 26 firms pricing that size in our dataset as of 13 September 2026, with a median of $489.

What you are actually buying

You are buying two things: a simulated trading account and a rules contract. The account carries no real capital during the evaluation. The firm's money is not at risk while you trade the test; it runs on simulated pricing. The fee is the only capital you commit. If you breach a rule, the account closes and the fee is gone.

The rules contract decides your outcome. It sets the profit target, the maximum loss, the daily loss, any consistency cap, the minimum number of trading days and the conduct the firm prohibits. Those terms live on the firm's terms pages, not on the pricing banner. Our screener stores the sentence behind every figure it records, and a human confirms each one before publication ^[1].

The evaluation formats

Four formats cover the market. A one-step evaluation asks for one profit target. FTMO's 1-Step at $100K lists at EUR 499, EUR 399 on promotion, with a 10 percent target and a 10 percent maximum loss as of 13 September 2026. A two-step evaluation splits the test into two targets. FTMO's 2-Step at $100K lists at EUR 540, EUR 439 on promotion, with targets of 10 then 5 percent. FundedNext's Stellar 2-Step at $100K costs $549.99, with targets of 8 then 5 percent and a 10 percent static maximum loss. Apex's Standard evaluation at $100K lists at $399, $39.90 on promotion, with a $6,000 target and a $3,000 trailing drawdown.

Three-step programmes add a further stage; none of the priced examples here uses one.

Instant funding skips the test. You pay more and start on a funded-style account. Alpha Capital's Alpha Direct costs $457 at $100K. Hola Prime's Direct Account lists at $1,259, $1,007.20 on promotion, captured during a sitewide promotion. The $3,495 top of the $100K range belongs to IQ Capital's Instant Funding product, $699 on promotion.

The rules that end an account

Five rule types close accounts. The maximum loss is the floor: once equity or balance drops below it, the account fails. Apex sets it at $3,000 trailing at $100K; FTMO and The5ers state a 10 percent static maximum loss, $10,000 at $100K. The daily loss limit caps what you can lose in one session; FTMO applies 5 percent on its 2-Step and 3 percent on its 1-Step. Most firms publish daily limits only in prose, and Take Profit Trader confirms it has none on any tier. The consistency rule caps your best day as a share of total profit: 29 of 36 firms in our dataset record one on at least one programme as of 5 November 2026, with thresholds from 15 to 55 percent; 50 percent was the most common threshold as of 13 September 2026. Minimum trading days force the test to last: 16 firms record a figure, IQ Capital 30 days and Trade The Pool 20 days at the top, several firms 0 or 1. Prohibited conduct covers news trading, weekend holding, automation and copy trading, and it varies by firm.

Two rules combine like this. Topstep's $100K Combine sets a $6,000 target, a $3,000 maximum loss and a 50 percent consistency target. A 50 percent cap on a $6,000 target means no single day may count for more than $3,000 of the profit. A $3,200 day leaves you needing at least $6,400 in total before the account passes, because the best day must fall to half of the total. The target did not move; your best day moved it for you.

What happens after you pass

The funded account is usually still simulated. The firm pays you a share of the profit you make on it, from its own cash, and decides separately whether to route your trading to a live market. Three firms disclose how often that happens: DayTraders.com states about 1 percent of sim-funded traders move to live, at the firm's discretion; Topstep reports 0.71 percent reached Live in 2025 ^[2]; Tradeify reports 3.0 percent of funded accounts called up to Live Funded between August 2025 and July 2026 ^[3].

The profit split floor is 80 percent at most firms in our dataset, and the median floor is 80 percent. 15 of 36 firms advertise up to 100 percent on at least one programme as of 5 November 2026. Apex pays 100 percent flat, FundingPips 95 percent flat, FTMO 90 percent flat. Two floors sit below 80: Maven Trading at 70 percent and TradeDay at 50 percent, rising to 90. "Up to" means a ladder you climb over several payouts, and Funded Trading Plus now sells its 90 percent tier as a paid add-on, per our changelog of 6 September 2026.

The first payout window is the number of active trading days you must complete on the funded account before you can request money. 29 of 36 firms state one in structured form as of 5 November 2026, and 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, and TradeDay allowed a first request after 1 day, FundedNext and Topstep after 3, Apex after 5, FTMO after 14.

What you risk

You risk the fee, any reset fees and the time. A reset buys a fresh attempt at the same account; Topstep charges $99 for one at $100K. Subscription products bill again each month whether or not you pass: Topstep's Combine costs $99 per month at $100K, TradeDay's Intraday $240 per month, $108 on promotion.

Two firms publish an evaluation funnel, both self-reported and unaudited. Topstep's 2025 figures show 16.8 percent of Combines passed and 51.8 percent of participants passed at least once ^[2]. Tradeify's figures for August 2025 to July 2026 show 17.2 percent of evaluations completed successfully and 40.3 percent of participants advanced to Funded in at least one evaluation ^[3]. The gap between the two numbers at each firm is repeat attempts. No firm in our dataset publishes a first-attempt pass rate. Of funded participants, 33.3 percent at Topstep and 28.5 percent at Tradeify received a payout. No firm publishes a payout denial rate.

Where the money comes from

Fees fund the business. The evaluation fee is revenue on day one, resets and subscriptions add to it, and payouts go to the minority of funded traders who profit. A firm that owns a broker adds spread and commission income: FTMO owns OANDA, and FTMO's parent OHM reported 2025 consolidated revenue of CZK 8.9 billion, up 30 percent ^[4]. We take the unit economics apart in our revenue mechanics piece.

What this means for you

Price the whole attempt, not the list price; the cheapest prop firm ranking shows list and promo prices side by side. Add resets, subscription months and any activation fee before you compare firms, and treat a promotion as today's price, not a discount you earned.

Read the rules before the target. The target is the same $6,000 at Apex and Topstep at $100K as of 13 September 2026. The consistency cap, the drawdown type and the daily loss limit decide whether you reach it.

Expect the funded account to stay simulated. The disclosed live-transition rates run from 0.71 to 3.0 percent at the three firms that state one. Judge a firm by its payout terms and its record of paying, not by the word "funded".

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.