Prop Firm Compare

Price vs. total cost to get funded

Sticker price tells you almost nothing. A $50 challenge with tight trailing drawdown and a 15-day minimum can easily cost $300+ in resets before you pass. A $150 challenge with EOD drawdown and rules that match your strategy might be cheaper overall. When comparing, add up the eval price, likely resets, activation fee, and data feed charges you pay every month while attempting. That total is what it actually costs to get funded.

Profit split: what it means and what to watch for

Profit splits range from 75/25 to 95/5 across the industry. A higher number looks better on paper, but some firms offset generous splits with higher eval fees, tighter drawdown rules, or slower payout schedules. A firm offering 80/20 with weekly payouts and relaxed rules can net you more than one advertising 90/10 with biweekly payouts and a consistency rule that caps your best days.

Max payout limits and scaling

Most firms cap how much you can withdraw per payout cycle, especially early on. Your first payout might be limited to $2,000 or $5,000 regardless of how much profit you have made. Topstep gives you 100% of your first $10,000, then moves to 90/10. If you plan to scale, account limits matter too. Apex allows up to 20 accounts. MFFU allows up to 10. Running five $50K accounts at a firm with relaxed rules might generate more total income than a single $150K account with tighter restrictions.

Days to payout: how fast you actually get paid

Profit split and payout speed are two different things. You can have a 90/10 split and still wait 30 days to see money in your bank account. Most firms require 5 to 14 trading days before your first withdrawal. After that, Topstep pays weekly. Alpha Futures pays every 14 days on Standard, every 5 winning days on Zero and Advanced. MFFU runs a 14-day cycle. First payouts are almost always slower due to extra KYC verification.

Consistency rules and why they matter

A consistency rule limits how much of your total profit can come from a single trading day. A common version is "no single day can exceed 40-50% of your total net profits." Not all firms have them. Some apply it only during eval and drop it once funded. Others keep it active, which affects how aggressively you can trade after passing. If you tend to have one or two outsized winning days per month, pay close attention to this rule.

News trading, algos, and scalping restrictions

Most firms allow news trading, but some restrict it to one direction during high-impact events (Apex) or ban it outright during specific windows. Algorithmic trading is allowed at most firms as long as you run your own strategy on your own accounts. Copy trading and signal services are almost universally banned. Scalping is generally permitted, but several firms prohibit micro-scalping (trades under 5-10 seconds or fewer than 4-10 ticks).