Prop Trading Guides

How prop firms, challenges and funded accounts work, written in plain English. Each guide explains the general model first, then shows where the published Yo Pips rules differ, so you can compare before you pay.

Prop firm basics

What Is a Prop Firm? How Prop Trading Firms Work

How prop trading firms work, how they earn money and what traders agree to.

Read guide →
Funded accounts

Funded Trading Account: What It Is and How to Get One

What a funded account is, the routes to one and the rules that keep it open.

Read guide →
Challenges

Prop Firm Challenge Explained: 1-Step vs 2-Step vs Instant Funding

Targets, loss limits and fees across one-step, two-step and instant models.

Read guide →
Instant funding

Instant Funding Prop Firm Accounts: How No-Evaluation Funding Works

How no-evaluation accounts work and what you give up for skipping the challenge.

Read guide →
Tools

Position Size Calculator for Forex and Prop Firm Accounts

Work out lot size from risk and stop loss, and see how it fits a daily loss limit.

Read guide →
Funded accounts

Free Funded Accounts: How They Work and What to Check

What free offers really include, and the conditions to read before you sign up.

Read guide →
Prop firm basics

Are Prop Firms Legit? How to Check a Prop Firm Before You Pay

How the business model works and a checklist for vetting any firm.

Read guide →
Tools

Margin Calculator: Work Out Forex Margin Before You Trade

Work out the margin a position ties up, and why margin is not the same as risk.

Read guide →
Technical analysis

Chart Patterns for Prop Firm Traders: Types, Reliability and Risk Limits

Common chart patterns, what they can and cannot tell you, and how to trade them inside loss limits.

Read guide →
Trading basics

What Is Day Trading? Meaning, How It Works and the Risks

What day (intraday) trading is, what it costs and how prop firm loss limits shape it.

Read guide →
Trading styles

What Is Scalping in Trading? Meaning, Costs and Prop Firm Rules

What scalping is, why spreads and commissions decide it, and how firm rules treat it.

Read guide →
Technical analysis

RSI Indicator Explained: What Is RSI and How Traders Read It

How the Relative Strength Index is calculated, read and misread.

Read guide →
Trading basics

What Is Forex? How Currency Trading Works for New Traders

Currency pairs, pips, lots and leverage, and the risks of trading them.

Read guide →
Trading basics

Forex Market Hours: Trading Sessions and Session Times in UTC

The four main sessions in UTC, the overlaps, and daylight-saving changes.

Read guide →
Comparisons

Yo Pips vs The5ers: A Side-by-Side Prop Firm Comparison

Both firms' published terms side by side, with sources and dates.

Read guide →
Trading basics

What Is PnL in Trading? Profit and Loss Explained for Prop Accounts

Realised versus floating PnL, and how both count toward prop firm limits.

Read guide →
Technical analysis

What Is VWAP in Trading? Volume-Weighted Average Price Explained

The VWAP formula, a worked example and why spot forex volume is different.

Read guide →
Trading psychology

Is Day Trading Gambling? What Separates Trading From Betting

What separates a tested, rule-bound process from a bet, and the warning signs.

Read guide →
Trading styles

Swing Trading vs Day Trading: Which Style Fits You?

Holding time, costs, overnight exposure and loss limits for each style.

Read guide →
Trading basics

What Is Slippage in Trading? Why Fills Differ in Fast Markets

Why fills differ from the expected price and how that hits stops and limits.

Read guide →
Trading basics

How to Trade Forex: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

A practical step list from first lesson to a rule-based routine.

Read guide →
Trading basics

What Is Liquidity in Trading? Meaning, Spreads and Execution

How liquidity shapes spreads, slippage and the best times to trade.

Read guide →
Markets

What Is DXY? The US Dollar Index and What It Measures

The dollar index basket, its weights and how forex traders use it.

Read guide →
Trading styles

What Is Algo Trading? How Algorithmic Trading Works

How rule-based software trades, how it is tested and where it goes wrong.

Read guide →
Technical analysis

Supply and Demand Zones: What They Are and How Traders Mark Them

How traders mark supply and demand zones and manage risk around them.

Read guide →
Technical analysis

ATR Indicator Explained: What Is ATR and How Traders Use It

The true range formula, a worked example and ATR-based stops.

Read guide →
Challenges

Trading Plan Template for Prop Firm Challenges

A fill-in plan for a challenge, with a worked example.

Read guide →
Price action

What Is SMT Divergence in Trading? Meaning and Limits

How SMT divergence compares correlated markets, and its limits.

Read guide →
Trading styles

Tick Scalping Explained: Method, Costs and Prop Firm Risk Limits

Why costs dominate tick scalping and how firm rules apply.

Read guide →
Technical analysis

Technical Analysis for Day Trading: The Core Tools Explained

How trend, structure and indicators fit together for intraday trading.

Read guide →
Price action

What Is BOS in Trading? Break of Structure Defined

How a break of structure is marked and how it differs from CHoCH.

Read guide →
Trading psychology

FOMO in Trading: Why Traders Chase Entries and How to Stop

How fear of missing out drives chasing, and rules that stop it.

Read guide →
Price action

What Is SMC Trading? Smart Money Concepts Explained

The core SMC terms, how they fit together and what the evidence says.

Read guide →
Comparisons

Cheapest Prop Firm Challenges Compared: What You Pay Now and Later

Entry fees from seven firms' own pages, and the costs a low fee leaves out.

Read guide →
Comparisons

Prop Firm Rules Compared: FTMO Rules and Other Firms Side by Side

Drawdown, minimum-day, news, weekend, EA and copy-trading rules side by side, with sources.

Read guide →
Comparisons

FTMO Alternatives: Prop Firms Compared on Rules, Fees and Payouts

Firms with a model similar to FTMO's, compared on the same criteria with sources.

Read guide →

Trading leveraged products carries a high risk of loss. Yo Pips challenges and funded accounts are simulated accounts, and passing an evaluation does not guarantee a payout. These guides are education, not investment advice. Check the current rules and plans before you buy.