1 in 27: What Prop Firm Payout Numbers Really Tell You

Payout headlines are everywhere in prop trading. “$26 million paid.” “$650 million lifetime.” They sound reassuring, and they do prove a firm pays. But a total on its own tells you very little about your own chances. This autumn a few firms published enough detail to do the maths properly, so we did.

What the firms reported

In October, Goat Funded Trader opened a public payout dashboard, and Finance Magnates broke down the figures. The same month FTMO published its September rewards. Both sets are self-reported and not audited.

The number that matters: 1 in 27

Goat Funded Trader is the rare firm that told us both sides of the sum. Of 594,997 people who bought at least one paid challenge, 22,279 have received a payout. That is about 3.7%, or roughly one in every 27 buyers.

That is not a scandal. It is why we call challenges paid evaluations. It does mean you should budget as if your first challenge may not be your last. Our guide to what a challenge really costs shows how resets and retries add up.

Other firms publish different numbers

A handful of futures firms publish how many people pass and how many funded traders get paid, gathered in this survey by The Prop Journalist. We checked the figures on each firm’s own site. They measure slightly different things, so read the small print:

• My Funded Futures: 19.97% of evaluation participants advanced, and 39.2% of those who reached the funded stage earned at least one payout. Multiply the two and about 7.8% of participants were paid, roughly one in 13.
• Topstep (2025): only 16.8% of Trading Combines started were passed, but because people retry, 51.8% of individual traders reached the funded stage at least once. 33.3% of funded traders received a payout, so about 17% of everyone who tried was paid, roughly one in six.

The Topstep figures show why the way a number is counted matters. Per attempt, most Combines fail. Per person, many traders get through in the end, and the cost of those extra attempts is the price of getting there.

Average payouts are smaller than you think

The typical Goat Funded Trader payout works out at about $596. Across everyone paid, that is about $1,174 per trader over their whole time with the firm. The largest single reward was $40,152, so a few big wins pull the headline up.

FTMO’s average September payout was much higher, at about $2,030. FTMO’s accounts tend to be larger, and Goat Funded Trader pays more often in smaller amounts. Neither number tells you what you will earn. Both tell you that most payouts are hundreds or low thousands of dollars, not life changing sums.

Why totals mislead

A bigger firm will always pay more in total. FTMO says it has over 4.5 million registered traders, so $16 million a month is spread thin. When you compare firms, look past the total and ask four questions:

1. How many buyers get paid? If a firm will not say, assume it is low.
2. What is the median payout? The average hides how lopsided payouts are. Neither Goat Funded Trader nor FTMO published a median payout amount.
3. How fast are payouts cleared? Goat Funded Trader reports a median of 62.9 hours. Our payout timing guide covers what is normal.
4. Can anyone outside check it? Payouts made in crypto can be traced. Payout Junction’s October report, which counts only payouts it can verify on chain, put Tradeify first at $50.3 million, ahead of FundedNext ($19.2 million) and My Funded Futures ($17.3 million). Goat Funded Trader was ninth at $1.71 million. Firms that pay by bank transfer do not show up at all.

How to use this when choosing a firm

Payout data is a trust signal, not a reason to buy. A firm that publishes detailed numbers is taking a risk most firms will not, and that openness counts for something. Pair it with the rules that decide whether you get paid at all: drawdown type, consistency rules and payout conditions. You can line those up for any two firms in our compare tool, and read the full breakdowns on our Goat Funded Trader and FTMO profiles.

Key takeaways

• About 1 in 27 Goat Funded Trader challenge buyers has been paid. At My Funded Futures it is about 1 in 13, and at Topstep about 1 in 6 of people who try.
• Typical payouts are hundreds or low thousands of dollars.
• Judge payout claims by share of buyers paid, median size and outside proof, not totals.