Futures Prop Firms – What, Why, & Who

Futures trading is growing rapidly in popularity, and futures prop firms are rising to the increased demand from traders. These firms allow traders the opportunity to earn capital for trading futures, so that they don't have to fund their own futures account if they don't want to.

Prop trading firms usually offer a nice variety of futures contracts, including futures for stock indices like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, commodities (like gold, oil, and silver), and currency and interest rates, like treasury bonds. 

These futures offer prop firms and their traders access to a large portion of the financial markets, suitable for both short and long-term trading. Futures can sometimes lead financial markets and offer many opportunities for hedging, pairs trading or speculation.

Why are There Many Futures Prop Trading Firms?

These prop firms offer futures trading for a number of reasons:

• Futures markets are liquid and transparent, with all trades taking place on a central exchange visible to all participants.
• Futures allow traders to use large amounts of leverage, which allows the prop firms to provide more buying power with less capital.
• Futures exchanges are regulated differently from the stock market. So it's logistically easier to offer prop firm accounts for futures, versus stocks or options.

Prop Firms for Futures

The following prop firms offer futures trading (in alphabetical order):

What's the Best Futures Prop Firm?

You can see the best futures props ranked for a number of factors on the best prop firm list, like pass-ability and shortest time-to-payout.

You'll notice that all the prop firms on that list offer futures trading, not forex or CFDs. I avoid those, and so should you.

Bottom line, those other products just aren't a good option for traders. They have too many flaws and room for abuse, and forex is where all the prop firm fraud has occurred. It's also where you see most scammer "gurus" operate. See some other differences between futures vs forex.

Why are the best firms listed all online firms, not "brick-and-mortar" or "traditional" prop firms?

That's because most traders come here looking for advice on online prop firms, where they can trade remotely on their own hours, but with additional access to capital. And, most of traditional firms, including the one I've traded with, aren't accessible to 99.99% of traders. I talk more about those in this breakdown of prop trading.

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