PROPBREAKERBLOGValidator ↗

Prop Firms That Shut Down: What Happens to Your Money

A prop account is a contract, not an account in your name. What happens when a firm closes, how to check a firm is still active, and the 17 we verify.

By Michele Rossi · financial educator · updated

In short

A prop firm account is not an account in your name: it is a contract with a company. If the company closes there is no account to move elsewhere and no protection scheme steps in, because a prop firm is not a supervised intermediary. What is left is a claim for payouts already earned, under the contract. The practical defence is one thing: withdraw as payouts mature instead of letting profits build up in an account that is not yours.

Why you will not find a list of closed firms here

Because the lists in circulation do not survive checking. Comparing them I found the same company dated months apart by two different lists, another case where one company's data is attributed to another, and several lists run by competitors of the firms listed. Copying those names here would mean accusing companies on the basis of a source I could not verify.

What I can do, and no list does, is the opposite: publish the companies whose prices and rules I verify, with the date I did it. That is the useful half of the information — "this one is still trading and I checked it on day X" — and anyone can check it.

What you actually own, in three lines

  1. 1The fee you paidA completed purchase: you bought access to an evaluation program, not a deposit to be returned.
  2. 2The account you tradeSimulated and owned by the program. Not in your name, not transferable, and it does not exist outside that company.
  3. 3Payouts already earnedThis one is a claim against the company. If it closes, the claim follows the contract and the law where the company is registered.
The contractual chain of a challenge. The marked point is the one that breaks if the company ceases trading.

That difference matters. With a supervised intermediary your assets are segregated from the company's own and protection schemes exist if it fails. With a prop firm they are not: your guarantee is the contract and the company's solidity.

The signals that show up early

None of these proves a company is about to close, and they should be read together rather than one at a time. But they are the things that, in hindsight, had been visible.

  • Payouts slow down · longer processing, requests sitting pending longer than usual, withdrawal conditions changing.
  • Rules change on accounts already sold · the signal that appears most often in complaints, and the one you can verify yourself by re-reading the contract.
  • Outsized, permanent discounts · an aggressive promotion is normal; an aggressive promotion that never ends can mean cash is needed.
  • Support stops engaging · template answers to precise questions, widening response times.
  • Company information disappears · registered office, legal name and contract terms becoming hard to find on the site.

The firms I verify, with the date

17firms with verified prices and rules
415accounts in the dataset
12 Nov 2026most recent verification
The state of the dataset the whole site is built on.
FirmMarketAccounts verifiedVerified on
Apex Trader FundingFutures4812 Nov 2026
E8 FuturesFutures1212 Nov 2026
FundedNextForex / CFD3212 Nov 2026
FunderPro FuturesFutures1112 Nov 2026
Take Profit TraderFutures1012 Nov 2026
The5ersForex / CFD3012 Nov 2026
Top One FuturesFutures2412 Nov 2026
TradeifyFutures3712 Nov 2026
TX3 FuturesFutures1012 Nov 2026
Alpha Capital GroupForex / CFD4811 Nov 2026
FTMOForex / CFD1510 Nov 2026
FTMO FuturesFutures610 Nov 2026
E8 MarketsForex / CFD3230 Oct 2026
Top One TraderForex / CFD3830 Oct 2026
The5ers FuturesFutures429 Oct 2026
FunderProForex / CFD332 Oct 2026
TX3 FundingForex / CFD252 Oct 2026
The partner firms, with the date their prices and rules were last verified on the official pages.
"Verified on" means that on that day I compared prices and rules with the company's official pages. It is not a judgement on its financial solidity, which I cannot measure.

How to limit the damage, in practice

  1. Withdraw as soon as you can. Profits left in the account are not yours until they are in your bank account.
  2. Do not concentrate everything on one company if you run several accounts.
  3. Keep the contract, receipts and payment confirmations: in a wind-down they are the only thing that counts.
  4. Complete identity verification immediately: a payout stalled on missing documents is a payout at risk.
  5. Re-read the contract when the company announces changes: that is when what you can claim changes.

