Prop firm
A prop firm is a company that lets you trade its money instead of your own. You pay a fee, pass an evaluation with rules attached, and then split the profits with them.
In depth
The usual shape: pay a few hundred dollars for a 50,000 dollar evaluation account, hit a profit target of a few percent, and stay inside a daily loss limit and an overall drawdown limit. Break either limit and the account is gone, along with the fee. Pass, and you trade a funded account and keep most of the profit.
The drawdown limit is the part that catches people. It is often trailing, so a good day raises the floor and a normal pullback afterwards can end you. Read the rules before paying: how drawdown is measured, whether news trading is allowed, and how you get paid. Terms vary a lot between firms.
Why it matters
A prop firm changes what you are optimising for. Your own account rewards making money over a year. An evaluation rewards not breaking a rule this week, which pushes you towards small size and tight risk. That is a fine discipline if you know you are doing it, and an expensive surprise if you trade the evaluation the way you trade your own money.
TraderLog does not track prop-firm rules or payouts. It does track the behaviour that breaks them: the stats page shows max drawdown, worst day, losing streaks and results after a loss, and automatic tags flag size jumps after a loss and fast re-entries.
Frequently asked questions
Some firms fund live accounts, others pay from simulated results. Ask which one before you pay the fee.
Breaking the daily loss limit or the overall drawdown limit. Both are usually checked on unrealised losses too.
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