The prop firm tech stack: platforms, CRM, payments and KYC

How to think about the stack

Every prop firm needs the same four pieces.

• A trading platform. Where traders trade. CFD firms choose from MT5, cTrader, Match-Trader, TradeLocker and DXtrade. Futures firms look at Rithmic, Tradovate, NinjaTrader and ProjectX.
• A CRM. Where the business runs: selling challenges, opening accounts, checking rules and handling rewards. See CRM.
• Payments. Card processing, crypto processing or both, with chargebacks and reserves to plan for. See payments.
• KYC. Checking who you are paying. See KYC.

The order to decide in

1. Your offer. CFD or futures, your account models and your rules. This narrows the platform list more than anything else. 2. The platform. It is the hardest piece to change later, and access rules differ widely. MT5, for example, now generally needs a firm's own direct license. 3. The CRM. Pick one that can enforce every rule you publish, exactly as written, on the platform you chose. Some platforms bundle one. 4. Payments. Apply early. Underwriting can take weeks, and a second provider protects your sales. 5. KYC. Decide when you verify, then connect a provider to your CRM.

Before you sign anything, ask every vendor who holds the license, what happens to your traders if access ends, and whether you can export all your data.

What we do and do not do

Prop Firm Studios is a marketing and launch studio. We do not build trading technology, and we are not a partner, reseller or affiliate of any vendor on these pages. On the Full Scale plan, we launch the whole firm: we help you choose a platform (for CFD firms, MT5 (through a license holder), cTrader, Match-Trader, TradeLocker or DXtrade; for futures firms, Rithmic, Tradovate, NinjaTrader or ProjectX), then set up and integrate the providers you pick, including the CRM, payment processor and KYC, alongside all of the marketing. Third party costs such as platform licenses, CRM, processing, KYC and hosting are paid by you directly to each provider.

Costs

Each page shows a live cost table with the source and the date each figure was checked. To add up platform, CRM, payments, KYC and marketing for your own plan, use the launch cost calculator. For the full launch sequence, read how to start a prop firm in 2026.