Launches & Closures — H1 2026
Formation, exits and consolidation across the retail prop-trading industry
14 launches. One strict full-firm closure.
PTC's H1 2026 lifecycle study identified substantially more qualifying new-firm formation than complete firm cessation among the events researched. But the more important finding is what happened when apparent “closures” were examined more closely.
These figures describe PTC's verified H1 research set and should not be interpreted as a complete global industry growth or failure rate.
Formation outweighed verified full-firm failure
PTC identified 14 qualifying organic new-firm launches during H1 2026 and one strict full-firm closure, FORFX.
The resulting +13 difference describes the verified researched event set. It is not a global prop-industry growth figure and should not be presented as one.
A “closure” isn't always a company failure
Five H1 events could easily be described casually as closures. PTC's lifecycle taxonomy tells a different story.
Entire firm ceased.
No continuing business line identified.
The prop-evaluation operation ended.
Seacrest Markets continued as a CFD brokerage.
The futures sub-brand ended.
FundingPips continued.
The programme concluded.
OANDA and FTMO continued.
Operations paused.
Permanent closure was not established.
Only FORFX represents strict full-company cessation.
Consolidation happened — but selectively
PTC identified two acquisitions, two strategic investments and two integration events during H1.
Corporate activity was concentrated rather than broadly distributed, with FPFX Tech / Game 7 the most connected corporate node in the researched set.
The BullRush acquisition and subsequent BullRush integration are linked stages of the same transaction chain, not separate unrelated deals.
The evidence supports selective consolidation, not an industry-wide M&A wave.
- Instant Funding → Funded Trading Plus
- MyFundedFutures → Funding Predicts
- FTMO Group → OANDA Prop Trader
The UAE produced the clearest emerging-market formation signal
Two UAE-origin launches met PTC's high-confidence standard, rising to three when medium-confidence Funded Academy is included.
- MILTRADERS
- Capital Mint Markets
- Funded Academy
Regional research depth varied. Failure to verify a qualifying launch elsewhere does not mean no launch occurred. Tradescape, for example, was excluded from the headline launch census on evidence-tier grounds, not because PTC established that no Indian launch occurred.
PTC counts emerging-market origin only where evidence supports genuine founder or control location. Holding a UAE entity alone does not establish UAE origin.
Funding Predicts: launch, then capital
- May 2026Funding Predicts launches
- Qualifying organic H1 launch.
- Tier 2 evidence.
- Month-level date precision.
- June 2026MyFundedFutures takes a strategic stake
- Strategic equity investment.
- Not an acquisition.
- No transfer of control established.
Funding Predicts is the clearest H1 example in the dataset of a newly formed firm moving from launch into outside strategic capital within the same reporting period.
This single case does not establish a general funding boom or widespread investor appetite for newly launched firms.
What didn't count — and why
New H1 prop-firm launch
Acquired-business relaunch
Excluded from organic launch count
Built on Kraken's 2025 acquisition of Breakout.
Regional expansion
OUTSIDE_H1
Excluded from H1 regional-entry count
Expansion occurred July 1–2, 2026, immediately outside the H1 window.
H1 acquisition process
OWNERSHIP_CHANGE / unresolved-reversed
Not counted as completed H1 acquisition
The process did not result in a completed control transfer and was reversed outside H1.
Formation outweighed verified full-firm failure
- 01Formation outweighed verified full-firm failure.
- 02“Closure” is too crude a category; business-line, product, sub-brand and pause events need to be separated from complete firm cessation.
- 03Corporate consolidation occurred selectively rather than systemically.
- 04The UAE produced the clearest verified emerging-market formation signal in this dataset.
- a complete global census of active prop firms;
- a global closure or failure rate;
- a global industry growth percentage;
- an exhaustive emerging-market comparison;
- a client/trader-geography conclusion;
- a quantitative asset-segment diversification breakdown;
- an industry-wide M&A wave.
Read the full H1 study
The full 13-page PTC Research publication includes the lifecycle scoreboard, launch geography, H1 timeline, closure taxonomy, corporate network, emerging-market analysis, case studies, methodology and research provenance.
- Global event discovery
- Regional research passes
- Evidence hierarchy (Tier 1–2 headline rule)
- Reconciliation of conflicting sources
- Lifecycle classification