How Much Do Prop Traders Make? Salary vs Profit Split

September 21, 2026

6 minutes

Last Updated: November 4, 2026

Prop traders make money in one of two ways: desk traders at institutional firms earn a salary plus a bonus tied to results, while retail funded traders earn only a profit split, often 80 to 90%, after evaluation fees. On EVEDEX Funded Trading there is no split: you keep 100% of the profit, and the posted margin is the maximum loss.

This guide compares the pay models, works through two examples, shows how to estimate a number for your own account and explains how EVEDEX Funded Trading works as an alternative to a futures prop firm without a profit split.

Key takeaways

EVEDEX, a multi asset trading platform, lets Funded Trading users keep 100% of the profit; the maximum loss is the posted margin.
Institutional prop traders earn a salary plus bonus; pay varies by firm and is rarely published.
Retail funded traders earn only a profit split, often 80 to 90%, after evaluation fees.
Most challenge accounts are simulated, so the fee is the real money at risk.
A realistic estimate starts from the capital at risk, the split, trading costs and payout rules.

How much do prop traders make?

Model	How you are paid	What reduces it	Drawbacks
EVEDEX Funded Trading	100% of profit on your own margin; no salary, no split	Trading fees, funding and losing trades	The posted margin can be lost in full; web app only
Institutional prop desk	Base salary plus a bonus tied to desk results	Bonus pool, seniority and the desk's yearly result	Pay is not published; hiring is selective
Challenge-model prop firm	Profit split, often 80 to 90%; no salary	Evaluation fees, the firm's share, payout caps and rules	Funded accounts are usually simulated; a rule breach can close the account

Rising bar chart with an upward arrow illustrating leverage

Do prop traders get a salary?

Only when a firm hires them as employees. Banks and proprietary trading firms pay desk traders a salary, with a bonus that depends on results; junior roles lean on the salary, senior ones on the bonus.

The hedge fund vs prop trading comparison comes down to whose result sets that bonus: the trader's own profit and loss at a prop desk, the fund's performance and fees at a hedge fund.

In retail programmes there is no salary at all: you buy an evaluation, trade a funded account and receive a share of the profit, so a month without profit pays nothing.

How to estimate what you could make

Start from the capital at risk. On EVEDEX Funded Trading it is the posted margin; at a challenge firm it is the evaluation fee.
Apply the split. Multiply the expected monthly result by 100% where there is no split, or by 80 to 90% for a classic funded account.
Subtract trading costs. Fees and funding scale with turnover and holding time.
Subtract fixed fees. Evaluation fees and subscriptions count even in losing months.
Check the payout rules. Caps, minimum days and other rules can cut the raw number, even at the fastest payout prop firm.

The estimate only holds if the account survives a losing streak, so keep the risk per trade small, commonly 0.5 to 2% of what the loss limit allows, a rule shared by most crypto prop trading strategies.

Two worked examples

Both examples use an assumed result, not typical performance:

EVEDEX Funded Trading. A trader posts 165 USDT of margin for a 5,000 USDT notional and ends the month up 2% on the notional, or $100. With $50,000 of turnover at the 0.045% taker fee, costs are $22.50, or about $14.63 after the maximum 35% cashback, so roughly $85 stays with the trader. A 3.3% move against the full notional would have wiped out the 165 USDT margin.
Challenge model, 90/10 split. The funded account nets $2,000 in a month; the firm keeps $200 and the trader receives $1,800. If passing took two evaluation attempts at $100 each, the first month's real gain is $1,600.

The losing month

A losing month pays nothing in either model. On EVEDEX Funded Trading the loss comes out of your own margin: the notional is a leverage ceiling, not money lent, so you can never lose more than the margin posted, but you can lose all of it. At a challenge firm, breaking a loss limit usually closes the account, and the fee is gone.

EVEDEX Funded Trading

EVEDEX Funded Trading is an own-margin account without an evaluation or a profit split: what you make is the profit on your notional, minus costs.

Earnings: you keep 100% of the profit; there is no salary and no split.
Margin tiers: 50 USDT of margin for a 1,500 USDT notional, 165 for 5,000, 335 for 10,000, 835 for 25,000, 1,665 for 50,000 or 3,335 for 100,000 USDT.
Withdrawals: profit lands in your USDT balance, and only that real balance can be withdrawn, not the notional.
Fees: no more than 0.015% maker and 0.045% taker before up to 35% cashback; funding is calculated every 8 hours and charged hourly.
ADL Protection Reserve: $500,000, in place since July 18, 2026.
KYC: no classic KYC; every deposit passes an automated AML check.
Access: web app only, without API access, on the same 52 perpetual markets as a regular account, according to EVEDEX data as of November 4, 2026; not available in restricted countries.

Perpetual contracts carry a high risk of loss.

FAQ

It depends on the model. Institutional prop traders earn a salary plus a bonus tied to results, and the figures vary widely by firm and are rarely published. Retail funded traders earn no salary, only a profit split, often 80 to 90%, of what their account makes after evaluation fees.

Only at institutional firms that hire traders as employees, where junior roles lean on the salary and senior ones on the bonus. Retail prop firms that sell evaluations pay no salary: income comes entirely from the profit split, and a month without profit pays nothing at all.

There is no typical figure. Payouts depend on account size, the split, the firm's rules and the month's result. Losing months pay nothing, and a rule breach can end the account before any payout, so estimate from your own numbers rather than from the examples firms advertise.

It can be if your strategy is consistently profitable and fits the firm's rules; the evaluation fee then buys access to a larger account. If you are still learning, repeated fees and rule breaches usually cost more than the potential split, so practise risk control on a small account first.

Splits of 80 to 90% for the trader are common at retail prop firms. Compare the payout rules as well: minimum trading days, consistency rules and first-payout caps can matter more than a few percentage points of split, because they decide when and how much you are actually paid.

No. A losing month pays nothing in any profit-split model, and at a challenge firm breaking a loss limit usually closes the account, so the evaluation fee is gone as well. On an own-margin account the loss comes out of the margin you posted, up to the full amount.

Start from the capital at risk, apply the split to a realistic monthly result, then subtract trading fees, funding and any evaluation fees or subscriptions. Finally check the payout caps, minimum days and consistency rules, which can cut the raw number, and remember that losing months pay nothing.

There is no split: you keep 100% of the profit on the notional your margin unlocks, minus fees and funding. For example, 165 USDT of margin unlocks a 5,000 USDT notional; a 2% gain on it is $100 before costs, and the maximum loss is the 165 USDT margin.