3.50 per thousand, and you had better get great software and support and reliability and an assurance that you can access your money whenever you want. The only reason to pay any more is because someone is letting you go negative on your account and backing you or because you're getting serious training in a strategy that grosses over $1000 per 100,000 traded consistently, losing days included. Finding .0025 shouldn't be hard. Play hardball. The firm needs you more than you need them.
3 to 3.50 sounds about right, with 100% payout. There are more factors involved in every deal besides rate. Software offered? buying power needed? payout frequency? Tech support? Office environment? Do you put a premium on any of these things? Hopefully you are getting a great software platform for this rate (i.e. Anvil or Lightspeed). I am currently paying a little more in commissions (probably around $0.25 per 1000 shares more) so I can use Anvil as opposed to other inferior platforms I have used. It seems like traders looking for a prop firm are solely concerned with the rate, with little regard for the software (which is crazy for remote traders who need system stability more than anything else). I believe that a platform that doesn't perform exactly as you want it to will deplete your account a lot faster than your commissions will. I refuse to lose money due to stale quotes, orders not executing/cancelling, non-existent tech support. I'd rather lose money because of my horrible trade ideas and not because the software platform didn't execute my order. Don't believe anybody that tells you that software platforms have been commoditized. They are just trying to push an inferior platform on you.