Are prop firms legal in the US?

Yes for the futures model. Evaluations are sold as an educational or simulated product, and the funded stage either stays simulated or runs on the firm's own capital, so no trader-side registration is required. What is effectively unavailable is the offshore forex-CFD version, because offering retail forex to US residents requires an NFA-registered retail foreign exchange dealer.

Does FTMO accept US traders?

No. FTMO closed new US-resident onboarding and has not reopened it. Any site telling you to sign up with a VPN is telling you to fail KYC after you have already paid and traded.

Can I use a VPN to join a firm that excludes the US?

You can complete the purchase and you will not survive verification. Identity documents, address proof and payout rails all reveal residency, and firms routinely void accounts and profits for jurisdiction misrepresentation while keeping the evaluation fee. It is the most reliable way to lose money in this industry.

Which US prop firm pays out fastest?

Weekly cycles are standard on the futures side. Topstep and Take Profit Trader run the most consistently evidenced weekly schedules in our payout proof data, with first payouts typically inside 7-14 days of clearing the evaluation.

Do I get a 1099 from a prop firm?

US-based firms generally issue a 1099-NEC once you pass the reporting threshold, treating you as an independent contractor. Offshore firms often issue nothing at all — which does not make the income untaxable, it makes reporting your responsibility.

Country guide

Best prop firms for US traders

Eligibility re-checked July 20, 2026 · 13 of 34 firms accept US traders · regulator: CFTC and NFA (derivatives), state money-transmitter law (payouts)

The United States is the single biggest prop-trading market and the most restricted one. Most forex-CFD firms either never onboarded US residents or quietly closed the door during the 2023-2025 compliance wave, while the futures side — which sits on a fully regulated CME order book — took the volume. This page separates firms you can actually fund from firms whose checkout will take your money and whose KYC will then refuse you.

Firms that accept US traders (13)

Topstep
Futures · trust 91/100 · End-of-day trailing · Chicago, USA
Chicago-based, US-first. Onboards all 50 states, pays via ACH/wire in USD, and issues US tax documentation to funded traders.
Apex Trader Funding
Futures · trust 85/100 · Intraday trailing · Austin, USA
One of the largest US-resident prop populations in the industry. Texas-based, ACH payouts, no state exclusions.
My Funded Futures
Futures · trust 84/100 · End-of-day trailing · Dover, Delaware, USA
Accepts US residents; the funded stage is simulated with the firm copying qualifying flow, which keeps it outside broker registration requirements.
Alpha Futures
Futures · trust 84/100 · End-of-day trailing · London, United Kingdom
UK-registered but futures-only on CME products, and accepts US residents. Balance-based trailing drawdown is unusually forgiving for intraday NQ traders.
Take Profit Trader
Futures · trust 83/100 · End-of-day trailing · Miami, USA
US-friendly futures firm with live-funded accounts rather than a permanent sim stage — the closest thing to a real US futures seat in the retail prop space.
Earn2Trade
Futures · trust 79/100 · Intraday trailing · Chicago, USA
US-friendly by design. Simulated CME futures evaluations are the standard American prop product and every major futures firm onboards US residents in all 50 states.
Tradeify
Futures · trust 78/100 · End-of-day trailing · Florida, USA
US residents accepted. Instant-funding style products are simulated, so the CFTC registration question does not arise for the trader.
TradeDay
Futures · trust 78/100 · End-of-day trailing · United States
US-friendly by design. Simulated CME futures evaluations are the standard American prop product and every major futures firm onboards US residents in all 50 states.
Elite Trader Funding
Futures · trust 76/100 · Intraday trailing · United States
US residents accepted across all plan types, including the static-drawdown accounts that suit US index-futures scalpers.
Bulenox
Futures · trust 74/100 · Intraday trailing · Wilmington, Delaware, USA
US-friendly by design. Simulated CME futures evaluations are the standard American prop product and every major futures firm onboards US residents in all 50 states.
Lucid Trading
Futures · trust 73/100 · Static · Wilmington, USA
Delaware-registered futures firm, US residents accepted, USD payouts domestically.
Funding Ticks
Futures · trust 70/100 · End-of-day trailing · Dubai, UAE
Dubai-registered futures firm that onboards US residents. Newer operator — size your first account accordingly.
Legends Trading
Futures · trust 69/100 · End-of-day trailing · Calabasas, California, USA
US-friendly by design. Simulated CME futures evaluations are the standard American prop product and every major futures firm onboards US residents in all 50 states.

Conditional — confirm before you pay (4)

These firms onboard some residents of United States but the policy is product-dependent, region-dependent inside the country, or has changed recently. Get a written answer from support before buying an evaluation.

