Prop firms that allow EAs and bots
Whether each firm we track lets you run expert advisors, bots or other automation, per account type. Every value comes from the firm's own pages; the source link opens the exact rule.
Forex and CFD firms
| Firm | Account | EAs and bots | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Guardian | 1 Step Standard | allowed | News trading is allowed in the challenge; on funded accounts no opening or closing trades 5 minutes before or after high-impact news and FOMC. Trades must be held at least 2 minutes. Funded accounts auto-close all trades at a 2% floating loss (Guardian Shield). Copy trading only between your own accounts. Source |
| Blue Guardian | 2 Step Standard | allowed | News trading is allowed in the challenge; on funded accounts no opening or closing trades 5 minutes before or after high-impact news and FOMC. Trades must be held at least 2 minutes. Funded accounts auto-close all trades at a 2% floating loss (Guardian Shield). Copy trading only between your own accounts. Source |
| Blue Guardian | Instant | allowed | No opening or closing trades 5 minutes before or after high-impact news and FOMC; profit from them is removed. Trades must be held at least 2 minutes. Funded accounts auto-close all trades at a 1% floating loss (Guardian Shield). Copy trading only between your own accounts. Source |
| Blue Guardian | Instant Starter | allowed | Trades must be held at least 2 minutes. Funded accounts auto-close all trades at a 1% floating loss (Guardian Shield). Copy trading only between your own accounts. Source |
| FTMO | FTMO Challenge 1-Step | allowed | No news or holding restrictions during the evaluation. EAs are allowed unless they exceed 2,000 server requests per day; letting a third party trade the account is forbidden. Source |
| FTMO | FTMO Challenge 2-Step | allowed | No news or holding restrictions during the evaluation. EAs are allowed unless they exceed 2,000 server requests per day; letting a third party trade the account is forbidden. Source |
| FundedNext | Stellar 1-Step | with limits | News trading is allowed, but on funded accounts only 40% of profit from trades within 5 minutes of high-impact news counts. EAs need an add-on and are not available from $50,000. Copy trading only between your own challenge accounts. Maximum 3% open risk on funded accounts. Source |
| FundedNext | Stellar 2-Step | with limits | News trading is allowed, but on funded accounts only 40% of profit from trades within 5 minutes of high-impact news counts. EAs need an add-on and are not available from $50,000. Copy trading only between your own challenge accounts. Maximum 3% open risk on funded accounts. Source |
| FundedNext | Stellar Instant | with limits | Only 40% of profit from trades within 5 minutes of high-impact news on a correlated pair counts. EAs need the EA add-on. Copy trading only between your own Stellar Instant accounts. Maximum 3% risk at any time. No daily loss limit. Source |
| FundedNext | Stellar Lite | with limits | News trading is allowed, but on funded accounts only 40% of profit from trades within 5 minutes of high-impact news counts. EAs need an add-on and are not available from $50,000. Copy trading only between your own challenge accounts. Maximum 3% open risk on funded accounts. Source |
| FundingPips | 1 Step Flex | not confirmed | No news restrictions and holding is allowed during the evaluation; deliberately trading news is prohibited in every phase. The daily loss limit is 2% or 3% depending on the purchased configuration. Source |
| FundingPips | 2 Step Flex (80% split) | not confirmed | No news restrictions and holding is allowed during the evaluation; deliberately trading news is prohibited in every phase. Source |
| FundingPips | 2 Step Flex (95% split) | not confirmed | No news restrictions and holding is allowed during the evaluation; deliberately trading news is prohibited in every phase. Source |
| FundingPips | 2 Step Pro | not confirmed | No news restrictions and holding is allowed during the evaluation; deliberately trading news is prohibited in every phase. Source |
| FundingPips | 2 Step Standard | not confirmed | No news restrictions and holding is allowed during the evaluation; deliberately trading news is prohibited in every phase. Source |
| FundingPips | FundingPips Zero | not confirmed | No position may be opened, closed or held from 10 minutes before to 10 minutes after restricted news; weekend holding is a hard breach. A combined floating loss of 1% of the account size is a hard breach. Source |
| Goat Funded Trader | 1 Step | with limits | News trading is allowed in the challenge and funded phases, but a trade opened or closed within 5 minutes of high-impact news can keep at most 1% of the initial balance as profit; the excess is removed. Only self-developed EAs; no HFT or gold arbitrage EAs. Copy trading only between your own accounts; hedging across accounts is prohibited. Source |
| Goat Funded Trader | 2 Step GOAT | with limits | News trading is allowed in the challenge and funded phases, but a trade opened or closed within 5 minutes of high-impact news can keep at most 1% of the initial balance as profit; the excess is removed. Only self-developed EAs; no HFT or gold arbitrage EAs. Copy trading only between your own accounts; hedging across accounts is prohibited. Source |
