Self-operated trading markets in the United States are an important and popular area for retail investment, with many well-known platforms originating there. The services of these companies typically follow a similar pattern: traders pay fees to participate in "challenges" and trade on simulated accounts designed to evaluate their trading skills.

If they achieve the set profit targets, they can advance to higher levels, earning a portion of the profits generated (usually between 60-90%), eventually becoming "funded traders" and trading with real funds provided by the company. This model appeals to retail investors because they can manage capital ranging from $20,000 to $100,000 by paying just a few hundred dollars.

However, self-operated trading firms in the US, as well as companies serving US clients, have faced regulatory scrutiny this year. As a result, MetaQuotes has voluntarily revoked licenses for many companies using its MetaTrader platform, leading them to temporarily or permanently suspend services to customers in the region.

Nevertheless, some companies have remained unaffected or encountered minimal issues, such as E8 Markets, Earn2Trade, MyFundedFX, and Smart Prop Trader.

E8 Markets: Accounts up to $400,000

E8 Markets allows traders to flexibly choose challenges that suit their strategies, offering evaluation processes in one, two, or three steps on either MT5 or Match-Trader simulated accounts. Account balances range from $10,000 to $400,000, with maximum drawdowns from 6-14%, and profit splits ranging from 40-95%.

The conditions chosen by traders will affect the final price of joining challenges, ranging from $34 to over $2,000. Higher challenges are the most expensive, but no other self-operated trading company offers accounts with such large capital.

The platform claims an average withdrawal processing time of 10 hours, with profitable traders withdrawing around $4,500 per withdrawal on average. With nearly 1,700 reviews on Trustpilot, it has an overall rating of 4.7.

The company has also weathered recent turbulence in the self-operated trading industry without being forced to make any significant changes or suspend operations.

Earn2Trade: Over 7 Years of Experience

Undoubtedly one of the longest-running self-operated trading companies we've compared, Earn2Trade is the only one focused solely on futures trading on the CME exchange, without forex trading.

It offers relatively inexpensive challenges, with fees of $275 for a $200,000 account, with profit targets and maximum drawdowns specified in dollar values rather than percentages. For the cheapest $25,000 challenge, daily capital drawdown cannot exceed $550, and the total drawdown cannot exceed $1,500.

Evaluation is also conducted on simulated accounts, after which Earn2Trade offers the opportunity to become a "funded futures trader." The company recently introduced a new evaluation path with account values up to $400,000 and a maximum drawdown of $20,000.

Like E8 Markets, Earn2Trade has encountered no major issues during the recent turbulence in the self-operated trading industry. It also boasts a high rating of 4.7 on Trustpilot, with 2,100 reviews. However, it does not use the MetaQuotes platform, focusing instead on futures trading rather than contracts for difference.

MyFundedFX: The Cheapest Challenges

Although the price difference between the cheapest $5,000 challenge at E8 Markets and My Funded FX (MFF) is only $0.4, MFF offers the cheapest options for evaluation in its quotes.

Similar to its predecessors, investors can choose from various types of virtual account challenges, including one, two, or three consecutive stages. Account sizes range from $5,000 to $300,000, and trading can be done on the DXTrade, cTrader, and Match-Trader platforms, with MetaTrader 5 available for non-US clients.

As an additional option for each challenge, investors can also choose "profit increase" or "fast withdrawal," but each option increases the cost by 20%.

The company claims to have paid out over $10 million in 2024 alone, with the highest single payout nearing $75,000. With 1,500 reviews on Trustpilot, it has a final score of 4.3.

The company emerged unscathed from the February turmoil. A few months ago, MyFundedFX announced the need to suspend support for US clients using the MT5 platform. However, just a week later, the company announced the beginning of account migration to alternative platforms, choosing DXtrade.

Smart Prop Trader: Offering the Highest Leverage

Smart Prop Trader is definitely an intriguing option for retail investors seeking high leverage and the highest allowable drawdowns. The maximum available leverage for forex pairs is 100:1, with selected challenges allowing for up to 12% total drawdown.

Like its competitors, it has a high rating on Trustpilot, scoring 4.7 out of 2,500 reviews.

However, compared to competitors, profit splits are more moderate, reaching a maximum of 75%. The maximum account value at Smart Prop Trader is also the lowest among comparable companies, at $100,000.

An advantage is that the company does not require a minimum number of trading days to meet challenge goals, unlike other companies which require at least one to several days.

Although Smart Prop Trader faced some issues in mid-February due to the suspension of MetaQuotes licenses, it quickly notified changes to its partnering brokers and added new platforms. During the migration process, it focused on integrating with Spotware Systems' cTrader.

How to Choose the Right Self-Operated Trading Company?

Determining which self-operated trading company offers the best service can be challenging, as each company has its unique strengths catering to different types of traders.

For example, E8 Markets stands out for offering the widest range of account sizes, from $5,000 to $400,000, providing traders with flexibility in choosing capital. They also offer profit splits of up to 95%, among the highest in the industry.

MyFundedFX also offers various account sizes, ranging from $5,000 to $300,000, with competitively priced challenges starting at $33.6. They support multiple trading platforms, including DXTrade, cTrader, Match-Trader, and MT5 (for non-US clients).

On the other hand, Earn2Trade excels in focusing on futures trading, making it an ideal choice for traders specializing in such asset trading. They offer a straightforward pricing structure, targeting account sizes from $25,000 to $200,000, with fees ranging from $75 to $275.

Smart Prop Trader stands out for offering the highest leverage, appealing to traders adopting high-risk, high-return strategies. Smart Prop Trader also has an intuitive profit target structure.