Prop Firms and EAs: What Automation Is Usually Allowed

[FXS Prop Desk]

Automation rules differ widely between firms. A short overview of what is usually checked:

• Allowed: trade-management EAs (break-even, trailing stop, partial close), position-size calculators, custom indicators.
• Often allowed with conditions: fully automated strategies you developed yourself.
• Usually banned: off-the-shelf EAs sold to many traders, HFT/latency EAs, arbitrage tools.

The reason for banning commercial EAs: many accounts with identical trades create concentrated risk for the firm.

One practical habit: write down the margin required for your normal position on each instrument and leverage level. If that figure is more than a third of the account balance, several simultaneous trades can hit margin limits even while risk per trade is small.

If you use your own EA:

• Keep the source and backtest results available.
• Check maximum trades per day or minimum hold time rules.
• Make sure it respects daily loss limits on its own.

Do you run any automation on a funded account, and did you have to clear it with the firm?