XAUUSD · METATRADER 5 · DAILY DRAWDOWN LOCK
A gold bot designed around prop firm drawdown rules
Challenges are rarely lost by being wrong about direction. They are lost by losing too much in a single day. Tech Kick Bot enforces a hard daily loss lockdown — set it under your firm's limit and the bot stops trading for the rest of the server day instead of running you into a breach. No martingale. No grid. No recovery trades.
To be direct about it: no bot can guarantee you pass a challenge, and any vendor quoting you a pass rate is quoting a number they cannot support. What software can do is remove the mechanical ways people fail.
Why most EAs fail challenges
Four causes account for most automated failures. Each one is a design decision, which means each one is avoidable.
Martingale and grid recovery
Doubling into a loser is the fastest route to a daily drawdown breach. Position size compounds while the account is already down, so one extended move ends the challenge. Tech Kick Bot sizes every trade as a fixed percentage of balance and never averages down.
No daily loss ceiling
Most EAs will keep trading through an awful session because nothing tells them to stop. Almost every prop firm failure is a daily-loss breach rather than a total-loss breach — the bot did not need to lose everything, only too much in one day.
Trading straight into high-impact news
Gold gaps hard on CPI, NFP and FOMC and spreads widen sharply. An EA with no calendar awareness takes the worst fills of the month at exactly the moment drawdown headroom matters most.
Revenge trading after a losing streak
An engine that keeps firing into conditions it is clearly misreading turns a bad hour into a failed challenge. A loss-streak pause is what breaks that loop.
How the daily lockdown maps to firm limits
Nearly every prop firm enforces a maximum daily loss. The bot enforces its own, and because you set the threshold, you can place it deliberately inside theirs.
| Account size | Typical 5% daily limit | Suggested bot setting |
|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $500 | $350 – $400 |
| $25,000 | $1,250 | $875 – $1,000 |
| $50,000 | $2,500 | $1,750 – $2,000 |
| $100,000 | $5,000 | $3,500 – $4,000 |
| $200,000 | $10,000 | $7,000 – $8,000 |
The gap is deliberate. Spread, slippage, and a position still open when the threshold is crossed can all carry the realised loss past where you expected to stop. Leaving roughly 20–30% of headroom absorbs that. Confirm your own firm's percentage and whether it is calculated on starting balance or equity — this varies, and it changes the number.
What our own drawdown actually measured
A total drawdown limit is what ends a challenge, so you should see our figures against it before paying a fee. We measured the shipped configuration three ways and the results differ enough that quoting one number would be misleading.
| Measurement | Method | Max drawdown |
|---|---|---|
| Jan – Aug 2026 | One unbroken run, flat 0.05 lot | 27.4% — would breach a 10% limit |
| Aug – Dec 2025 | One unbroken run, unseen data | 13.2% — would breach a 10% limit |
| Jan – Jul 2026 | Seven separate monthly tests | 27.4% — would breach a 10% limit |
All three would fail a typical 10% total drawdown rule with the Conservative profile applied. The smallest we have measured is 13.2% and the largest is 27.4%. We are telling you before you pay, because a challenge fee is non-refundable — and on this evidence the honest advice is that this profile is not suited to a 10% total-drawdown challenge. A smaller lot scales the drawdown down in direct proportion: the same configuration at 0.01 lot drew down 5.5%, which does clear the limit, at a fifth of the return.
What follows from it: run Conservative mode on an evaluation, and reduce risk per trade below the default. Drawdown scales roughly with risk per trade, so halving it moves these figures materially. That is a setting you control, and it is the single most useful adjustment for a funded account. These remain backtested figures on historical XAUUSD data, not a live track record.
Before you start a paid challenge
- 01
Confirm the firm allows EAs
In their current written rules, not a forum post from last year. Policies change, and a violation after the fact is not recoverable.
- 02
Check the banned-strategy list
EAs may be allowed while grid, martingale, latency arbitrage and tick scalping are separately prohibited. This bot uses none of them, but you should know what your firm bans.
- 03
Set the daily loss limit under their threshold
Use the table above. Leave headroom for spread and slippage.
- 04
Verify gold is tradeable and check the spread
The strategy mix is spread-sensitive. Confirm XAUUSD is available on your account type and what the typical spread is.
- 05
Run one full week on the firm's demo
Including a high-impact news day, so you see the news shield refuse entries rather than wondering whether it works.
- 06
Put it on a VPS
A challenge has a deadline. An offline bot is not trading, and a sleeping laptop has ended more challenges than bad strategies have.
Which countries need the prop firm route
Most people arrive here for one of two reasons: they want the firm’s capital, or their own country has closed the retail route. The second group is larger than it looks, and it is worth knowing which one you are in before you pay an evaluation fee.
