Expert advisors are welcome on every challenge and funded account at City Traders Imperium. Our EA trading rules come down to one question: which EA are you running?
On the 1-Step Challenge you can run any expert advisor, including one you bought from a marketplace.
On the 2-Step Challenge, Instant Funding and Direct Funding, you run an EA you built yourself, with the source code to hand.
Around that sit a few house rules that keep every account clean: a visible stop-loss on each trade, strategies that trade the market rather than the price feed, your EA kept to your own accounts, and a VPS approved before you start.
Each one is below, with a link to the help centre article it comes from.
Which EAs each CTI program accepts
| Program | EAs accepted | Martingale | Source code |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-Step Challenge | Any EA, including bought and third-party EAs | Allowed | Not needed |
| 2-Step Challenge | Your own EA | Not part of this program | Available on request |
| Instant Funding | Your own EA | Not part of this program | Available on request |
| Direct Funding | Your own EA | Not part of this program | Available on request |
On the 2-Step Challenge, Instant Funding and Direct Funding, “your own” means an EA you hold the full source code for and that reflects your own trading strategy, so you can share the code with us if we ask.
The full wording is in Does CTI Allow EA Trading?
So the choice is quick.
Trading a marketplace EA you did not write? The 1-Step Challenge is built for it.
Wrote the EA yourself? Every program is open to you, from the 2-Step Challenge to Instant Funding and Direct Funding.
The EA trading rules on every account
A visible stop-loss within 60 seconds
Every trade carries a stop-loss. Set it before entry, or add it within 60 seconds of the position opening. It needs to be visible on the platform, so place it as a real order rather than holding it inside your EA’s code.
If a trade goes a full minute without one, the system closes it for you and the account carries on as normal. Profit counts toward your target on trades that had a stop-loss in place, which is one more reason to make it automatic. Source: Stop Loss Rule.
For an EA this is a coding job, not a habit. Send the order with its stop attached, or fire the modify call straight after the fill. Our stop-loss strategy guide covers where to place it so it does its job.
Strategies that trade the market, not the feed
Your EA can trade the news, hold overnight and over the weekend, and run around the clock. What every program asks is that it makes its money from market moves.
These styles sit outside our rules on all programs, per our trading methods guide and the EA article above:
- Strategies built on price-feed delays or errors, such as rollover scalping or news gaps.
- High-frequency or tick scalping, and emulators.
- Arbitrage of any kind: latency, reverse or hedge.
- Grid trading.
- Bracketing, with a buy-stop and a sell-stop either side of price.
- Hedging across accounts, or opposite positions on correlated symbols.
- Putting the whole drawdown limit on one trade idea.
- Martingale, which the 1-Step Challenge allows and the other programs do not.
Most automated strategies sit well clear of this list. Trend followers, breakout systems, swing trading EAs and news traders all fit comfortably inside it.
Running a bought or third-party EA
You do not need the source code to run a third-party EA where the program accepts one. One tip makes the start smoother. A popular marketplace EA places the same trades for everyone running it, and identical trades across several CTI traders can look like coordinated trading.
The simple answer is a quick email to support before you begin, naming the EA you plan to run. Our Copy Trading Policy recommends exactly that for any setup you want confirmed, and it means you start trading with the green light already in hand.
Your EA stays yours. You keep it to your own accounts rather than sharing or renting it to other traders. Copying works outward from CTI: with a CTI account as the master, you can copy its trades to your other CTI accounts, your own broker account, or an account at another prop firm.
Where your EA runs: VPS, devices and platform
A VPS is a good home for an EA, and you can use one once support has approved it. Send a short email before you trade from it, and connect it directly rather than through a VPN, proxy or IP-masking service. The details are in our IP, VPS and device rules.
You can use up to two devices: one PC or laptop and one mobile phone, kept the same from the challenge through to the funded account.
Then pick your platform. CTI offers MetaTrader 5 for traders outside the US, and Match-Trader for everyone, including US traders. EAs written in MQL5 are built for MetaTrader 5.
If you would like to run your automation on Match-Trader, our support team will confirm your setup before you buy a challenge.
Trading by hand and want help with sizing and stops?
Our free MT5 Trade Manager handles position sizing and trade management inside the platform.
Trading while you travel
Your account comes with you when you travel. Before you go, email support with your travel dates, the destination country and a flight or hotel booking. That way, logging in from a new country and a new IP address is already expected, and your trading carries on without interruption.
The details are in our IP, VPS and device rules.
If your EA runs on an approved VPS, it keeps trading from the same server while you are away.
What your EA has to hit to get funded
Here are the targets an automated strategy works toward on the 1-Step Challenge, our most EA-friendly program, from its help centre article:
| Rule | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Profit target | 8% of the starting balance |
| Maximum drawdown | 5% of the starting balance, trailing, balance based |
| Daily drawdown | None |
| Minimum profitable days | 3 |
| Time limit | None |
| News, overnight and weekend holds | Allowed |
The trailing floor sits at the highest balance your account has reached, minus 5% of the starting balance. It rises as that high watermark rises, and withdrawals leave it where it is.
Our balance-based drawdown explainer works through the numbers, and the Challenge Drawdown Calculator shows where your floor sits for any account size.
Two of those rules suit automated trading especially well. With no daily limit, your EA is measured against one trailing floor rather than a fresh limit each day. With no time limit, a patient swing system can trade at its own pace.
An EA trader who passed: Xing Tao
Xing Tao shows what a well-built EA looks like on our side. He has been developing his system since 2011. It trades 28 currency pairs plus gold and silver around the clock, holds swing positions for 20 days or more, and its largest single loss on the account was 0.4%. Our risk team validated the account when he passed.
Watch him walk through the system below.
A pre-launch checklist for your EA
- The program fits the EA: a bought EA on the program that accepts any EA, your own EA with source code on every program.
- Every order carries a visible stop-loss within 60 seconds.
- Martingale only where the program allows it; grid, bracketing and arbitrage logic left out everywhere.
- Risk per trade sized well inside the drawdown limit. The Position Size Calculator and Risk of Ruin Calculator help here.
- Your VPS approved by support and connected without a VPN.
- Your platform chosen: MetaTrader 5 outside the US, Match-Trader confirmed with support if you plan to use it.
- The EA running on accounts you own, with any copying flowing out from a CTI master account.
- For a third-party EA, a quick note to support naming it.
With all eight ticked, run it on the Challenge Free Trial first. Same platforms, same conditions, no card needed. It is the easiest way to watch your EA place its stops before you start a paid challenge.
Questions EA traders ask us
Do I need the source code of my EA?
On the 1-Step Challenge, no: any EA is welcome, including bought ones. On the 2-Step Challenge, Instant Funding and Direct Funding, you run your own EA and can share its source code with us on request.
Can I run one EA on several of my own CTI accounts?
Yes. Set one CTI account as the master and copy its trades across your other CTI accounts.
Can other traders use my EA?
Your EA is for your own accounts. Each trader at CTI runs their own strategy, so the EA stays with you rather than being shared, rented or sold to other traders.
Can my EA trade the news?
Yes. Where the program allows news trading, it is allowed with no restrictions. Build the strategy around the market’s reaction to the release rather than gaps in the price feed, and it fits our rules on every program.
