Best Prop Firms for Already-Funded Traders — Where to Scale to $1M

Passing your first challenge is just the start. The real money is in scaling — and not every prop firm makes scaling easy. Here's a 2026 ranked list of the firms with the fastest, cleanest scaling plans.

What matters in a scaling plan

1. Trigger: 3 consecutive payouts beats 6+ payouts.
2. Step size: 25–50% account-size increase per milestone.
3. Cap: $1M+ caps win — anything below $400K caps your real upside.
4. Profit-split bump: 80% → 90% on first milestone is industry standard. Some firms go to 95%.
5. Rules at scale: Drawdown model often flips static at scale (huge win).

Top 5 scaling firms in 2026

• The5ers — Hyper-Growth program scales to $4M+ over 10 milestones. Static DD throughout.
• FundingPips — 5 payout milestones to $2M, 90% split unlocks at milestone 2.
• FTMO — Original scaling-plan benchmark. 25%/payout cap at $200K → grows to $400K cap.
• FundedNext — Stellar scaling: 4 payouts → $200K → $400K, 90% split.
• Goat Funded Trader — Aggressive scaling: 30%/milestone, smaller cycles.

What to avoid

• Firms that cap at $400K without expansion. Future-proof your account choice.
• Scaling milestones that require >6 monthly payouts. Most traders quit before milestone 4.
• Firms that change drawdown model when you scale (rare in 2026 but possible).
• "Soft caps" with vague language — must be explicit dollar amounts.

Math: what scaling actually nets you

$100K account → $10K/month profit → $8K payout @ 80% split. Scale to $200K (milestone 1) → $16K payout. Scale to $400K (milestone 2 + 90% split) → $36K payout. Three milestones = 4.5× monthly income. Run your own numbers in our profit calculator.

Already funded somewhere else? Use compare-challenges to find the firm with the most aggressive scaling plan and switch.