Verdict: Trade The Pool suits US equity day traders who want real market access rather than a simulated FX ladder, and who can work inside genuine microstructure constraints. It does not suit anyone optimising for headline profit split — 70% is the weakest top-line number in this cluster. The biggest caveat is that it is the one prop firm here where you also pay commission, at $0.01 per share with a $0.50 minimum, so the real cost of the account is the fee plus your fill rate.
Key terms at a glance
- Account tiers: FLEX Day $5,000–$200,000 ($59–$1,475); MAX Day $5,000–$200,000 ($47–$1,100); FLEX and MAX Swing $2,000–$40,000 (published pricing)
- Profit target: 6% on day-trading accounts, 15% on swing accounts
- Daily drawdown: 2% on FLEX Day, 1% on MAX Day, 3% on both Swing programmes
- Maximum loss: 4% FLEX Day, 3% MAX Day, 7% Swing
- Profit split: 70%, scaling to 80% on funded accounts
- Payouts: every 14 days on day-trading accounts, weekly on swing, $300 minimum withdrawal
- Commission: $0.01 per share, $0.50 minimum per order
- Instruments: more than 12,000 US stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) — no forex, futures or crypto
Why this firm is not comparable to the rest of the cluster
Almost every firm reviewed in this category sells the same product with different dials: a simulated foreign-exchange or futures account, a percentage target, a drawdown floor, and a split somewhere between 80% and 100%. Trade The Pool sells something structurally different, and the difference shows up in the rules rather than the marketing.
It funds US equities and ETFs only, connecting traders to real stock markets through Interactive Brokers, with Trader Evolution as the front end. That single design decision cascades. Because the fills are real, the risk rules are microstructure rules: you cannot take more than 5% of the previous minute’s volume in a name, and trading halts automatically if a stock moves 8% inside four minutes. Those are not risk-desk inventions to make an evaluation harder — they are the constraints a real desk imposes on a trader routing real size into a real book.
The commission line makes the same point. At $0.01 per share with a $0.50 minimum, a 500-share scalp costs $5 the round trip before you have made anything. No FX prop firm quotes you that, because in FX the cost is inside the spread and, on a simulated account, is whatever the firm’s pricing engine says it is. Trade The Pool’s cost is explicit and it is real. Traders comparing this firm on split alone are comparing a gross number against a net one.
The 70% split, in context
Seventy per cent is the weakest headline split in this cluster. Apex Trader Funding pays 100% of the first $25,000 and 90% thereafter; FTMO starts at 80% and scales to 90%. On a spreadsheet, Trade The Pool loses every comparison.
The counter-argument is worth stating because almost nobody in the retail commentary makes it. A split is a percentage of a number, and the number is produced differently here. On a simulated account, the profit you are splitting is generated against the firm’s own price feed, and the firm controls both the feed and the rulebook that decides whether the profit counts. On Trade The Pool, the profit is generated against exchange prints. Eighty per cent of a number the counterparty defines is not obviously better than 70% of a number the market defines — and the sector’s shutdown history, covered below, is largely a history of firms discovering they could not honour the first kind.
Payouts: what is published, and what is not
Day-trading accounts pay every 14 days; swing accounts pay weekly. The minimum withdrawal is $300 in profits, and payment runs by bank wire (two to three business days), cryptocurrency or Wise. There is a 14-day wait before the first payout on a funded account.
On independent evidence, Trade The Pool carries a Trustpilot rating of 4.4 across roughly 523 reviews, with 82% at five stars. That is a smaller sample than FTMO’s 6,000-plus, but the distribution is healthy and the firm has been trading since September 2022 without a payout scandal attaching to it — which, in this sector, is itself a finding.
What could not be verified: Trade The Pool does not publish a pass rate, a payout-denial rate, or cumulative payout totals. There is no audited figure for how many funded traders reach a withdrawal. The firm also does not publish the identity of the entity holding trader funds, and while the Interactive Brokers relationship governs execution, nothing in the public terms establishes that evaluation fees are segregated. Treat the fee as spent when paid.
