If you want to trade for income, you can grow your own account or trade a prop firm account. Both are legitimate. They suit different situations.
Prop firm: pros
- Your maximum loss is the fee, known in advance.
- Access to a large account size from a small starting amount.
- Rules that enforce discipline from day one.
Prop firm: cons
- Rules can end the account even if your strategy would recover later.
- You share profits (for example keeping up to 90%).
- Fees for failed attempts add up if your process is not ready.
Own capital: pros
- No external rules, full flexibility, 100% of the profit.
- No evaluation phase.
Own capital: cons
- You need significant savings to earn meaningful amounts.
- All losses are yours, and there is no outside structure to stop a bad streak.
For a trader with $1,000 of risk capital, a $100K funded account at 2% a month earns far more than 2% of $1,000. For a trader with substantial savings and long experience, their own account may make sense. Many traders use both.