Yes: most prop firms that work with MetaTrader 5 (FTMO, FundedNext, The5ers and others) generally allow Expert Advisors, with conditions, and connecting the robot to an evaluation account is technically identical to connecting it to any other MT5 account. The real problem isn’t compatibility, it’s the rules: a maximum daily loss of around 4–5% and a maximum total loss of around 10% force you to trade a lot size well below the system’s reference lot, and even then there’s no guarantee you’ll pass the evaluation. Here’s how to run those numbers and what to check before you pay a fee.
- What a prop firm is and how a funded account works
- The rules prop firms usually set (and the ones that get you disqualified)
- Why those rules are the real problem for an Expert Advisor
- What to check in the prop firm’s rules
- Practical setup: VPS, version and accounts
- A bet on someone else’s rules, not a shortcut
What is a prop firm, and what is a funded account?
A prop firm (short for proprietary trading firm) is a company that lets you trade its capital, provided you first prove you can keep risk under control. The process almost always follows the same pattern:
- You pay a fee (from a few tens to several hundred euros, depending on the account size you choose) and get an evaluation account on MT5 with a virtual balance of, say, $10,000, $50,000 or $100,000.
- Evaluation phase (often called the challenge): you have to reach a profit target (usually 8–10% in phase 1 and 5% in phase 2) without breaking the loss limits. Many firms also require a minimum number of trading days.
- Funded account: if you pass, you get an account of the same nominal size, and from then on profits are split, typically 70–90% for you. The firm covers the losses, until the day you break a rule and the account is closed.
Two important caveats. First: in most cases the “funded” account is still a simulated account; the firm decides internally whether or not to copy your trades to the real market, and pays you out of its own funds. Second: many prop firms’ business runs on the fees paid by the people who don’t pass, who, according to figures some firms have published, are the vast majority. That’s how the model is built, and it explains why the rules are so strict.
Typical prop firm rules for an EA (and the ones that get you disqualified)
Every firm has its own fine print, but the skeleton is the same. These are the typical figures at the time of writing; check them on the firm’s website before you pay, because they change without notice:
| Rule | Typical value | What it means for a robot |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum daily loss | 4–5% of the starting balance, or of the equity at the start of the day | One bad day gets you disqualified, even if the month was good |
| Maximum total loss | 6–12% depending on the firm (10% is the most common); sometimes “trailing” (it moves up with your equity) | The system’s drawdown has to stay well below it |
| Profit target | 8–10% in phase 1, 5% in phase 2 | With a small lot it takes longer to reach |
| Minimum days | 3–10 days with at least one trade | A system with few signals may not meet it |
| Consistency | Only at some firms: no single day can account for more than 30–50% of total profit | Penalizes a system whose results are concentrated in a few trades |
| Prohibited practices | Depending on the firm: martingale and grid, latency arbitrage, “tick scalping” or high-frequency trading, copying accounts across firms, trading high-impact news, account management by third parties | You need to know what your EA does after a loss |
The key point: a prop firm doesn’t measure whether your system is solid over five years; it measures whether it survives a few weeks within those limits. Those are two different questions, and an honest robot can answer yes to the first and no to the second. The prohibitions are also checked after the fact: if the firm finds a prohibited practice when it reviews your history, it can void the evaluation even if you hit the numbers.
Why drawdown limits are the real problem for an Expert Advisor
An Expert Advisor’s drawdown is always tied to the lot size it was measured with: double the lot and you double the drop; halve it and you roughly halve the drop. In AUREUM’s gold backtest (2020–2026, a simulation on historical data, not a live account), the result we publish on our home page is +410% with a maximum drawdown of 21.84%, 439 trades and a profit factor of 1.49. By default, AUREUM sizes positions with its reference lot mode (0.01 lots per 1,000 of balance, capped at 1 lot), and it has a manual mode so you can set the lot yourself.
If you connect the robot to a $100,000 evaluation with a 10% maximum total loss, using a lot size at which the simulation’s drawdown would be around 20%, you’re betting that a drop like the one that already showed up in the simulation won’t happen again. That’s a bad bet: the historical drawdown isn’t the worst possible, it’s the worst that appeared in the sample. If the idea is new to you, read what drawdown is first: everything that follows depends on it.
How to scale the lot down, with numbers
The lot multiplies gains and losses equally, so reducing it reduces the expected drawdown roughly in proportion. For this example, let’s assume the simulation’s 21.84% corresponds to 1 lot on the $100,000 account (what the reference mode would give) and set the lot in manual mode:
- 1 lot: a 21.84% drawdown, the same as the simulation. Outside any 10% limit.
- Half (0.50 lots): around 11%. Still above 10%; with a 12% limit you’d have only a sliver of headroom.
- A third (0.33 lots): around 7.3%. It fits within a 10% limit with some room, but not much.
