ProjectX for Prop Firms: Who Can Still Use It (2026)

ProjectX is a futures trading platform and back end that powered the trading dashboards of a large group of futures prop firms through 2024 and 2025. If you searched "what prop firms use ProjectX" or "how to create a prop firm using ProjectX", the short answer has changed: since the end of February 2026 the only firm on ProjectX is Topstep.

This guide sets out what happened, from the announcement itself, which firms said they were affected, what a new futures firm can use instead, and what a platform change does to your website. It sits alongside our guide to starting a futures prop firm, which covers the full launch rather than just the platform choice.

What changed with ProjectX?

ProjectX ended its third-party service for prop firms and became exclusive to Topstep. Finance Magnates reported the decision on November 17, 2025, after prop firms shared the notice they had received. ProjectX's statement read: "After careful consideration, we've made the decision to wind down our ProjectX third-party service offering. Shifts in operational demands and upcoming compliance reporting, oversight, and audit requirements have made continuing third-party support no longer sustainable."

ProjectX committed to supporting third-party firms until February 28, 2026. After that date, ProjectX technology runs as TopstepX, the platform Topstep uses for its evaluations, its simulated funded accounts and its brokerage product.

The timing sits inside a wider shift at Topstep. Finance Magnates reported in October 2025 that Plus500 became Topstep's technology and clearing partner. TradeInformer reported on January 28, 2026 that Topstep launched Topstep Brokerage, an introducing broker registered with the CFTC (US Commodity Futures Trading Commission) and a member of the NFA (National Futures Association), with Plus500 providing trading technology, risk infrastructure and FCM clearing. Finance Magnates also reported that Topstep acquired The Futures Desk in April 2026. We describe the sequence; we don't speculate about motives beyond ProjectX's own statement.

Which prop firms were affected?

The firms named in Finance Magnates' November 2025 report as affected included Top One Futures, Lucid Trading, Tradeify, Blue Guardian Futures and Alpha Futures, among others. Each had to move its traders to another platform before the cut-off.

We only list firms that were named publicly in reporting, and we don't describe where each firm moved unless the firm said so on its own site. If you are researching a specific firm's current platform, check that firm's own platform page or help center, dated. None of these firms is affiliated with PipValley or has reviewed this analysis.

Can a new prop firm still use ProjectX?

A new prop firm can't use ProjectX in 2026, because ProjectX no longer licenses its technology to third-party firms. There is no public waitlist or partner program for new operators, and any vendor offering "ProjectX access" should be asked, in writing, how it obtained that right.

The useful lesson for a founder is not about ProjectX specifically. It is that a futures prop firm rents its most important piece of technology from a company that can change its strategy. MetaQuotes did the same to CFD firms in February 2024, and Spotware stopped onboarding US traders to cTrader through prop firms on July 1, 2026. Plan your platform choice as if you will have to change it once.

What are the alternatives to ProjectX for a futures prop firm?

The alternatives to ProjectX for a new futures prop firm are Tradovate Prop and NinjaTrader Prop, front ends connected through Rithmic, Volumetrica, and DXtrade. Most firms offer more than one, because traders pick a firm partly by the platform they already know.

NT Technologies launched NinjaTrader Prop and Tradovate Prop on October 1, 2025, and named Take Profit Trader, Apex Trader Funding and MyFundedFutures among the firms offering them. Volumetrica says more than 20 futures prop firms use its dashboards or platforms, built around its DeepCharts platform; that is a vendor figure. Rithmic is a data and order-routing layer rather than a single front end, so firms on Rithmic let traders choose among compatible platforms such as R|Trader Pro, Quantower, ATAS, Sierra Chart and Bookmap.

Our own data shows how common each option is. Among 245 firms in PropFirmPal (a comparison site we own) with enriched platform data in September 2026, NinjaTrader appeared at 22 firms, Tradovate at 21, Quantower at 17, ATAS at 13, Sierra Chart at 10 and Bookmap at 9. Those counts mix futures and CFD firms and count every platform a firm lists, so treat them as a rough map of trader familiarity, not market share.

