Who actually regulates your prop firm?
29 prop firms tracked · 3 with CFTC touchpoints · entity-verified from primary records
Most prop firms are unregulated by design: because you trade simulated or firm capital instead of depositing client funds, the evaluation model sits outside SEC, CFTC, and NFA oversight. That era is ending. Regulators — the CFTC in particular — have been weighing whether evaluation-based futures firms should be classified as Commodity Trading Advisors, which would bring registration, capital requirements, and audits. Some firms are moving inside the perimeter early rather than waiting: Topstep received CTA approval and registered with the NFA in May 2026, and others operate CFTC-registered entities or clear live accounts through registered FCMs. The table below records what each firm we score actually discloses — verified entity by entity, with non-disclosure shown as exactly that.
Prop firms — entity & regulatory status
“No regulator disclosed” is a statement about the firm's own disclosures, not a legal finding. Rows marked ◆have a named CFTC/NFA touchpoint. Each status traces to a dated evidence extract on the firm's dossier.
| Firm | Score | Regulatory status (as disclosed) |
|---|---|---|
| Tradeify | 78 | CFTC-registered entity — Tradeify Brokerage LLC d/b/a Slay Markets (Boca Raton, FL) |
| Phidias Funding | 68.5 | No firm-level regulator disclosed; LIVE accounts cleared through Dorman Trading, a CFTC-registered FCM |
| Topstep | 61.1 | CFTC-registered introducing broker (NFA ID 0567079); CTA approval + NFA Swap Firm registration May 2026 (Topstep Advisory LLC) |
| FTMO | 79.9 | No regulator disclosed for the evaluation business — FTMO Evaluation Global s.r.o., Czech Republic |
| Funding Pips | 77.5 | No regulator disclosed — Dubai-registered company |
| The Trading Pit | 77.3 | Not disclosed / not yet verified |
| Hola Prime | 77.2 | No regulator disclosed — Holaprime Limited (Cyprus), subsidiary of Holaprime Limited Hong Kong; independent Deloitte payout review (2026) |
| Earn2Trade | 76.4 | No regulator disclosed — Earn2Trade LLC (Sheridan, WY registered address); Dubai franchise partner (Bahia Education Services LLC) |
| Blue Guardian | 76.2 | Not disclosed / not yet verified |
| MyFundedFutures | 76 | No regulator disclosed — US-based; simulated trading environments disclosed on-site |
| OneUp Trader | 75.9 | No regulator disclosed — US-based entity, operating since 2017 |
| The5ers | 75.5 | Not disclosed / not yet verified |
| TradeDay | 75.1 | TradeDay, Chicago, IL. Founded 2020 by James Thorpe and Steve Miley. |
| Lux Trading Firm | 74.8 | No regulator disclosed — UK limited company, 128 City Road, London (Companies House) |
| Funded Trading Plus | 73.5 | No regulator disclosed — UK-registered company (Companies House) |
| Lucid Trading | 73 | No regulator disclosed — US-based (founder AJ Campanella publicly named) |
| Alpha Futures | 72.4 | Alpha Futures, US-based. Launched July 2024. |
| Alpha Capital Group | 71.2 | No regulator disclosed — UK-registered entity (Companies House) |
| E8 Funding | 70 | Not disclosed / not yet verified |
| Audacity Capital | 68.6 | Union of Comoros (Anjouan) brokerage licence — AudaCity Global LTD; Dubai FZCO payment entity; UK office |
| FXIFY | 67.7 | Labuan FSA-licensed trading entity (FXIFY Markets LTD, Malaysia) + UK company (FXIFY Solutions Limited); broker partner FXPIG |
| FundedNext | 67.4 | Not disclosed / not yet verified |
| Apex Trader Funding | 66.2 | Not disclosed / not yet verified |
| Maven Trading | 65.8 | No regulator disclosed — Maven Edu FZCO, Dubai Silicon Oasis, UAE (reg. 006-0060823-070425) |
| Goat Funded Trader | 64.1 | No regulator disclosed — Wishes Tower International Limited (Hong Kong) + Goat Funded LTD (Saint Lucia) |
| City Traders Imperium | 61.8 | Not disclosed / not yet verified |
| Elite Trader Funding | 61.6 | No regulator disclosed — Delaware entity, owners unnameable from primary records; simulated-funded model |
| Take Profit Trader | 60.1 | No regulator disclosed — TakeProfitTrader LLC, Windermere, FL |
| The Funded Trader | 45.9 | No operating entity or regulator prominently disclosed; platform access via third parties (Voyage Markets, Thaurus LTD); historical Florida registration |
Brokerages — the regulated layer
Brokerages are the part of the stack where real regulation already lives — our brokerage scores are built on the legal entity you actually contract with, cross-checked against NFA BASIC and the relevant registers.
