Using a trading bot on a prop firm account: a checklist

1. Is automation allowed, and in what form?

Firms commonly allow EAs but ban specific behaviors, such as exploiting platform glitches, latency or arbitrage tactics, high-frequency trading, and copying trades from an external source. Read the section on automated trading and any list of prohibited strategies. If it is unclear, ask support and keep the reply.

2. What are the loss limits, and how are they measured?

Firms typically set a maximum daily loss and a maximum total loss as percentages of the starting balance. The details differ: some measure on equity including floating losses, some on balance, and the daily reset time varies.

Floating losses often count. A grid or DCA bot that is holding a large losing position can breach a daily limit without having closed anything.

3. Size the bot well inside the limits

Choose lot sizes and exposure caps so the worst case you can foresee uses only part of the allowance. A stop at a fraction of the daily limit gives you a buffer for slippage and for fast moves.

• Set a per-bot exposure cap and an equity-based stop that sit well inside the firm's limits.
• Avoid strategies that keep adding size to a losing position unless you cap them.
• Remember that costs, swaps and spreads reduce your allowance too.

4. Check request limits and trading hours

Some firms limit the number of server requests per day, restrict trading around certain news events, or require positions to be closed before the weekend. Choose strategy settings that fit those rules.

5. Test on a demo first

Run the exact configuration on a demo account through a volatile session and watch peak floating loss, not only closed profit. If the worst moment would have broken a rule, change the settings before the bot goes near a challenge account.

Jassrox provides a free demo account with $10,000 of virtual funds for this kind of test. A demo shows how a configuration behaves, but it does not predict results on a funded account.