Every prop firm's terms page reads the same at first glance.
Profit target. Daily loss limit. Drawdown. Split. All four sitting right at the top, easy to compare.
The line that actually decides whether the deal is any good is usually the fifth or sixth one down. The consistency rule. The reset fee. The platform charge that shows up every month whether you trade or not.
Comparing three or four firms by memory, or across six open browser tabs, is exactly how those lines get missed.
This is a blank comparison grid. One row per firm or broker. Type the numbers straight off each one's own current terms page.
The sheet does the arithmetic. Dollar figures next to the percentages. Total fees paid before a first payout, and what's actually left over once the split and the fees are both accounted for.
It doesn't come loaded with anyone's real numbers, and it doesn't tell you which firm to pick. It puts what you typed in next to each other, so the comparison lives on a screen instead of in your head.
A Trading Habits Tool
The Prop Firm & Broker Cost Comparison Worksheet
Line up fees, splits, and drawdown rules side by side, on your own numbers.
- Format Excel workbook (.xlsx), opens in Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers
- Tabs Comparison, Instructions
- Rows 10 blank rows plus one labeled example, one firm or broker per row
- Delivery Instant download right after checkout
You supply the numbers. The sheet does the side-by-side math.
What's Inside
What's Inside The Cost Comparison Worksheet
- 01One row per firm or broker, side by side: account size, evaluation fee, profit target, daily loss limit, and max drawdown, in both percentage and dollar terms.
- 02Profit split, consistency rule, reset fee, monthly platform fee, and commission, all in the same row, so nothing gets compared from memory.
- 03A Total Fees To Get There column that adds the evaluation fee, any reset fee, and platform fees across however many months you expect the challenge to take.
- 04A Net After Fees column showing what your payout at target actually nets out to, once the fees in that same row are subtracted.
- 05Every dollar figure recalculates the instant you change an input. Change the account size, and every dependent figure updates with it.
- 06One pre-filled example row, clearly marked as illustrative and not a real firm's terms, showing how the grid works before you clear it and start your own.
- 07An Instructions tab explaining exactly what each column is asking for, and what the sheet does and doesn't calculate on its own.
- 08No macros, no add-ons, no subscription. One workbook. Opens in Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers.
HABITS
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Behind The Tool
From The Trading Floor To The Evaluation Model
The Concept
Proprietary trading, in its original sense, means a firm trades its own capital instead of client money. A trader gets backed with the firm's cash, and profit gets split between them. No fee to start, because the firm's own money was the firm's own risk.
The version most retail traders encounter today looks different. It starts with an upfront fee to attempt a simulated evaluation, moves through a profit target without breaking a daily-loss or drawdown rule, and ends with access to a funded account if it's passed.
Where It Comes From
Classic proprietary trading firms grew out of the exchange floors of the 1970s and '80s, firms like Chicago's O'Connor & Associates (founded 1977) and Susquehanna International Group (founded 1987), which backed traders directly with firm capital in the pits.
The pay-to-evaluate model is newer. Chicago-based Topstep (launched as TopstepTrader in 2012) introduced it for futures traders. Pass the evaluation, get funded, split the profit. That was the model. Prague-based FTMO brought a similar structure to forex and CFD traders starting in 2015. Both scaled quickly once trading could happen entirely online, and dozens of firms have copied the format since. When evaluation fees make up a large share of a firm's revenue, that firm's incentives look different from one funded mainly by trading profit. That's exactly the kind of detail a line-by-line comparison is built to surface.
Above The Waterline, Below The Waterline
The top row is what gets compared from memory. The bottom row is what a blank grid, filled in from each firm's own current terms page, actually catches.
Try It: What A Funded Account Actually Nets You
Every field here is one of the rows the blank grid asks each firm to fill in for itself. Change the split by 10 points or add a monthly platform fee back in, and watch how much it moves the number that actually lands in a bank account.
Common Questions
How is a modern "prop firm" different from the original meaning of proprietary trading?
Originally it meant a firm traded its own capital and backed a trader directly, splitting profit with no upfront fee, since the firm's own money was the firm's own risk. The version most retail traders encounter today starts with an upfront fee to attempt a simulated evaluation instead.
Where did the pay-to-evaluate model actually start?
Chicago-based Topstep, launched as TopstepTrader in 2012, introduced it for futures traders. Prague-based FTMO brought a similar structure to forex and CFD traders starting in 2015. Both scaled quickly once trading could happen entirely online.
Why does it matter how much of a firm's revenue comes from evaluation fees?
A firm funded mainly by evaluation fees has different incentives than one funded mainly by trading profit. That's exactly the kind of detail a line-by-line comparison, not a memory of the headline numbers, is built to surface.