| Brokerage | Regulator(s) | Jurisdiction |
|---|---|---|
| AMP Futures | CFTC (FCM) + NFA (NFA ID 0412490); DSRO: CME. Sole member: Daniel Culp. Founded July 2009. | United States — no CIPF; entity-mismatch fires for Canadian clients |
| Cannon Trading | CFTC (IIB) + NFA. Not an FCM — customer funds held at the chosen clearing FCM (StoneX / TransAct / Dorman / Phillip Capital / Ironbeam). Founded 1988, family-held. | United States — no CIPF; entity-mismatch fires for Canadian clients; provincial availability unverified at scoring date |
| Charles Schwab | SEC / FINRA / NFA | United States — does not accept Canadian residents |
| Forex.com | CIRO (Investment Dealer) + StoneX Group NASDAQ parent | Canada — no entity mismatch (Canadian CIRO/CIPF entity onboards Canadians) |
| Global Prime | VFSC (Vanuatu) for the scored entity. ASIC supervision and AFCA dispute resolution do NOT apply to Canadian clients. Ontario residents excluded entirely. | Vanuatu (VFSC) for Canadian onboarding — severe entity-mismatch vs the marketed ASIC entity; Ontario excluded |
| Interactive Brokers | CIRO | Canada |
| Ironbeam | CFTC (FCM) + NFA; DSRO: CME Group. Founder/CEO: Omid M. Farr (sole owner via Tavage, Inc.). FCM since 2001. | United States — no CIPF; entity-mismatch fires for Canadian clients; provincial availability unverified at scoring date |
| moomoo | CIRO (Investment Dealer, granted 2023) + Futu Holdings NASDAQ parent | Canada — no entity mismatch (Canadian CIRO/CIPF entity); L3 disclosed: new entity (2023) + US sibling FINRA enforcement |
| NinjaTrader Brokerage | CFTC (FCM) + NFA (NFA ID 0309379); parent: Payward Inc. (Kraken, acq. May 2025) | United States — Ontario residents only; no CIPF; entity-mismatch fires |
| OANDA | CIRO (Investment Dealer, formerly IIROC) + FTMO Group parent (private, CZ) | Canada — no entity mismatch (Canadian CIRO/CIPF entity); L3 disclosed: FTMO acquisition Apr 2024 + Omus I Inc. acquisition Jul 2025 (two ownership changes in 15 months) + US parent NFA enforcement in window |
| Optimus Futures | CFTC (IIB) + NFA — registration PENDING WITHDRAWAL with NFA hold as of June 2026. Not an FCM — customer funds held at the client-selected clearing FCM (ADMIS / Wedbush / Plus500 / StoneX / Phillip Capital). Founded Jan 2004 by Matt Zimberg. | United States — no CIPF; entity-mismatch fires for Canadian clients; provincial availability unverified |
| Questrade | CIRO | Canada |
| tastytrade | SEC / FINRA | United States — does not accept Canadian residents |
| TD Direct Investing | CIRO (+ OSFI at parent bank level) | Canada — no entity mismatch (Canadian-native CIRO/CIPF) |
| Tradovate Brokerage | CFTC (FCM) + NFA (NFA ID 0309379); parent: Payward Inc. (Kraken, acq. May 2025) | United States — Ontario residents only; no CIPF; entity-mismatch fires |
The wire — latest document changes
Our differ snapshots every tracked firm's policy documents nightly and flags edits — the raw feed behind this page staying current.
- 2026-07-03FXIFY edited a policy document
- 2026-07-03FXIFY edited a policy document
- 2026-07-03Elite Trader Funding edited a policy document — material terms
- 2026-07-03Elite Trader Funding edited a policy document
- 2026-07-03Elite Trader Funding edited a policy document
- 2026-07-03Phidias Funding edited a policy document
Common questions
Are prop firms regulated?
Mostly no — and that is the industry’s defining structural fact. Because traders trade simulated or firm capital rather than deposit client funds, most evaluation firms sit outside SEC, CFTC, and NFA oversight by design. What varies enormously is what a firm chooses to disclose and where it incorporates: some publish a named legal entity in a strong jurisdiction, some hold offshore licences from lighter-touch regulators, and some disclose no entity at all. Our tracker records exactly what each firm disclosed, verified against primary records, and treats non-disclosure as information in its own right.
What would CTA classification mean for futures prop firms?
The CFTC has been weighing whether evaluation-based futures prop firms should be treated as Commodity Trading Advisors. Classification would require registration with the CFTC and NFA membership, capital requirements, recordkeeping, and audits — a fundamental change to the business model. Some firms are moving early rather than waiting: Topstep registered with the NFA and received CTA approval in May 2026, and others operate CFTC-registered entities or clear live accounts through registered FCMs. We update this page as the picture changes.
How does TraderVerdict verify regulatory status?
Against the source of record, never a firm’s marketing: NFA BASIC and the CFTC for US futures registrations, Companies House for UK entities, and each firm’s own legal documents for entity names and licences. Every row on this page traces to a dated, verbatim evidence extract in our database, and the nightly document differ catches when a firm’s terms change. Where we could not verify an entity from primary records, the row says so instead of guessing.
How we verify: the evidence policy · every score's trail: the methodology · firm terms changing in real time: the wire.