Prop Firm Rules in 2026 — What's Changed Since 2024
2025 was the year prop firms standardised. Here's a year-over-year look at how the major rule categories evolved — and which firms led the changes.
Consistency rules: relaxed industry-wide
In 2024, most evaluation firms enforced a strict 25% single-day-profit cap. In 2025, leaders (FundingPips, FundedNext) either removed the rule entirely or relaxed it to 50%. The market followed within 6 months. As of February 2026, fewer than 15% of firms still enforce the 25% cap. Trader impact: roughly 2× pass rate on the same evaluation.
Drawdown models: static is now standard on funded
2024 norm: trailing drawdown on evaluation AND funded. 2026 norm: trailing on evaluation only, static after passing. FTMO and FundingPips led; smaller firms followed within 12 months. Read the drawdown deep-dive for worked examples.
News trading: relaxed at top firms
2024: ±5 min ban around red-folder news. 2026: ±2 min at FTMO/FundingPips, with explicit allow-during-news at FundedNext-Style firms. Driver: traders aggressively switching to firms that don't penalise news entries.
Payout cadence: weekly is the new normal
Monthly was 70% of the market in 2024. Weekly is now 50%+ in 2026 — and "daily" claims appeared at 25+ firms (with caveats, see our payout myths article).
Profit splits: 80% baseline locked in
2024: ranges 60–90%. 2026: 80% is the floor for any reputable firm; 90% with a scaling milestone is now mainstream. Highest splits available on our highest-split list.
What to expect in 2026
- Real-time payout dashboards (already at 3 firms; expect 20+ by year end).
- Custom drawdown models per trader (algo-based static).
- Lower evaluation fees due to commoditisation — sub-$30 evaluations becoming common.
- Tighter platform integrations (TradingView-native execution).
Track all this in real-time via our AI-curated announcements feed — updated daily.