Skills matter more than the investment. If you got guts to trade stocks and earn profit, Trade the Pool is your right choice.
Trade the Pool is a stock-trading prop firm started by Gil Ben Hur, the founder of Five Percent Online Ltd. With Trade the Pool, you can trade stocks, ETFs, and penny stocks without a PDT (Pattern Day Trading) rule. The company has a high trust score of 4.5 on Trustpilot.
- A wide range of trading instruments allows traders to choose according to their preferences.
- The lowest price for a trading account is $97. This is an affordable and inclusive amount that allows a more significant number of traders to participate.
- Traders can get a demo account for free for 14 days. The free option allows you to test the trading conditions before committing to and buying an account, reducing risk.
- Traders go through a 1 step challenge that has simple rules. Most other prop firms have challenges with several evaluation stages. Therefore, it takes longer to get to the real account and start making money.
- The website features educational articles that are updated daily, keeping traders informed and sharpening their skills. Additionally, there are valuable podcasts.
- After growing an account by 5%, traders can increase their drawdown limit and buying power. Therefore, you can have more room for losses before hitting the drawdown level. It also means you can increase your risk for more significant profits.
- An affiliate program allows traders to earn on top of their trading profits.
- The spreads and fees are high compared to other prop trading firms.
- The initial fee to get an account is nonrefundable. Therefore, you lose money if you pass or fail the evaluation stage. This is not the case with most prop firms.
- Poor profit split ratio. Trade the Pool has a poor profit split compared to other firms, especially for the cheaper account.
The funding program offers three different accounts at different costs. Traders can choose the mini, super, or extra buying power accounts. The bigger the buying power, the more expensive the account.
After picking one option, traders must pass the evaluation stage. Here, you must grow the account by a certain percentage in a maximum of 45 days. Moreover, traders must take at least twenty trades during this period. There is a 2:1 ratio between each account’s profit target and maximum drawdown.
After buying an account and passing the evaluation, you get funding and start trading. The more significant your buying power, the bigger the profit split. However, for a smaller account, the mini buying power, traders get a profit split of 50/50.
Trade the Pool offers clients many trading instruments with over 12,000 stocks and ETFs. Traders can trade any strategy, whether day or swing traders. However, the pricing for swing trading accounts is slightly higher than day trading accounts. Moreover, the buying power drops significantly. You can also hold positions over the weekend and trade before and after market hours.
Furthermore, the prop firm posts educational articles on its website, adding more value to its clients. Below, we will look at some of the pros and cons of Trade the Pool.
FUNDING PROGRAM OPTIONS
Trade the Pool offers three different funding programs.
MINI BUYING POWER
To get the Mini Buying Power account, you pay a one-time fee of $97 for a day trading account and $110 for a swing trading account.
Day Trading
With this account type, traders get a maximum buying power of $20,000. The profit target is $1,800, and the maximum loss is $900.
On each trading day, traders can lose a maximum of $300. To pass the challenge, you need at least twenty trades. The account has a growth formula of 5%. Therefore, when you grow the account by 5%, you can increase the daily risk allowance and the buying power. After that, you can keep raising these two factors for every 10% growth.
You must complete the challenge within 45 days. However, you get additional days if you start on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Furthermore, if you fail, you can pay a new fee to continue for 45 more days.
The account has no PDT rule. Moreover, you get free access to some of the best third-party trading platforms. These include Stock Traders Daily, Tradervue, and Tradersync. Additionally, you get free real-time data.
If you pass the challenge and get funded, you get a profit split of 50/50.
Swing Trading
For the swing trading account, most things drop. The buying power falls to $3,000 with a profit target of $2,700 and a loss limit of $900. The minimum number of trades also reduces to 15. However, the trading period increases to 100 days. Everything else remains the same as the day trading account.
SUPER BUYING POWER
To get the Super Buying Power account, you pay a one-time fee of $300 for a day trading account and $330 for a swing trading account.
Day Trading
This account type gives you a maximum buying power of $80,000. The profit target is $4,200, and the maximum loss is $2,100.
The loss limit for each day is a maximum of $700. To pass the challenge, you need at least twenty trades. The account has a growth formula of 5%. Therefore, when you grow the account by 5%, you can increase the daily risk allowance and the buying power. After that, these two factors go up for every 10% growth.
The challenge lasts 45 days. However, you get additional days if you start on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. If you fail, you can pay a new fee to continue for 45 more days.
The account has no PDT rule. Moreover, you get free access to some of the best third-party trading platforms. These include Stock Traders Daily, Tradervue, Trade Ideas, TrendSpider, Bookmap, and Tradersync. You also get free real-time data.
Your profit split for this account is 60/40.
Swing Trading
The values decrease for the swing trading account. The buying power falls to $12,000, with a profit target of $6,300 and a loss limit of $2,100. The minimum number of trades also reduces to 15. Meanwhile, the challenge lasts 100 days. Everything else remains the same as the day trading account.
EXTRA BUYING POWER
To get the mini buying power account, you pay a one-time fee of $475 for a day trading account and $490 for a swing trading account.
Day Trading
Here, traders get a maximum buying power of $160,000. The profit target is $7,800, and the maximum loss is $3,900.
The maximum loss per day is $1,300. To pass the challenge, you need at least twenty trades. The account has a higher growth formula of 8%. Therefore, when you grow the account by 8%, you can increase the daily risk allowance and the buying power. After that, they keep increasing for every 10% growth.
You must complete the challenge within 45 days, but you get additional days if you start on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Meanwhile, if you fail, you can pay a new fee to continue for 45 more days.
There is no PDT rule here, and you get free access to some of the best third-party trading platforms. These include Stock Traders Daily, Tradervue, Bookmap, Trade Ideas, TrendSpider, and Tradersync. Additionally, you get free real-time data. You get a profit split of 70/30.
Swing Trading
For the swing trading account, the values drop here as well. The buying power falls to $24,000 with a profit target of $11,700 and a loss limit of $3,900. The minimum number of trades also reduces to 15, but the trading period increases to 100 days. Everything else remains the same as the day trading account.
CUSTOMER REVIEWS
Trade the Pool has a 4.5 rating on Trustpilot. 82% of individuals give the prop firm a 5-star review, while 9% give it a 1-star review.
5 STAR
Babar says,
“I had a bit of a hiccup with the account not being activated for trading after I had hit my daily pause. I chatted online with Raphel, who was well-informed and prompt in resolving the issue immediately.
My experience with TTP so far has been nothing short of exceptional—the platform, the execution, and the support are all five stars.
I tried the trial account and a competition to get acquinted with the TTP platform and then started the evaluation. I would advise everyone to use the trial option, and you shall see how great the platform is.”
1STAR
Will Gates says,
“I made three winning trades in a row. It did not add to my P&L, then BOOM… all of a sudden, I am down $1k and on a pause for the day. I attempted to live chat and it stayed continuously offline. So far, my guess is that they’re taking my money.”
You can get more reviews on their YouTube channel.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, Trade the Pool is a great prop trading platform. However, a few things, like high fees and poor profit splits, let the firm down.