Industry Data · Updated August 2026
The numbers behind the industry.
Two kinds of data sit on this page: modeled sector estimates, where we show the working, and observed counts drawn straight from our structured firm records. Each figure is labelled so you always know which one you are reading.
Evaluation and instant-funding programs available to individual traders. Leveraged trader-capital, hiring-based firm-capital and bank/institutional desks are tracked separately and excluded from the headline estimates.
Estimated 2026 retail funded-program revenue
$4.2B
: $4.0B–$4.5B · 2026E
Modeled estimate
Estimated trader rewards and payouts
$2.20B
Evaluation and instant-funding programs · 2026E
Modeled estimate
Active funded accounts
1.4 million
2026E year-end accounts, not unique traders
Modeled estimate
Firms with verified program data
48
of 63 tracked evaluation and instant-funding firms
Our database
Estimate methodology
How we modeled the $4.2B revenue estimate
Built from verified trader payouts, published payout-to-revenue ratios, and a long-tail assumption. This is a ProprietaryTrading.com estimate, not an audited or independently verified figure.
Estimated retail funded-program revenue
Modeled estimateUSD billions · 2020–2025 modeled from payout data, 2026E projected
Dashed segment = 2026E projection, not an observed year.
Active funded accounts
Modeled estimateThousands of accounts, global · 2026E projected. Accounts, not unique traders.
One trader may hold multiple accounts across one or more firms, so this is not a headcount.
Our database
What our records show
Everything below is an observed count from our structured firm records — no modelling, no extrapolation. Coverage is what we have documented, not a census of the whole industry.
Asset access across tracked firms
Our databaseShare of 191 active tracked firms offering each asset class. Firms offer multiple classes, so these do not total 100%.
n = 191 active firms · last reviewed Aug 26, 2026. Availability of an instrument is not evidence of trading volume in it.
US trader availability
Our databaseDocumented policy across active tracked firms
Most firms do not publish an explicit US policy. “Unclear” means we found no primary-source statement — it does not mean the firm rejects US traders.
Advertised maximum allocation and profit split
Our databaseMedian across firms with documented figures, by funding model
| Funding model | Firms | Median profit split | Median max allocation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evaluation-Based Funding | 59 | 90% (n=58) | $300K (n=46) |
| Firm Capital Model | 70 | 50% (n=27) | Insufficient documented data |
| Bank or Institutional Prop Desk | 45 | Insufficient documented data | Insufficient documented data |
| Trader Deposit / First-Loss Model | 13 | 90% (n=9) | Insufficient documented data |
| Instant Funding | 4 | Insufficient documented data | Insufficient documented data |
Medians are suppressed below five documented observations. Nominal account size is not the same as cash capital, maximum loss or firm risk exposure.
Platforms and coverage
Our databaseMost common platforms across active tracked firms
Active
191
Closed
16
Suspended
3
Under review
5
98% of tracked evaluation and instant-funding firms (62 of 63) publish payout-frequency terms we could document from a primary source.
External sources
Documented industry benchmarks
Selected firm and regulatory disclosures. These examples demonstrate scale but are not combined or treated as an audited industry total.
FTMO
Firm-reported
- 4.5M+ customers worldwide
- $650M+ paid in rewards worldwide
- 140+ countries served
- 2024 revenue: ≈CZK 6.8B (≈$330M)
- 2024 EBITDA: ≈CZK 2.4B (≈$117M)
Topstep · 2025
Firm-reported performance statistics
- 16.8% of Trading Combines advanced to the Funded Level
- 33.3% of funded participants received a payout
- 0.71% of Express Funded participants advanced to Live
One firm's reported results; not an industry-wide average.
My Forex Funds
Historical CFTC complaint allegation — not a current industry total
- More than 135,000 customers alleged
- More than $310M paid in fees during the relevant period
- More than 111,000 demo-account customers
- More than 24,000 “live”-account customers
Spotlight
Simulated, live, or both.
Most retail funded accounts are simulated environments paying real-money rewards. Whether a program routes any order to an external venue is a firm-by-firm question — and one worth asking before you buy an evaluation. Because of that, we do not publish volume-share or routed-flow figures: instrument availability is not evidence of traded volume.
For ongoing coverage of how these numbers move, see our weekly brief, our site-wide methodology, or our original consistency-rule research.