Prop Trading Lab LLC was founded in Chicago by two former institutional traders who were tired of watching talented retail traders fail — not because of their edge, but because of capital constraints.
The prop firm model existed on the institutional side for decades. We brought it to retail traders with one mandate: make the rules fair, make the payouts fast, and get out of the way.
We fund traders who can prove they manage risk. That's the entire model. Pass a two-phase evaluation, demonstrate you can hit a profit target without blowing through drawdown limits, and we give you real capital to trade.
You keep 80% of the profits. We take 20% for providing the capital and infrastructure. It's a clean arrangement — we only win when you win.
Most prop firms take 5–10 business days to process payouts. We built our infrastructure to do it in 48 hours. Most prop firms have opaque rules that change without notice. Ours are published, fixed, and enforced consistently.
We're also one of the few firms that invests in trader education. Our library of guides, strategy breakdowns, and risk management frameworks is free — because better traders make better funded traders.
Headquartered in Chicago — the birthplace of modern futures trading — with funded traders in over 40 countries. We operate fully remote, which means our traders are everywhere and our infrastructure has to be bulletproof.
Every rule, every limit, every condition is published upfront. We don't bury gotchas in fine print. If you pass the challenge, you get funded — full stop.
We built our payout infrastructure to move fast. Submit a request, get paid within two business days. No delays, no excuses, no waiting on a committee.
Our challenge parameters are designed by traders, for traders. 8% profit target, 5% daily drawdown, 10% total drawdown. Achievable for disciplined traders. That's the point.
Start at $10K, scale to $100K. Funded traders who demonstrate consistent performance unlock larger accounts. Your ceiling is your discipline, not our capital.
Former prop trader at a Chicago firm. 12 years in futures and forex. Built Prop Trading Lab to give retail traders the same access he had on the institutional side.
Built trading infrastructure for two hedge funds before going independent. Designed our evaluation platform and payout system from scratch.
Risk management background spanning equities, commodities, and crypto. Sets the drawdown parameters and monitors funded account performance.