A Side-by-Side Review of How Higher Leverage Attracts Traders

by

The world
of prop trading has taken the US by storm, offering retail investors the
opportunity to manage substantial capital with a small upfront fee. Despite
recent controversies and market turmoil, prop firms continue to attract
hundreds of thousands of clients. But what does their offering look like, and
which firms have the most trust?

Join us as
we dive into the prop trading market in the US and compare four prominent firms
– E8 Markets, Earn2Trade, MyFundedFX, and Smart Prop Trader – to help you
navigate this investment frontier

Prop Trading Market in the
US

Prop
trading
is a significant and popular segment of the retail investment market in
the United States, with many well-known platforms originating there. These
firms’ services typically follow a similar pattern: traders pay a fee to
participate in a “challenge” on a demo account designed to assess
their trading skills.

If they
meet the set profit targets, they can advance to higher tiers, earning a share
of generated profits (usually between 60-90%), and eventually become “funded
traders,” receiving real funds from the firm to work with. This model attracts
retail investors because they can manage capital ranging from $20,000 to
$100,000 for just a few hundred dollars.

However,
American prop firms and those serving US clients have come under regulatory
scrutiny this year. As a result, MetaQuotes has preemptively revoked licenses
for its MetaTrader platform from many firms
, causing them to suspend services
temporarily or permanently to clients in this region.

Nevertheless,
several firms have emerged unscathed or experienced no issues at all. Among
them are E8 Markets, Earn2Trade, MyFundedFX, and Smart Prop Trader. In the table at the beginning of the article, we provide a detailed comparison of these companies’ offers. Below, we present some basic information about their operations.

E8 Markets Funded Account
up to $400K

The first
company in our comparison is E8 Markets, which gives traders the flexibility to
choose challenges tailored to their strategy. You can opt for a one-, two-, or
three-step evaluation process within an MT5 or Match-Trader demo account with
account balances ranging from $10,000 to $400,000, maximum drawdowns from 6-14%,
and payout shares from 40-95%.

The
conditions the trader chooses will impact the final price of joining the
challenge, which ranges from $34 to over $2,000. The upper challenges are among
the most expensive in our comparison, but no other prop firm offers an account
with such a large capital.

Source: E8 Markets

The
platform claims that the average waiting time for a payout is 10 hours, and on
average, profitable traders withdraw $4,500. On Trustpilot, it has nearly 1,700
reviews and an overall rating of 4.7.

The company
also managed to navigate the recent turbulent period in the prop firm industry
without being forced to make any major changes or suspend operations.

Earn2Trade, over 7 Years
of Experience

It is definitely the longest-running prop trading firm in our comparison and the only one that focuses entirely on futures trading available on the CME exchange without
access to FX transactions.

It offers
relatively cheap challenges, with a fee of $275 for a $200,000 account.
Interestingly, profit targets and maximum drawdowns are not percentages but dollar values. For the cheapest $25K challenge, the daily
capital drawdown cannot exceed $550, and the total cannot exceed $1,500.

Source: Earn2Trade

Evaluation
also takes place on demo accounts, after which Earn2Trade provides the
opportunity to become a “Funded Futures Trader.” The company recently
introduced a new evaluation path where the maximum account value is $400,000,
with a maximum drawdown of $20,000.

Like E8
Markets, Earn2Trade also did not have any major issues in the recent chaos of
the prop firm industry. It also has a high Trustpilot rating of 4.7 with 2,100
reviews. However, it does not use MetaQuotes platforms and focuses on
futures trading rather than CFDs.

MyFundedFX, The Cheapest
Challenge

Although
the price difference between the cheapest $5K challenge in E8 Markets and My
Funded FX (MFF) is only $0.4, it has the cheapest evaluation process options in
its offer.

Similar to
its predecessors, the investor can choose from several types of virtual accounts challenges, consisting of one, two, or three consecutive stages.
Available accounts range from $5,000 to $300,000, and trading can be based on
DXTrade, cTrader, and Match-Trader platforms, with MetaTrader 5 also available
for traders outside the USA.

As an
add-on to each challenge, the investor can choose the “profit boost”
or “rapid withdrawal” option, but they increase the fee by 20% each.

Source: MyFundedFX

The company
claims that in 2024 alone, it made over $10 million payouts, with the
highest single payout being nearly $75,000. On Trustpilot it gathered 1,500
reviews and a final score of 4.3.

