The prop trading industry has spent the better part of a decade refining a model built around foreign exchange and contracts for difference: high leverage, tight spreads, rapid turnover. It has worked. Leading firms have collectively distributed over $1 billion in payouts to traders, according to industry estimates, with FTMO alone reporting $450 million over its first decade of operation.

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Now, a growing number of prop firms are looking beyond FX and futures toward a market that dwarfs both: U.S. equities. But the shift introduces structural challenges that cut to the heart of how the prop model generates revenue, and whether the economics can hold without the leverage that makes FX prop trading viable.

The Trading Pit Launches Its Stock Play

Among the firms testing the waters is The Trading Pit, the Liechtenstein-headquartered prop firm majority-owned by Pinorena Capital, a fintech investment vehicle led by Tickmill co-founder Illimar Mattus.

The firm, which earlier this year launched a Seychelles-regulated brokerage as part of a broader expansion push, added a U.S. stocks program in 2025 as a minimum viable product, offering direct market access to American equities in a simulated environment.

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The program currently represents a modest share of the firm's overall business, accounting for less than 10% of active traders and revenue, according to the company. That compares to its established CFD and futures programs, which generate thousands of active monthly accounts and have distributed more than €10 million in total rewards to date.

"Considering that the total addressable market of stock retail traders around the world is in the range of tens of millions, we believe that stock prop trading has the potential to shift from niche to a material share," Daniela Egli, the CEO of The Trading Pit, said in a conversation with FinanceMagnates.com.

The Trading Pit projects stocks could eventually account for more than 30% of its revenue, driven by what it describes as first-mover positioning as a multi-asset prop firm spanning stocks, CFDs, and futures.

No Leverage Changes Everything

The most consequential difference between stock and FX prop trading is straightforward: leverage. FX challenges typically offer leverage of 1:50 or higher, meaning a trader with a $100,000 evaluation account can control positions worth $5 million or more. Stock prop programs, by contrast, operate with no leverage or limited buying power multiples.

The Trading Pit confirmed that its stock program applies no leverage, requiring "strict position sizing and genuine risk control that mirrors professional stock trading constraints."

The firm frames this as a feature rather than a limitation, arguing that the absence of amplification forces traders to develop habits aligned with institutional equity desks rather than the leveraged retail FX environment.

The practical consequence, however, is that profit generation on a $25,000 stock account, the only size currently available at The Trading Pit, requires meaningfully different mathematics than on a leveraged CFD account of the same nominal size. A 2% daily move on a concentrated stock position is an exceptional day. On a leveraged FX account, equivalent P&L swings are routine.

"Stock traders demonstrate stronger diversification, which correlates with better longevity," the firm said. On metrics such as win rate and maximum drawdown, stock performers align closely with FX and futures traders, though early data shows slightly lower drawdowns attributable to the no-leverage model. Overall pass rates remain comparable across asset classes.

From FX Dominance to Multi-Asset - Rivals Already in the Field

The push toward equities sits within a broader industry pivot. After a bruising period that saw an estimated 80 to 100 prop firms shut down in 2024, driven by MetaQuotes restricting platform access and regulators scrutinizing the simulated trading model, survivors have been forced to diversify. The move into futures, crypto, and now stocks reflects a search for new revenue lines and broader trader audiences.

Trade The Pool, an Israel-based firm backed by The5ers, launched in 2022 as what appears to be the first prop firm dedicated exclusively to U.S. stocks and ETFs. Unlike The Trading Pit's simulated environment, Trade The Pool routes orders through Interactive Brokers infrastructure with real-time exchange data, a distinction that matters for traders whose strategies depend on authentic depth and execution quality.

FinanceMagnates.com contacted The5ers for comment on its stock prop strategy, but the company had not responded by publication time.

On the broker-backed side, Australia's Blueberry Funded expanded its evaluation program in 2025 to include CFD stock trading challenges, offering access to more than 1,000 stocks through MetaTrader 5 and DXtrade. The key difference: Blueberry Funded's offering is structured around stock CFDs rather than direct equity access, meaning traders speculate on price movements without the market microstructure characteristics of exchange-traded shares.

The firm, a subsidiary of ASIC-regulated Blueberry Markets, reported $2.3 million in first-year payouts across all its products. The infrastructure layer is evolving too, with fintech firm EBSWare expanding its white-label prop trading solution to include U.S., Hong Kong, and Indian equities.

Unlike several competitors whose stock and CFD challenges remain restricted by jurisdiction, The Trading Pit said its stock program is available globally, including to U.S. and Canadian residents. That broad access is notable given the wider industry pattern: major prop firms only recently re-entered the American market after being forced out by the MetaQuotes crackdown in early 2024, and geographic availability remains uneven across firms and asset classes.

Can Stock Prop Scale, or Will FX Always Dominate?

The fundamental question is whether stock prop trading can generate the unit economics that FX challenges deliver. The FX model thrives on volume: low challenge fees, high fail rates, and leveraged trading that produces dramatic outcomes quickly. Stock prop, with no leverage and more diversified trading patterns, may require a different business calculus entirely.

The Trading Pit is pricing its stock challenges at €99 for a $25,000 account with an 80% profit split, competitive with mid-range FX challenges. But the firm acknowledged it is "actively incorporating trader feedback to expand offerings, including varied account sizes and types," suggesting the current product is far from final.

The broader industry trajectory may favor diversification regardless. Several CFD-focused firms have already expanded into futures, with The5ers launching futures offerings in early 2026 and firms like TopStep and Apex filling the gap that CFD props left when they exited the U.S.

For now, stock prop remains in its earliest innings, with limited performance data, narrow product offerings, and a competitive landscape still measured in single digits. The firms placing early bets are wagering that tens of millions of retail stock traders represent an addressable market too large to ignore.