So far I have tried the following prop firms:

• Apex Trader Funding (ATF) - Funded, and Payouts
• TopStep / TopStep Trader - Funded, and Payouts
• My Funded Futures (MFF) - Funded, and Payouts
• Take Profit Trader (TFT)

I don't recommend TFT right now with their current rule that daily loss limit blows up the account. For all the rest and others not listed, they all have their pros and cons, but to me my favorite at any one time is the cheapest options with the most favorable terms. I look at "total cost of ownership" as well as the evaluation, funded, and live rules (if they differ)

Right now my favorite is MFF but only because the total cost of ownership is the lowest and similar terms to the rest (promo going on until April 6th where there is no funding fee). And these constant promos really make it hassle to give a single recommendation at any one time.

I used to like Apex the most from their low cost, and that offset their less than ideal payout terms. Now my go-to is TopStep from the lack of live drawdown (its a daily draw down) plus the fact if you watch their youtube you are basically guaranteed a free reset for your eval if you play their quiz everyday. Also TopStep is bringing in micro to mini 10:1 scaling but only on their new proprietary trading software TopStepX (which is developed and maintained by a different company Sim2Funding) - this isn't public yet but they have giveaways for discounted account if you watch their youtube. I have a funded TopStepX account and its not ground breaking, but just decent. If there are any issues they seem to respond and reserve issues quickly.

I haven't had any egregious issues with any of this companies, or with bad trades that weren't attributed to widespread outages, or issues with payouts (even when I got lucky when I forget it was NVDA earnings in Apex and blew the consistency rule), so all are a-okay in my book, and may work for you if you like their prices, and their rules.

For anyone curious here are the currently all-in rates, assuming you get a new account and pass in one month (all promo codes are listed either on their website, or company socials)
$70 for one month @ MFF - $70/m (30% sale) + $0 funding
$199 for one month @ TopStep - $50/m (no sale) + $149 funding
$197 for one month @ Apex - $37/m (80% sale) + $160 funding
$215 for one month @ TakeProfit - $85/m (50% sale) + $130 funding
*** Note these prices will quickly be out of date as each company has different promos almost every week

In terms of rules to look for, I put together a spreadsheet of the following items I look for

• Allowed trading times (Eval vs Funded vs Live)
• Does violating times blow the account?
• Daily loss? Does it blow the account?
• Drawdown type
• Drawdown amount
• News trading allowed?
• Holiday rules?
• Consistency rules?
• Min trading days for passing eval
• Min trading days for taking payouts
• Max contracts (Eval vs Funded vs Live)
• Contract scaling
• Additional rules

Note that payout profit sharing isn't listed here as a main attribute because I personally don't see it affecting my day trading, of course I would like the most, but if I really wanted the most then I would be trading in an individual brokerage. Also I don't have platform shown because I only trade on Tradovate (and Ninja Web now I guess) due to a partial mobile requirement. If they have MT4/5 as a option that's generally (but not always) a red flag (they can setup ghost / b-book servers, and more easily manipulate fills)

Thanks for putting this together, great info!

Only thing I don't like about TopStep is they are the only prop firm I've tried that restricts its Tradovate accounts from using NinjaTrader. I can use TopStep with TradingView, but they disabled the account from connecting to NinjaTrader Desktop, so the only option with trading TopStep with NinjaTrader is to use TopStep Rithmic account type.

Yeah it seems like Topstep is unhappy with the Tradovate and ninja deals they signed, that’s why they created their own TopStepX. I assume the licensing costs more to allow that functionality

What exactly is TopStep X? Is it pure B Book?

Interesting discussion everyone, thanks!
My 2 cents (and maybe worth every dollar) is that IF a trader is already running their trading activity as a business, and is *consistently* profitable, why in the world would they consider the extra expense and profit share scenarios with any of these companies?
That's a kingsize IF for most retail traders. So leveraging OPM and fixing costs and risk might be just the ticket.
I've found that many of the restrictions that some companies have are rather common sense for those not just tossing coins everyday, and/or those that are really just addicted to the 'action' ala Vegas. But that's how it seems to me, and yes I had to make adjustments to my trading to accommodate certain rules, the hardest of which was the 'trailing drawdown' which in some ways penalizes larger targets. But then over time I realized that larger targets with smaller size managed that just fine, and that regardless of my approach, overtrading is just a bad habit, and that rule specifically helped me see that for myself.
I've also swallowed the 'trade multiple accounts' kookaid, where meager daily goals which are easily achieved most days in the first 30 minutes of trading, when multiplied by 'x' number of accounts has remarkable annualized results and never a worry about one or two losing days being a big deal. It's allowed me to relax more, just trade what's in front of me, reduce hesitation and second guessing entries. For me, that's a big deal and was the 'secret sauce' to becoming consistent and profitable. Now many other traders I've known over the years would scoff at a daily goal of $220, and I was myself among them. But then again I was a feast and famine/hero to horse's ass trader.
Now it's just another day at the office.
While I still can't say I'm completely indifferent to an individual trade's success or failure, I can say that my progress in that area is remarkable (to me) and took months of very concentrated effort to 'unlearn' certain bad habits, like being ok with base hits vs home runs, and EMBRACE the friggin stop when a trade isn't working out vs 'repairing' it. Once I was in a trade it was hard not to defend that decision rather than a constant evaluation of what the market was clearly (in hindsight) telling.
I could not have handled the drawdowns that those bad habits inflicted upon an actual cash account emotionally/mentally.
For me, that is the final frontier, the grail if you will, my own head.
A lot folks say this of course, nothing new here, but as usual I had to discover and correct this for myself. Along the way I learned that much that noise had nothing to do with trading specifically, but money in a more general sense.
So the process of realization, then trade testing my mental shifts, was made affordable and less stressful using OPM.

Good comments and discussion. Thanks everyone!



I'm curious...



For those of you who are currently in business with these firms and may be trading multiple accounts even:



At what point (capitalization) would you move on to trade your own capital exclusively?



Or do you plan on staying with these firms indefinitely and just keep taking out profits?



Thanks.

I think I would always use them and just use them to trade larger on high conviction trades

If you don't bet, you can't win.