Crypto Prop Firms Explained: Perpetuals, Leverage and 24/7 Rules

Crypto prop firms fund you to trade crypto, usually perpetual futures, with leverage caps and markets that never close. Their rules often look like forex programs, with percentage targets and loss limits, but the firm has to define its own trading day. Our directory currently lists one crypto firm, Breakout, with more being verified.

Key takeaways

• Most crypto prop programs trade perpetual futures, which never expire.
• Leverage is capped, often lower for smaller coins.
• The firm sets a daily reset time, since the market never closes.
• Limits are usually percentages. Check whether they're based on balance or equity.

What are perpetual futures?

Perpetual futures are contracts that track a coin's price with no expiry date. They let you go long or short with leverage, and they're the main product at most crypto prop firms. Breakout, for example, sells crypto evaluations from 5K to 200K traded as perpetual futures through its own platform.

How do leverage caps work?

The firm limits leverage, often more tightly on smaller, more volatile coins than on major ones. Lower leverage means smaller positions for the same balance. It doesn't change your loss limit, but it slows how quickly one trade can reach it.

What changes when the market never closes?

Your trading day is whatever the firm says it is, usually a fixed time in a fixed time zone. Daily loss limits reset at that time, even though prices keep moving through the night. A position held across the reset carries its open profit or loss into the new day's count, so know the exact time before you hold overnight.

A worked example

Say your 50K crypto account has a 4% daily limit, $2,000, that resets at midnight UTC. You open a trade at 11 p.m. UTC and it's down $1,500 at midnight. At the reset, your new day starts from your equity at that moment. If the trade then falls another $2,000 overnight, you've hit the new day's limit, even though you only placed one trade. These are example figures; each firm's rules set the real ones.

What should you check before buying?

• Which coins you can trade, and the leverage on each.
• The exact daily reset time and time zone.
• Whether limits are based on balance or equity.
• Whether weekend holding is allowed.

See the list of crypto prop firms, and compare with other markets in types of prop firms.

Common questions

Which coins can I trade at a crypto prop firm?

Most programs allow the major coins, and many add smaller ones with lower leverage. The firm lists what's allowed.

How are losses measured?

Usually as percentages of the starting balance, like forex programs, with a daily limit and a maximum loss. See forex prop firms explained for balance vs equity.

Do I trade real crypto?

Usually not. Most funded crypto accounts are simulated, and payouts come from the firm. See simulated vs live funded accounts.