State of Prop Trading H1 2026
The Retail Prop-Trading Industry at Mid-Year
The industry was fragmented in supply but concentrated in attention, evaluation models were diversifying, and “funded” often described a simulated first stage rather than immediate live capital.
- Coverage
- GLOBAL
- Period
- H1 2026
- Extent
- 25 pages
- Publication
- PTC-SPT-2026-01
What this report covers
PTC’s mid-year assessment of the retail prop-trading industry, combining reconciled external evidence with H1-valid proprietary PTC data on evaluation structures, funding environments, branded-search concentration and country-level demand.
- Evaluation models
- Funding environments
- Market concentration
- Geography
- Launches & closures
- Regulation
- Technology & infrastructure
What the research found
- Among 113 firms in PTC’s H1 plan-coverage panel, 58.4% offered a 1-step evaluation and 61.9% offered a 2-step evaluation; multiple routes coexisted rather than one model displacing the other.
- Among the 14 classifiable brands in PTC’s fixed top-20 June brand-family panel, all 14 used a simulated or otherwise non-direct-live initial funded stage; seven disclosed a later pathway to live capital and six of the top 20 remained unresolved.
- Across PTC’s cleaned June branded-search analysis, the top 10 brands accounted for approximately 86% of measured demand — an attention measure, not revenue or market share.
- The United States and India together represented roughly half of PTC’s cleaned measured country-level brand demand, while US demand was heavily futures-oriented and Indian demand heavily forex/CFD-oriented.
What did the prop-trading industry actually look like at the midpoint of 2026 — and which popular narratives survive the data?
The full report separates measurable findings from estimates, shows where evaluation and funding models were changing, and maps how competitive attention and local market structure differed across the industry.
Industry-structure research — not investment advice or a firm ranking.
This publication is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal or trading advice.
PTC-SPT-2026-01 · Research cutoff 30 JUNE 2026