A funding account is the account a proprietary trading firm gives you after you pass its evaluation, holding simulated capital that you trade under the firm's rules while keeping a published share of the gains. Firms rarely use that exact phrase themselves, which is worth knowing when you compare them, because the same product appears under several names on their own pages.
The names firms actually use
Topstep describes a Live Funded Account, My Funded Futures describes plans that pass into funding, Bulenox and TradeDay describe funded accounts, and Tradeify describes instant funding accounts bought without an evaluation. The vocabulary differs but the structure does not: simulated capital, a published loss limit, a profit target during evaluation, a published share of gains afterwards, and payout terms attached to a specific plan rather than to the firm as a whole.
What governs it once you have one
The loss limit governs a funding account from the first trade. A trailing limit rises with the account's high water mark, which means profit you make and give back permanently narrows the room you have; OneUp Trader publishes exactly that behaviour. An end-of-day limit moves once at the close on realised profit only, which Take Profit Trader and Tradeify publish. Bulenox publishes both shapes and asks you to choose, and the choice belongs with the plan rather than being changeable later.
The plan carries the terms, not the brand
My Funded Futures publishes a 90/10 split on real trading gains paid daily while following the rules specific to your plan, and that last clause is the one to read. Split, payout cadence and drawdown shape attach to a plan, so two accounts at the same firm can carry different terms. When comparing firms, compare the specific plan you would buy rather than the firm's headline, and check on the firm's own plans page which drawdown shape that plan carries.
Questions people ask about what is funding account
Is a funding account the same as a funded account?
In ordinary use, yes. Both describe the account a prop firm gives you after an evaluation. Firms mostly say funded account; funding account is how buyers often search for it.
Can I have more than one?
Several firms publish that multiple funded accounts are allowed, and TradeDay publishes trading up to a stated number of accounts. The rules on how many, and on trading them in parallel, are on each firm's own rules page and differ enough to be worth reading.
Does a funding account cost anything to keep?
Some firms charge a monthly fee for the evaluation stage and some charge one-off fees; some charge activation fees at the funded stage. The firm's own pricing page is the authority, and this site quotes only the entry figures it can verify.