United States
Retail spot gold CFDs are effectively unavailable, and the broker this bot is tuned for does not accept US clients. A prop firm account is the working route, if the firm offers MetaTrader 5 to US residents: FundedNext, The5ers and Alpha Capital say they do not. FTMO returned to the US in August 2025 through OANDA, structured as a simulated evaluation with a rewards account.
United Kingdom
Exness does not serve UK residents. Prop firms do, and buying an evaluation is legal — though most evaluation firms are not FCA-authorised, because a simulated assessment is not a regulated investment service. Read the firm rules below before assuming a purchased EA is allowed.
Malaysia and Singapore
Both are on the broker's restricted list, so the retail route is closed the same way it is in the US and UK. Prop firms are generally available; the EA-ownership rules below are what decide whether this bot can be used.
Canada, Australia, most of the EU
Broker restricted. Prop firm availability varies more here than elsewhere and several firms exclude Canada specifically, so check acceptance before paying.
If you are in South Africa, Kenya, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Nigeria, the UAE or Pakistan, you do not need this route at all — you can open a retail account directly, which is simpler and cheaper than an evaluation fee. That path is on the broker page. And if you are in India, neither route is open to you: CFD trading is prohibited for residents under FEMA and offshore brokers are not permitted for speculative trading.
What four firms’ written rules actually say about EAs
“Allows EAs” hides the detail that decides whether a purchased EA is permitted at all. These are taken from each firm’s own rules page, read in September 2026. Policies change and the firm’s page is the authority — re-read it before paying a fee.
Three of the four have a rule that decides whether a bought bot can be used at all, and “prop firms that allow EAs” lists rarely mention them.
| Firm | Their rule, from their own page | What it means for a purchased EA like this one |
|---|---|---|
| FTMO | EAs permitted. Prohibits EAs that make the account "hyperactive" - more than 2,000 server requests per day - plus exploiting price-feed errors or delays, opposite positions between connected accounts, and any third party accessing the account. It also warns that a third-party EA may be run by other traders with "exactly the same strategy", and caps allocation at "$400,000 per trader or strategy"; exceeding it risks "being denied the FTMO Account". Its US product runs through OANDA. | Usable, with one risk you cannot fully control: other FTMO traders may run this bot too, and FTMO counts a shared third-party EA as the same strategy under its $400,000 cap. Use your own risk settings. The bot scans every 10 seconds and places a handful of orders a day, far under the request cap. Do not let anyone else log in to manage it. |
| FundedNext | Since 12 January 2026, "Traders on account sizes of $50,000 and above must trade manually and may not use Expert Advisors, trading bots, or any automated tools." Below that, third-party EAs are allowed on MT4 and MT5 for an additional EA usage fee; not on cTrader or Match-Trader. MetaQuotes platforms are not available to US clients. Each EA must "employ a distinct strategy, avoiding identical trades across any accounts", settings must be customised to the trader, and "EAs or bots designed specifically to pass prop firm challenges" are banned. $300,000 allocation cap per EA strategy. | Usable only on accounts below $50,000, with the fee and your own risk settings, and not from the US, where FundedNext does not offer MetaTrader. Do not run it on default settings alongside other customers doing the same - the identical-trades rule is aimed at exactly that. |
| The5ers | "You can use any EA you have in your trading account" provided it does not copy others' signals, tick-scalp, run latency, reverse or hedge arbitrage, do high-frequency trading, or use emulators. "Additionally, the trader must own the source code of the EA." Violations: account cancelled, banned, not refunded. Stop-loss must be visible, no stealth mode. | Not usable. You do not own this bot's source code, and the rule is explicit. This is the one most "firms that allow EAs" lists get wrong. |
| FundingPips | Third-party EAs "permitted only when used strictly as a trade or risk manager"; any other use means denial of the evaluation or reward and closure of the account. Full automation is allowed only for an EA you developed, with proof of ownership - and "a compiled binary on its own is not proof". Exception: the 1K Instant account, where third-party EAs and copiers are permitted for full automation. All EAs banned in the Monthly Competition. | Not usable for a challenge, because this bot trades autonomously and you cannot prove ownership. Usable on the 1K Instant account only. |
Every firm above also bans the strategy families this bot does not use — grid, martingale, tick scalping, latency and reverse arbitrage — and the two that permit it still hold you to their drawdown rules, which is what the daily lockdown table above is for. If your firm is not listed, the questions to put to their support are: are third-party EAs allowed for full automation, is proof of ownership required, and is there a server request or order-frequency cap.
Using this from the United States
If you are trading from the US, a prop firm account is not just one option — it is effectively the only route. US residents cannot trade spot gold CFDs through a standard retail broker, and the broker this bot is tuned for is not CFTC/NFA-registered and does not accept US clients. The ordinary retail path is closed before it starts.
A proprietary trading firm works differently: you trade the firm's simulated capital under their rulebook, on MetaTrader 5, with gold available. Two things to verify before paying a challenge fee — that the firm accepts US residents, and that it permits Expert Advisors. Both vary by firm, and neither is safe to assume.