The rules that actually end accounts
Four mechanics do the damage here, and three of them are unique to equities.
The 30% concentration cap. Your single best trade cannot represent more than 30% of total evaluation profit. This is the equities analogue of the Best Day rules used across FX prop firms, and it is stricter than most — it operates per trade, not per day. One outsized winner on a gap can leave you technically profitable and ineligible.
The 10-cent rule. Gains must exceed 10 cents per share to count toward your target. Sub-penny and low-single-cent scalping strategies simply do not register, regardless of how much money they make. If your edge is high-frequency and thin, this firm is structurally closed to you.
The 60-second minimum hold. Positions must be held at least a minute. Combined with the 10-cent rule, this eliminates an entire category of momentum scalping that works fine at a retail broker.
Earnings restriction. No new positions in a stock reporting earnings the same day, and swing traders cannot hold through earnings or dividends. For a swing programme with a 15% profit target, removing the highest-volatility catalysts from the opportunity set is a material constraint that the 15% number does not acknowledge.
How it compares
| Term | Trade The Pool | FTMO | Apex Trader Funding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asset class | US stocks and ETFs (real fills) | Forex, indices, commodities (simulated) | Futures (simulated) |
| Base profit split | 70%, to 80% | 80%, to 90% | 100% of first $25,000, then 90% |
| Profit target | 6% day / 15% swing | 10% (1-Step); 10% + 5% (2-Step) | Varies by plan |
| Daily loss limit | 1–3% depending on plan | 3% (1-Step) / 5% (2-Step) | Varies by plan |
| Commission payable | Yes — $0.01/share, $0.50 min | No explicit commission | No explicit commission |
| Payout frequency | 14 days (day) / weekly (swing) | On demand after 14 days | 5 qualifying days, $500 minimum |
Regulatory posture and corporate backing
Trade The Pool was founded in September 2022 by Michael Katz and is headquartered in Raanana, Israel, with a London office. It is backed by The5ers, whose own programme we reviewed alongside its consistency rule and payout disputes. That parentage cuts both ways: it means the operator has run a funded-trader business since well before the 2023–2024 shakeout, and it means the two firms share a corporate risk.
The firm holds no financial-services authorisation, and it does not need one under current rules — the same perimeter question The Industry Spread has tracked through the CFTC’s action and ESMA’s slower approach. Thirty countries are blocked. Note also that the sister firm paused US sign-ups during the broker-ties clampdown, a reminder that access policy in this sector can change without notice.
“Most traders fail because they’re just in it for the money,” Michael Katz, Chief Executive Officer of Trade The Pool, told Global Fintech Series. It is a convenient line for a firm selling evaluations, but it is also consistent with a rulebook that deliberately screens out lottery-ticket trading.
FAQ
Is Trade The Pool regulated? No. It is an unregulated prop firm, though it routes equity execution through Interactive Brokers. The evaluation you buy is a commercial product, not a regulated financial service, and there is no regulator to appeal a decision to.
Can you trade forex or futures? No. Trade The Pool funds US stocks and ETFs only — more than 12,000 symbols including large caps, small caps and select penny stocks. If you want FX or futures, this is the wrong firm.
How much does it really cost? The evaluation fee plus commission. A MAX Day $50,000 account is $230, and every trade costs $0.01 per share with a $0.50 minimum. Active traders should model commission as an ongoing cost, not a rounding error.
What is the concentration rule? Your best single trade cannot exceed 30% of total evaluation profit. It is stricter than the day-based equivalents used by FX firms because it applies per trade.
How fast are payouts? Every 14 days on day-trading accounts and weekly on swing accounts, with a $300 minimum. Bank wires settle in two to three business days; crypto and Wise are also supported.
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.
Abdelaziz Fathi
Abdelaziz Fathi covers the intersection of forex/CFD brokerage, regulation, liquidity, fintech, and digital assets. With a B.A. in Finance and hands-on industry exposure, Aziz blends analytical rigor with clear storytelling to make complex market structure understandable for traders, brokers, and fintech professionals.
