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Velotrade, founded by former JPMorgan and Bank of America derivatives traders, launched a cryptocurrency proprietary trading platform on March 13, 2026, offering funded trading accounts from $5,000 to $200,000 with a novel business model: the platform shares profits with successful traders rather than relying on challenge fees—a shift designed to address what founders characterize as structural weaknesses in the crypto prop trading industry.
Under the new offering, Velotrade provides proprietary trading accounts ranging from $5,000 to $200,000, allowing participants to trade digital assets without risking personal capital while sharing profits with the platform.
The launch builds on the track record of the company’s earlier venture, Velotrade Management Limited, a fintech trade finance platform founded in 2016 that has distributed more than $2.5 billion to clients globally.
According to the company, the crypto trading platform operates under a separate entity, Velotrade Re Limited, which was incorporated in Hong Kong in November 2025.
The leadership team says the new Velotrade initiative was developed after observing structural weaknesses in many existing crypto proprietary trading firms.
“We looked at the crypto prop market and found firms run by people with little experience in trading, in risk management, or in running a financial services company,” said Gianluca Pizzituti, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Velotrade. “That shows. It shows in the rules, in the structure, in the fine print.”
Unlike many proprietary trading firms that rely heavily on evaluation fees, Velotrade says its model aligns the firm’s revenue directly with trader profitability.
Traditional funded trading firms typically generate income through “challenge fees,” which traders must pay to qualify for access to a funded account. Critics have argued that these models create incentives for firms to benefit when traders fail.
The Velotrade platform takes a different approach by mirroring selected trader positions in real markets using institutional liquidity bridges and artificial-intelligence-driven hedging systems.
“When a funded trader is profitable, Velotrade earns alongside them,” the company explained in its announcement.
Pizzituti emphasized that this approach changes the incentives built into the system.
“We are not here to collect challenge fees and hope people fail,” he said. “Our revenue model is tied to trader performance. That changes everything about how you design rules, and how you treat the people trading your capital.”
Supporters of the Velotrade structure say aligning company revenue with trader performance could encourage more sustainable trading practices within the industry.
Another distinguishing element of the Velotrade platform is its evaluation system, which the company says was designed specifically for cryptocurrency markets rather than adapted from foreign exchange trading frameworks.
Many proprietary trading firms initially developed their evaluation systems for forex markets and later added cryptocurrency trading instruments. As a result, some rules — such as strict consistency requirements or limitations on weekend positions — have been criticized as poorly suited for the round-the-clock volatility of digital asset markets.
The Velotrade platform removes several of those restrictions.
According to the company, its evaluation framework does not impose a consistency rule, meaning traders are not penalized for having one large winning day or varying position sizes based on conviction.
There is also no time limit for completing the evaluation process, allowing traders to progress at their own pace.
Additionally, the Velotrade rule set allows trading during major market events and permits positions to remain open over weekends — a notable departure from restrictions common in forex-based proprietary trading models.
Two evaluation pathways are offered. A two-step challenge allows traders to access larger drawdown limits of 10% overall and 5% daily, while a one-step challenge provides a faster route to funding with slightly tighter limits of 7% overall and 4% daily.
Both evaluation systems operate on the DXtrade trading platform.
In contrast to many multi-asset trading platforms, Velotrade has chosen to focus solely on digital assets.
The platform does not offer forex pairs, stock indices, or equities. Instead, it concentrates entirely on cryptocurrency markets, allowing traders to access a range of digital assets with leverage of up to six times on major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The company says this strategy reflects a deliberate decision to specialize rather than extend existing infrastructure designed for other asset classes.
The Velotrade platform also offers a relatively rapid payout structure. Traders can request their first withdrawal after 14 calendar days, with subsequent payouts available weekly. According to the company, withdrawals are processed within 24 hours in stablecoins such as USDC or USDT.
The founders say the initiative builds on decades of experience in capital markets and derivatives trading.
Pizzituti previously worked on the derivatives desk at Dresdner Kleinwort in London and later founded a proprietary high-frequency trading firm in Singapore. His co-founder and executive chairman, Vittorio De Angelis, spent more than three decades in capital markets and risk management, including roles trading equity derivatives at JPMorgan and Dresdner Kleinwort before becoming co-head of equity derivatives at Bank of America.
As the cryptocurrency trading industry continues to evolve, the launch of Velotrade reflects the increasing involvement of traditional finance professionals in building infrastructure for digital asset markets.
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