The question to ask before buying

Not "will this firm fail?", which nobody can know, but "if it failed tomorrow, how much would I have sitting in an account that is not mine?". If the answer is "three months of accumulated profit", the problem is not the firm: it is how you handle withdrawals.

Getting to the first payout › · How prop firms actually make money › · The verified firms ›

Frequently asked questions

What happens to my money if the prop firm shuts down?

The account capital is not yours: it is simulated and belongs to the company's program. What you can claim is any payout already earned and not yet paid, and that claim follows the contract and the law of the country where the company is registered. As the firm is not a supervised intermediary, no protection scheme steps in.

How can I tell a firm is about to close?

There is no certain indicator, but some signals show up early: payouts slowing or being pushed back, sudden changes to conditions on accounts already sold, unusually deep discounts for long periods, support that stops answering on the merits, and company information disappearing from the site.

Is there a reliable list of prop firms that closed?

Several exist in English, but in my check they contradict each other even on closure dates, and in at least one case a list attributes one company's data to another. Some are run by competing firms. I do not copy any of them.

Can I lose a funded account without breaking any rule?

If the company ceases trading, the program ceases with it: there is no account to move elsewhere, because the account was never in your name. Which is why it pays to withdraw as payouts mature rather than let profits pile up.

Before you buy a challenge, test it.

The Validator runs your strategy on the real rules of every prop and tells you where you would pass. The props, prices and coupons are all on one page.

Open the ValidatorCompare props with my coupon ›

Read next

What Are Prop Firms? The Simple 2027 GuideWhat a prop firm is, how the challenge works, what it costs and which rules matter. Explained from zero, with charts and real numbers from 17 firms.Why Trading With Prop Firms Pays Off in 20270.5% of $1 million beats 5% of $20,000. Why small profits on large capital change everything, what you really risk and how to start.Prop Firm Taxes in Italy: VAT Number and Flat RegimeHow prop-firm payouts are declared in Italy: two competing readings on the same payout, the tax-return sections, and what the tax office has not clarified.The Real Cost of a Prop Firm: Price, Activation, ResetsThe list price is not the cost. Activation fees, resets and monthly billing change the total by up to 4x: real numbers from 17 firms, plus cost per $1,000 of risk.Verified Prop Firm Discount Codes: What You SaveThe discounts live today on partner prop firms, each checked at the checkout, with list price, net price and expiry date. No other affiliates' codes.Prop Firm Pass Rates: Per Attempt vs Per TraderPublished pass rates run from 5% to 51.8% because they measure different things. Who publishes what, with the period and the denominator next to every figure.Drawdown Explained: Static, End-of-Day and TrailingThe loss floor is the rule that fails most challenges. The four types side by side with diagrams, balance vs equity, and which firms use which.Are Prop Firms a Scam? How They Actually Make MoneyWhere payout money comes from, which rules leave room for discretion, and how to check a firm before you pay. No accusations and no advertising.Your First Payout: KYC, Timing and What Blocks ItThe bottleneck is not the split: it is identity verification and the review that fires at withdrawal. The procedure step by step, and what to prepare first.Prop Firms With No Consistency Rule and No Daily LimitWhat each rule really means, who needs it removed and what you give up in exchange. With a verified count of how many accounts do without it.Head to Head: Which Prop Firm Wins, Case by CaseSix direct comparisons between the firms you can test in the Validator, rule by rule and cost by cost. The winner changes with the trader, and we say which.Prop Firm Glossary: Your Words vs the Contract's WordsYou say "they banned me", the contract says breach. Thirty terms translated from contract language to plain words, with what each one actually does.Prop Firms for Italian Traders: What ChangesAlmost every prop firm is based abroad: what that means for language, currency, payments and your tax return. And why an Italian prop firm barely exists.Best prop firms 2027The best props for every need, with verified prices and rules.

Educational content, not financial advice. Prop firm challenges are simulated accounts; most traders do not pass them and trading involves risk. Links to props are affiliate links.