What Is a Funded Trader? What the Firms' Own Pages Say
A funded trader is paid a share of results on a firm's account. Four firms' own pages show that account is often simulated; the evaluation fee is real.
A funded trader is someone who pays a proprietary trading firm for an evaluation, passes it under the firm’s rules, and is then paid a share of the results on an account the firm provides. On the four firms’ and platforms’ own pages this desk read, that account is simulated at most stages; the payouts are described as real.
That is the definition, and it is where most of the ranking pages this desk could open stop. They are mostly written by companies selling the evaluation, and the phrase they reach for is “the firm’s capital”. This desk read what four of them say the funded account actually is, in their own words, on 8 October 2026.
This is an evergreen explainer. The model does not expire; the figures below are as each firm published them on that date, and any firm can change its terms without notice.
What is a funded trader, in plain terms?
There are three parts. The trader pays a fee for an evaluation, a test account with a profit target and loss limits. If the trader passes, the firm moves them to a second account, which the industry calls “funded”. Profits on that account are split, with the trader’s share paid out on the firm’s schedule.
NinjaTrader Prop, a marketplace that lists third-party firms, puts the common shape in one line: a funded account is “backed by a prop firm’s capital” and “typically simulated, with real payouts on profits”, per its funded trader explainer. The same page says the trader’s risk is generally limited to the cost of the evaluation or platform fees, and that NT Technologies, LLC does not evaluate, approve or fund live trading accounts itself.
Is a funded account real money? Four firms’ own words
Every cell is from the firm’s or platform’s own page named in the first column, read at 200 on 8 October 2026.
| Firm (page read) | Evaluation stage | Funded stage, in the page’s words | Payout called | Traded money, per the page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Topstep (blog post dated 23 March 2026) | Trading Combine, “a simulated market evaluation” | Express Funded Account, “still a simulated environment”; then Live Funded Account | Payouts; 90% profit share | Simulated until Live; Live is “real money (not simulated funds)” |
| FTMO (English homepage) | FTMO Challenge, “a demo account with fictitious capital” | “demo FTMO Account”, up to $200K “simulated capital” | Rewards | Demo accounts with fictitious funds throughout |
| Alpha Capital Group (UK homepage) | Evaluation on “simulated funds” | Qualified Analyst account, “a simulated market environment” | Performance fees, 80% standard or 90% with an add-on | Simulated throughout; “Am I trading with real funds? No.” |
| NinjaTrader Prop (funded trader explainer) | Evaluation on a simulated account | “Simulated funded phase”, then funded account | Profit split, “commonly 80% to 90% depending on the firm” | “Typically simulated, with real payouts on profits” |
Read across the rows, the word “funded” is doing different work at each firm. At Alpha Capital Group and FTMO it names a stage of a simulated programme: neither page describes a later stage on live markets for the standard path. At Topstep it covers two stages, and only the second trades real money. The payouts, on every page, are presented as real.
Topstep’s page is the clearest about the step. It says that after five payouts on the Express Funded Account, its risk team reviews the trader and may call them up to a Live Funded Account with up to $150,000 of Topstep’s capital. Its own headline line, that the trader is “trading the firm’s money, not your own savings”, sits on the same page as the sentence saying the stage before is still simulated.
Alpha Capital Group, which describes itself as a UK prop firm, is the most direct. Its FAQ says it is “a proprietary trading company, not a broker”, that a trader pays for an evaluation and does not deposit money to trade their own funds, and that “Simulated results do not reflect real trading outcomes.” Its footer describes the site’s information as intended for study purposes related to virtual trading.
Do funded traders get paid, and from what?
The firms say yes. What a payout is paid from is a question none of the four pages read answers in accounting terms. Where the account is simulated, the profit split is a share of simulated results, paid in real money by the firm. This desk has not seen any firm’s finances, so it cannot say where a given payout is funded from.
Headline payout totals are the firms’ own figures. FTMO’s homepage shows “$650M+ Paid in rewards”; Alpha Capital Group’s shows $100M+ in performance fees. Neither is audited on the page, and a firm’s own total evidences what the firm chooses to publish, not what any one trader was paid.
The rules a funded trader works under
A funded account ends the way an evaluation does: by breaking a rule. The three that end most accounts are covered on this site in turn: the soft breach, the daily loss limit, and trailing versus static drawdown. The funded stage inherits them.
Frequently asked questions
What is a funded trader?
A funded trader is someone who has paid a prop firm for an evaluation, passed it under the firm’s rules, and is then paid a share of the results on an account the firm provides. The firm sets every rule on that account, and on most of the pages this desk read, the account itself is simulated.
Do funded traders get paid?
The firms say so, and the payouts are described as real money. Topstep says traders on its Express Funded Account can take payouts, with the first one available after five winning days of $150 or more. FTMO calls its payouts rewards; Alpha Capital Group calls them performance fees. Published payout totals are the firms’ own marketing figures, and this desk has not verified any of them.
Is a funded account real money?
Usually not, on the pages read. FTMO says all its accounts are demo accounts with fictitious funds. Alpha Capital Group answers its own question ‘Am I trading with real funds?’ with ‘No’. NinjaTrader Prop says funded accounts are typically simulated. Topstep is the exception among the four: its Live Funded Account, reached after five payouts and a risk-team review, trades real money.
How do you become a funded trader?
By paying for a firm’s evaluation and meeting its targets without breaking its loss rules. The routes differ: Topstep runs a Trading Combine, FTMO a Challenge, and Alpha Capital Group evaluation phases leading to a Qualified Analyst account. The fee buys the attempt, not the result, and the rules that end attempts are the part worth reading before paying.
What this desk read, and what it did not
Read at 200 on 8 October 2026: Topstep’s What is a Funded Trader post, dated 23 March 2026; FTMO’s English homepage; Alpha Capital Group’s UK homepage, including its FAQ and footer; and NinjaTrader Prop’s funded trader explainer. Not read: any firm’s full terms and conditions, any regulator’s register, or any firm not in the table.
The risk line
None of the four pages is evidence that any firm is regulated, authorised or licensed, and this post says no such thing; for how UK promotion rules sit around this industry, see this site’s note on the promotions perimeter. The money a funded trader certainly puts at risk is the evaluation fee, and it is lost whenever a rule ends the account. Nothing here is advice on whether to pay one.