About PropTradingScanner
PropTradingScanner is an independent research platform for futures proprietary trading firms. PropTradingScanner delivers intelligence built on verifiable data, transparent methodology and tools you won’t find anywhere else — not another affiliate list.
Why we exist
The futures prop firm space is loud, fast-moving and full of marketing. Firms advertise headline profit splits and “instant funding” while the things that actually decide whether you make money — real challenge cost after coupons, drawdown mechanics, consistency rules and, above all, whether the firm actually pays — get buried. Most comparison sites just republish affiliate blurbs and rank by commission.
PropTradingScanner was built to be the opposite: a research layer that measures what the marketing hides. PropTradingScanner tracks 22 futures prop firms on the details that matter, scores them with a documented method, and gives traders working tools instead of a wall of “sign up here” buttons.
The Payout Reliability Index — our core
Getting funded is easy. Getting paid is what matters. PropTradingScanner’s flagship metric is the Payout Reliability Index: an independent 0–10 score for every firm on how reliably and quickly it actually pays traders. It is built from five public, verifiable signals — each weighted by how much it really predicts a clean withdrawal:
| Signal | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Trustpilot rating & volume | 30% | Public trader sentiment at scale — rating weighted by review count so a 4.9 from 20,000 reviews outranks a 5.0 from 30. |
| Published payout track record | 25% | Whether the firm publishes real payout proof and totals, and how long it has actually been paying. |
| Payout speed | 20% | How fast withdrawals are approved and arrive — on-demand vs cycle-based vs slow manual review. |
| Policy clarity | 15% | How transparent and unambiguous the payout terms, minimums and consistency rules are. |
| Community sentiment | 10% | Recurring themes in trader forums and discussions — delays, denials, or smooth payouts. |
New firms (2023 onward) with a thin payout history are capped with a conservative Provisional track-record score and flagged — so an unproven firm can’t leapfrog an established one on hype. When a firm has no verifiable payout signal at all, we leave it out of the index entirely rather than invent a number.
What makes us different
These are things our biggest competitors simply do not offer:
- An actual payout-reliability score — most sites don’t measure whether a firm pays. PropTradingScanner does, with the method above.
- Working calculators — a challenge cost calculator (true cost after coupons and monthly billing), a position size & drawdown calculator (contract sizing on real CME tick values), and a payout calculator (take-home after split, tiers, consistency and minimums). The category leader has zero.
- Head-to-head comparisons — 33 direct “X vs Y” breakdowns so you can decide between two firms on the specifics, not the marketing.
- Real, structured firm data — 81 evaluation plans with actual pricing, profit targets, drawdown type and contract limits, kept in a database and updated — not copy-pasted blurbs.
Our coverage today
Editorial independence
PropTradingScanner’s rankings are not for sale. A firm cannot pay to raise its Payout Reliability Score, move up a “best for” list, or remove a critical point from its review. Scores are driven by the data and the method above, full stop. When a firm scores badly — a low Trustpilot rating, slow payouts, murky rules — we say so, even if we have an affiliate link to it.
How we make money
We’re transparent about this because it’s the honest thing to do. Some links to prop firms are affiliate links: if you sign up through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you (often you pay less, because we surface active discount codes). That’s how a free, ad-light research site stays running.
What affiliate revenue does not do is change our scores or rankings. We rank on the data first and monetise second — not the other way around. If the best-scoring firm for your needs isn’t one we earn from, we still put it at the top.
Where our data comes from
- Trustpilot — public ratings and review volumes, read at scale.
- Official firm pages — pricing, payout terms, drawdown rules and consistency policies, taken from the firms’ own published sources.
- Payout proof & track records — firms’ published payout totals and evidence.
- Trader communities — recurring, verifiable themes from forums and discussions.
PropTradingScanner updates its data regularly and re-scores as terms change. Prop firm pricing and rules move fast — if you spot something out of date, tell us and we’ll fix it.
What we are not
PropTradingScanner is a research and comparison site, not a broker, not a prop firm, and not a financial adviser. Prop firm accounts are simulated funded-account programs. Everything here is educational information to help you compare — not financial, investment or trading advice. Trading futures carries substantial risk. Always confirm a firm’s current terms directly before committing money, and never risk more than you can afford to lose.
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See who actually pays on the Payout Reliability Index · compare the field on best futures prop firms · price your entry with the challenge cost calculator · or get in touch.