Blue Guardian
Multi-asset · trust 76/100 · Static · Dubai, UAE
Availability follows the CFD leg. Firms routing through an offshore CFD broker generally exclude US residents even when the futures side would be fine.
Trade The Pool
Multi-asset · trust 75/100 · Static · Raanana, Israel
Availability follows the CFD leg. Firms routing through an offshore CFD broker generally exclude US residents even when the futures side would be fine.
Maven Trading
Multi-asset · trust 65/100 · Intraday trailing · London, UK
Availability follows the CFD leg. Firms routing through an offshore CFD broker generally exclude US residents even when the futures side would be fine.
The Funded Trader
Forex · trust 58/100 · Static · Fort Lauderdale, USA
US-headquartered but the CFD product is routed offshore. Onboarding for US residents has been inconsistent since the 2024 restructure — verify in writing before buying.

Not available in United States (17)

Checkout will usually accept your payment. Verification will not. Do not attempt to bypass these with a VPN — firms void accounts and keep both the fee and the profit when residency is misrepresented.

FTMO
Forex · trust 94/100 · Static · Prague, Czechia
FTMO stopped accepting new US-resident customers and has not reopened. Existing accounts were grandfathered; new signups from a US address are rejected at verification.
The5ers
Forex · trust 86/100 · Static · Tel Aviv, Israel
Forex CFD evaluations; US residents are on the restricted-country list.
Blueberry Funded
Forex · trust 84/100 · Static · Melbourne, Australia
Australian broker-backed CFD product; the underlying broker does not onboard US persons.
FundedNext
Forex · trust 82/100 · Static · Dubai, UAE
US residents are not accepted on the CFD accounts.
Alpha Capital Group
Forex · trust 82/100 · Static · London, UK
US residents excluded; UK/EU-facing CFD product.
Funding Pips
Forex · trust 80/100 · Static · Dubai, UAE
Excludes US residents at registration.
FXIFY
Forex · trust 80/100 · Static · London, United Kingdom
Broker-backed via an offshore CFD entity that does not accept US persons.
E8 Markets
Multi-asset · trust 79/100 · Static · Dallas, USA
Multi-asset CFD product; US residents are outside the accepted-jurisdiction list.
City Traders Imperium
Forex · trust 78/100 · Static · London, UK
Retail forex CFDs cannot be offered to US residents by an unregistered counterparty, so most offshore CFD prop firms exclude the US at signup or at KYC.
Oanda Prop Trader
Forex · trust 76/100 · Intraday trailing · Valletta, Malta
Retail forex CFDs cannot be offered to US residents by an unregistered counterparty, so most offshore CFD prop firms exclude the US at signup or at KYC.
Breakout
Crypto · trust 75/100 · Static · Singapore
Crypto-derivative evaluations with an exchange counterparty that excludes US persons. US IPs are blocked at signup.
Goat Funded Trader
Forex · trust 72/100 · Static · Dubai, UAE
Dubai-based CFD firm; US residents are excluded in the terms of service.
FunderPro
Multi-asset · trust 71/100 · Static · Ta'Xbiex, Malta
Malta-based CFD platform operator. US residents are excluded in the terms.
FTUK
Forex · trust 70/100 · Static · United Kingdom
Retail forex CFDs cannot be offered to US residents by an unregistered counterparty, so most offshore CFD prop firms exclude the US at signup or at KYC.
Finotive Funding
Forex · trust 70/100 · Static · Limassol, Cyprus
Retail forex CFDs cannot be offered to US residents by an unregistered counterparty, so most offshore CFD prop firms exclude the US at signup or at KYC.
The Edge Funder
Forex · trust 64/100 · Static · Limassol, Cyprus
Cyprus-based CFD firm, US residents excluded.
OneFunded
Forex · trust 64/100 · Intraday trailing · United Kingdom
Retail forex CFDs cannot be offered to US residents by an unregistered counterparty, so most offshore CFD prop firms exclude the US at signup or at KYC.

