Daniel Hayes — Founder, Harbinger Insights

I spent twelve years inside the trading industry — first on the risk desk at a Chicago futures brokerage, then trading equity volatility at a midsize prop shop, then running a sleeve at a multi-strategy fund I’m not at liberty to name. In 2023 I left to trade my own capital and started writing what became this site.

Harbinger Insights exists because I got tired of the prop firm review landscape. Every “Top 10 Prop Firms 2026” article ranks the firms by affiliate commission, not by what happens when traders actually pass the challenge and try to withdraw. Reviews read like sales pages. Comparison tables leave out the rules that matter.

My approach is simpler: I’ve actually run the challenges. I’ve passed them, failed them, blown up the funded accounts, withdrawn the profit splits, and dealt with the support teams. When I rate a firm, it’s based on what happened — not what they promised in a press release.

Some of the firms reviewed here have affiliate programs and I use them, with full disclosure on every page. None of those relationships affect rankings or what I write. If a firm fits your trading style I’ll tell you. If it doesn’t, I’ll tell you that too — even when it costs me commission.

If you trade futures, equities, or want to understand the financial industry from someone who spent over a decade inside it, you’re in the right place.

— Daniel