Verdict. T3 Trading Group is an SEC-registered broker-dealer running a licensed US equities desk, not a $99 challenge product: audited net capital of $27.19m at 31 December 2025, filed with the SEC on 31 March 2026. It suits an experienced, US-resident equities trader prepared to sit the Series 57. The caveat is disclosure: T3 publishes no profit split, desk fee, commission rate or capital contribution anywhere — and its homepage and its own landing page say opposite things about whether a licence is required.

Key terms, as T3 publishes them

• Registration: CRD 154431, SEC file number 8-68639, confirmed on every annual report the firm has filed (SEC EDGAR).
• Net capital: $27,191,437 at 31 December 2025 against a required $179,901 — an excess of $27,014,536, aggregate-indebtedness ratio 9.76% to 1 (audited Form X-17A-5, filed 31 March 2026).
• Balance sheet: total assets $41,340,457; members’ equity $35,570,095; securities owned $24,510,503.
• Licensing: SIE and Series 57 required per the homepage; the Series 57 is 50 questions in 105 minutes, pass mark 70, fee $105 (FINRA).
• Capital contribution: required, amount not published. The homepage says a trader must “make a first loss capital contribution to begin trading” or, with a track record, “may be considered for full funding by the firm” (t3trading.com, retrieved 1 September 2026).
• Profit split: not published. The audited filing confirms one exists — Class B and C members “share an agreed upon percentage of their gains with the Class A member” — but no percentage appears anywhere public.
• Desk fee, commission rate, payout frequency, minimum trading days, drawdown limit: none published.

Two live pages, two opposite answers

T3’s homepage is unambiguous: “All T3 proprietary traders are licensed with the SIE exam (Securities Industry Essentials Exam) and Series 57 (Securities Trader Representative Exam). It’s a requirement to trade with the firm’s capital.” Its training page repeats it.

The recruitment landing page it advertises into says something else: “SIE and Series 57 license preferred but not required.*” The next sentence reverses it — “All proprietary equities & options traders are licensed with the SIE and Series 57” — so the page contradicts the homepage and itself, in consecutive lines (t3trading.com/hello-prop, retrieved 1 September 2026).

The asterisk is where the reconciliation hides: “T3 also offers paths to trade with our team that do not require licensing or US residency.” That is a second, unnamed channel outside the licensed desk, with no terms, entity name or jurisdiction published. A reader who lands there expecting the SEC-registered desk and is routed into an unlicensed, offshore-eligible arrangement is buying a different product from the one the homepage describes.

What FINRA actually requires

This is not a marketing quibble. FINRA Rule 1220(b)(4) states:

“Each representative as defined in paragraph (b)(1) of this Rule shall be required to register with FINRA as a Securities Trader if, with respect to transactions in equity, preferred or convertible debt securities effected otherwise than on a securities exchange, such person is engaged in proprietary trading, the execution of transactions on an agency basis, or the direct supervision of such activities.”

— FINRA Rule 1220, Registration Categories

To hold that registration a person must pass both the Series 57 and the SIE, and be sponsored by a member firm to sit the exam at all. The rule bites on off-exchange activity — and T3’s homepage advertises exactly that, routing through “dark pools, market making routes, floor brokers” and smart order routing. Someone trading that account unregistered is a compliance problem for the firm, not merely an under-qualified applicant.

Payouts: the split exists, T3 simply does not publish it

No profit split, payout schedule, minimum or withdrawal method appears anywhere on t3trading.com. That is the finding, and it is why this page exists.

The audited filing is more forthcoming than the marketing. Note 7 sets out three membership classes: Class A is the manager member, T3 Companies LLC; Class B members coordinate “the trading activities of a group of proprietary traders”; Class C members “are comprised of proprietary traders”. Trading profit and loss goes to each member’s own capital account, “subject to certain charges for the execution and clearing of trades”. Then: “The Class B and C members also share an agreed upon percentage of their gains with the Class A member.”

So a split exists and is negotiated per trader — described to the SEC in narrative form, never quantified for the person deciding whether to apply. The deposit works the same way: contributions are “determined by the Manager Member upon admission”. Negotiating case by case is a fair reason not to advertise one number, but it leaves an applicant unable to compare T3 with anything.

What could not be verified. The split percentage; the capital contribution; the desk fee and commission rate; payout frequency and minimum withdrawal; the number of traders; and any dated, first-hand payout report from a named T3 trader. None are published and none could be sourced. T3’s BrokerCheck record carries a disclosure flag; the underlying events could not be retrieved at the time of writing, and this review makes no characterisation of them — check FINRA BrokerCheck. Separately, the audited filing states the firm had “no contingent liabilities and had not been named as defendant in any lawsuit” during 2025.

The clause that decides your downside

The most consequential term at any first-loss desk is what happens when losses exceed the money you put up. Two T3 documents describe it differently.

