Original research · updated September 2026
Prop firm challenge statistics
Every figure on this page is computed from the PropFirmTrading database of 31 prop firms and 616 purchasable challenges, plus 9,822 public trader reviews aggregated across 30 firms. The figures contain no estimates and no survey panels. Journalists and creators may cite any figure with a link to this page.
New: the quarterly report records these numbers in a stable edition that can be cited.
State of Prop Trading - Q3 2026The five terms this page uses
- Challenge / evaluation:
- a paid test. A trader who passes receives a funded account to trade, and the profits are shared with the firm.
- Drawdown:
- the loss limit on an account. A trader who loses more than this limit fails. A static limit stays fixed, and a trailing limit moves up as the trader profits, which is stricter.
- Profit target:
- the amount a trader must make to pass the evaluation.
- Consistency rule:
- a cap on how much of the total profit may come from one day. The rule requires steady gains instead of one large trade.
- Profit split:
- the share of funded-account profit that the trader keeps, for example 90% to the trader.
What a $100K account costs
Account size is nominal, so the averages need one caveat. A $100K futures account typically carries a third of the drawdown room of a $100K CFD account. The price gap below therefore favours futures, and the drawdown-adjusted version follows in the next section.
What $1,000 of drawdown room costs
Drawdown room is the amount a trader may lose before the firm fails the account. The fee buys this allowed loss, not the headline account size. Two $100K accounts can differ threefold on drawdown room, so this section prices each challenge per dollar of allowed loss. Priced this way, the futures price advantage disappears and CFD challenges offer the cheapest room in the industry.
Cheapest funded capital by firm
This table shows what $1,000 of simulated capital costs at each firm, with verified discount codes already applied. Cost per $1,000 is a fair way to compare a $25 challenge against a $500 one. The last column shows the maximum drawdown, because cheap capital usually comes with a thin loss allowance.
How the rulebooks split
Drawdown room vs profit target, by market
The PT:DD ratio shows how many dollars a trader may lose for every dollar of profit target. A ratio of 1:0.65 means 65 cents of allowed loss per dollar of target. A higher ratio is more forgiving, and above 1:1 the trader has more room to lose than the amount that must be earned.
What 9,822 trader reviews say
Cite this data
The quarterly edition is the stable reference, because its figures are frozen and never change under the URL. A current number on this page can be cited by linking its section directly. Every stat block has its own anchor, for example /research#no-consistency-rule.
PropFirmTrading, "State of Prop Trading - Q3 2026," propfirmtrading.net/research/state-of-prop-trading-q3-2026. Licensed CC BY 4.0.
The full statistics can be downloaded under CC BY 4.0. They may be reused in articles, videos or independent analysis with attribution and a link.
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Methodology
Challenge data comes from each firm's published pricing and rulebooks. The database is refreshed by automated scrapes and by manual verification after firm announcements, and prices reflect verified discount codes. Review figures aggregate publicly posted trader reviews on independent platforms, captured July 2026. Averages are simple means unless marked weighted. Drawdown-type and rule shares use only challenges where the firm documents the attribute. All figures regenerate with every site deploy.
Custom cuts of the data, such as a specific market, size tier or rule, are available to journalists and creators on request through the contact page.