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Last updated: 2026-06-12 · 38 terms
Every term you will meet when evaluating a proprietary trading firm, defined in plain English. Each definition is self-contained and citable. When you are ready to apply them, the live ranking scores 21 firms on these exact mechanics, the compare tool puts any two side-by-side, and the methodology page shows how each factor is weighted.
A company that lets traders trade the firm's capital instead of their own. Modern retail prop firms qualify traders through paid evaluations and share the resulting profits, typically paying the trader 80-90% of gains.
A paid test phase in which a trader must hit a profit target without breaking any loss rules to earn a funded account. Evaluations are sold as 1-step, 2-step, or instant-funding programs.
An evaluation passed in a single phase: hit one profit target (commonly 9-10%) under drawdown rules and you are funded. Faster but usually priced higher per attempt than 2-step programs.
An evaluation with two consecutive phases, commonly an 8% target in phase 1 followed by 5% in phase 2. Slower than 1-step but typically cheaper and with more forgiving rules.
A program that skips the evaluation entirely: the trader pays a higher upfront fee and receives a funded account immediately, usually with tighter drawdown rules and a lower starting profit split.
The account a trader receives after passing an evaluation. At most retail prop firms this is a simulated account mirroring live market conditions, with payouts honored from company revenue.
The decline from a peak in account equity or balance. Prop firms cap drawdown daily and overall; exceeding either cap fails the evaluation or terminates the funded account.
The maximum a trader may lose in a single day, commonly 4-6% of account size. Depending on the firm it resets at midnight server time and may be calculated on balance or equity.
The total loss cap for the account, commonly 8-12%. It is implemented as static, trailing, or end-of-day drawdown, and the variant matters more than the headline number.
A loss floor that rises as the account makes new equity highs, often locking at breakeven once profit equals the original limit. The strictest drawdown variant: open profits raise the floor permanently at many futures firms.
A drawdown calculated only from the daily closing balance. Intraday swings cannot breach it, which makes EOD the most forgiving drawdown style for volatile strategies.
A fixed loss floor set below the starting balance that never moves, regardless of profits. The simplest drawdown model and the easiest to plan around.
The percentage gain required to pass an evaluation phase, commonly 8-10% in phase 1 and 4-5% in phase 2 for forex firms, or 6-9% at futures firms.
The share of funded-account profits paid to the trader, typically 80-90% and scaling to 95-100% at some firms after consistent payouts.
How often a funded trader can withdraw profits: weekly, bi-weekly, every 14 days, monthly, or on-demand. Actual processing speed in hours is a separate metric worth checking.
A minimum profit the funded account must reach before the first withdrawal is allowed. A $0 threshold means any profit can be withdrawn on the normal cycle.
A published schedule by which the firm increases a consistently profitable trader's capital, for example +25% balance every three profitable months up to a stated maximum allocation.
A rule capping how much of total profit may come from a single trading day, commonly 30-50%. It is designed to filter out one-lucky-trade passes and is most common at futures firms.
The number of distinct days a trader must place trades before passing a phase or requesting a payout, commonly 3-10 days. Prevents passing an evaluation in one session.
A restriction on opening or closing positions in a window around high-impact economic releases, commonly 2-5 minutes before and after. Breaking it can void profits even on a funded account.
An automated trading strategy that runs on MetaTrader platforms. Many firms allow private EAs but ban commercial or copied ones, since identical order flow across accounts signals account sharing.
Mirroring trades from one account or trader to another. Most firms allow copying only between your own accounts at the same firm and ban third-party signal copying.
Algorithmic strategies holding positions for seconds or less. Near-universally banned at retail prop firms, particularly strategies that exploit demo-server price latency.
Holding offsetting positions in the same or correlated instruments. Same-account hedging is often allowed; hedging across accounts or with another trader (group hedging) is a standard ban.
Doubling position size after each loss to recover on the next win. Banned or restricted at most prop firms because it converts small losing streaks into guaranteed drawdown breaches.
The multiple of account balance a trader can control in open positions, commonly 1:30 to 1:100 at forex prop firms. Futures accounts express leverage through per-contract margin instead.
The standard unit of forex position sizing: one lot is 100,000 units of the base currency, a mini is 10,000, a micro is 1,000. Futures use exchange-defined contracts and micro contracts instead.
The gap between bid and ask price, paid implicitly on every trade. Raw-spread account types narrow the spread and charge an explicit commission instead.
An explicit per-trade fee, commonly $3-7 per standard lot round-turn in forex or $0.50-4 per side per contract in futures, charged on top of or instead of spread markup.
The difference between the requested and the filled price, occurring in fast or thin markets. Firms running simulated funded accounts may model slippage to keep fills realistic.
A discounted fee to restart a failed evaluation from scratch rather than buying a new one. Some firms offer periodic free resets as a promotion.
An evaluation fee the firm returns once the trader is funded or alongside the first payout. Effectively makes the evaluation free for traders who succeed.
Breaking any account rule: exceeding a drawdown cap, trading through a news window, or violating consistency requirements. A breach fails an evaluation or terminates a funded account, and profits from rule-breaking trades can be denied.
A funded account executed on demo infrastructure with payouts honored from company revenue rather than brokerage profits. The dominant model in retail prop trading since 2024; live-funded means real capital at a brokerage.
A-book firms pass trades through to real markets or liquidity providers; B-book firms internalize the risk, meaning the firm profits when traders lose. Evaluation-stage trading is effectively B-book at most retail prop firms.
An account type or rule set allowing positions to be held through news events and weekends, usually in exchange for lower leverage. Standard accounts often require flat positions before the weekly close.
A rule that flags or closes an account after a period with no trades, commonly 14-30 days. Funded traders need at least occasional activity to keep the account alive.
Trustpilot's 1-5 aggregate rating for a business. Trustpilot removes the score entirely when it detects paid or incentivized reviews; propfirms.now flags firms whose TrustScore is currently removed.