Important: Prop firms change their rules often. This page reflects 15 October 2026, based on the firms’ help pages and reports that quote them. Always check your firm’s current page for your account type before you start. This is not legal or investment advice.
Short answer: who allows bots?
| Firm | Bots allowed? | What matters for automation |
|---|---|---|
| Lucid Trading | Yes, with conditions | No high-frequency trading, no microscalping, no hedging across accounts. You are liable for software errors. |
| Topstep | Restricted | New accounts only on TopstepX. Automation there via the ProjectX API, not NinjaTrader. No VPS. |
| Apex Trader Funding | No | Automation and algorithms are prohibited. Alerts that you act on yourself are allowed. |
Lucid Trading
Lucid states in its own help center that automated trading systems and trade copiers are permitted. They must follow all other rules, and you are responsible for any software errors.
- No high-frequency trading. After a warning, the account can be closed.
- No microscalping: it becomes a problem when more than half of the profit comes from trades held five seconds or less.
- No hedging across accounts, including closely correlated contracts. A trade copier can create this by accident.
- Plans differ. On LucidDaily you must be flat around major economic releases. A bot needs a news pause for that.
Topstep
Topstep allows bots in principle, but with two restrictions that decide the platform. According to Topstep’s help center and several 2026 reports, TopstepX is the only platform for new traders. NinjaTrader, Tradovate and Rithmic remain only for older accounts.
- A NinjaTrader 8 bot for a new Topstep account is therefore not possible. Automation there runs through the TopstepX ProjectX API.
- According to reports on the API terms, automated trading via the API is allowed in the Combine and the Express Funded Account, not on Live Funded accounts.
- Trading must originate from your own device. VPS, VPN and remote servers are prohibited.
- High-frequency trading and algorithms that exploit unrealistic simulated fills are prohibited.
Apex Trader Funding
Apex lists it explicitly under prohibited activities: no automation and no algorithms. The reasoning: payouts are meant to reward active human traders, not preprogrammed logic. Older articles in the Apex help center still allowed semi-automated tools. Newer sources from October 2026 describe the ban without exceptions.
- What helps you click stays allowed: alerts, and brackets or trailing stops on trades you opened yourself.
- Some bot service vendors claim otherwise. I would not rely on that.
Checklist for a rule-compliant bot
- Record firm and account type. Evaluation, funded and live accounts can have different rules.
- Check the platform. Does your account run on the platform the bot is built for?
- Limits in the code. Daily loss, maximum contracts, trading hours and flat before the close belong in the bot as hard rules, not just in the manual.
- News pause if the firm or plan requires it.
- No micro trades. If the strategy holds very briefly, check it against the microscalping rule first.
- No hedging across accounts, not even through a copier.
- Run it on your own machine if the firm prohibits VPS.
- Supervise it. With every firm, you are liable for software errors.
How I handle this
Before I build a bot for a prop account, I ask for firm, plan and platform and say openly when the combination does not work. That prevents the worst case: the bot runs exactly as planned and the account still gets closed.