Prop Trading Firms | Is it the best way to start day trading?

Prop Trading Firms | Is it the best way to start day trading?

We are in a very exciting time in the market when the cost to enter the market is dropping daily. In the past month we have seen all brokers drop their securities commissions fees down to zero except for Vanguard.

So no commissions means it is easy to practice trading with real money. You could buy 1 share or 10 shares depending on the value of the stock and really practice your entry and ext to determine your best strategy to keep risk to a minimum.

You could try trading the super low float, high volatility and high momentum stocks . You could try trading the blue chip stocks that have high daily range as well. It is the perfect time to practice with small money after you have learned basic knowledge of how to trade.

I am not recommending you to trade with zero knowledge about trading, as that is very important first.

You might say yes Jane I want to get into trading, but I have no money to trade with right now. This is something that I hear from people quite often.

In fact I know of a flight attendant and she wanted a better life for her family so turned to trading. However capital was a barrier.

If this is you then Prop Trading Firms might be your answer. However I only found one virtual prop firm for Stocks the rest are for Futures and Forex.

Prop Trading Firms

You might be wondering what on earth a prop trading firm or proprietary trading firm is and how can this help you.

Well a prop firm or proprietary trading firm is a firm that allows individuals to trade the firm money for profits for the firm and the individual trading the money.

There are always certain rules imposed such as the breakdown of the profits firm to trader, the maximum amount of drawdown or losses before the firm will cut you off, and certain education requirements

Top Prop Trading Firms 2020

Tradenet | Prop Trading Firm

Image result for tradenet

To be honest this is the only virutal prop stock firm that I could find. There are many 4 wall office prop firms, but you have to go in person. Tradenet hosts everything virutally allowing you the flexibility to prosper.

Tradenet can give you the opportunity to learn how to day trade, and potentially enjoy extra income. Learning how to day trade the markets, taught by our top moderators, Meir Barak and Scott Malatesta.

Since 2004, Tradenet live day trading academy has educated more than 30,000 professional traders worldwide.

They also offer a free 5 day demo account with 14K to trade to test out their methods.

Free Trading Account


If you find that you are interested in working with them they have 4 different programs that you can choose from in your desire of education in order to receive funding to trade

Tradenet programs
  • Intro Program after training has been passed then you are eligible to apply to trade a $14,000 funded trading account. You will receive 70% of the net profits you generate and will have a maximum drawdown of $700.
  • Student Program after training has been passed then you are eligible to apply to trade a $80,000 account. You get the account with a maximum drawdown of $4,000 and will receive 75% of the net profits.
  • Expert Program after training has been passed then you are eligible to apply for a $160,000 funded trading account. You receive 80% of the net profits with a maximum drawdown of $8,000.
  • Pro Program after training has been passed then you are eligible to apply for a $240,000 funded trading account. You will receive 85% of the net profits that you generate with a drawdown of $12,000.

Tradenet also has a virtual trading room live on Youtube during NYSE trading hours. As well as a free book by Meir Barak all about trading after 20 years of experience.

Meir’s Book is The Market Whisperer. You have two choices you can sign up to get a digital copy free or purchase from Amazon.

The Market Whisperer on Amazon

For now Tradenet is the only Stock Prop Trading Firm that I have seen virtually. All the others for stocks are a physical locations where you have to go into an office to work.

If you trade Futures or Forex them these firms below might interest you as well with their fees being low to enter to receive access to funds from $95/mo for $25,000 access up to $500/mo for $250,000 of funding.

One Up Trader | Prop Trading Firm

One Up Trader is a funded trading account for traders that are interested in trading Futures securities instruments.

The way to open up an account is to go through One Up Trader’s 1 step assessment and then you will be able to sign up for a free trial of a $100,000 funded account for 14 days. Then you have the choice of the level of funding you want based on a monthly cost.

Why One Up Trader

There are 4 options of Novice, Beginner, Advanced, Professional and Expert.

You have the choice of profit split between you and One Up Trader receiving 50%/50% or 80%/20%. I searched to see if they clarify who gets the 80% and I believe that it is 80% to the company and 20% to you, but I could be wrong.

The amount of funding for each of the different accounts is Novice $25,000, Beginner $50,000, Advanced $100,000, Professional $150,000, and Expert is $250,000.