- A quarter (0.25 lots): around 5.5%. More comfortable against the total loss limit, at the cost of the target taking proportionally longer to reach.
These percentages are simple proportions based on a simulation and an assumed lot size, not a forecast: future drawdown can be larger, the spreads on the firm’s server aren’t the ones in the backtest, and a losing streak can arrive in the very first week. Then there’s the daily limit, which maximum drawdown doesn’t describe: export the list of trades from the Strategy Tester report, group them by day, find the worst one and check that, with the lot you’ve chosen, it stays below 4–5% with room to spare. If the firm measures the daily loss on equity, open positions count even if they recover later.
Reducing the lot lowers the expected risk; it doesn’t eliminate it or guarantee that you pass the evaluation. Every attempt costs a fee that you lose if you fail: treat it as the price of a bet on someone else’s rules, not as capital you expect to get back. A simulation’s results don’t predict the future and, in a leveraged account, you can lose the capital you deposit.
What to check in a prop firm’s rules before you pay
Before you pay, open the firm’s rules and find an answer to each point. If something isn’t in writing, ask support and keep their reply:
- Whether they allow EAs, and which ones. Almost all of them accept robots, but some prohibit widely sold commercial EAs or ask you to declare yours. Search their rules for “EA”, “bot” or “algorithmic”.
- Weekends. Many require you to close on Friday or prohibit holding positions over the weekend; others allow it only on certain account types (so-called “swing” accounts) or on the funded account. A system that can hold trades overnight needs to know this beforehand.
- News. Many firms set a window of a few minutes (two, five or more, depending on the firm) before and after high-impact data releases (nonfarm payrolls, CPI, the Fed) during which trading isn’t allowed. With gold this is especially relevant: it’s one of the assets that reacts most to those releases.
- The server and the gold symbol. The exact name (XAUUSD, XAUUSD.raw, GOLD), the trading hours, the server’s typical spread and the broker behind it. An EA set up for one symbol won’t find another.
- Leverage. It’s set by the firm, not by the EU rules for brokers (the account is simulated), and it varies a lot by firm and account type. Do the math with 1:20, which is the maximum for retail clients at an EU-regulated broker and a prudent reference: with gold at around $3,300, for example, one lot requires about $16,500 in margin. Check that the lot you calculated fits comfortably (the full calculation is in our guide to leverage on gold).
- How the loss is calculated. On balance or on equity, static or “trailing”, and at what time and in which time zone the daily counter resets.
- Time limit, minimum days and consistency. With a small lot, a 10% target can take longer than the evaluation lasts, if it has a deadline.
It’s the same checklist you’d use when choosing a broker for an Expert Advisor, with a layer of rules on top. Going through it saves you the most expensive disappointment: finding out halfway through the evaluation that the robot breaks a rule you hadn’t read.
Practical setup: VPS, EA version and accounts
The evaluation account is a regular MT5 account: you get an account number, a password and a server, and the robot is installed and connected exactly as it would be with your broker. From there, four rules of discipline:
- VPS. With a daily loss limit, a disconnection at the wrong moment isn’t an annoyance: it can end your evaluation. A trading VPS keeps the platform connected 24 hours a day and removes the “my laptop shut down” variable.
- The same robot version on every account. If you test one version on demo and a different one on the evaluation, you don’t know what you’re evaluating.
- Lot in manual mode, decided in advance. Calculate the lot from the firm’s limit, set it and don’t touch it mid-phase. Raising it after a good week is the classic mistake, and here you pay for it with the fee.
- A new phase means a new account. When you move from phase 1 to phase 2, and from there to the funded account, the firm usually gives you a new account with a different number. Check that your license allows this without waiting.
With AUREUM, the base plan covers one account and one account change every 30 days; the Premium plan covers up to 3 MT5 accounts at once (for example live, demo and prop firm), and account changes are unlimited and self-service from your license page, which is exactly what you need when a firm reassigns accounts every few weeks.
A bet on someone else’s rules, not a shortcut
A prop firm is a bet with rules you didn’t write. You pay a fee to try to prove, in a few weeks and with very tight loss limits, something a serious system proves over years and with 20% drawdowns. You can make a reasonable attempt, with a small lot, a VPS and the rules read twice, but go in knowing three things: most people don’t pass; the funded capital is usually simulated and the profit split depends on staying within the rules; and no lot adjustment turns a system’s drawdown into a fixed, known number.
If your goal is to learn to trade with an Expert Advisor, the fee-free path is the usual one: demo first, then a small live account with money you can afford to lose, and time. If you also want to try an evaluation, do it with that groundwork already done, as a limited bet and not as a shortcut.
AUREUM on your live account, your demo and your evaluation
A fixed-rules system, with manual lot sizing and published metrics, drawdowns included, so you can decide which size fits within a prop firm’s limits. The Premium plan covers up to 3 MT5 accounts, and account changes are self-service.
See the plans →