A firm that funds you to trade shares. You pay for an evaluation, hit a profit target without breaching the drawdown limit, and then trade a funded account keeping most of the profit — usually 70% to 90%. The capital is the firm's, not yours.

Almost never. Of the 16 firms on this page, only Trade The Pool routes you into real US equities, through Interactive Brokers. The other 15 offer stock CFDs — synthetic exposure to the price movement, with no ownership, no voting rights and no dividends in the normal sense. Most "best stock prop firm" lists never mention this.

The main reason is capital, and the second is the US Pattern Day Trader rule. Because you trade the firm's account rather than a personal brokerage account, the $25,000 minimum balance does not apply to you. That makes prop firms a legitimate route for undercapitalised day traders.

By a reliability score: 50% rating, 30% review volume (log-scaled), and 20% years operating, capped at five. A 4.5 across 70,000 reviews outranks a 4.9 across 40, because small samples produce the misleading perfect scores common in this industry. Commission plays no part — firms cannot pay to move up.

If you want genuine equities, there is effectively one answer: Trade The Pool. If stock CFDs are acceptable and you want the safest operator, FTMO and The5ers have the longest records. If you want stocks alongside futures and forex in one account, For Traders is built for that.

Four things. The drawdown type — static is far kinder than trailing. The real starting split, not the advertised ceiling. Total cost, including activation and reset fees. And overnight and weekend holding rules, which matter more for equities than for futures. Every firm's review page on this site covers all four.

Usually not. Most funded accounts here are simulated — your trades mirror live market prices but the capital is not deployed, though profits still produce real payouts. Trade The Pool is the exception on this page, providing live exchange access. An evaluation fee is a cost, not an investment, and most buyers never reach a payout.