What is the difference between a prop firm account and a broker account?

A broker account starts with a deposit. The balance is your money, every trade is paid for with it, and every loss comes out of it.

A MyFundedCapital account starts with a one-time program fee, from $39 for the 2-Step Challenge. MyFundedCapital is not a broker and does not accept deposits. The fee pays for access to an account of a fixed size with fixed rules; it is not money placed in a trading account, and there is no subscription.

Program fees are also separate from trading costs. Spreads, commissions and swaps still apply to the trades you place, just as they would at a broker.

Take a trader with a $10,000 plan and a bad month.

• Broker: you deposit $10,000. A month that ends 15% down costs you $1,500 of your own money, and nothing stops a worse month from costing more.
• Prop firm: you buy a $10,000 1-Step account from $189. If the account breaches, it ends and the fee is what you lost. A new attempt means a new fee.

The prop route caps your loss, but it also caps the room you get. On that 1-Step account, equity may not fall below $9,000 overall or lose more than $500 in one day. A broker would let the trade run; the rules will not.

Trading costs exist on both: spreads, commissions and swaps reduce equity whether you trade your own deposit or a program account.

At a broker the limits are mostly yours, apart from margin. On a prop account the program sets them and tests them against your equity:

• a daily loss limit and a maximum loss, both measured on equity;
• a consistency rule on funded accounts;
• permitted and prohibited strategies. Copy trading is allowed, between your own accounts and from other traders or signal services, as long as the trades follow the rules, and expert advisors are allowed by agreement after you write to support; scalping, high-frequency trading and hedging are not;
• activity: at least one trade every 30 days;
• conduct: account sharing and third-party account management are not allowed.

Breaking a hard rule ends the account. That is the trade-off: limited downside in exchange for strict limits.

At a broker you withdraw your balance when you like. On a funded MyFundedCapital account you request a payout: a share of eligible profit, paid on a schedule and after identity verification.

Example: $1,000 of eligible profit on a funded 1-Step at the 80% base split pays you $800. On 1-Step and 2-Step accounts bought from 9 October 2026, your fee also comes back once with the first approved payout. If a funded account hard-breaches while it shows profit, that profit share is not paid.