Unlike its
predecessors, it did not pass through the February turmoil unscathed. A few
months ago, MyFundedFX announced that it had to suspend support for United States clients using the MT5 platform. However, just a week
later, the company informed that it had started migrating accounts to an
alternative platform, opting for DXtrade.

Smart Prop Trader Offers
the Highest Leverage

Smart Prop Trader will certainly be an interesting option for retail investors looking for high financial leverage and the highest allowable drawdown. The
maximum available leverage on FX pairs is 100:1, and the total drawdown with
selected challenges can be up to 12%.

Like
its predecessors, it has a high rating on Trustpilot, scoring 4.7 out of 2500
reviews.

However,
compared to the competition, the profit splits will be more modest, up to 75%. Smart Prop Trader also has the lowest maximum funded account
value of all the compared companies, which is $100,000.

Source: Smart Prop Trader

On the plus
side, the company does not impose a minimum number of trading days to reach the
challenge goal, whereas other companies require a minimum of one to several
days.

Although
Smart Prop Trader had some problems in mid-February due to the suspension of
the MetaQuotes license, it quickly informed about changing the brokers it
worked with and adding new platforms. In the migration, it focused on
integration with cTrader from Spotware Systems.

Which Prop Firm Should You
Choose?

It is difficult to definitively state which prop trading firm offers the best, as each has unique strengths and caters to different types of traders.

For
example, E8 Markets stands out for offering the widest range of account sizes,
from $5K to $400K, giving traders flexibility in choosing the capital they want
to work with. They also provide a high profit split of up to 95%, among the highest in the industry.

MyFundedFX
also offers a wide range of account sizes, from $5K to $300K, with competitive
fees starting at just $33.6. They support multiple trading platforms, including
DXTrade, cTrader, Match-Trader, and MT5 for non-US clients.

On the
other hand, Earn2Trade is unique in its focus on futures trading, making it an
attractive option for traders specializing in this asset class. They offer a
straightforward pricing structure, with fees ranging from $75 to $275 for
account sizes between $25K and $200K.

Smart Prop
Trader stands out for offering the highest leverage among the four firms. This
can be particularly appealing to traders who employ high-risk, high-reward
strategies. Smart Prop Trader also has a straightforward profit target
structure.

If you want
to explore other alternatives, check out the Finance Magnates’ review of
four FX/CFD brokers
that have also been offering prop trading services for
several months. They provide greater security guarantees thanks to regulations.

The world
of prop trading has taken the US by storm, offering retail investors the
opportunity to manage substantial capital with a small upfront fee. Despite
recent controversies and market turmoil, prop firms continue to attract
hundreds of thousands of clients. But what does their offering look like, and
which firms have the most trust?

Join us as
we dive into the prop trading market in the US and compare four prominent firms
– E8 Markets, Earn2Trade, MyFundedFX, and Smart Prop Trader – to help you
navigate this investment frontier

Prop Trading Market in the
US

Prop
trading
is a significant and popular segment of the retail investment market in
the United States, with many well-known platforms originating there. These
firms’ services typically follow a similar pattern: traders pay a fee to
participate in a “challenge” on a demo account designed to assess
their trading skills.

If they
meet the set profit targets, they can advance to higher tiers, earning a share
of generated profits (usually between 60-90%), and eventually become “funded
traders,” receiving real funds from the firm to work with. This model attracts
retail investors because they can manage capital ranging from $20,000 to
$100,000 for just a few hundred dollars.

However,
American prop firms and those serving US clients have come under regulatory
scrutiny this year. As a result, MetaQuotes has preemptively revoked licenses
for its MetaTrader platform from many firms
, causing them to suspend services
temporarily or permanently to clients in this region.

Nevertheless,
several firms have emerged unscathed or experienced no issues at all. Among
them are E8 Markets, Earn2Trade, MyFundedFX, and Smart Prop Trader. In the table at the beginning of the article, we provide a detailed comparison of these companies’ offers. Below, we present some basic information about their operations.

E8 Markets Funded Account
up to $400K

The first
company in our comparison is E8 Markets, which gives traders the flexibility to
choose challenges tailored to their strategy. You can opt for a one-, two-, or
three-step evaluation process within an MT5 or Match-Trader demo account with
account balances ranging from $10,000 to $400,000, maximum drawdowns from 6-14%,
and payout shares from 40-95%.

The
conditions the trader chooses will impact the final price of joining the
challenge, which ranges from $34 to over $2,000. The upper challenges are among
the most expensive in our comparison, but no other prop firm offers an account
with such a large capital.

