Our methodology.
Every firm we publish is measured against the same rubric. Every advisory we issue cites sources. Every affiliate relationship is disclosed. This page is the long version.
The rating — four equal-weight categories
Each firm gets a score from 1.0 to 5.0 across four pillars. The final editorial score is the mean, not weighted — we refuse to make “profit split” more important than “will you actually get paid”.
- Trading conditions
- Leverage, spreads, platform stability, pair coverage, short-availability
- Fee transparency
- Hidden fees in payouts, challenge refund policy, rule-change honesty
- Payout speed
- Median verified time from request to wallet receipt. On-chain where possible.
- Platform UX
- Dashboard quality, challenge visibility, support responsiveness, account clarity
Verification — what we do before publishing
- Read 50+ most-recent Trustpilot reviews (last 90 days)
- Cross-check Reddit r/PropFirm and r/Daytrading threads from last 60 days
- Check vettedpropfirms.com blacklist status
- Test challenge purchase flow end-to-end where feasible
- Log the firm's current rules verbatim, then diff against the prior snapshot
- Run payout verification on our published leaderboard entries (tx hash where applicable)
- Stamp the firm page with last-verified-on date
Scam Watch — how a firm lands there
Our bar is evidence, not hearsay. An entry requires at least two of the following:
- Multiple independent Trustpilot / Reddit complaints with matching pattern in last 90 days
- Documented rule change that disadvantaged traders after purchase
- Public blacklist from a credible source (vettedpropfirms, ForexPeaceArmy)
- Failed payout request with transaction evidence
- Cessation of operations without honoring funded balances
We do not remove advisories because a firm paid us. We publish a resolution only when the documented issue is verifiably fixed.
Affiliate disclosure
We earn commission when readers sign up for a firm through our links. Commission never enters the rating calculation — it is disclosed on every firm page and in the footer of every page on the site.
When two firms rank adjacent, we choose the one that pays less affiliate commission if it has a higher editorial score. We publish our affiliate relationships in full on the affiliate program page.
What we don't do
- Sell placement on listicles or comparison tables
- Accept paid reviews or sponsored firm pages
- Remove negative reviews from our moderation queue because a firm complained
- Run ads that could influence editorial choice (no Google Ads, no banner takeovers)
- Launch a token or airdrop
Last updated 2026-04-17. Versioned on git — every methodology change is publicly diffable.