The three constraints that break most bots on a US account
These are execution rules, not regulations, and they are where software written for an offshore broker fails on its first order. Worth checking before a challenge fee, because none of them are visible until an order is rejected.
FIFO ordering
US accounts must close the oldest position in a symbol first. A bot that closes a specific ticket — the normal way to manage several positions — gets rejected. Retcode 10045.
Netting, not hedging
One position per symbol. A bot that opens a second trade in the opposite direction cannot; on a hedging broker that is routine. Retcode 10046.
Fill policy
Netting accounts often permit a narrower set of fill policies. An EA that hardcodes Fill or Kill works offshore and fails here. Retcode 10030.
Our engine reads the symbol's permitted fill policy at runtime rather than assuming one, and caps concurrent positions rather than hedging. The full rules are in FIFO and netting rules, and if the firm you are considering is FTMO, its US product is structured differently from the international one — that is covered in FTMO for US traders. If an order is already being rejected, the retcode names the cause: the full MT5 retcode list.
Prop firm trading bot FAQ
Can a trading bot pass a prop firm challenge?
Bots pass funded challenges regularly, and most firms permit Expert Advisors on MetaTrader 4 and 5. But no bot can guarantee a pass, and any vendor advertising a guaranteed pass or a specific pass rate is making a claim they cannot support. What a well-built bot can do is enforce the rules mechanically — consistent position sizing and a hard daily stop — so the common breach causes are removed.
Do prop firms allow Expert Advisors?
It varies by firm. Many allow EAs outright, some allow them with restrictions, some ban specific named bots, and a few prohibit automation entirely. Firms also commonly prohibit strategies rather than tools — grid, martingale, latency arbitrage and tick scalping are frequently disallowed even when EAs are permitted. Always read your firm's current rulebook before running any bot, and confirm in writing if you are unsure.
How do I set the daily loss limit for my prop firm?
Set it below your firm's daily drawdown threshold, not equal to it. If your firm allows a 5% daily loss on a $100,000 account, that is $5,000 — configure the bot meaningfully under that, for example $3,500 to $4,000, so that spread, slippage and an open position moving against you at the cutoff cannot carry you through the limit. The lockdown then halts trading for the rest of the server day rather than continuing into a breach.
Can I use this from the United States?
A prop firm account is the route that works. US residents cannot trade spot gold CFDs through a standard retail broker, and the broker this bot is tuned for does not accept US clients — so the ordinary retail path is closed. With a prop firm you trade the firm's simulated capital under its rules, but MetaTrader 5 is the catch: FundedNext, The5ers and Alpha Capital all say MetaTrader 5 is not available to US clients. Before paying a fee, confirm that the firm offers MetaTrader 5 to US residents and permits a purchased EA on the account size you are buying.
Which prop firms give US traders MetaTrader 5?
Far fewer than outside the US, and the list changes. In early 2024 MetaQuotes stopped firms from offering grey-label MetaTrader access to US-based traders, and most prop firms lost MT5 for US clients almost overnight. FTMO returned to the US in August 2025 through a partnership with OANDA, a US-regulated broker, and at that point was the only prop firm offering MetaTrader 5 to US residents; its US product is structured as a simulated evaluation with a rewards account rather than a live funded account. FundedNext, The5ers and Alpha Capital say on their own pages that MetaTrader is not available to US clients. Because availability moves, confirm two things directly with any firm before paying a fee: that it currently accepts US residents, and that the US account runs on MetaTrader 5 rather than a platform this bot cannot run on.
Does the bot use martingale or grid?
No. Every position is sized as a percentage of account balance with a defined stop loss and take profit attached after fill. The bot does not average down, does not add to losing positions, and does not open recovery trades. These are the strategy types most commonly banned outright by prop firms.
What happens if a strategy stops working mid-challenge?
Each enabled strategy is scored on the lower bound of its measured win-rate confidence interval, and any strategy that falls below the win-rate floor after a minimum sample is suspended automatically and re-evaluated later. You do not have to notice the decay and intervene — the engine benches the underperformer itself.
Should I run it on a VPS for a challenge?
Yes. A challenge has a time limit, and a bot that is offline is not trading. A Windows VPS keeps MetaTrader 5 running through reboots, power cuts and internet drops, and sitting closer to the broker's servers reduces execution latency. Running a paid challenge from a laptop that sleeps is an avoidable way to lose the fee.
Which account size does it suit?
The bot sizes positions as a percentage of balance, so it scales across account sizes. What matters more than the number is that the daily loss limit is configured under your firm's threshold and that the account type has competitive gold spreads — the strategy mix is spread-sensitive, and a wide spread erodes it regardless of account size.
Test it before the fee, not after
Run it on your firm's demo for a week with the daily limit configured, and read the decision log — every trade it took and every one it refused. A challenge fee is a bad time to be finding out how a bot behaves.