Recommended Prop Firms

The Trading Pit is a Liechtenstein-registered firm running CFD Prime, Futures Prime and a Stocks Challenge on a flat 80% split. Two changes on 29 April 2026 reshaped the deal: the fee rebate moved from your 1st payout to your 3rd, and the drawdown on the largest accounts switched from static to trailing. The rule that ends most accounts here is not a drawdown at all - it is the inactivity clock, which starts the day you buy, not the day you first trade.

Funded Trading Plus sells three programmes - Instant Funding, 1-Step Express and 2-Step Classic - on MT5 and Match-Trader, with an 80% base split. Two things reshaped the firm in 2026: the entire product line was replaced in February, taking the fee rebate with it, and the company was acquired by Instant Funding in May. It is UK-registered and says plainly that it is not FCA regulated. The 2-Step carries a 3% single-symbol loss limit that terminates the account outright.

The5ers (Five Percent Online Ltd, a UK company — but contracted under Israeli law with exclusive jurisdiction in Tel Aviv) runs four CFD programmes: Bootcamp, Hyper Growth, Pro Growth and High Stakes. Its real strengths are genuine: drawdown is STATIC on every CFD programme, the split scales to 100% for free rather than as a paid add-on, and High Stakes offers 1:100 leverage. But two things are widely misreported. First, a 3.5% commission is taken from EVERY cash withdrawal — Rise, crypto and bank transfer alike; the only 0% route is non-convertible Hub Credit. Second, the celebrated ~70% fee refund is High Stakes only, is paid as account equity rather than cash, and is itself subject to that 3.5% on the way out. The rule that decides most accounts is the 0.5% profitable-day definition: on a $100K you need $500 of closed profit in a day to qualify, and an open losing position at midnight wipes the day out entirely.

E8 Markets (E8 Funding LLC, Dallas + E8 Markets Ltd, Saint Lucia) runs three single-phase products: E8 Zero, E8 One and E8 Pro. Two things dominate. First, the profit split is a PAID CHOICE at checkout — in E8's own words, 'select 80%, 90%, or 100% at checkout. Higher splits cost more upfront,' and the choice is permanent. Second, and more dangerous: on E8 Zero and E8 Pro your first payout permanently raises the loss level to your initial balance. E8's own worked example shows a $104,000 account requesting a $4,000 payout, dropping to $100,000, and BREACHING immediately. Withdrawing your own profit can destroy the account that produced it. E8 Zero also deactivates permanently after 5 payouts, capping lifetime earnings between $15,000 and $35,000 depending on account size. There is no fee refund of any kind.

Alpha Capital Group is a UK-registered prop firm running four evaluation paths - Alpha One, Alpha Pro, Alpha Swing and Alpha Three - on MT5, cTrader, DX Trade and TradeLocker. The split is a flat 80% on every plan, and scaling raises your balance rather than your share. Every plan uses a static drawdown except Alpha One, which trails. The fee is non-refundable, and the rule that ends most accounts here is not a drawdown at all - it is the 2-minute average trade duration test.

Crypto Fund Trader is a crypto-first prop firm running 1-Phase, 2-Phase, Instant and Break evaluations on simulated capital up to $300,000, across MetaTrader 5, Match-Trader and Bybit. The base split is 80%, and the default payout cycle is 15 traded days or every 30 calendar days - weekly payouts and the 90% split are both paid add-ons. Simulated profit is hard-capped at $10,000 per day and per trade, with the excess deducted, which is the rule most crypto traders here meet first.

Trade The Pool is one of the very few prop firms built specifically for stock and ETF traders, the equities-focused arm of the 5%ers group (Five Percent Online Ltd). It offers simulated trading of more than 12,000 US-listed stocks and ETFs, including short-selling and penny stocks, with no Pattern Day Trader rule, on its own platform built on TraderEvolution. Its defining feature is a buying-power model paired with a Pump scaling engine that grows your buying power and daily-loss allowance by 10 percent at each 10 percent profit milestone. You pick a Flex track with unlimited time and fewer rules, or a cheaper Max track with a 60-day window and a stricter consistency rule, with day-trade buying power from 5,000 to 200,000 plus swing tiers. The profit split is 70 percent, payouts start 14 days after inception with a 300 dollar minimum, and US traders are welcomed. It is simulated and does not offer futures or crypto.

Sway Funded is operated by SF Funded LTD (Saint Lucia, reg. 2026-00408), with payments — both fees and payouts — handled by a separate Cyprus company, Corvexia Holding LTD. It is unregulated. The rule that decides most accounts is unusual and severe: BOTH drawdowns trail by default, including the DAILY loss limit, which ratchets upward intraday with every new equity high. In Sway's own words, 'whenever a new high-water mark is recorded, the maximum daily loss level trails upward in real time.' Giving back an intraday gain can therefore breach you while you are still up on the day. Making the drawdowns static requires a PAID add-on. The 90% split is also a paid add-on (base is 80%), payouts are crypto-only with a 1.5% fee, and the binding refund policy says all payments are 'strictly non-refundable' despite the help centre promising a fee refund. Note too that the homepage 'Recent Rewards' feed lists account sizes Sway does not sell.

Hantec Trader is the prop arm associated with Hantec Markets — and the relationship needs care. The prop entity is Hantec Trader Limited (Mauritius, Company No. C191400), which is UNREGULATED. The FCA-regulated broker, Hantec Markets Limited (FRN 502635), is a legally separate company, and Hantec says so plainly: 'Hantec Trader Limited (MU) and Hantec Markets Limited are two entirely separate entities... you will not have the benefit of regulatory protections.' That is the most honest disclosure we have read in this sector — even though the product is served from a subdomain of the regulated broker's own domain. Two things decide most accounts. The 95% split is a PAID add-on (base is 80%), and you can also buy your way out of the consistency rule. And every reward request — not just the first — locks your maximum loss to your starting balance: Hantec's own example shows an account breaching after losing a single cent.