Which prop firms allow EAs on MT5?
Not all funding firms allow algorithmic trading. Some explicitly prohibit it, others allow it with restrictions, and a few are specifically designed for it. This guide summarizes the most relevant ones for traders running Expert Advisors on MetaTrader 5.
FTMO — The most demanding, but most respected
FTMO is the reference firm in the industry. It allows EAs but has restrictions on high-impact news and an implicit consistency rule. Its advantage is transparency and guaranteed monthly payouts.
- Daily drawdown of 5% measured from the day's maximum equity
- Prohibits trading 2 minutes before and after high-impact news on challenge accounts
- No HFT or latency arbitrage
- 80–90% profit payout
Is the MOL EA compatible?
Yes. In MODE_PROP with InpMaxDailyDDPct = 3.5 the MOL EA is compatible with all major prop firms. The integrated news filter automatically covers FTMO's news restrictions.
Full guide: Master of Liquidity EA compatible with FTMO →
What actually matters when you run an EA
Firm marketing talks about profit splits. Neither of those is what fails an algorithmic account. These are the rules that decide whether your EA survives, in the order they matter:
1. Static vs trailing drawdown
A static maximum drawdown is measured from your starting balance and never moves. A trailing drawdown follows your peak equity upward, so profit you have made becomes part of the floor you cannot break. An EA that takes a long series of small wins followed by one normal losing streak can pass comfortably under a static rule and breach under a trailing one with identical trades. Check which model applies before you pay for anything.
2. How daily loss is measured
Some firms measure the daily limit from the balance at the start of the day, others from the day's maximum equity. The second is far stricter: a trade that goes into profit and comes back to break-even can consume part of your daily allowance without ever showing a realised loss. If your EA scales in or holds positions through volatility, this single detail changes the risk settings you need.
3. News restrictions
Most firms restrict trading around high-impact releases, typically a window before and after the event. An EA does not read the economic calendar unless you give it one, so either the EA needs a built-in news filter or you need a wrapper that halts trading in those windows. Discretionary traders simply step away; an algorithm keeps firing unless something stops it.
4. Copy trading and multiple accounts
Running the same EA across several funded accounts is where firms tend to be strictest, because it looks identical to copy trading. Some prohibit it outright, some allow it within one account family, and some tolerate it until a payout request makes them look closely. If you plan to scale across accounts, get the policy in writing first.
5. Consistency rules
A consistency rule caps how much of your total profit can come from a single day or a single trade. Strategies with rare, large winners are the ones that trip it — you can hit the profit target and still be denied because one day carried the account. Read this rule before choosing which strategy to run, not after passing.
The technical checks people skip
- Symbol suffixes. Many brokers list gold as XAUUSD.r or EURUSD.pro. An EA hardcoded to a plain symbol simply will not trade, and you lose challenge days finding out.
- Server time zone. Session filters are written in server time. A firm on GMT+3 and a firm on GMT+2 will produce different entries from the same settings.
- Minimum trading days. A fast EA can hit the profit target in three days and then have to keep trading purely to satisfy a minimum, which is when accounts are typically given back.
- Spread and commission model. Backtest with the firm's actual spread, not your retail broker's. Scalping logic that clears 1.2 pips of cost dies at 2.5.
How to test before you pay
Run the EA on a demo account with the firm's own server, their symbol names and their spread for at least two weeks, with the same risk settings you intend to use funded. You are not testing profitability in that window — you are testing that the EA executes, respects sessions, and never breaches the two limits that matter. A protection layer that closes everything at your configured daily loss and maximum drawdown, such as EV Prop Protector, converts a rule you have to remember into one the terminal enforces.
Related reading: prop firms that allow EAs and how to verify it and how to configure an EA on a funded account.