Futures prop firms vs CFD prop firms: what is actually different
Futures prop firms run evaluations on exchange-traded futures contracts and are generally open to US residents. CFD prop firms run evaluations on contracts for difference — mostly forex, indices and commodities — and most of them do not accept US residents because CFDs cannot be offered to US retail customers. That one difference decides which half of the industry is even available to you.
What you are trading
Futures: standardised contracts on a regulated exchange (CME and others), with a single public price. The simulated account mirrors real exchange data.
CFDs: an agreement with a broker to exchange the difference in price of an asset, with no exchange in the middle. Pricing comes from the broker's feed, and spreads can differ from one firm to another.
Who can sign up
This is the difference that matters most, and the one most comparison sites bury. Because CFDs are not available to US retail traders, CFD prop firms generally exclude US residents at signup. Futures prop firms generally accept them. Our firm list marks each firm as futures or CFD for exactly this reason. It is a statement about the product type, not a judgement of the firm.
How the rules tend to differ
These are tendencies, not laws — always read the specific firm's page:
- Futures firms more often use intraday trailing drawdown, which is the version that moves with unrealised profit. CFD firms more often use daily and overall limits measured on closed balance.
- Futures firms more often limit the number of contracts you may hold, scaled to account size. CFD firms more often limit leverage or lot size.
- Consistency rules appear in both, but the percentages and the stage they apply to vary widely.
- Futures firms more often charge platform or data fees on top of the evaluation.
Regulation
Neither kind of prop firm is, in general, a regulated broker — the evaluation is a product, not a brokerage account. The underlying market differs, though: exchange-traded futures sit inside a regulated exchange framework; CFDs sit with the broker offering them. Whether that matters to you depends on what you want the regulation to protect, and we are not in a position to advise on it.
Which is "better"
We do not answer that, because it depends on where you live, what you trade, and which rules you can work within. What we can do is show you, for each firm, exactly what its public pages say and how they have changed. Start with the firm list.