Is Funded Guru a Broker or Exchange?

The short answer: Funded Guru is a proprietary trading firm — not a broker, not an exchange. The distinction is important and worth understanding before you start.

What's the difference?

A broker gives you a platform to trade your own money in live markets. An exchange is where those markets actually operate — where buyers and sellers meet to transact. Funded Guru is neither.

Funded Guru is a prop firm. That means it provides traders with simulated funded accounts, a trading environment that mirrors real market conditions, and payouts based on performance. You're not depositing your own money to trade. You're not buying or selling assets on a live exchange. You're trading in a simulated environment using Funded Guru's capital, and getting paid a share of the profits you generate.

Why does this distinction matter?

Because it changes what you're actually signing up for.

With a broker, your money is in the account and the trades are live. With Funded Guru, the only money you put in is the challenge fee — and on the 2-Step Challenge, that comes back with your first payout. The trading is simulated, the rules are defined, and the risk to your personal finances is limited to that initial fee.

Is Funded Guru connected to a broker or exchange?

Funded Guru uses TradeLocker as its trading infrastructure, which sources market data from institutional providers including Coinbase and Nasdaq. The prices and conditions in the simulated environment mirror what's happening in real markets.