TopOneFutures CEO Matt Morris: From Homeless to $50M+ in Trader Payouts

Matt Morris didn't take the traditional route to becoming a prop firm CEO. He didn't come from Wall Street, institutional trading, or fintech. He came from network marketing, private equity, real estate — and a personal journey that started with literal homelessness.

Today, as CEO of TopOneTrader and TopOneFutures, Matt runs one of the top 30 largest proprietary trading firms in the world, having funded over $50 million to traders across 100+ countries. The firm maintains a 4.8 Trustpilot rating from thousands of reviews and processes payouts in under 4 hours on average.

But the story of how he got there is what makes Matt different from every other prop firm founder in the space.

The Homeless-to-Millionaire Arc

Matt Morris's background isn't typical CEO material. At one point in his life, he was homeless — sleeping in his car, broke, and trying to figure out how to survive, let alone build wealth.

What changed? Work ethic, strategy, and an obsessive focus on personal development. Matt immersed himself in entrepreneurship, eventually finding his way into network marketing with Amway. This wasn't the sexy tech startup story Silicon Valley loves. It was grinding, building relationships, training teams, and learning how to scale.

And it worked.

Over 30 years as an entrepreneur, Matt has been involved in businesses that generated over $4 billion in revenue. He became a bestselling author, writing about the strategies that took him from nothing to multi-millionaire. He became a global keynote speaker, delivering talks in over 40 countries. And he personally coached hundreds of top-level executives and entrepreneurs, teaching them the frameworks he'd used to build his own success.

His background spans private equity, real estate, and financial markets — giving him a unique lens on capital allocation, risk management, and what it takes to build sustainable, scalable businesses.

Why a Network Marketing Guy Built a Prop Firm

In the early 2020s, Matt started looking at the prop firm space. Not as a trader himself, but as an entrepreneur who saw a massive opportunity paired with terrible execution.

Prop firms were supposed to give talented traders access to capital. But most of them were doing it wrong. Payouts took weeks. Rules were confusing. Support was nonexistent. And worst of all, many firms felt more interested in collecting evaluation fees than actually funding traders long-term.

Matt saw the same problems he'd seen in other industries — businesses built around extraction instead of value creation. Firms optimizing for short-term revenue instead of long-term relationships.

So in June 2023, alongside co-founder and Chief Trading Officer Clay Hodges, Matt launched TopOneTrader. The mission was simple: build a prop firm that treats traders like partners, not paychecks.

The TopOne Philosophy: Culture, Community, CANI

Matt brought a philosophy to prop trading that most firms don't have: CANI — Constant And Never-ending Improvement.

This came straight from his network marketing days, where success wasn't about one big win. It was about showing up every day, improving systems, refining processes, and building a culture where people wanted to stay.

At TopOneTrader and TopOneFutures, that means:

• Fast payouts — Most processed in under 4 hours, some in under 2 hours
• Transparent rules — No hidden traps, no retroactive changes that screw traders
• 24/7 support — Real humans, not ticket bots that take 3 days to respond
• Trader education — Free video coaching program included with every account
• Long-term relationships — Matt wants traders to stay funded, not fail and buy another eval

The firm offers multiple funding paths: a 1-step evaluation, a 2-step pro challenge, and instant funding for traders who want to skip the eval entirely. Account sizes range from $5,000 to $200,000, with the ability to scale to $5 million for proven traders.

Profit splits go up to 90%, and there's no monthly subscription after you pass — just a one-time fee to activate funding.

The Futures Expansion: TopOneFutures

In April 2025, Matt launched TopOneFutures — a futures-only version of the firm built specifically for CME traders. This was strategic. Instead of trying to be everything to everyone (forex, crypto, stocks, futures), TopOneFutures focuses exclusively on NQ, ES, YM, CL, GC, and other CME contracts.

The specialization allows for cleaner rules, better execution, and faster payouts. TopOneFutures offers three main programs:

1. Elite Challenge — 1-step evaluation, pass in as little as one day
2. Instant Sim Funded — Skip the eval, start trading immediately
3. S2F Sim PRO — Budget-friendly monthly option for cost-conscious traders

The firm processes payouts in under 12 hours, allows unrestricted news trading, and uses end-of-day drawdown rules to give traders more breathing room.

What Sets Matt Apart as a CEO

Matt Morris is active. He's not a silent partner or a behind-the-scenes operator. He's on Twitter (@MatthewDMorris) celebrating trader wins, posting payout screenshots, and engaging directly with the community.

He understands that in the prop firm space, trust is everything. And trust isn't built through marketing — it's built through consistent execution, transparent communication, and actually paying traders what they earned.

Matt's also unusual in that he's a Marine veteran (inactive), a husband, and a dad who's public about his values. He's not trying to be a "crypto bro" or a "trading influencer." He's building a business that reflects the lessons he learned over 30 years as an entrepreneur: treat people right, build systems that scale, and focus on long-term value creation.

The Numbers That Matter

Since launching in 2023, TopOneTrader and TopOneFutures have:

• Funded over $50 million to traders
• Grown to 26,000+ traders across 100+ countries
• Maintained a 4.8/5 Trustpilot rating from thousands of reviews
• Processed $19 million+ in payouts through TopOneFutures alone
• Built a reputation for sub-4-hour payout processing

These aren't vanity metrics. They're proof that the model works when it's built around trader success instead of trader failure.

The Bottom Line

Matt Morris didn't come from trading. He came from entrepreneurship, personal development, and a philosophy that success is built one consistent day at a time. He applied that framework to prop firm funding and created TopOneTrader and TopOneFutures — two of the fastest-growing, most trusted firms in the space.

From homeless to CEO. From network marketing to funding traders worldwide. Matt Morris built TopOne to be the firm he'd want to trade with — and that's exactly why it's working.

‍