Payouts | Smart Prop Trader (2024)

FAQs

What percentage of people pass prop firms? ›

The article from Lux Trading Firm provides slightly different results. According to it, 4% of traders, on average, pass prop firm challenges. But only 1% of traders kept their funded accounts for a reasonable amount of time.

With the Prop Firm challenges, it's not just about failing or winning. You must be profitable and fulfill certain trading objectives which makes it even harder. Less than 1% of traders who attempt the challenge pass and get funded.

Trading firms often provide reasons for payout denials, such as copy trading or multiple IPs. If these are the reasons given, don't panic. Instead, prepare a thoughtful response that explains your trading rationale for each transaction, especially those flagged as copy trading or involving multiple IPs.

Forecasting Monthly Prop Firm Payouts

Because payouts depend on a number of factors (mentioned above), it's difficult to forecast monthly payouts for traders. Based on our experience, you can expect to make at least 5% per month from trading. So, if you start with $10,000, you can expect to make around $500 per month.

There is estimated to be a 90% fail rate of traders that take the FTMO challenge. The reason behind this is due to traders chasing the profit target with a time restriction in place. A trader doesnt know when a winning streak might occur, or when they may take a string of drawdowns.

As much as 95 per cent of day traders lose money in the market, it demands an investigation. Intraday trading is the most popular, yet data suggests that most intraday traders lose money. A 70 percent don't last beyond the first year, and 95 percent stop trading by the third year.

According to FTMO statistics, only about 10% of traders are able to pass the funded account challenge at any account level. This means approximately 90% of aspiring funded traders fail the evaluation and are unable to gain access to the firm's capital.

Understanding the Prop Firm Challenge

At its core, the prop firm challenge can be a way for prop firms to make money from failed challenges. This is because some sources have the failure rate of prop trading challenges at 90%. So for every 10 traders that buy a challenge, 9 will fail.

Becoming a funded trader with a prop firm involves showcasing your trading skills and adherence to risk management during an evaluation process. While the difficulty can vary, it's achievable with consistency, dedication, and a solid trading approach.

However, the FTMO Trader will receive a real financial reward for his trading on the FTMO Account, as long as his trading is profitable and there is no violation of the contractual conditions.

Why is prop trading bad? ›

Personal Risk: One of the significant drawbacks of prop trading is the potential personal financial risk. If a trader doesn't perform well, they may lose their deposit, and in some cases, their job. Loss Limitations: Prop firms often implement daily loss limits to protect their capital.

Profits from trades are generally divided between the firm and the prop trader; however, the risk distribution is asymmetric. This means that in the event of a loss, the trader bears 100% of the losses, while they don't receive 100% of the profits.

Also known as “prop trading,” it offers higher earnings potential much earlier in your career than jobs like investment banking or private equity. It's arguably the most merit-based industry within finance: if you make millions of dollars for your firm, you'll earn some percentage of it.

While prop trading is one of the most profitable opportunities, it is affected by asymmetric risk. This means that the profit-sharing ratio may be from 75% to 90%, but you bear 100% of the risk of your trades. When becoming a prop trader, you often need to deposit an amount of money known as your risk contribution.

The salary of a prop trader can vary greatly depending on several factors such as experience, performance, and the size of the firm. On average, a junior prop trader can expect to earn anywhere between $50,000 to $100,000 per year, while a senior trader can make upwards of $500,000 annually.

Understanding the Prop Firm Challenge

At its core, the prop firm challenge can be a way for prop firms to make money from failed challenges. This is because some sources have the failure rate of prop trading challenges at 90%. So for every 10 traders that buy a challenge, 9 will fail.

It's estimated that only 4% of forex traders successfully pass forex prop firm challenges, with only 1% of traders holding onto their funded accounts for the long term by not violating any rules. This number may surprise you, but it's actually built this way by design.

Statistics on Funded Trading Payouts and the 1% Myth

While trading is no cakewalk, the actual success rate might be closer to 5%. So, it's not quite as exclusive as you might have thought. For instance, the average payout for funded trading with The Funded Trader (TFT) is around $7,000.

Incurring drawdown in a trader's journey is inevitable. But hardly anyone understands how likely it is to occur. Everyone seems to assume that they will not incur a drawdown in their trading, or at least do not know how to handle it when they do.