| Goat Funded Trader | 2 Step Standard | with limits | News trading is allowed in the challenge and funded phases, but a trade opened or closed within 5 minutes of high-impact news can keep at most 1% of the initial balance as profit; the excess is removed. Only self-developed EAs; no HFT or gold arbitrage EAs. Copy trading only between your own accounts; hedging across accounts is prohibited. Source |
Futures firms
| Firm | Account | EAs and bots | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha Futures | Advanced Evaluation + Qualified | not allowed | No news restrictions on evaluations. All trades must be closed before 4:20 PM ET. AI, bots and full automation are prohibited; semi-automated signals are fine if you place and manage the trades yourself. Copy trading is allowed between your own accounts only; hedging and group trading are prohibited. Source |
| Alpha Futures | Direct (instant Qualified) | not allowed | No orders within 2 minutes before or after high-impact (red folder) news for the traded asset. All trades must be closed before 4:20 PM ET. AI, bots and full automation are prohibited. Copy trading is allowed between your own accounts only. Source |
| Alpha Futures | Standard Evaluation + Qualified | not allowed | No news restrictions on evaluations. All trades must be closed before 4:20 PM ET. AI, bots and full automation are prohibited; semi-automated signals are fine if you place and manage the trades yourself. Copy trading is allowed between your own accounts only; hedging and group trading are prohibited. Source |
| Alpha Futures | Zero Evaluation + Qualified | not allowed | No news restrictions on evaluations. All trades must be closed before 4:20 PM ET. AI, bots and full automation are prohibited; semi-automated signals are fine if you place and manage the trades yourself. Copy trading is allowed between your own accounts only; hedging and group trading are prohibited. Source |
| Apex Trader Funding | EOD Evaluation + PA | not allowed | Trading news with your normal strategy is allowed; bracket orders on both sides of a news release are not. No automation or algorithms. Trade copying with other traders and hedging between accounts are forbidden. Source |
| Apex Trader Funding | Intraday Evaluation + PA | not allowed | Trading news with your normal strategy is allowed; bracket orders on both sides of a news release are not. No automation or algorithms. Trade copying with other traders and hedging between accounts are forbidden. Source |
| Lucid Trading | LucidDaily (end-of-day evaluation) | allowed | High-impact USD news is a hard breach on LucidDaily funded accounts; the evaluation rule is not stated separately. Automated strategies and trade copiers are permitted. Source |
| Lucid Trading | LucidDaily (intraday evaluation) | allowed | High-impact USD news is a hard breach on LucidDaily funded accounts; the evaluation rule is not stated separately. Automated strategies and trade copiers are permitted. Source |
| Lucid Trading | LucidDirect | allowed | Open positions are closed automatically at 4:45 PM ET; holding past it does not fail the account. News trading is allowed on Pro and Flex. Automated strategies and trade copiers are permitted. Source |
| Lucid Trading | LucidFlex | allowed | Open positions are closed automatically at 4:45 PM ET; holding past it does not fail the account. News trading is allowed on Pro and Flex. Automated strategies and trade copiers are permitted. Source |
| Lucid Trading | LucidPro | allowed | Open positions are closed automatically at 4:45 PM ET; holding past it does not fail the account. News trading is allowed on Pro and Flex. Automated strategies and trade copiers are permitted. Source |
| My Funded Futures | Builder | allowed | T1 news (FOMC, employment report, CPI; EIA and agricultural reports for those markets) may be traded on evaluations and Builder plans; news-burst strategies such as straddles are prohibited everywhere. Open positions are closed automatically at 4:10 PM ET. Automated strategies are allowed if they do not exploit simulated fills; high-frequency trading and hedging the same underlying are prohibited. Copy trading across your own accounts is allowed; copying another trader is not. Source |
| My Funded Futures | Builder ($1,500 MLL option) | allowed | T1 news (FOMC, employment report, CPI; EIA and agricultural reports for those markets) may be traded on evaluations and Builder plans; news-burst strategies such as straddles are prohibited everywhere. Open positions are closed automatically at 4:10 PM ET. Automated strategies are allowed if they do not exploit simulated fills; high-frequency trading and hedging the same underlying are prohibited. Copy trading across your own accounts is allowed; copying another trader is not. Source |