The audited note says losses “shall only be allocated to the extent that any such Class C members’ capital account is not reduced below zero”, with losses beyond that falling to the Class B or Class A member — which, read alone, caps a trader’s downside at their contribution. The landing page points the other way, citing an Operating Agreement covering “the trader’s responsibility for losses that exceed the capital of the proprietary account associated with such trader”.

These are not necessarily inconsistent — how a loss is allocated for accounting purposes and whether a trader is contractually liable to make the firm whole are different questions — but they cannot both be the whole story. The Operating Agreement is not public. Ask for it, and ask whether liability stops at the capital account.

How the registered desks compare

Every figure below comes from each firm’s audited Form X-17A-5 for the year ended 31 December 2025.

Firm	SEC file no.	Audited filing	Net capital, 31 Dec 2025	Split published?	Deposit published?
T3 Trading Group	8-68639	31 Mar 2026	$27,191,437 (req. $179,901)	No	No
Avatar Securities	8-67932	2 Mar 2026	$104,446,653 (req. $146,645)	No	No
Bright Trading	8-44990	30 Mar 2026	$22,399,269 (req. $100,000)	No	No
Chimera Securities	8-67915	17 Feb 2026	Not extractable from filing	No	No
Great Point Capital	8-53402	2 Mar 2026	$85,214,376 (req. $126,600)	Yes — 50%	Yes — $10,000

The pattern is the story. Four of these five registered desks recruit actively and none puts a number on the terms. Avatar Securities tells traders that “initial capital contribution, if any, will affect rates, payout and terms of the operating agreement” — naming rates and payout as the variables that matter, then publishing neither. Chimera Securities says only that experienced traders “may or may not be required to make a capital contribution dependent on an evaluation of past performance”. Bright Trading’s website did not respond on 1 September 2026; its 30 March 2026 filing is the evidence it still trades.

Set that against the offshore challenge firms this site reviews constantly, which post fee, profit target, drawdown and split before you hand over an email address. Those numbers are often undone in the terms — Vanta Trading advertises a 100% split its contract does not contain, Maverick Trading requires a bond it never names — but they are stated up front and can be checked. On commercial transparency the unregulated sellers disclose strictly more than the regulated ones. The exception matters: Great Point Capital, covered in our examination of whose money sits in a registered funded account, publishes a 50% split and a $10,000 minimum. Disclosure is possible in this lane. At T3 it is a choice.

Regulatory posture

T3 Trading Group, LLC is a Delaware LLC at 88 Pine Street, New York — formed in 2010 as Titus Securities, a FINRA member since 7 October 2019 — registered with the SEC as a broker-dealer and a member of FINRA and SIPC. Its 2025 accounts were audited by Assurance Dimensions and the oath signed by chief executive Garret Marquis. The firm trades “exchange listed equity securities and equity option contracts” and does not hold customer funds.

This is a materially different animal from a challenge-model prop firm. The capital is real and the trading live, not simulated: the balance sheet carries $24.5m of securities positions and $3.1m sold short. There is no evaluation fee because there is no evaluation product — there is a licensing process and a capital contribution instead.

Two cautions. SIPC membership protects customers, and a proprietary trader is not a customer; Avatar states it flatly — “Traders are not brokerage customers and SIPC insurance coverage is not available.” And registration describes the firm’s standing, not the deal a trader is offered. It does not make undisclosed terms disclosed.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a Series 57 to trade at T3?
For the licensed equities and options desk, yes. The homepage states it is a requirement, and FINRA Rule 1220(b)(4) requires Securities Trader registration for off-exchange proprietary equity trading. The landing page’s “preferred but not required” refers to a separate, unnamed arrangement needing neither licensing nor US residency, for which T3 publishes no terms.

How much does it cost to join?
T3 does not publish a figure. The homepage says a first-loss capital contribution is required unless the firm elects to fully fund a trader with a proven track record, and the audited filing confirms contributions are “determined by the Manager Member upon admission”. Expect to ask, and to get the answer in writing before paying anything.

What is the profit split?
Not published. The audited statement confirms Class B and C members “share an agreed upon percentage of their gains with the Class A member”, so a split exists and is set per trader. No percentage appears on the website or in any public filing, and none could be independently verified.

Is T3 Trading Group legitimate?
It is a genuinely SEC-registered broker-dealer, CRD 154431 and file number 8-68639, holding $27.2m of net capital against a $179,901 requirement at end-2025, with audited accounts filed on 31 March 2026. Its BrokerCheck record carries a disclosure flag whose underlying events could not be retrieved for this review.

This review is independent editorial analysis and is not financial, investment, or trading advice, and is not an endorsement or solicitation. The Industry Spread has no affiliate or referral relationship with the firms covered. Proprietary trading challenges carry a fee that is generally non-refundable, most participants do not reach a funded account, and funded capital is the firm’s capital, not the trader’s. Terms change frequently — always verify current rules directly with the firm before paying any fee.