Prop firms: trading someone else's capital

Many futures beginners discover order flow at the same time as prop firms, the companies that let you trade a funded account after passing an evaluation. The principle: you pay a subscription or evaluation fees, you trade in simulation under strict rules, and if you reach a profit target without breaking the rules, you get access to an account from which you can withdraw part of the profits.

It is a way to access more capital with a maximum loss known in advance (the price of the evaluation). But the rules deeply change the way you trade, and most candidates fail for reasons that have nothing to do with how they read the market.