Prop Firm Website Checklist: Every Page and Section (2026)

A prop firm website has a harder job than most business sites. It has to sell a product the buyer does not fully trust, explain rules that decide whether the buyer gets paid, and do both while staying careful about words like "funded", "profit" and "payout". Traders compare firms in tabs, read the rules before the price, and increasingly ask an AI assistant which firm to pick before they visit at all.

This checklist comes from reading the homepages of sixteen established prop firms in October 2026, and from building prop firm sites ourselves, including for the firms our team operates. We describe what other firms do without criticizing any of them by name.

Which pages does every prop firm site need?

Every prop firm site needs the same core pages, because traders ask the same questions in the same order: what does it cost, what are the rules, do you actually pay, and can I trade from my country. The table lists each page, the job it does, and the mistake we see most often.

• Often added by larger firms: leaderboard, competitions, academy or education, blog, economic calendar, trader tools.
• New in 2025–26: a broker cross-sell page, as several firms launched or partnered with brokers.
• The trader dashboard is almost always a separate app on its own subdomain, linked from the header.

What goes above the fold?

Above the fold, a prop firm homepage needs a clear product statement, one honest proof point and a direct route to pricing. Established firms split into two patterns: price-first heroes that put the plan grid on the homepage, and promise-first heroes that lead with a statement and a big number.

Price-first heroes suit firms competing on product terms. They let a returning trader buy without scrolling. Promise-first heroes suit firms with a strong brand. Either works if the proof point is true and sourced. FTMO's homepage, for example, pairs "Grow & Monetize Your Demo Trading" with "Improve your trading skills on our simulated platform and earn rewards", which states what the product is in the hero itself.

Avoid live countdowns on permanent discounts. A real promotion with a real end date that switches itself off is fine. A countdown that resets every visit teaches traders that your other numbers may not be real either.

How should the pricing table work?

A prop firm pricing table should let a trader choose step type, account size and stage, and see the price next to every rule that applies to that exact combination. Separating price from rules is the most common reason traders buy the wrong plan and then dispute it.

• Tabs for each program (for example 1-step, 2-step, instant), then account-size toggles.
• Rule rows inline: profit target, daily loss limit, maximum loss and how it trails, minimum trading days, profit split, payout cycle.
• Add-ons priced in the same table, with what each one changes.
• The selection saved in the URL, so a trader can share or return to the exact plan.
• One checkout link per combination, so the plan bought is the plan displayed.
• A single data source for prices and rules, used by the table, the rules page and the FAQ.

How do you make rules readable?

Rules become readable when each rule has its own section, a one-sentence definition and a worked example calculated from a real plan. "Maximum trailing drawdown of 6%" means little to a new trader. "On a $100,000 account the limit trails $6,000 below your highest balance, so if your balance peaks at $104,000, the lowest it can go is $98,000" means everything.

Give every rule its own anchor so support can link to it, and so search engines and AI assistants can quote it. State the limitation before the benefit in the same block of copy. An instant model with no profit target and no time limit, for example, should say in the same block how withdrawals are capped or buffered.

• One rule per section, with a definition sentence of 150 characters or fewer.
• A worked example for every number-based rule, calculated from a plan you actually sell.
• A table showing which rules apply to which program.
• A dated changelog for rule changes, and a statement of whether changes apply to accounts already bought.

What proof do traders trust now?

Traders now trust proof they can verify more than proof that is large. The industry's headline payout totals are self-reported, and Finance Magnates reported in June 2025 that there is no standard way to verify them. Trustpilot suspended several firms for fake reviews, including Blue Guardian, Audacity Capital and AquaFunded in August 2025.

The strongest proof in 2026 is published statistics with a method. Topstep publishes that 16.8% of its 2025 Trading Combines were completed and 33.3% of its Funded Level participants received a payout. Third-party tracking adds weight: Prop Firm Match tracked $324,963,316 in payouts in 2025 across firms that shared data with it.

If you are a new firm with no history, say so. On builds we've shipped, the payout page shows an explicit card stating that audited figures are not available yet, rather than a total nobody can stand behind. That honest empty state is better proof than an inflated number.

• Published pass and payout rates, with period and definitions.
• Third-party tracked payouts, attributed to the tracker.
• Payout records with dates and amounts, labeled exactly as your terms define them.
• Review profiles on more than one platform, linked rather than embedded selectively.
• Named team and legal entity on the about page.

What disclosures does every page need?

