Hey folks, I’m at a point where I have about $5,000 in personal capital saved up for futures trading. I’m debating whether I should deposit that money into a direct brokerage account to trade Micro E-minis, or spend a couple hundred dollars on a prop firm evaluation for a $50k or $100k account instead. The idea of risking a small evaluation fee instead of my actual liquid savings sounds attractive, but the profit splits and payout rules add extra friction. What are the main pros and cons of prop firm trading versus self-funded accounts?