How do you choose between them?

You choose a futures platform by working backward from three things: which platforms your target traders already use, what each costs per active trader once exchange data is included, and how hard it would be to leave. Feature lists matter less than these.

• Trader familiarity: ask your affiliates and creators what their audiences trade on. A platform your audience has to learn is a conversion tax.
• Unit cost: get the per-account platform fee and the market data cost in writing, at your expected active-account count. Exchange data is billed per user, so it scales with traders, not revenue.
• Risk rules: confirm the platform can enforce your drawdown model (end-of-day or intraday trailing), contract limits and session rules automatically.
• Exit terms: ask how trader accounts, balances and history are exported if you leave, and how long notice periods are.
• Two-platform plan: if you can, launch with two routes so a single vendor decision can't stop sales.

What should you ask a futures platform vendor after ProjectX?

After ProjectX, the questions to ask a futures platform vendor are about continuity, not features. ProjectX's own explanation for leaving third-party firms pointed to "compliance reporting, oversight, and audit requirements", which tells you the pressure on platforms is regulatory and commercial, and could reach any vendor.

Ask every vendor the same set of questions in writing, and keep the answers with your contract. A vendor that won't answer them before you sign won't answer them when it matters.

• Notice period: how much notice will you give if you stop serving prop firms, or a country we sell in?
• Concentration: is any single prop firm or partner a large enough customer to change your strategy?
• Regulatory exposure: which regulators or exchanges could require you to change who you serve?
• Data portability: in what format can we export trader accounts, balances, trade history and rule state, and how fast?
• Parallel running: can we run your platform alongside another during a migration, and at what cost?
• Exchange data: who is the data licensee, and does that change if we move to another vendor?
• Support during wind-down: what help do you commit to if you end the service?

How long does a platform migration take?

A platform migration for a futures prop firm usually runs for several weeks of overlap, not a single weekend, because traders mid-evaluation and on simulated funded accounts need their balances, rules state and payout eligibility carried across. The ProjectX notice gave firms a little over three months, which is about the minimum for doing this without losing traders.

The work splits into four streams: commercial (new contract, data agreements), technical (account creation, rules engine, dashboard), trader operations (credential emails, balance transfers, support scripts) and the website. The website stream is the one most often left until the last week.

What changes on your website when you migrate?

Your website changes in more places than the platform logo when you migrate. Platform names appear in the pricing table, rules, FAQs, onboarding emails, structured data, affiliate assets and every guide that mentions how to log in. An outdated platform reference is one of the quickest ways to look abandoned to a trader who has seen firms close.

• Platform page: replace it, and keep the old URL redirecting to a dated notice that explains the change.
• Pricing and challenge pages: update platform availability per plan and any platform-specific fees.
• Rules pages: check every rule that depended on platform behavior, such as trailing drawdown calculation, order types and trade copier rules.
• FAQ center: add "what happened to my account", "do I need new logins" and "is my progress carried over", each with a dated answer.
• Onboarding and help docs: new login steps, download links and screenshots.
• Affiliate assets: tell affiliates the date so their reviews and videos can be updated.
• Structured data and llms.txt: remove the old platform so AI assistants stop repeating it.

Questions

Sources

1. Finance Magnates: Prop firms report futures prop tech provider ProjectX to end its third-party service offering (Nov 17, 2025)
2. TradeInformer: Topstep launches introducing broker through Plus500 partnership
3. Finance Magnates: Plus500 becomes tech backbone for US prop firm
4. Finance Magnates: Topstep acquires The Futures Desk
5. NinjaTrader: NT Technologies launches new platform experience for prop traders under new brands (Oct 1, 2025)
6. Tradovate Prop
7. Finance Magnates: cTrader restricts US prop firm access following internal regulatory assessment