What is a futures prop firm?
The idea in one paragraph
A futures prop firm gives you a trading account funded with its capital. You first show that you can trade within two numbers: a profit target and a maximum drawdown. Reach the target without touching the drawdown and you move to a funded account. From there, the profit you make is shared with the firm, and the firm carries the risk on the capital.
The firm earns from the evaluation fees and from its share of the profits. The trader earns the right to trade a size that would take a large deposit to trade alone.
Why traders use one
Capital is the obvious reason. Trading a 50K account on your own means a margin deposit and your own money at risk on every trade. With a prop firm you pay one evaluation fee, once, and trade that size from day one.
The second reason is discipline. A fixed drawdown, a profit target and validated trading days give a routine. Many traders pass their first evaluation simply because the rules stop them from doing what used to hurt them: oversizing and revenge trading.
How the evaluation works
Every firm sets a target and a drawdown per account size. At Demos, a 50K account has a $3,000 target and a $2,000 max drawdown, with up to 3 minis or 30 micros. You trade on live market data, with your own strategy, at your own pace.
Two things change from one model to another: how the drawdown moves (static or trailing) and whether a consistency rule applies. How a futures evaluation works goes through each rule with examples.
What happens after you pass
You activate the funded account from your portal, with the same size and the same drawdown. The profit you make on it is yours to request from the portal once a buffer equal to the max drawdown is on the account. How prop firm payouts work explains the full cycle.
After several payouts in a row on the same account, the account moves to live capital. Same rules, no new evaluation.
What to check before you choose
Read the rules page first. The rules should fit on one page and leave no grey zone: target, drawdown type, trading days, consistency, contracts, what is allowed and what is not.
Then check the practical side: the platform and the data (futures on live market data), how payouts are sent and on which schedule, how identity is verified, and who answers the support. A firm that answers these questions plainly is a firm you can plan with.
Demos keeps all of it on one page: Rules & FAQ. The accounts, from 25K to 150K, are on the Accounts page.