I'm about to get funded at an online prop firm and anticipate going to "pro" status, with actual executed trades on the CME exchange. The broker (TakeProfit) says that at that point I will be considered a professional trader and I will then start paying the professional data rates. So my question is this... Once that change in status from retail trader to professional trader occurs is there a path to change back to the status of retail trader once I'm done with the prop firm and want to trade with my retail brokerage account with my own money exclusively? I have an AMP brokerage account I plan to fund with my TakeProfit profits, and once I have enough funds I plan to shut my TakeProfit accounts and not look back
“Congrats, you’re now a professional... so let’s crank up those fees!” Prop firms figured out the goldmine isn’t in trading — it’s in monetizing the dream of trading. You’re not an employee. You’re not a partner. You’re the mark.
Help me understand. You called TakeProfit a "broker". I check the FINRA Broker check and NFA Basic search. In addition, the website for TakeProfit does not say Member of NFA or SEC or FINRA. If you are funded by an unregistered Prop firm, with them you pay pro data because they do not have an exemption. You are not a pro trader for market data purposes at any other FCM, unless I'm missing something. Are you being paid with a 1099 or K1?
In what they call a pro account you are still trading in the sim environment, not the real markets, you only have to pay the professional data fee when you go to what they call a pro + account, which is an actual live account.