Velotrade has released its 2026 Prop Firm Transparency Report, analyzing rulebooks from six proprietary trading firms including Topstep, FTMO, and FundingPips. The report reveals that across over 300,000 funded trading accounts, only about 7% ever received payouts. Crucially, this low payout rate isn’t mainly due to traders’ skills but rather the strict and often obscure rule conditions in the firms' evaluation guides.
Many traders clear all challenge stages and finish with profitable positions, yet their accounts still get closed due to clauses overlooked when purchasing the challenge. CEO Gianluca Pizzituti emphasizes that if the rules can’t be fully understood in one reading, the rulebook is incomplete. He criticizes the industry for treating rule clarity as a marketing issue instead of a product necessity.
Rules Impact Outcomes More Than Trading
Data from a 2024 FPFX Tech study of 300,000 accounts showed only 14% cleared challenges, with just 7% being paid out. Another analysis of 500,000 traders by hoc-trade found that 70% of failures were triggered by loss limits rather than missed profit targets. Consistency requirements alone can eliminate 33% to 50% of profits that traders make. This sheds light on why many funded traders fail to cash out despite apparent success.
Such findings encourage traders to scrutinize drawdown limits and payout conditions instead of focusing solely on profit splits before investing in a prop firm challenge. Transparency about these trading rules can save traders from costly surprises and unexpected account terminations.
This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
