At its core, what is prop trading? It’s straightforward: you trade with firm capital instead of your own. If you make money, you keep a share of the profits and the proprietary trading firm takes the rest. The model started on Wall Street but in recent years has moved online, making it accessible to retail prop traders worldwide.
The most common setup is the prop firm challenge. Traders pay a fee, aim for profit targets, and must stay within strict drawdown limits. Passing earns you a funded account, failing means starting over. These challenges are meant to weed out reckless traders, though many skilled ones see them as a barrier.
Instant funded prop firms has become the alternative. Instead of grinding through weeks of testing, traders can start with live capital right away. While crypto props popularized this model, some forex firms now offer it too. At the same time,
crypto prop trading firms like Mubite don’t only stick to instant funding. Many also provide one-step and two-step challenges for traders who want a structured path to scaling.
Every model includes rules to protect the firm’s money: limits on daily losses, maximum drawdown, and sometimes consistency requirements. Payouts are usually split 70/30 to 90/10 in favor of the trader. Payment timing depends on the firm. Forex props often pay monthly or bi-weekly, while crypto props process withdrawals faster, sometimes within days.
Platforms reflect the market being traded. Forex props usually run on MT4 or MT5 with trading
indicators strategies. Crypto prop trading firms connect directly to exchanges like
Bybit, Binance, OKX. Dashboards track performance in real time, so
the funded trader can see exactly where they stand. The structure a firm chooses determines how quickly you get capital and how much flexibility you have once funded.