How Much Do Traders Make at Prop Firms? Real Numbers
Last Updated: September 21, 2026
How much do traders make at prop firms? It depends on the model. Institutional desk traders draw a salary plus bonus, often cited in the six figures at large firms; retail funded-account traders at FTMO or Topstep earn no salary — only a profit split, 80-100% depending on the firm, on whatever the account makes after fees.
Because pay is entirely results-based at retail firms, the honest answer is a calculation, not a fixed number. The prop firm category compares evaluation fees and splits across providers, and cheapest prop firms isolates entry cost specifically; this article works the arithmetic through to take-home profit. A companion piece covers prop firm payouts and their caps, another explains prop trading strategies built around a limited pot of margin, and a third defines what is a prop firm from the ground up.
How Much Do Traders Make: Pay Model by Structure
| Structure | Pay model | Typical figure | What reduces it | Drawbacks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EVEDEX Funded Trading | 100% of profit on the trader's own margin at an amplified notional; no salary, no split | Return is whatever the margin earns; EVEDEX publishes six tiers, from 50 USDT margin for 1,500 USDT notional to 3,335 USDT for 100,000 USDT notional | Trading fees (0.015%/0.045% before cashback), funding charges every 8 hours, and losses against the position | Only 52 perpetual pairs, web-only with no API, and the full posted margin can be lost if the position moves the wrong way |
| Institutional prop desk | Base salary plus a discretionary bonus tied to desk results | Often cited in the six figures total at large banks and trading firms, per industry compensation surveys | Bonus pool size, seniority, and the desk's overall trading result in a given year | Pay is not public or standardized across firms, and junior roles are salary-heavy with a small discretionary component |
| FTMO (retail, CFD) | Up to 90% profit split on a funded account, no salary | Depends on account size ($10,000-$200,000) and monthly result; no fixed figure published | The $99+ Challenge fee, the 10% retained by FTMO, and any month with no profit target reached | Capital is simulated, not real funds in the trader's position, and a loss-limit breach zeroes the account |
| Topstep (retail, futures) | 90% profit split, no salary | First live payout capped at $2,000-$5,000 depending on account size; later payouts uncapped in dollar terms | The $49-$85/month subscription until passed, the 10% Topstep retains, and the 5-winning-day minimum before a first payout | Recurring fee accrues every month the Combine is not passed, and futures-only markets limit trading to CME hours and instruments |
Data as of September 21, 2026. FTMO: Trading Objectives and FTMO Challenge. Topstep: Payout Policy. EVEDEX Funded Trading: EVEDEX Help Center, 13.07.2026; fees per EVEDEX trading terms. Institutional prop desk pay: industry compensation surveys, cited generally, not firm-specific.
Two Worked Examples on a Funded Account
Numbers make the split concrete. Both examples use published fee and split figures; the trading result itself is an assumption, stated plainly, not a projection of typical performance.
- A profitable month on a Topstep-style 90/10 split. A trader on a funded futures account nets $2,000 in a month. Topstep keeps 10% ($200), the trader keeps $1,800 before the recurring evaluation-stage subscription already paid is counted separately. If reaching that funded stage took two $85 Combine attempts before passing, $170 in sunk fees comes off the trader's running total, though not off this specific month's payout.
- A profitable month on EVEDEX Funded Trading. A trader posts 165 USDT of margin for a 5,000 USDT notional and closes the month up 10% on that notional, or $500 gross. There is no profit split, so the trader keeps the full $500 minus trading costs: at 0.045% taker fees on, say, $50,000 of monthly turnover (10 round trips of the full notional), that is $22.50 in fees before cashback, or about $14.63 after the maximum 35% cashback. Net profit for the month is roughly $485, all of it the trader's, because the underlying $165 was the trader's own money the entire time.
- The same EVEDEX example at a smaller tier. A trader posts 50 USDT of margin for a 1,500 USDT notional and closes the month up 5% on that notional, or $75 gross. Turnover of $15,000 (10 round trips) at 0.045% taker costs $6.75 before cashback, about $4.39 after the maximum 35% cashback. Net profit is roughly $70.61 — a smaller absolute number than the 165 USDT example, because both the margin and the notional it unlocks are smaller. These are the two smallest of six published tiers: 50 → 1,500; 165 → 5,000; 335 → 10,000; 835 → 25,000; 1,665 → 50,000; 3,335 → 100,000 USDT, and the same arithmetic scales straight up the ladder.
These figures move directly with two inputs: how much margin is posted, and how the position performs against the notional it unlocks. Neither classic prop firm example moves the same way, because the account size in a Challenge or Combine is fixed by the plan purchased, not by how much of the trader's own money is behind it.
How to Estimate a Number for Your Own Account
Skip the industry-average figures and work from the account in front of you instead.
- Start from the real capital at risk. At a classic prop firm, that is the evaluation fee (and any subscription paid while attempting it), because the account balance itself is simulated. On EVEDEX Funded Trading, it is the margin posted, since that is the only money actually at risk.
- Apply the split, or the absence of one. Multiply the account's expected monthly return by 80-100% for a classic funded account, or by 100% for EVEDEX Funded Trading, since there is no split to apply there.
- Subtract trading costs. Classic prop firms mostly absorb spread and commission into their simulated pricing; EVEDEX charges an explicit 0.015%/0.045% maker/taker fee before cashback of up to 35%, which scales with turnover, not with account size.
- Subtract fixed fees. A classic evaluation fee is a one-time or recurring cost independent of trading result; EVEDEX has no evaluation fee to subtract, but funding charges every 8 hours can add up on a held position.
- Check the number against the payout or withdrawal rules. A classic prop firm payout may be capped below the raw calculation in dollar terms; an EVEDEX withdrawal is limited to the real USDT balance, not the notional.
The Loss Scenario Both Models Share
Every calculation above assumes a winning month, which is the scenario firms advertise and traders remember. A losing month works differently by structure. At Topstep or FTMO, a loss inside the daily/overall limit just reduces that month's payout to zero — the evaluation or subscription fee already paid is the total amount at risk, because the underlying capital is simulated. On EVEDEX Funded Trading, the loss comes directly out of the posted margin: a trader who put up 165 USDT for a 5,000 USDT notional and loses 10% of that notional loses $500 of exposure, which can exceed the 165 USDT margin itself once trading fees and funding charges are added, at which point the balance goes to zero. Because the notional is leverage on the trader's own money, not funds EVEDEX allocates, the maximum loss in either direction is the margin posted — never more, but also never less.
EVEDEX Funded Trading
EVEDEX pays no salary and takes no profit split on Funded Trading, because the account runs on the trader's own margin rather than firm capital: 50 USDT for a 1,500 USDT notional or 165 USDT for a 5,000 USDT notional are EVEDEX's published examples, applied across its 52 perpetual pairs settled on-chain on Arbitrum. Trading costs are the same as any EVEDEX account — maker/taker fees no higher than 0.015%/0.045%, cashback up to 35%, funding calculated every eight hours — with no evaluation fee reducing the total beforehand. What a trader makes is simply the notional's return minus those costs, and what a trader can lose is the full margin posted. An ADL Protection Reserve of $500,000, running since July 18, 2026, exists to reduce cases where a profitable position gets force-closed through auto-deleveraging, but it has no bearing on ordinary trading losses. Perpetual futures carry a high risk of loss.
