Short version: Vest Markets is the first prop firm in a while that removes the rules traders actually fail on. There’s no consistency rule, no minimum trading days, the daily loss limit can be removed, and the drawdown is static instead of end of day. You can pass and request a payout on the same day. If you trade NQ, that combination is hard to find anywhere else.
Let’s walk through what that means, why it matters, and where the catches are.
What Vest does differently
Most prop firms sell you an evaluation and then surround it with rules. Consistency rules, minimum days, trailing or end-of-day drawdown, tight daily limits. Each one is a trap that has nothing to do with whether you can trade. They exist because the firm’s revenue depends on a lot of people failing.
Vest takes the opposite approach. Here’s what it drops:
- No consistency rule. One big winning day is fine. You aren’t punished for catching a good move.
- No minimum trading days. You don’t have to sit around placing trades to hit a day count.
- Daily loss limit can be removed. You decide how much room you want.
- Pass and get paid in one day. Nothing forces you to wait out a calendar before a payout.
- Static drawdown. Your drawdown level stays put. Most futures firms use end-of-day or trailing drawdown, which moves against you as you make money.
The static drawdown is the one worth slowing down on. With a trailing or end-of-day model, the line you can’t fall below keeps rising as your account grows, so a normal pullback after a good run can end the account. With a static level, you always know the exact number. That’s easier to plan around and much closer to how you’d manage real risk.
No CFD-style risk rules either
If you’ve traded CFD prop firms, you know the usual extras: the 1% risk per trade rules and the 80% margin caps. They force your position sizing into a box no matter what your strategy looks like. Vest doesn’t use either. You size your trades the way you’d size them on your own account, which is a big deal if you trade a futures style on a fast instrument.
Why NQ traders are showing up
NQ is the most traded instrument on the platform, and most of the traders coming in have already traded futures. That makes sense. NQ moves fast, it needs room to breathe, and it’s exactly the kind of market where consistency rules and tight daily limits hurt the most. Take those away and a trader who already has an edge on NQ has very little standing in their way.
Vest also offers ES, stocks, ETFs, crypto, FX and commodities. Stock and index markets trade around the clock on the platform, with crypto running 24/7. That fits where the market is heading, since Nasdaq plans to extend stock trading to 23 hours a day from December.
The $13M raise and why it matters
Vest Labs, the company behind Vest Markets, raised $13 million in a round led by Portal Ventures. Outside money is rare in this industry, and a round this size at the earliest stage is rarer still. Most prop firms bootstrap.
The platform says it has more than 27,000 traders, and most of them are from traditional markets who had never touched crypto or perps before. The funding is going to a mobile app, new markets and a bigger team.
The bigger picture is that retail prop trading is growing quickly. Track360 estimates sector revenue will hit $850 million in 2026, up about 45% on the year before. CMC Markets recently launched its own retail prop program too. Vest is one sign that serious money now sees this as a real business, and not a side hustle for forex brokers.
The model: payouts and profit sharing
Vest’s pitch is that it earns when you earn. Its CEO has said most prop firms make money when their traders lose, so their rules are built to make you fail. Vest shares in the profits instead, so the incentives point the same way as yours.
Payouts are made in USDC, which settles quickly and works across borders. One independent review reports a 95% profit split and 24-hour USDC withdrawals.
On pass rates, take the numbers with some care. Vest’s press release says only around 7% of people who buy a prop firm evaluation ever get paid. Topstep reported that about 17% of evaluations started in 2025 were completed. Those two figures measure different things, and the 7% comes from Vest’s own marketing, so don’t treat either as a clean industry average.
The downsides you should know about
Looser rules don’t make this risk free. Three things to keep in mind:
- It’s offshore and unregulated. The exchange the accounts trade on is an offshore venue, so you carry counterparty risk. Withdrawing often is the sensible way to manage that.
- The model is unproven over time. The idea of aligned incentives is Vest’s own pitch. It’s a young firm, and a long track record doesn’t exist yet.
- Two products, two sets of terms. The prop firm and the exchange have separate terms, FAQs and restricted-country lists. Read both before you pay for anything.
Fewer rules also means fewer guardrails. If you were relying on a daily loss limit to stop you from tilting, removing it puts that job back on you.
Who Vest suits and who it doesn’t
It suits experienced NQ and futures traders who already have a working strategy and are tired of losing accounts to rules instead of to the market. It also suits anyone who wants fast payouts and a drawdown level that doesn’t move.
It doesn’t suit traders who need hard limits to stay disciplined, or anyone who isn’t comfortable with offshore counterparty risk. If you want a regulated setup, look elsewhere.
Vest Markets: how to get started
If you want to try it, you can sign up through our Vest Markets link and use the code FTRUTH. Before you pay, read the full rules on the Vest Markets page on FundedTruth. We may earn a commission if you sign up through our link, and it doesn’t cost you extra.
What this means for the industry
The takeaway is simple. Once one firm shows that traders will pick static drawdown, no consistency rule and same-day payouts, the firms that rely on trick rules have to answer for it. Expect more of them to loosen up or to start competing on payout speed. Our list of prop firms with static drawdown shows the alternatives.
Sources: Fortune, Finance Magnates, Vest Labs press release (October 7, 2026), and an independent Vest Markets review.
