What Are the Cheapest Prop Firms & Challenges? (2024)

Read about the cheapest prop firms, considering monthly recurring subscription costs, one-time fees, educational resources and more.

The cheapest prop firms are less expensive and enable proprietary traders to test the waters of prop trading at low costs. In this article, we compare the cheapest prop firm challenges and rank them based on their costs and account sizes.

Cheapest Prop Firms

The cheapest prop firm with a $50K account and only one trading challenge step is Topstep. The lowest-priced one-time-fee offering is The5ers, with a $5K account for $37.05 with two trading challenge steps.

Below, you find the full overview of the cheapest prop firms. To evaluate the lowest-price prop firm offering, we’ve included the current promotions in the calculation to compare on the correct level since what you have to pay right now is what counts. Retail prices play a secondary role when discounts and promotions are active.

1. Topstep

Topstep is the best cheapest prop firm specializing in futures trading, with its headquarters in the United States. They currently run a 70% discount promotion on all funded programs, which makes the offer exceptionally attractive for new traders who want to get into the trading challenge at a low price.

The $50K account currently costs only $49. Those who reach the profit target of $3K get funded with a $50K buying power account. The costs are monthly, but the minimum trading days are reduced to only two days.

So, if you reach the profit target within 2 days or within the one month you paid for, you will get funded, and there will be no recurring charge for the next month. The challenge type is a one-step challenge, which means that those who make it through the one challenge get funded with a funded account.

Topstep is a market leader founded in July 2012, which adds to its credibility.

70% Off On All Account Sizes

2. The5ers

The5ers is the best prop firm specializing in forex trading, with its headquarters in Israel. They currently run a 5% discount promotion on all forex prop accounts, which reduces the

The 5% discount will be applied automatically during the signup process. The lowest-priced offering with The5ers is the High Stakes Challenge $5K account. The minimum number of trading days to pass the challenge is 3 days, and you have unlimited time to pass it.

The High Stakes program consists of two evaluation phases, where you have to achieve an 8% profit target in Step 1 and another 5% in Step 2 before you get funded.

The $5K High Stakes account currently costs a one-time fee of $37.05 (with the 5% discount). Those who make it through Step 1 of the evaluation phase get a $10 reward credited. Those who pass Step 2 get a full refund of the one-time fee paid.

The founding date of 2016 stands for The5ers’ high reputation in the market.

5% Off On All Account Sizes

3. Earn2Trade

Earn2Trade is the second futures-trading specialized prop firm in our list of the cheapest prop firms in the industry, with their founding date back to 2016. They currently run a promotion with an incredible 70% discount across all account sizes, which makes their packages comparable to Topstep.

The 70% discount works for both of their programs, the Trader Career Path, where traders can scale their account from $25K or $50K all the way up to $400K, and the traditional Gauntlet Mini program without account scaling.

The Trader Career Path (TCP) with $25K virtual starting capital costs only $45 right now. The fee is a monthly fee, but traders can pass the challenge within 15 days, so under perfect conditions, the fee only has to be paid once. The double-sized $50K account currently costs only $12 more and is available for $57 per month.

For the Gauntlet Mini program, the $50K account price is a bit cheaper and available at $51 per month. However, unlike the Earn2Trade TCP, the Gauntlet Mini accounts can’t be scaled up to higher values.

50% Off Trader Career Path

4. Trade The Pool

Trade The Pool is the cheapest stock prop firm and a subsidiary of The5ers. The stock trading prop firm is relatively new, and you can trade over 12,000 stocks (including penny stocks) and ETFs when deciding on TTP.

Trade The Pool (TTP) currently runs a promotion available with the link below, which applies a 5% discount during the signup process for traders who join the prop firm now.

The cheapest stock funded account at Trade The Pool costs $92.15 (normally $97) and comes with $20K buying power. The fee is a one-time fee. The challenge lasts 45 days, with a minimum of 30 trades that need to be placed during the evaluation phase. Traders who make it through the one challenge step get TTP funded accounts. The profit target is $1,800.

5% Off On All Account Sizes

5. FTMO

FTMO has provided its services to clients since 2015 and is specialized in forex trading. All of their offerings are 2-step challenges, where traders must pass the FTMO Challenge first, then go through a second challenge called the Verification before getting funded as an FTMO Trader.

Discounts for FTMO are rare, and the lowest-priced offering is the $10K account with the parameters normal risk and in the base currency USD for a one-time fee of €155. Yet, independently of what your account currency is in the challenge, you always pay the price in Euro since the company is located in Prague, Europe.

The fee is a refundable fee. Traders who pass both challenges then get funded and then make enough profits to get paid based on the profit split receive the refundable fee as reimbursem*nt with the first profit split.

Comparison Table

*evaluation / challenge phases needed to get a funded account. **monthly recurring costs. ***one-time-fee*

The scaling plan comparison provides additional insights by comparing 22 prop firms regarding their scaling plan methods.

Are the Ceapest Prop Firms Worth It? – My Conclusion

The cheapest prop firms with the highest discounts and biggest account sizes are Topstep and Earn2Trade. Both come with monthly recurring costs, but the minimum trading days are at a level where, in the best case, a trader only needs one month of evaluation before getting funded.

The offerings from The5ers and Trade The Pool are the best ones across the one-time participation fee offerings. With The5ers, traders have unlimited time to complete the challenge. With Trade The Pool, the challenge lasts 45 days.

Overall, the cheapest prop firms are worth it for beginners who want to put prop trading to the test. The higher the costs, the more capital a trader can trade and manage. Those who want to get immediately funded decided on the best instant funded prop trading firms.

Such accounts have the benefit that there is no need to pass a challenge before getting funded, and traders of directly funded accounts are entitled to be paid according to the agreed payout split from the first day.

What are the best prop trading firms with no challenge?

The best prop trading firms with no challenge are The5ers, with their Hyper Growth program and FundYour FX. Both programs focus on forex trading, where traders manage a forex account via MetaTrader by trading CFD-based products (currencies, metals, indices ) for the prop firms.

Can you make a living with prop trading?

Yes. Making a living from prop trading is very much possible. However, it depends on your skills and commitment to dealing with the financial markets, and it is nothing else than a sure-fire success to become a highly profitable prop trader.

How much does the average prop firm trader make?

The average money a prop firm trader makes is a low level since most traders fail when going through a trading challenge. The most popular accounts are the cheapest ones, which have only limited buying power, so the average income is again limited. Let’s say you trade a $5K account and reach the target of 10% profit. Then you make $500, and only parts can be withdrawn (based on your profit split).