| My Funded Futures | Pro | allowed | T1 news (FOMC, employment report, CPI; EIA and agricultural reports for those markets) may be traded on evaluations and Builder plans; news-burst strategies such as straddles are prohibited everywhere. Open positions are closed automatically at 4:10 PM ET. Automated strategies are allowed if they do not exploit simulated fills; high-frequency trading and hedging the same underlying are prohibited. Copy trading across your own accounts is allowed; copying another trader is not. Source |
| My Funded Futures | Pro (1 Day add-on) | allowed | T1 news (FOMC, employment report, CPI; EIA and agricultural reports for those markets) may be traded on evaluations and Builder plans; news-burst strategies such as straddles are prohibited everywhere. Open positions are closed automatically at 4:10 PM ET. Automated strategies are allowed if they do not exploit simulated fills; high-frequency trading and hedging the same underlying are prohibited. Copy trading across your own accounts is allowed; copying another trader is not. Source |
| My Funded Futures | Rapid (intraday sim funded) | allowed | T1 news (FOMC, employment report, CPI; EIA and agricultural reports for those markets) may be traded on evaluations and Builder plans; news-burst strategies such as straddles are prohibited everywhere. Open positions are closed automatically at 4:10 PM ET. Automated strategies are allowed if they do not exploit simulated fills; high-frequency trading and hedging the same underlying are prohibited. Copy trading across your own accounts is allowed; copying another trader is not. Source |
| My Funded Futures | Rapid EOD | allowed | T1 news (FOMC, employment report, CPI; EIA and agricultural reports for those markets) may be traded on evaluations and Builder plans; news-burst strategies such as straddles are prohibited everywhere. Open positions are closed automatically at 4:10 PM ET. Automated strategies are allowed if they do not exploit simulated fills; high-frequency trading and hedging the same underlying are prohibited. Copy trading across your own accounts is allowed; copying another trader is not. Source |
| My Funded Futures | Studio | allowed | News trading is allowed on Studio. Open positions are closed automatically at 4:10 PM ET. Studio runs on Hyperprop only. Automated strategies are allowed if they do not exploit simulated fills; high-frequency trading and hedging the same underlying are prohibited. Source |
| Take Profit Trader | PRO+ | not confirmed | Flat with no open orders from one minute before to one minute after FOMC statements, NFP and CPI. Only approved instruments during permitted trading hours. At least one traded day per calendar week. Source |
| Take Profit Trader | PRO+ Development | not confirmed | Flat with no open orders from one minute before to one minute after FOMC statements, NFP and CPI. Only approved instruments during permitted trading hours. At least one traded day per calendar week. Source |
| Take Profit Trader | Test + PRO | not confirmed (evaluation)not allowed (funded) | Open positions are closed automatically at 4:55 PM ET. Opposite positions in the same or related products are not allowed. Flat from one minute before to one minute after FOMC statements, NFP and CPI. No bots or algorithms. Source |
| Topstep | Trading Combine + Express Funded (Consistency) | allowed | All positions must be closed by 3:10 PM CT each weekday. Trading your full maximum position size into a scheduled major news event is prohibited. Automated strategies and trade copiers are allowed across your own accounts. Source |
| Topstep | Trading Combine + Express Funded (Standard) | allowed | All positions must be closed by 3:10 PM CT each weekday. Trading your full maximum position size into a scheduled major news event is prohibited. Automated strategies and trade copiers are allowed across your own accounts. Source |
| Tradeify | Growth Evaluation + Funded | not confirmed | News trading is allowed at your own risk. Positions open at the 5:00 PM ET close are closed automatically. Opposite positions on the same or correlated products count as hedging and are prohibited. Source |
| Tradeify | Lightning Funded | not confirmed | News trading is allowed at your own risk. Positions open at the 5:00 PM ET close are closed automatically. Opposite positions on the same or correlated products count as hedging and are prohibited. Source |
"With limits" means automation is allowed with conditions (for example your own EA only, or no high-frequency trading); the details column says which. Rules verified 2026-10-11.
Questions
Which prop firms allow EAs?
Among the firms we track, Blue Guardian, FTMO, Lucid Trading, My Funded Futures, Topstep allow expert advisors or bots on at least one account type. Most still ban high-frequency trading, latency arbitrage and copying other people's trades.
Which prop firms do not allow bots?
Alpha Futures, Apex Trader Funding prohibit automated trading on every account we track. Semi-automated tools, such as an indicator that gives signals while you place the trades yourself, are often still fine.
Are HFT strategies allowed at prop firms?
Rarely. Even firms that allow EAs usually ban high-frequency trading, tick scalping and strategies that exploit the simulated environment, such as trading on stale prices. Some set a hard limit, for example no more than 100 trades a day.