At this year’s FMLS:25 in London, the “Craft Stage” was packed for a spirited debate on the future of proprietary trading.

Moderated by Yam Yehoshua, the Editor-in-Chief of Finance Magnates, the panel featured four veteran voices at the crossroads of brokerage, technology, and marketing: Brian Griffin, CEO of Fuze Traders; Gil Ben-Hur, Founder of 5% Group; Alexis Droussiotis, the Head of Match-Trader at Match-Trader Technologies; and Christian Görgen, Marketing Consultant at FYI.LTD.

Their verdict on the prop trading landscape in 2026: the sector’s exuberance is giving way to consolidation, professionalism, and an urgent quest for trust.

From Hype to Hard Economics

“The word I’d use is hype,” Görgen said bluntly, describing the surge of prop trading brands that have emerged in recent years. But as the panel agreed, enthusiasm alone no longer sustains a business.

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Griffin, who has operated several prop firms himself, laid out the stark new economics of entry: “If you started a prop firm two, two and a half, three years ago, you could simply set up with, you know, a front end and some form of dashboard. Now, I think the costs of entry are significant.”

That barrier, he argued, reflects the price of waning confidence after too many short-lived operations left traders burnt. For panelists, rebuilding credibility is the defining theme for 2026.

Trust as the New Currency

According to Ben-Hur, “There's a lot of space for new companies that come and propose new ideas to this industry. When I mentioned before that I think the industry needs to be more mature and growing, I would expect that a new company will not just take more of the same and embrace technology and do something that many other companies are doing, but also propose new values, new ideas, and new models for being funded.”

Many companies have recently shut down, leaving those still active with the challenge of rebuilding industry trust. However, restoring that trust requires significant investment, as affiliate partners are now demanding high revenue shares – often between 20% and 70% – making it difficult for newcomers without strong marketing capabilities or distinctive offerings to compete.

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“There's not a lot of, especially new prop trading firms that use turnkey solutions. They completely overlook the marketing side of things. They buy the technology, they discuss the RM systems, platforms, liquidity , but marketing is never really part of the discussion.”

Technology Tiers and Rising Sophistication

Droussiotis broke the market into three layers: top-tier firms developing their own technology; mid-tier firms assembling best-of-breed tech stacks; and newer entrants relying on turnkey white-label solutions.

“So, depending on each of the tiers, there's a different, let's say, barrier to entry,” he said. “There's a different one to all three. I understand.”

Ben-Hur warned against the illusion that technology alone can substitute for originality. “The business is saturated,” he said. “To stand out, firms must bring new ideas and funding models – not more of the same.”

Risk: The Industry’s Defining Challenge

If one theme dominated, it was risk management, repeatedly cited as the line between durability and downfall. Ben-Hur emphasized that managing risk is central to the firm’s daily operations, noting that an internal initiative is training all departments, including marketing, to identify and exclude traders who use manipulative or exploitative strategies.

He added that greater industry maturity is needed, as some proprietary firms still view payouts as routine expenses rather than part of structured risk management .

“The prop firm business model, as it is today, it's statistical, and you need to mitigate the risk by a lot of means, specifically data,” he said. “The main challenge is how to filter out the toxic players and still provide good terms for what we call the genuine traders, the ones that really want to participate in trading as a genuine trader.”

“We've created a mindset project in the company that says that risk is everywhere, because every department in the company can contribute to mitigate risk, even marketing,” he shared.

Droussiotis explained that technology plays a crucial role in detecting misuse, noting that it is the firm’s risk management system – rather than the trading platform – that identifies abusive behavior. He said the company relies on funded-phase liquidity models to limit payouts and flag potential arbitrage or hedging activity.

Futures, Platforms, and the Post-MetaQuotes Pivot

The panel discussed MetaQuotes’ withdrawal from the proprietary trading sector, which prompted firms to seek alternative platform providers. Ben-Hur noted that the shift attracted new clients to his company after some providers were left unable to serve their existing users.

Droussiotis saw a silver lining: “When MetaQuotes pulled out, what happened was and what I'm seeing continuing is that prop firms had to use alternative trading platforms. And the benefit out of this was that they actually understood other trading platforms as well.”

“So where do I see it going? Prop firms understanding that using a few trading platforms could be to their benefit rather than focusing on just one,” he explained.

In the U.S., he added, many traders moved into futures trading – a trend Ben-Hur said reflects regulatory friction. “For American traders, regulation makes life hard. Futures offer them an easier, more familiar option.”

The Trader’s Edge – and Prop’s Lasting Value

“Overall for beginners, it's also a less painful experience if you start trading as a prop trader compared to as a CFD trader where you lose large capital in the first couple of weeks. That's usually the experience of someone who's new to trading. So with prop trading, I think it can be a learning curve, which is easier and less pricey as well,” Görgen opined.

Droussiotis called it “a gentler learning curve,” and Görgen praised its psychological angle – trading real funds for low cost.

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Gil noted that proprietary trading firms offer clear value to traders by providing low-cost access, practical experience, and a sense of community that traditional brokers often cannot due to regulatory constraints.

He added that prop firms have played a major role in expanding the retail trading ecosystem by serving as an entry point for large numbers of new traders.

For Ben-Hur, the broader contribution is systemic. “Props have become the gateway to retail trading. We’re bringing the masses in – people who never had the resources or confidence before. That’s our biggest impact.”

Prop and Brokers: Complement or Competition?

In closing, the audience asked a provocative question: would prop firms replace brokers? The panel was unanimous: no.

“The old guys, they stay here. And I think the prop firms are just bringing many, many more masses of new clients and they will eventually grow up to be broker clients. I think we contribute to this ecosystem quite a lot in a very beneficial way.”

Griffin argued that while all brokers could benefit from offering proprietary trading programs, not every prop firm is suited to become a broker. Ben-Hur added that prop firms play a complementary role by introducing new traders who often progress to become brokerage clients, contributing to a balanced industry ecosystem.