One Up Trader’s fees are monthly based on your choice of profit split Novice ($95/$125), Beginner ($120/$150), Advanced ($240/$300), Professional ($300/$350) or Expert ($500/$650).

One Up Trader Rules

One Up Trader’s Trading guidelines are fairly simple, 15 trading days a month not including weekends, only the permitted products, you must be closed out by 3:15 CST, Maximum Position Sizing based on the account you choose, to reach your profit target, daily loss limit (if met shuts down trading for that day), not to hit your trailing drawdown, showing consistency in your trading.

I did look into if this is only available to certain countries and their website says if your country or city is not accessible on their sign up page then it is not available to you. It seemed to me that most countries are available.

Top Step Trader | Prop Trading Firm

The Top Step Trader Program Is for Futures only. Like One Up Trader you have to go through an evaluation to receive the ability to be funded.

Top Step Trader allows you to prove yourself in a simulated trading account with profits and risk management and then you have the ability to choose your funded account.

Top Step Account Sizes

Now just like One Up Trader, Top Step Trader has their own parameters or rules that you must follow to remain being funded.

Top Step Rules

The Rules are fairly straight forward. You can only trade during permitted times, you can’t exceed the daily or weekly loss limit, you are not allowed to exceed the trailing maximum Drawdown, you can’t hold positions into major economic releases and you have to follow the scaling plan.

Earn2Trade | Prop Trading Firm

The final prop firm that I found that is good for Futures and or Forex Traders is Earn2Trade. Much like the other prop firms mentioned above you do have to go through a qualification process to be able to trade with their capital.

Earn2Trade is similar to Tradenet, in that they offer you 3 different training programs to reach your funding account.

The Crash Course consists of 60- 10 minute videos to help educate you on the market, risk management and technical trading. The cost for the Crash Course is $249 for lifetime access.

The curiculum is set up to run you over the course of 6 weeks. I’m not sure if you have the ability to do them more quickly

earn2trade bootcamp

The Bootcamp is a 4-6 month long course with a price tag of $2499. What the biggest difference is with the Bootcamp is a personal mentor that is a licensed professional.

The Bootcamp is a 360 view of trading including Earn2Trade , Crash Course and then 4 more months of mentorship and the Gauntlet. Once you have completed the Gauntlet successfully you will receive a funded account offer.

The training program is actually a 2 part. They have the mini-Gauntlet and The Gauntlet. The Gauntlet is a 60 day program and the Mini Gauntlet can be done in as litte as 15 days.

The Gauntlet is a one time fee of $249.00 for $25,000 and The mini Gauntlet fees are monthly similar to One Up and Top Step Trader.

So you can see that the Mini Gauntlet is the newest addition but the monthly fees could really add up if you are trading more than the $25,000 capital amount.

Potentially with patience you could spend the $249 and then grow it up and it is a one time fee instead of monthly cost. I’m not sure if they would let you transfer from the mini-Gauntlet to the Gauntlet after a 60 day time frame.

I love hearing feedback, so please share. You can also contact me on my social media accounts Twitter (@ItsAirplaneJane), Instagram (missairplanejane), LinkedIn and Facebook (@sugarairplanejane) or YouTube

The tool I use for scanning and alerting is Trade Ideas who offer an always free trading room. You can receive 5% off with Promo code CARPEPROFIT15 all caps when you sign up here for your first year or month

Trade Ideas will be offering the quarterly full access test drive of their software their software in Nov 2019 for the cost of data fees $9. 

Another amazing software is Trendspider that has a new innovative rain drop candlestick that shows the volume for the morning session and afternoon session as far as the weight of it in price action. You can try them for free for 7 days here and receive 20% off with MTS20

My book is available at Amazon FMJ Trust Transition Trade: How Successful Traders Said It, Did It, and Lived It . As well as  Barnes and Noble, IndigoChapters,and more.

For my charts I use Tradingview which offer free charting and paid services.

Also Stocks To Trade that has a 2 week $7 trial

This blog is for informational and educational purposes. I am not a registered securities broker-dealer or an investment adviser. The information here is not intended as securities brokerage, investment or as an offer or solicitation of an offer to sell or buy, or as an endorsement, recommendation or sponsorship of any security or fund.