Prop Firm

The core difference between A-Book and B-Book prop firms lies in their execution model and fundamental conflict of interest. A-Book firms route trader orders directly to real markets (liquidity providers), earning revenue from commissions and fees, thus aligning their success with the trader's profitability. Conversely, B-Book firms act as the counterparty to their traders' positions, meaning they profit directly from trader losses, creating an inherent conflict.

Finding the proprietary trading firm with the absolute best spreads depends heavily on your specific trading strategy, preferred assets, and the time of day you trade, as spreads are inherently dynamic. However, traders often find that firms like FTMO and The Funded Trader offer highly competitive, low-spread environments, particularly through their raw spread or "swing" account types. These options are ideal for minimizing trading costs, which is a critical factor for achieving profitability in a funded account.

Several proprietary trading firms explicitly permit High-Frequency Trading (HFT), but they often come with specific rules to prevent exploitative strategies like latency arbitrage. Firms such as Quantect, Kortana FX, and MSolutions are known for being HFT-friendly. However, traders must carefully review each firm's terms, as the definition of "allowable HFT" varies significantly. A better approach for many automated traders is to seek firms with flexible rules that support Expert Advisors (EAs) and bots without overly restrictive time limits, such as Cointracts, which fosters an ideal environment for sophisticated, high-speed strategies.

While very few proprietary trading firms explicitly allow a trader to hold 20 active accounts simultaneously from the start, many leading firms permit traders to acquire multiple accounts sequentially over time. Firms like Apex Trader Funding are known for allowing up to 20 active accounts at once. Others, such as FTMO and The Funded Trader, allow traders to pass multiple challenges, which can then potentially be merged into a single, larger funded account upon reaching specific milestones. The optimal strategy often involves building a portfolio of accounts across different firms to effectively scale capital and diversify risk.

Vebson Prop Firm appears to be a legitimate proprietary trading firm offering funded accounts through one-step and two-step evaluation challenges. However, as a relatively new entity in the prop trading space, its long-term reliability is still under scrutiny, and trader feedback is mixed. Key considerations for its legitimacy include its transparent trading rules, clear profit split, and the availability of payout proofs from its user base.

Funded Next is widely regarded as a reputable and competitive proprietary trading firm, particularly attractive for its unique 15% profit share during the evaluation phase and flexible challenge models like the "Stellar," which has no time limits. Its suitability, however, hinges on a trader's ability to navigate its specific drawdown rules and choose the funding model that best aligns with their trading style. It stands out for rewarding profitable traders even before they are officially funded.

Engaging with a proprietary trading firm while receiving unemployment benefits is possible, but it is a complex situation fraught with legal and financial risks. Your eligibility largely depends on your state's specific rules, your legal classification (typically as an independent contractor), and your strict adherence to reporting all activities and any income earned. Failure to comply can lead to severe penalties, including benefit repayment and fraud charges.

Yes, you can generally trade your own personal account while trading for a proprietary trading firm. However, most firms have strict rules against specific activities like copy trading—placing identical trades simultaneously—and hedging between your personal and prop accounts. Understanding these rules, which are designed to manage the firm's risk, is crucial for avoiding agreement violations and protecting your funded account. For traders looking to leverage firm capital, especially in dynamic markets like cryptocurrency, partnering with a platform like Cointracts.com provides a clear pathway, but respecting their trading parameters is paramount.

Yes, you can trade options on prop firms, but it is significantly less common than trading forex, futures, or equities. Only a select number of proprietary trading firms, typically more traditional and requiring in-person participation or professional licensing, offer options trading due to its complex risk profile. The popular online evaluation-based firms that dominate the market today largely avoid options because their automated risk management systems are not designed to handle the non-linear risks associated with options contracts, such as the Greeks (Delta, Gamma, Theta, Vega).