Do prop firms allow automated trading? Five clauses decide it.
The honest answer: it depends on your firm, and it changes. Some support automation through an official API, some allow supervised execution, some prohibit unattended systems outright. Forums will argue forever - your agreement won't. Here are the five clauses that settle it, what each one means, and the one email that gets it in writing.
The automation clause.
Search your agreement and help center for: automat algorithm EA bot API
Three postures exist. Some firms explicitly support automation - a few even publish their own API for it. Some allow semi-automated execution: software may place your orders, but a human must be present and managing. Some prohibit unattended or fully automated systems entirely. The words "unattended", "hands-off", "active management", and "supervision" carry the whole meaning - read them literally.
The supervision requirement.
Search for: supervis attended present actively manag
If your agreement carries a supervision requirement, this is what it asks of you in practice: you're reachable, you can stop it, and a kill-switch, position caps, and a daily loss stop are not optional extras - they're what "supervised" looks like when you're asked to prove it.
The VPS / VPN / IP clause - the one that catches people.
Search for: VPS VPN proxy IP address location
Look for a clause about a legitimate, verifiable IP, and about VPNs, virtual private servers, proxies and IP-masking. Where one exists, the reason is verification: execution from a datacenter makes it hard to confirm who's trading. This is the clause cloud copiers and VPS-hosted bots collide with, and it's why supervised execution from your own machine and your own IP is a different conversation entirely. If your tool runs in someone else's cloud, this clause is where you check first.
The copy-trading scope.
Search for: copy copier mirror duplicate
Copying trades between your own accounts within one firm is often treated differently from copying across firms or from someone else's signals. If you run one strategy into multiple funded accounts, this clause decides whether that's account management or a violation - the distinction is usually "same company" vs "everything else".
The API-access fee.
Search for: API data fee third-party platform Exhibit A permitted platforms
Direct API connectivity often costs extra - check whether your broker or your firm charges a monthly API add-on, and whether your agreement limits you to platforms on an approved list. One fee often quoted does not obviously apply here: as we read it, large CME data-license fees attach to streaming market data through an API, not to routing orders while your charts stay on TradingView - but confirm with your broker before you rely on that.
The one email that settles it.
Rules change and forum answers age badly. A written answer from your firm doesn't. Send this, keep the reply:
It describes a daily loss stop you have set. Enter yours in the app before you send it - that is the one guard that ships empty, and the email should be true when it lands.
Subject: Automation policy check for my account Hi - before I set anything up, I want to confirm compliance. I'm considering executing my TradingView strategy alerts with software that runs on my own computer, from my own residential IP. No VPS, no cloud service, no one else's infrastructure. I supervise it live, with a kill-switch, per-strategy position caps, and a daily loss stop set inside my account's limits. Does this comply with your current automation policy on [evaluation / funded] accounts? If anything about it doesn't, could you point me to the exact rule? Thanks - [name], account [number]
If the answer is yes: you have it in writing. If it's no: you found out for free, before your evaluation fee did.
Read the source, not the summary.
Start at your firm's own help center and funded-account agreement - the search terms above will land you on the right paragraphs in minutes. Examples of official rule pages (the sources, not our summary of them):
- Topstep - TopstepX API AccessTheir API product page: what it enables, what it costs, and the own-device requirement. Pair with their prohibited-strategies page.
- Take Profit Trader - Universal Trading PoliciesTheir core standards, including the automation clause; their trade-copier policy lists which tools they approve and for what.
- Tradeify - Guidelines for TradersTheir bots/algorithmic-trading section, including the ownership and verification conditions.
- Elite Trader Funding - Trade Copier, EA & Algo DisclaimerTheir approved-programs list and the written-authorization requirement from their Terms.
- Apex Trader Funding - Prohibited ActivitiesTheir official prohibited-activities page, including the automation section.
- Your firm's funded-account agreementThe clickwrap you consented to - usually re-readable from your member dashboard. The five clauses live here.
Rules change faster than blog posts, and your money deserves the primary source - the links above go to the firms' own pages. Check the date on anything you read, including this page.
Where BridgePit fits.
BridgePit is execution software built around the strict reading of those five clauses: it runs on your own computer, sends orders from your own IP, and is semi-automated by design - it executes your TradingView alerts, you supervise. The kill-switch, per-strategy contract caps, duplicate rejection and the end-of-day flatten are on from the start; the daily loss stop is the one number you enter yourself. No VPS, no cloud middleman, no one holding your credentials. Whether that fits your firm's rules is a question the email above answers in writing.