Full eligibility table

Firm	United States	Type	Split	From	First payout
FTMO	Not accepted	Forex	90%	$345	14d
Topstep	Accepted	Futures	90%	$49	7d
The5ers	Not accepted	Forex	100%	$39	14d
Apex Trader Funding	Accepted	Futures	100%	$37	8d
Blueberry Funded	Not accepted	Forex	90%	$59	14d
My Funded Futures	Accepted	Futures	90%	$77	5d
Alpha Futures	Accepted	Futures	90%	$79	7d
Take Profit Trader	Accepted	Futures	90%	$150	5d
FundedNext	Not accepted	Forex	95%	$299	14d
Alpha Capital Group	Not accepted	Forex	90%	$99	14d
Funding Pips	Not accepted	Forex	100%	$32	5d
FXIFY	Not accepted	Forex	90%	$39	14d
E8 Markets	Not accepted	Multi-asset	100%	$68	7d
Earn2Trade	Accepted	Futures	80%	$150	14d
Tradeify	Accepted	Futures	90%	$49	10d
TradeDay	Accepted	Futures	90%	$63	10d
City Traders Imperium	Not accepted	Forex	80%	$39	14d
Elite Trader Funding	Accepted	Futures	100%	$75	7d
Oanda Prop Trader	Not accepted	Forex	90%	$35	14d
Blue Guardian	Check first	Multi-asset	90%	$59	14d
Breakout	Not accepted	Crypto	90%	$49	14d
Trade The Pool	Check first	Multi-asset	80%	$89	14d
Bulenox	Accepted	Futures	100%	$50	7d
Lucid Trading	Accepted	Futures	90%	$55	14d
Goat Funded Trader	Not accepted	Forex	95%	$32	14d
FunderPro	Not accepted	Multi-asset	90%	$319	14d
Funding Ticks	Accepted	Futures	90%	$45	5d
FTUK	Not accepted	Forex	80%	$59	14d
Finotive Funding	Not accepted	Forex	85%	$59	14d
Legends Trading	Accepted	Futures	90%	$59	14d
Maven Trading	Check first	Multi-asset	80%	$13	14d
The Edge Funder	Not accepted	Forex	90%	$49	14d
OneFunded	Not accepted	Forex	80%	$16	14d
The Funded Trader	Check first	Forex	90%	$59	14d

Why the US market is futures-first, and what that means for you

Retail forex and CFD trading in the US can only be offered by a registered retail foreign exchange dealer with NFA membership and a capital requirement that runs into eight figures. No offshore prop firm carries that registration, so the practical solution the industry reached was simple: do not onboard Americans on CFD products at all. That is why the list of forex firms above is almost entirely red.

Futures are the opposite. A prop evaluation on ES, NQ, CL or GC is a simulated account benchmarked against real CME data, and the funded stage is either a simulated account the firm mirrors internally or a live account funded with the firm's own capital under a trader agreement. Neither construction requires the trader to be registered, and neither requires the firm to hold client money — which is why every serious US-facing prop firm in this space is a futures firm.

The practical consequence for a US trader is that your instrument set is decided before you pick a firm. You will be trading index futures, energy, metals and micro contracts, on Tradovate, NinjaTrader, Rithmic, TradingView or a proprietary terminal. If your edge is on gold CFDs at 1:100 with a $50 account, no US-eligible firm will replicate that; the closest equivalent is micro gold futures (MGC) with a much lower notional per tick.

Sim-funded vs live-funded: the distinction that decides your fill quality

US futures prop firms fall into two camps. In the sim-funded model, even your funded account is a simulated account; the firm watches your flow and hedges or copies selectively on its own book, and pays you a share of the simulated profit. In the live-funded model, once you clear the evaluation your orders route to a real clearing account.

Sim-funded is not automatically a scam — it is how Apex, My Funded Futures and most instant-funding products work, and payouts have been reliable for years at the firms with a track record. But it changes two things. First, your fills are decided by the simulator's matching logic, not the CME book, so a limit order sitting at the front of the queue may fill in sim when it would not have filled live. Second, the firm's ability to pay depends on its business model rather than on your trades having actually made money in the market. That is why payout evidence matters more than advertised split.

Take Profit Trader is the clearest live-funded example in our set: you move to a live account after the evaluation, which caps your size but means your P&L is real money in a real account. If your edge depends on realistic fills at the extremes — opening drive, news spikes, illiquid overnight sessions — that difference is worth more than ten points of profit split.

State-level issues most comparison sites ignore

Futures prop firms generally onboard all 50 states, but payout rails are where state law shows up. Firms paying by ACH through a US processor are unaffected. Firms paying through a money-transmitter or crypto rail sometimes restrict specific states — New York and, historically, Hawaii have been the usual friction points for crypto-denominated payouts.

If you live in a state with an aggressive money-transmission regime, ask the firm which payout methods are open to you before you buy, not after your first profitable month. A firm that only pays in USDC and cannot pay you in USDC is a firm that cannot pay you.