Every prop firm page needs a short disclosure kit, usually in the footer and at checkout. Established firms already use close variants of the same lines. FTMO states that its accounts are "demo accounts with fictitious funds" and that it does "not act as a broker" or accept deposits.

• A simulated-trading notice in the footer and on checkout: evaluations and funded accounts are simulated.
• A "not a broker, no deposits" statement, where it accurately describes your firm.
• A restricted-countries list, stored as data so it can change in one place.
• A risk disclosure page linked from every page.
• For futures firms, the CFTC Rule 4.41 hypothetical-performance legend, which begins "These results are based on simulated or hypothetical performance results that have certain inherent limitations."
• A note that payout figures are as stated by the firm, with the period.
• Named legal entity and registered address.

What about speed, mobile and search?

A prop firm site should pass Core Web Vitals on mobile, because most traders compare firms on a phone. Google's thresholds for a good experience are a Largest Contentful Paint within 2.5 seconds, Interaction to Next Paint of 200 milliseconds or less, and Cumulative Layout Shift of 0.1 or less, measured at the 75th percentile of page loads.

The biggest speed problem on prop firm sites is rarely the design. It is third-party scripts: tag managers, ad pixels, session replay, chat widgets and review embeds, all loading before the pricing table.

For search, the questions traders ask are long and specific: "what happens if I breach the daily loss on day two", "does this firm allow news trading". A FAQ center where each answer has its own crawlable page answers those searches directly. Google now shows FAQ rich results only for "well-known, authoritative government and health websites", so build FAQ pages for the answers themselves, not for a rich snippet. The firms our team operates publish their FAQ this way.

Check that your bot protection does not block search and AI crawlers. Several large prop firm sites challenge automated visitors so aggressively that AI assistants cannot read their rules, which means the assistant answers from someone else's summary.

The checklist

Use this list before launch and after every plan or rule change. Every item is a yes or no.

• Homepage states what the product is, including that trading is simulated.
• One proof point above the fold, with its source and period.
• A direct link to pricing from the hero.
• Pricing table with program tabs and account-size toggles.
• Every rule shown beside the price it applies to.
• Add-ons priced in the same table.
• Selected plan saved in the URL.
• One checkout link per plan and size.
• Prices and rules come from one data source.
• Rules page with one section and anchor per rule.
• A worked example for every number-based rule.
• A table of which rules apply to which program.
• Rule changelog with dates.
• Payout page explaining cycle, minimums, caps and KYC timing.
• Payout figures attributed, dated and defined.
• An honest empty state if you have no audited figures.
• FAQ center with search.
• Each FAQ answer on its own URL.
• FAQ answers match the rules page word for word on numbers.
• Affiliate page with commission terms visible before sign-up.
• Platforms page, updated on the day of any platform change.
• Restricted-countries list, stored as data.
• Scaling plan with conditions stated.
• About page naming the legal entity and team.
• Contact page with a response time you meet.
• Terms and conditions written for your firm.
• Refund policy matching what checkout and support say.
• Risk disclosure linked from every page.
• Privacy policy and cookie consent.
• Simulated-trading notice in the footer and at checkout.
• CFTC Rule 4.41 legend on futures pages.
• No promises of certain payouts, no claims that trading carries no risk, and no income promises anywhere.
• Dashboard login visible in the header.
• Mobile LCP within 2.5 seconds at the 75th percentile.
• INP of 200 milliseconds or less.
• CLS of 0.1 or less.
• Third-party scripts audited and deferred.
• Search and AI crawlers allowed to read rules and FAQ.
• Structured data for organization, products and FAQ pages.
• Accessible to WCAG 2.2 AA: contrast, keyboard, labels.

How do you use the checklist?

Treat the checklist as a release gate, not a one-off audit. Most prop firm site problems appear weeks after launch, when a price changes in checkout but not on the homepage, or a rule changes on the rules page but not in the FAQ. Run the list after every plan change and every platform change.

PipValley builds websites for prop firms, and every build we ship is checked against this list. If you want to see how your current site scores, our website grader runs the speed, trust, compliance and search checks automatically.

Questions

Sources

1. FTMO: homepage and disclosures
2. Topstep: 2025 trader performance statistics
3. Finance Magnates: Can you trust prop firms' total payouts claims?
4. Finance Magnates: Prop Firm Match tracked about $325 million in payouts in 2025
5. TradeInformer: Several props suspended from Trustpilot
6. 17 CFR 4.41: hypothetical performance legend
7. web.dev: Web Vitals
8. Google Search Central: FAQPage structured data