It seems a good chunk of what is called “Prop Firm” are really arcades where you pay to play and the profits are in collecting fees. To me a Prop Firm means having to be licensed become a member of the LLC and you put up risk capital but you trade the firms capital which you are a part of. I wonder if it would make sense to split this area into Prop Firms and then Arcade firms.
Arcade is a Brit/EU thing, isn't it? We lump all legit and "deposit prop" in the same forum so I agree. The problem is that only a handful here have experience with legit firms like Quad, FNY, etc., so the forum would be tumbleweeds.
Jefferies still operated three arcades as of the end of 2023. Plus, they are a strong derivatives boutique.
A fellow Norwegian boasted about being massively funded with investors in Texas. Turns out he was paper trading with Apex. LOL.
Google search trading arcades or hedge fund hotels. If what you're looking for are names and addresses try a Bloomy. https://www.google.com/search?q=tra...MwMzJqMGoxNagCCLACAQ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 "Have been googling but can't find anything on this, can you share a URL or something?"
I don't think the key distinction is whether you "pay to play" but rather are you trading a simulated account or a live money account? So I would draw the line between say ApexTraderFunding where you are trading on a sim and the firm hopes you will fail, versus a firm where you are trading a live money account and thus your losses are their losses, thus they hope you will succeed.
True Prop =Firm risks all it's own money ..traders are supported by great hardware, quant R&D etc .. No Firts risk capital and certainly no BS about paying for "test" Second tire could be traders have some skin in the game properly regulated