Position sizing for the US contract set

A $50,000 futures evaluation is not the same risk envelope as a $50,000 forex CFD challenge. One ES contract moves $50 per point; one NQ contract moves $20 per point but routinely travels 200+ points in a session. On a $50k trailing-drawdown account with a $2,000 buffer, a single NQ contract held through a 100-point adverse move eats half your allowance.

This is why most experienced US prop traders start on micros. MES ($5/point) and MNQ ($2/point) let you build the payout record that unlocks larger accounts without a single overnight gap ending the run. The firms that let you scale contract count as the buffer grows — rather than fixing your max size at purchase — are structurally friendlier to that approach.

What to check before you pay, specific to the US

Confirm the drawdown type in writing. End-of-day trailing (Topstep) is materially easier to survive than intraday trailing on unrealised P&L (the default at several competitors), because your open-trade excursion does not permanently move the stop-out line.

Confirm the payout method and its minimum. Weekly payout cycles are the US norm and the main advantage over the offshore CFD firms, but many carry a minimum profit threshold and a first-payout waiting period that the sales page underplays.

Confirm whether the funded account is sim or live, and ask for the firm's most recent payout disclosure. Firms with real US volume publish payout totals; firms without one deflect. Our payout transparency index scores exactly this.

How US prop firm payouts are taxed

You are almost certainly not trading your own capital, so trader-specific regimes do not apply the way many traders assume. Prop payouts are typically treated as ordinary income from self-employment: the firm pays you as an independent contractor and issues a Form 1099-NEC once you cross the reporting threshold. That income lands on Schedule C, and self-employment tax applies on top of income tax.

This is the single most expensive misunderstanding in US prop trading. Section 1256 60/40 treatment — the blended long-term rate that applies to regulated futures contracts — applies to contracts you hold in your own account. If the account is the firm's and you are paid a share of its profit, you are being paid a fee, not realising a capital gain, and 60/40 does not apply. Traders who assumed otherwise have discovered the gap after receiving a 1099 for a number they had already spent.

Because nothing is withheld, quarterly estimated payments matter. A trader clearing $8,000 a month in payouts and setting aside nothing will face a five-figure bill plus underpayment penalties. Deductible business expenses — evaluation fees, data fees, platform subscriptions, the failed challenges — are real offsets on Schedule C, so keep every receipt for a challenge you blew.

This is research, not legal or tax advice. Prop firm onboarding policies change without notice and are enforced at KYC, so confirm your own eligibility with the firm before paying for an evaluation.

Full prop firm tax guide →

Getting paid in United States

ACH / domestic wire
Standard at US-based futures firms. 1-3 business days, no FX cost.
Rise / Deel
Contractor-payment platforms used by several firms to handle 1099 issuance automatically.
USDC / crypto
Common at offshore firms; check state availability and remember the conversion is a taxable event of its own.
PayPal
Occasionally offered but usually the slowest and the most likely to be frozen on a large first payout.

Model your real take-home with the payout calculator →

How we classify availability

·Eligibility flags reflect each firm's published restricted-jurisdiction list and terms of service, not affiliate marketing pages.
·'Limited' means onboarding is inconsistent, product-dependent, or has changed recently enough that we would want written confirmation first.
·Futures firms default to available in the US because the simulated-CME model does not trigger the registration requirement that blocks CFD firms.
·We re-check jurisdiction lists on the same cycle as the rest of the firm data and log any change on the rule change log.

FAQ

Are prop firms legal in the US?: Yes for the futures model. Evaluations are sold as an educational or simulated product, and the funded stage either stays simulated or runs on the firm's own capital, so no trader-side registration is required. What is effectively unavailable is the offshore forex-CFD version, because offering retail forex to US residents requires an NFA-registered retail foreign exchange dealer.
Does FTMO accept US traders?: No. FTMO closed new US-resident onboarding and has not reopened it. Any site telling you to sign up with a VPN is telling you to fail KYC after you have already paid and traded.
Can I use a VPN to join a firm that excludes the US?: You can complete the purchase and you will not survive verification. Identity documents, address proof and payout rails all reveal residency, and firms routinely void accounts and profits for jurisdiction misrepresentation while keeping the evaluation fee. It is the most reliable way to lose money in this industry.
Which US prop firm pays out fastest?: Weekly cycles are standard on the futures side. Topstep and Take Profit Trader run the most consistently evidenced weekly schedules in our payout proof data, with first payouts typically inside 7-14 days of clearing the evaluation.
Do I get a 1099 from a prop firm?: US-based firms generally issue a 1099-NEC once you pass the reporting threshold, treating you as an independent contractor. Offshore firms often issue nothing at all — which does not make the income untaxable, it makes reporting your responsibility.