“Prop Firms Built Massive Communities on Discord, but Are Now Quietly Moving Away from It”

Brokers and prop firms have managed communities of traders on publicly available platforms like Discord. Although those platforms make managing such communities extremely easy and economical, many challenges exist. For Desmond Leong, CEO of Returning.AI, these challenges are ushering in a new era of community management, compliance awareness, and client retention strategies—all underpinned by the need for stronger infrastructure and smarter engagement tools.

A Push “From the Tech Vendors”

Although it might sound disconnected, according to Leong, the need for compliance has pushed prop firms to rethink their operational models. However, the need did not come from a regulator but from a trading platform provider.

“It's essentially the first step of prop firms getting regulated,” Leong says, referring to the moves of some tech providers requiring platforms to either hold brokerage licenses or demonstrate direct affiliation with regulated entities in order to continue using their tech. “The push isn’t coming from regulators—it’s coming from the tech vendors themselves.”

Although Leong did not name any specific tech provider, it should be noted that MetaQuotes cracked down on prop platforms offering MetaTrader platforms without a license. The push prompted many prop platforms to acquire offshore brokerage license to continue offering MetaTrader platforms.

This subtle yet impactful shift has forced many in the prop trading space to rethink their client-facing functions like community platforms. “Suddenly, you need to run your community like a proper part of the business,” Leong explains. “Compliance has a Hawkeye on it. It’s no longer something you can afford to run informally on the side.”

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Returning.AI, a platform originally built to address trader engagement and loyalty, has found itself at the heart of this shift. Initially launched as a product for brokerages, it is now being used by a growing number of prop firms—particularly those seeking more secure and data-friendly alternatives to Discord.

“Some of these prop firms built massive communities on Discord—30,000 members or more—only to realize they had none of their emails,” Leong says. “You can’t sync them with your CRM, you can’t track their activity properly, and you certainly can’t run retargeting campaigns.” Security risks, including impersonation, poaching, and phishing, compounded the issue. “Discord was never built for business communities—let along financial services—anyone can impersonate a user or sow doubt. It’s incredibly hard to manage the risk.”

Leong highlights the case of a broker’s prop arm, which faced issues in the early days of using Discord, including a compromised invite URL. “There’s a reason many of these firms are quietly moving away from it,” he adds.

Read more: The Discord Revolution: How Your Kids' Gaming Chat Evolved into the Retail Traders' Hub

“Once You're In, It’s Harder to Switch Brokers”

The product built by Returning.AI combines familiar messaging features—think Slack or Discord—with integrated loyalty tools, CRM syncing, and compliance frameworks. Traders can engage in discussions, share charts, and earn “coins” for activities such as depositing funds, placing trades, or liking the broker’s social media content. Those coins can then be redeemed for rewards, creating what Leong describes as “a flywheel effect.”

“It’s like a supermarket loyalty card,” he says. “You get to 5,000 points, and you need 7,000 for the iPhone, so you trade a bit more. Once you're in the loyalty points ecosystem, it’s much harder to switch brokers—that’s the point.”

In an industry where nearly every broker offers the same foundational tools—MT5, tight spreads, fast execution—loyalty and community have become critical differentiators. “Everyone has Trading Central. Everyone has low latency. Loyalty points are what create stickiness.”

Leong claims that, depending on implementation quality, clients using Returning.AI have seen retention improvements of between 7% and 20%. Beyond retention, the platform has also proven effective for client acquisition, offering brokers a unique value proposition in a saturated market.

“Traders today are spoiled for choice,” Leong says. “You need a slight edge. An addictive loyalty program and a highly engaged community gives you that.”

Traders Want “Real-Time Feedback and Connection”

The community aspect also adds a deeper layer of engagement. Platforms can embed price feeds and allow users to comment directly on charts. “When markets move—when there’s NFP, or Trump announces tariffs—traders want to talk. They want real-time feedback and connection,” Leong explains. “They not only want to look at charts and chat about them—they actually look out and filter who they should be listening to. Passed a prop challenge? You might be worth listening to. Got your first payout? Now they’re listening.”

Returning.AI is currently working with many brokers such as Vantage Markets, Blueberry Markets and prop firms such as OANDA, Axi Select and IC Funded - with several more in the pipeline. “We’re seeing serious interest from top-tier brokers and prop firms,” Leong says. “What used to be a nice-to-have is now being treated like a core product requirement.”

Looking ahead, Leong sees the broker-prop hybrid model becoming more formalised—not just through tech vendor pressure, but also as a natural evolution of the industry. “The brokerage space is positioning itself as broker-backed and broker-owned,” he says. “That makes platforms that aren’t linked to regulated brokers look riskier by comparison.”

He believes prop firm accounts will become part of the standard offering that brokers offer. “Eventually, it could be a new account type: standard, ECN, and prop account,” he says. “We’re already seeing the early signs.”

As platform providers like MetaQuotes tighten their terms, the message is clear: The era of lightly managed, under-regulated platforms is ending. Firms that fail to evolve risk being left behind—or worse, losing the trust of the traders they depend on.