👀 Why is Vest Markets suddenly everywhere?

Hi everyone, another week is upon us and the markets are open, so let’s get into it.

If you have spent any time on prop-trading X recently, you will no doubt have seen Vest Markets all over your feed. Almost every major influencer appears to be trading there, with large payouts being posted daily.

The growth behind the scenes appears to be equally extraordinary. Vest announced a $13 million funding round this week, led by crypto venture-capital firm Portal Ventures and joined by individual executives from Citadel Securities, BlackRock and KKR. It has now raised $18 million in total.

Vest also claims its daily revenue increased from $25,000 to more than $1 million in just two weeks during September, while 26% of its 27,000 traders have already received a payout.

Those numbers would make Vest one of the fastest-growing firms the industry has ever seen. They also raise some fairly obvious questions about where the growth has come from, whether it can continue and exactly how the economics of the model work.

The funding gives Vest considerably more financial backing than most new prop firms, so rapid growth alone should not be treated as evidence that something is wrong. However, its reported revenue growth, widespread influencer promotion and unusually generous trading conditions mean traders are right to ask how sustainable the current model is.

Gonna keep a close on on this one.

📢  Firm Announcements

• MyFundedFutures launched MyFundedStudio, offering $10K and $20K accounts with static drawdown, no daily-loss limit, no consistency rule and on-demand payouts. Accounts are restricted to micros, with one active Studio account permitted per trader.

• Funded Trader Markets introduced FTM MCP, allowing traders to connect their account to ChatGPT or Claude and access balances, drawdown, rules, trade history and payout information. The integration is read-only and cannot place trades, move money or request payouts.

• Lucid Trading introduced LucidMaxx, an invite-only programme offering selected traders a direct route to live capital. It includes daily uncapped payouts, static live drawdown and repeatable bonuses after reaching the required profit target and completing 20 trading days.

• Lark Funding launched 1-Step Max, offering a 12% static maximum drawdown, 5% balance-based daily drawdown and three restarts bundled into the purchase price. The plan has no consistency rule, news restrictions or minimum trading days,

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

🕜 Red Folder News

Here are this week’s red folder news events. Inflation is back in focus, with CPI due on Wednesday and PPI on Thursday.

Oil remains the wild card. The US has temporarily eased restrictions to allow imports of Russian diesel, while a deadly Houthi strike on Riyadh’s main airport has increased geopolitical risk across the region.

📈 Markets

All-time highs for the second week running

No signs of FOMO yet, with market sentiment still neutral. It remains a good setup for longs, although it is not without risk. As we saw last week, market breadth is historically weak, with the rally concentrated in only a handful of names.

Gold is at an inflection point

With the equities narrative well understood, let’s take a closer look at gold. It is currently sitting on a long-term trendline and remains around 25% below its highs. For anyone who missed last year’s rally, this might be an interesting time to revisit it.

Gold has remained resilient despite the sharp move higher in yields

The US 10-year yield is at its highest level in more than 20 years, yet gold has managed to hold its longer-term trend. It feels like there is still plenty of underlying strength beneath the market or a very large buyer supporting it...

China is aggressively buying the dip.

Well, what do you know? China’s central bank officially bought around 23 tonnes of gold in September, its largest monthly purchase since September 2023. That followed purchases of roughly 20 tonnes in both July and August and marked its 23rd consecutive month of buying.

With China firmly on the bid, it could be a good time to put gold back on the watchlist.

Gonna be an interesting week. Have a good one!

London Prop Trading Expo

The London Prop Trading Expo returns on 23 and 24 October at Old Billingsgate, with more than 64 speakers, 39 exhibitors and up to 4,000 traders expected across the two days.

There’ll be live trading, trader education, industry panels and plenty of prop firms in attendance. If you’re heading along, use code PAYOUT for 50% off tickets.

Find out more here

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