PropBench Benchmarking Methodology

PropBench benchmarks the plans sold by prop trading firms and tracks every change those firms make to their prices, rules and help center articles. This section describes how we measure plans and how we collect and label changes.

We measure the rules, not the trader. Every plan is scored with the same plain math on its published rules: what a try costs against the odds of reaching a payout, how fast and how much a steady trader gets paid, how many trading restrictions apply, and how often the firm changes the rules. Anyone can check the numbers with a calculator. Firms can't pay to change a score.

We cover two kinds of prop firm, ranked separately: futures firms and perpetual (perps) firms that fund traders on crypto and other perpetual futures markets.

• Plan: One product a firm sells at one account size, for example a 50K evaluation.
• Evaluation: The test phase you pay for. Hit the profit target without breaking a rule to get funded.
• Funded account: The account you trade after passing, where payouts come from.
• Max drawdown: How far the account can fall from its high water mark (or its start, if static) before it is lost.
• End of day trailing: The drawdown floor moves up with your balance at each session close.
• Intraday trailing: The drawdown floor follows open profit during the day, even on trades you later give back.
• Daily loss limit: The most you can lose in one day. Some firms end the day, others end the account.
• Consistency rule: Your best day must stay under a set share of total profit before you pass or get paid.
• Payout buffer: Profit you must leave in the funded account above its starting balance.
• Activation fee: A one time fee some firms charge after you pass.
• Nerf: A change that makes a plan worse or more expensive for traders.
• Buff: A change that makes a plan better for traders.