The Trader's Path · Funded and paid

From a 10k evaluation
to real, taxable income.

Scaling plans, payouts, multiple accounts and making it legal. The long game, explained honestly.

Not financial advice · Education only · Trading involves a high risk of loss · Risk disclosure

Scaling to millions

From a 10k evaluation to managing millions.

It won’t be fast. It will be worth it.

Scaling is where prop trading stops being a test and becomes a profession. Firms reward consistent traders with larger accounts, and a trader can hold funded accounts at several firms at once. Over several years, a disciplined trader can reach a combined allocation measured in millions.

Read that sentence carefully: over several years, and can. There are no shortcuts, and signals will not get you there. Most traders lose accounts along the way, and every lost account sends you a step back. This page shows how the road works, with a clearly labelled hypothetical example instead of a promise.

Hypothetical example · Not a projection

What a scaling path could look like

This is an illustration of how scaling plans and multiple accounts add up, not a forecast and not the record of any real trader. It assumes the trader passes evaluations, avoids breaching rules, meets each firm’s scaling criteria and pays for later evaluations from payouts rather than savings. In reality, most traders repeat stages, lose accounts and take longer.

Stage	Hypothetical timing	Combined funded capital	What has to be true
Evaluation	Months 0–3	0 (10k evaluation)	A tested method and a risk plan built around the daily and total loss limits.
First funded account	Months 3–6	10k	The first payout cycle completed without a breach. The goal is survival, not size.
Larger account	Months 6–12	around 100k	A larger evaluation bought from payouts, not from savings, and passed with the same risk rules.
Several accounts	Year 2	around 300k	Two or three funded accounts, ideally at more than one firm, and the first scaling increases.
Scaling plans	Year 3	around 750k	Repeated scaling reviews passed, with consistent profits and regular payouts over many months.
Managing millions	Years 4–5 and beyond	1M or more	Several years of consistency, firm scaling caps that allow it, and a business set up to receive the income.

Hypothetical example for illustration only. Account sizes, scaling criteria and caps differ by firm and change over time. Not investment advice and not a promise of results.

The Treasury · Payouts

Payout cycles, profit splits and conditions

Profits on a funded account are split with the firm, typically 80–90 % to the trader, and paid on a fixed cycle. The details decide how much of your profit actually reaches you, and when.

The cycle. Firms pay on a schedule, for example every two weeks or monthly, sometimes on request after a minimum period. Some let you choose a cycle, sometimes with a different split. Plan your trading and your personal finances around the cycle, not the hope.
The split. 80–90 % to you is common, and some scaling plans raise the share over time. A worked example: a hypothetical 100k funded account makes 3 % in a month, which is 3,000. At an 80 % split, the payout is 2,400 before any fees or taxes.
Conditions. Minimum trading days, minimum payout amounts, consistency rules and completed KYC are common requirements. Some firms refund the evaluation fee with the first payout. Check before you count on it.
What a payout does to your buffer. Withdrawing profit usually brings the balance back towards the starting level, so your distance to the drawdown floor shrinks again. Many traders keep risk low right after a payout for exactly this reason.

A month like the example above is a strong month, not a normal one. Losing months happen to every trader. Treat payouts as variable business income, not a salary.

Plan around the cycle, not the hope.

The Collective farm · Multiple accounts

A portfolio of accounts and firms

Professional prop traders rarely rely on a single account at a single firm. Spreading accounts across firms protects you from things you cannot control: a firm changing its rules, pausing payouts or closing. It also lets you combine scaling plans that each have their own caps.

But more accounts also means more ways to get it wrong:

Correlated risk. Taking the same trade on five accounts is not diversification. It is one trade with five times the consequences, and one bad day can breach all of them at once.
Rules differ per account. Different daily limits, drawdown types, reset times and news rules. A size that is safe on one account can breach another.
Copying and allocation rules. Firms have rules on maximum total allocation, on copy trading between accounts and on hedging across accounts or firms. Opposite positions across accounts are commonly forbidden.
Administration. Several payout cycles, contracts and invoices. Track them in one place from day one.

Our approach is to add accounts slowly, stagger risk so that no single day can take out everything, and track every account in one dashboard with its own limits and payout schedule.

Five accounts with the same trade is one trade with five times the consequences.

Taste of membership · Free · no e-mail needed

The scaling calculator: where could you be in three years?

A calculator built to be honest rather than exciting. You enter realistic assumptions and it shows a range, not a single heroic number, including the effect of lost accounts and the months it takes to recover from them.

Inputs: starting account size, average monthly return (we suggest testing low values first), profit split and payout cycle.
Scaling rule: the firm's increase per review and the criteria to reach it.
Reality check: how many accounts you assume you lose per year, and how long a new evaluation takes.
Output: combined funded capital and cumulative payouts over 36 months, as a conservative, middle and optimistic case.

