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Something that’s funny about the prop space is how gossip-y and catty it is, mainly because so much of it is driven by influencers and affiliates.
This is probably an article unto itself but I always think people who spend too much time making videos, particularly where that involves constantly lying about being a successful trader, end up in a strange bizaro world, where they can’t distinguish between reality and fiction.
Sometimes you see the results of this seep out of the cracks and into the public view. For instance, FunderPro has been getting attacked loads on X because of one guy having a meltdown. This is not unusual as prop firm affiliates have breakdowns constantly.
PipFarm had to take one of its former partners to court in Singapore to get them to stop talking about the company. Their case was successful.
Another case that has come out over the last couple of years, which I just missed, involves prop trading firm Topstep.
US-based Topstep was the first ‘modern’ prop firm to set up and appears to have been very successful over the last few years. They also just got approval to operate as an introducing broker and are working with Plus500 as their broker.
And the firm has also had to deal with one of its own affiliate meltdowns over the last couple of years.
‘Influencer’ Patrick Wieland worked for the prop firm from August 2022 to January 2024, when the company ended the relationship. Wieland claims that he was making 10% of the company’s total revenues at one point when they were working together.
Shortly after that the company had to take Wieland to court for waging an “obsessive and false smear campaign” against the prop firm.
In March 2024, the companies reached an agreement where Wieland was effectively banned from talking about the firm publicly. He couldn’t talk about his affiliate agreement, the settlement he’d reached with them, post about Topstep on social media, or talk about anything business or financial-related to Topstep. Every instance of him doing this would carry a $100,000 fine with it.
What did Wieland do? He kept talking about the firm – more than 50 times in fact!
So Topstep took him to court again and is now saying he needs to pay out for those 50+ instances.
Court documents filed in December show that Wieland has attempted to have the case thrown out. One of the funny parts of this is that the judge presiding over it seems to have been forced to read out some of the statements, which include: “They fucked me over for millions of dollars and I’m always gonna be butt hurt.”
Also funny is the fact that Topstep sent in six examples of violations but not the rest. When asked why they didn’t send the full 50+ list, the prop firm said Wieland would use them as ammunition and keep making the same talking points online if they did.
Wieland’s attempts to have the case dismissed have failed, which means that they can now go into ‘discovery’. This basically means Topstep can request all the information it wants from Wieland, including whether he shared sensitive information with competitors.
Assuming that happens and he ends up losing, then it could potentially mean he is over $5m in the hole, given that there are more than 50 examples of him breaking the agreement, and each one is supposed to cost him $100,000.
All very childish? Yup. A lot of fun to read through? Also yup. Will it continue happening in the future with props and maybe even Wieland? You can guarantee it.