Source: E8 Markets

The
platform claims that the average waiting time for a payout is 10 hours, and on
average, profitable traders withdraw $4,500. On Trustpilot, it has nearly 1,700
reviews and an overall rating of 4.7.

The company
also managed to navigate the recent turbulent period in the prop firm industry
without being forced to make any major changes or suspend operations.

Earn2Trade, over 7 Years
of Experience

It is definitely the longest-running prop trading firm in our comparison and the only one that focuses entirely on futures trading available on the CME exchange without
access to FX transactions.

It offers
relatively cheap challenges, with a fee of $275 for a $200,000 account.
Interestingly, profit targets and maximum drawdowns are not percentages but dollar values. For the cheapest $25K challenge, the daily
capital drawdown cannot exceed $550, and the total cannot exceed $1,500.

Source: Earn2Trade

Evaluation
also takes place on demo accounts, after which Earn2Trade provides the
opportunity to become a “Funded Futures Trader.” The company recently
introduced a new evaluation path where the maximum account value is $400,000,
with a maximum drawdown of $20,000.

Like E8
Markets, Earn2Trade also did not have any major issues in the recent chaos of
the prop firm industry. It also has a high Trustpilot rating of 4.7 with 2,100
reviews. However, it does not use MetaQuotes platforms and focuses on
futures trading rather than CFDs.

MyFundedFX, The Cheapest
Challenge

Although
the price difference between the cheapest $5K challenge in E8 Markets and My
Funded FX (MFF) is only $0.4, it has the cheapest evaluation process options in
its offer.

Similar to
its predecessors, the investor can choose from several types of virtual accounts challenges, consisting of one, two, or three consecutive stages.
Available accounts range from $5,000 to $300,000, and trading can be based on
DXTrade, cTrader, and Match-Trader platforms, with MetaTrader 5 also available
for traders outside the USA.

As an
add-on to each challenge, the investor can choose the “profit boost”
or “rapid withdrawal” option, but they increase the fee by 20% each.

Source: MyFundedFX

The company
claims that in 2024 alone, it made over $10 million payouts, with the
highest single payout being nearly $75,000. On Trustpilot it gathered 1,500
reviews and a final score of 4.3.

Unlike its
predecessors, it did not pass through the February turmoil unscathed. A few
months ago, MyFundedFX announced that it had to suspend support for United States clients using the MT5 platform. However, just a week
later, the company informed that it had started migrating accounts to an
alternative platform, opting for DXtrade.

Smart Prop Trader Offers
the Highest Leverage

Smart Prop Trader will certainly be an interesting option for retail investors looking for high financial leverage and the highest allowable drawdown. The
maximum available leverage on FX pairs is 100:1, and the total drawdown with
selected challenges can be up to 12%.

Like
its predecessors, it has a high rating on Trustpilot, scoring 4.7 out of 2500
reviews.

However,
compared to the competition, the profit splits will be more modest, up to 75%. Smart Prop Trader also has the lowest maximum funded account
value of all the compared companies, which is $100,000.

Source: Smart Prop Trader

On the plus
side, the company does not impose a minimum number of trading days to reach the
challenge goal, whereas other companies require a minimum of one to several
days.

Although
Smart Prop Trader had some problems in mid-February due to the suspension of
the MetaQuotes license, it quickly informed about changing the brokers it
worked with and adding new platforms. In the migration, it focused on
integration with cTrader from Spotware Systems.

Which Prop Firm Should You
Choose?

It is difficult to definitively state which prop trading firm offers the best, as each has unique strengths and caters to different types of traders.

For
example, E8 Markets stands out for offering the widest range of account sizes,
from $5K to $400K, giving traders flexibility in choosing the capital they want
to work with. They also provide a high profit split of up to 95%, among the highest in the industry.

MyFundedFX
also offers a wide range of account sizes, from $5K to $300K, with competitive
fees starting at just $33.6. They support multiple trading platforms, including
DXTrade, cTrader, Match-Trader, and MT5 for non-US clients.

On the
other hand, Earn2Trade is unique in its focus on futures trading, making it an
attractive option for traders specializing in this asset class. They offer a
straightforward pricing structure, with fees ranging from $75 to $275 for
account sizes between $25K and $200K.

Smart Prop
Trader stands out for offering the highest leverage among the four firms. This
can be particularly appealing to traders who employ high-risk, high-reward
strategies. Smart Prop Trader also has a straightforward profit target
structure.

If you want
to explore other alternatives, check out the Finance Magnates’ review of
four FX/CFD brokers
that have also been offering prop trading services for
several months. They provide greater security guarantees thanks to regulations.



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