Two kinds of prop firm in India
| Indian proprietary trading companies | Foreign retail prop firms | |
|---|---|---|
| What they do | Trade their own capital on NSE and BSE, often with algorithms | Sell evaluation accounts online, then pay traders a share of the profit |
| Examples | Tower Research, Graviton, iRage, AlphaGrep, Dolat Capital | FTMO, FundedNext, The5ers, FundingPips, GFT |
| Regulated in India? | Yes, as SEBI-registered members of the exchanges | We know of none that is registered with SEBI or authorised by RBI |
| How you join | Apply for a job as a trader, quant or developer | Pay a fee, usually a few hundred dollars, and pass a challenge |
| What you risk | Usually nothing: you're paid a salary | The challenge fee |
This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. The rules and firm details below were checked on 3 October 2026.
Indian proprietary trading companies
Proprietary trading in India means a stock exchange member trading on its own account. NSE describes it as "when a member trades on exchange on its own behalf", and orders are tagged PRO for the member's own trades or CLI for clients'. NSE also offers an "Alpha" membership variant "for focused proprietary trading with limited clientele".
The companies below are among the best known. They're employers: they hire traders, quantitative researchers and software engineers, and they don't sell challenges.
| Company | What we could confirm |
|---|---|
| Tower Research Capital | Offices in Gurugram and GIFT City; its Indian arm is a member of NSE Clearing |
| Graviton Research Capital | Member of NSE, BSE and MCX; office in Gurugram |
| iRage | Member of NSE Clearing; registered office in GIFT City and offices in Mumbai and Kolkata; started in 2009 |
| AlphaGrep | NSE trading and self-clearing member |
| Dolat Capital | Member of NSE Clearing |
| NK Securities Research | Member of NSE Clearing |
| Quadeye | Describes itself as a proprietary trading firm and hires in Gurugram |
| Futures First | Based in Gurugram, with offices in other Indian cities; describes itself as a technology-enabled services firm in global derivatives markets |
Regulators watch the big trading firms closely. In July 2025 SEBI passed an interim order against Jane Street, alleging manipulation of the Bank Nifty index on expiry days, and impounded ₹4,843.57 crore. Jane Street deposited the amount in escrow and resumed trading later that month, and its challenge to the order was still before the Securities Appellate Tribunal in 2026.
If you want to work at one of these companies, apply through its careers page. A real employer won't ask you to pay to be hired. And if anyone offers to fund your NSE trading in return for a deposit or a fee, check that the firm is a SEBI-registered broker on SEBI's website before you send anything, and be wary of trading through someone else's demat account.
Foreign prop firms and the RBI Alert List
RBI publishes an Alert List of entities that are "neither authorised to deal in forex under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) nor authorised to operate electronic trading platform (ETP)". The version updated on 19 November 2025, still the latest we could find, has 95 names. Three of them are prop firms:
- FTMO
- FundedNext, added in October 2024
- Smart Prop Trader, added at the same time
RBI also says: "This list is not exhaustive. An entity not appearing in the list should not be assumed to be authorised by the RBI." So a prop firm that isn't on the list, such as The5ers, FundingPips or GFT, hasn't been approved either; it simply hasn't been named. RBI's list also names "entities/platforms/websites which appear to be promoting unauthorised entities/ETPs", which is why PipLedger doesn't link to or recommend firms on the list.
What we couldn't find is any ruling by RBI or SEBI on prop firm challenges as such, that is, whether paying a fee for a simulated evaluation counts as forex trading under FEMA. The rules are clear about trading forex with overseas platforms and about sending margin abroad, which the Liberalised Remittance Scheme doesn't allow. If you're unsure where a challenge fee falls, ask a chartered accountant or a lawyer. The guide to forex trading in India covers the wider rules, and prop firm taxes covers payouts.
FTMO in India
FTMO is one of the best-known prop firms among Indian traders, and it's on RBI's Alert List. Its own "Who can join FTMO?" page says it accepts clients globally and doesn't name India among the countries it restricts, but that's FTMO's policy, not Indian law. Here's what it sells, for reference only.
| FTMO, $100,000 account | 2-Step (Challenge + Verification) | 1-Step |
|---|---|---|
| Fee | €540 | €499 |
| Profit target | 10%, then 5% | 10% |
| Maximum daily loss | 5% ($5,000) | 3% ($3,000) |
| Maximum loss | 10%, static | 10%, trailing at the end of each day |
| Minimum trading days | 4 in each phase | None; a best-day rule applies |
| Time limit | None | None |
| Profit split | 80%, up to 90% | 90% |
FTMO counts the daily loss from closed trades for the day plus open positions, including commissions and swaps, and its day resets at midnight Prague time: 03:30 IST until 25 October 2026 and 04:30 IST after that.
What an FTMO funded account is
Pass both phases and you get what FTMO calls an FTMO Account. FTMO's FAQ says it "is an account with fully fictitious funds, however, with real market quotes". So FTMO funding isn't money sent to you to trade with: the balance is simulated, and what's real is the fee you pay and the rewards FTMO pays out. You can first claim a reward 14 days after your first trade on the FTMO Account. FTMO supports MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader and TradingView.
Prop firms not on the Alert List
These firms weren't named on the list of 19 November 2025, and none of them lists India as a restricted country. That isn't approval by RBI, as explained above.
| Firm | Main accounts | Our page |
|---|---|---|
| The5ers | High Stakes (2-step), Hyper Growth and Pro Growth (1-step), Bootcamp | The5ers rules |
| Goat Funded Trader (GFT) | 1-step, 2-step and instant | GFT rules |
| Blue Guardian | Instant, 1-step and 2-step | Blue Guardian rules |
| Maven Trading | 1-step, 2-step, 3-step and instant | Maven rules |
| FundingPips | 1-step, 2-step and instant | Prop firms compared |
| FXIFY | 1-phase, 2-phase, 3-phase and instant | Prop firms compared |
| Alpha Capital Group | Alpha Pro (2-phase) and others | Alpha Capital rules |
| E8 Markets | One-phase evaluations only | Prop firms compared |
What to check before you pay any prop firm
- The Alert List. Open the latest PDF on rbi.org.in, not a copy on another site.
- Who runs the firm and where. The terms should name a company and the country it's registered in.
- The payout terms, not the advert. Minimum days, consistency rules, payout caps and the reasons the firm can refuse a payout.
- Your daily loss room in money before the first trade, using the drawdown calculator.
- The full cost of an attempt: the fee, any resets, and whether the fee comes back with a payout.
- Tax. Keep every payout record for your return; prop firm taxes explains how.
Whichever firm you pick, the rules come down to how much you can lose today and in total. Work out today's room with the drawdown calculator, size each trade from its stop with the prop firm lot size calculator, and check your odds of reaching the target first with the risk of ruin calculator.