👀 Major Prop Firm Compromised by Malicious Hacker Group

Hi guys, it’s Kieran! Another week is upon us, and lots going on, so lets get straight to it:

📢 Prop Firm Industry News

A worrying situation is emerging in the futures space. In an email sent to all traders, MyFundedFutures states that “one of the largest futures prop firm’s sensitive data was compromised by a malicious hacker group”. They state that their data has not been compromised. They say they have received numerous reports, but they are unconfirmed.

Topstep appears to have been targeted as well, as they announced that they have been threatened:

Apex are yet to comment on the issue, so questions still remain as to which firm it is. On social media:

It is highly recommended that you log in and change your passwords if you have accounts at any of these firms. We will see if this spreads further this week, as many traders likely use the same credentials across all firms.

From Payout Junction, here are the firms who paid out the most over the last 7 days 🏆️.

Heads up — PipFarm have an awesome promo running with Payout Junction this month: 50% off their New Instant Funding program. Definitely worth a look!

🔥 Monitor prop firm payouts LIVE on Payout Junction - https://payoutjunction.com.

🕜 Red Folder News

Here are this week’s red folder news events. A sparse week for economic releases, however the data that we will get, could be highly market moving, namely US CPI (Consumer inflation) on Wednesday, and PPI (Producer inflation) on Thursday.

We are yet to see any inflation since Trumps April 2nd tariffs, however this will be the first real reading, so it will be interesting to see where it lands. A unexpectedly large increase will likely see many markets rapidly reprice.

📈 The Macro View

Very weak market breadth.

Another green week for the S&P 500, now just 2.5% off all-time highs. However that doesn’t mean the whole market is rallying. The gains are being driven almost entirely by the Magnificent 7 stocks, while the broader market is just drifting sideways. High concentration works on the way up but it becomes a major risk if the buying stops.

Do the Mag7 Stocks justify this outperformance?

Answer…probably yes. Earnings growth of these 7 stocks has continued to trend higher. For the remaining 493 stocks in the S&P5000, earnings growth remains flat in comparison.

Nasdaq & US Dollar - Massive divergence.

Very important inflation numbers coming this week which will impact interest rates and US dollar strength. The Nasdaq and DXY (US Dollar Index) traded in a highly correlated manner until Trump’s tariff announcement in April. Since then, a huge jaws gap has opened. These two will meet again some day, the question is where? Dollar higher or Nasdaq down.

Gold bull market only in China

With interest rates in focus this week, it's worth taking a look at Gold. One chart that stood out to me shows Gold ETF flows in the US versus China. Interestingly, despite the recent bull-run, US-listed Gold ETFs have seen barely any inflows, while in China, ETF holdings have risen in line with the price. A curious divergence to think about.

Ok guys that’s it for this week, stay safe out there!

Kieran

Please do me a favour and share this with other traders, your communities and on social media. I’d greatly appreciate it, thanks! 🙂 

📚 Further Reading

What's is the best way to manage the Max Daily Loss in a prop firm account? This week’s question to PerplexityAI includes:

• Setting Personal Risk Buffers

• Stop-Loss Implementation Strategies

• Dynamic Position Sizing

• Real-Time Monitoring Techniques

Click the link below!