Try the scaling calculator

Making it legal

Turn payouts into real, taxable income.

Prop trading as a profession, not a side bet.

Almost nobody talks about this part, and it is the part that turns a hobby into a profession. A prop payout is income. It arrives from a company, often in another country, under a contract you signed when you were funded. How that income is classified, invoiced, recorded and taxed depends on the contract and on where you live.

This page explains the general principles so you can ask the right questions. It is not tax or legal advice. Rules differ by country and change over time, so talk to a qualified accountant before your first payout, not after.

The Red Tape · How payouts are classified

Contract, character of income, invoice

Three documents and questions decide how your payouts are treated. Start with them.

The contract with the firm. When you are funded, you usually sign an agreement with the firm or one of its group companies. Read who the contracting party is, in which country it is registered, and how the agreement describes your role and your payouts. Many retail prop firms describe the trader as an independent contractor and the payout as a fee or reward, not as a return on your own investment.
The character of the income. Because most funded accounts are simulated and you do not trade your own capital, prop payouts are often treated differently from profits on your own brokerage account. Depending on your country and your setup, they may be treated as income from self-employment or business activity, or as something else. Do not assume the rules for investment gains apply.
The invoice. Some firms ask you to issue an invoice for each payout, others generate a statement for you. If you operate as a business, your accountant will usually want an invoice or equivalent document for every payout, matched to the amount actually received.

Keep every document: the signed agreement, payout confirmations, invoices, evaluation fee receipts and the currency conversion of each payment. Evaluation fees and trading tools may be deductible business costs in some setups. Ask.

Do not assume the rules for investment gains apply to prop payouts.

Forms of business · A general comparison

Sole trader or company?

Most countries offer some version of these two routes. In Slovakia, for example, the usual choice is between a trade licence as a sole trader (živnosť) and a limited liability company (s.r.o.). The comparison below is general. Which route is better depends on your income level, your country’s rules and your plans, and that is a conversation for an accountant.

	Sole trader (e.g. SK živnosť)	Limited company (e.g. SK s.r.o.)
Set-up	Usually simpler and cheaper to start	More formal: registration, share capital where required, statutory documents
Liability	You are personally liable	Liability generally limited to the company
How income is taxed	Typically personal income tax plus social and health contributions on profit	Typically corporate income tax on profit, then further tax when you take money out, for example as dividends or salary
Bookkeeping	Often lighter record-keeping options exist	Full accounting is usually required, typically with an accountant
Running costs	Lower	Higher: accountant, filings, sometimes audits
When people consider it	Starting out, smaller or irregular payouts	Larger, regular income, several accounts or firms, plans to reinvest

General comparison, not tax or legal advice. Rates, thresholds and obligations differ by country and change over time.

Geography · Rules differ by country

What to watch for where you live

Prop trading is international by design: the firm may be registered in one country, pay through a provider in another, and you live in a third. That creates questions that have different answers in each country:

Classification. Is a prop payout treated as business income, other income or something else in your country?
Registration. Do you need to register an activity, such as a trade licence, before you receive the first payout?
VAT. Whether VAT rules apply to your payouts, and whether you need to register for VAT, depends on how your country treats the service and on the firm’s location. Do not guess.
Tax residency and treaties. Your tax residency decides where you are taxed. Treaties between countries may affect how foreign income is treated.
Currency. Payouts often arrive in US dollars or another foreign currency. Most tax systems want amounts in your local currency at a specific exchange rate. Record the rate for every payout.
Social and health contributions. In many countries, self-employment income also triggers contributions, sometimes with advance payments in the following year.

A good accountant who has seen prop trading income before is worth more than any forum thread.

Taste of membership · Free for your e-mail

The checklist before your first payout

One page to work through between passing the evaluation and requesting your first payout. It is the list we wish someone had handed us. Get the PDF by email, together with The Bulletin every Saturday.

Download and save the signed funded agreement. Note the contracting company and its country.
Book a call with an accountant and bring the agreement. Ask how the payout will be classified.
Decide your form of business and register it, if required, before the payout arrives.
Set up a dedicated account for trading income and costs.
Start a payout log: date, amount, currency, exchange rate, invoice number.
Set aside a share of every payout for taxes and contributions until you know the exact amount.

Send me the checklist

Disclaimer

Not tax or legal advice

The information on this page is general and educational. It is not tax, legal or accounting advice and does not take into account your personal situation or the laws of your country. Tax and legal rules differ by country, change over time and depend on the exact terms of your agreement with a prop firm. Before you receive or declare prop trading income, consult a qualified tax adviser or accountant in your country of tax residence. Comrade Trading accepts no liability for decisions made on the basis of this page.

From a 10k evaluation to real, taxable income.