Trade Copier and Prop Firms: Understanding IP, Computer ID, and Server Rules

If you trade with a prop firm, the first thing to know is that our Trade Copier can work with funded prop firm accounts, and many customers already use it without issue. One important detail to understand up front is that copied trades sent through our platform can appear or be tagged as trades placed by a Signal Expert (EA) with an Expert ID. So, if your prop firm allows EA trading, that is already a very helpful starting point. From there, the rest usually comes down to the firm’s own rules and what they are specifically looking at. Different prop firms care about different things. Some focus on IP address rules. Others look at Computer ID. Some have location-based requirements. And in certain cases, the real question is simply whether copied trades are allowed at all. 

In this article, we'll break down those differences so you can match your setup to your prop firm's requirements with more confidence.

If your prop firm is focused on IP address rules...

If your prop firm is mainly concerned with how your account appears from a network point of view, then your IP setup is usually the first thing to review. 

By default, the IP address of a trading account can change, and different accounts can also use different IPs. If you need more control, our IP Attribution feature is designed for exactly that. We offer two options:

1.) a Static Shared IP, where the IP stays fixed but can be shared among multiple trading accounts, and
2.) a Static Dedicated IP, where each trading account gets its own unique, unchanging IP.|

In short, this means you should start with IP Attribution if your prop firm requires a static IP, a dedicated IP per account, or a specific IP arrangement across your accounts. That is the feature built to handle the IP side of the setup. You can get by adding it along with your Subscription Plan (Static Shared IP 2 EUR/account, Static Dedicated IP 5 EUR/account) or enabling it when you have positive credit in your Prepay eWallet (Static IP Shared 0.07 EUR/account/day, Static Dedicated IP 0.17 EUR/account/day).

If your prop firm is focused on Computer ID

We host our servers across multiple locations, and those servers support many different clients. Because of that, some clients may share the same Computer ID (CID) when their Trade Copier runs on the same server. This is completely normal in a hosted environment. 

If your prop firm mentions a static Computer ID or wants a more isolated hosting setup, then our Dedicated Server add-on is the more relevant option. With this setup, your Cloud Trade Copier runs on your own exclusive server, and the resources are reserved solely for you. Once it's live, all accounts in your cockpit are hosted on that dedicated server, helping you avoid the shared-environment CID overlap entirely. 

Please note that the Dedicated Server add-on is currently available in London (default) and U.S. (on demand).

If your prop firm is focused on location

Location can matter too. Our infrastructure is available in Frankfurt, Singapore, London, and US East, and with a paid subscription, you can choose from the available server locations. That can be helpful if your prop firm has a restriction around a specific country or region, or if you want to place your setup closer to your broker for lower latency. One thing to keep in mind: the location is tied to the server your account is hosted on, so it can't be customized to match your home country.

When Deciding to Use a Trade Copier

When deciding whether to use a trade copier with a prop firm, the most important step is to read and understand your prop firm’s rules. 

Our Trade Copier works across a wide range of supported brokers and platforms, including MT4, MT5, cTrader, DXtrade, Tradovate, NinjaTrader, FXCM, LMAX, and others. It’s good to note that trades will look like as if placed by an EA, so your broker needs to be okay with you using EA. To the best of our knowledge, many traders use our Trade Copier with prop firms without running into problems, but the decision is ultimately yours and should always be based on your prop firm's specific requirements.

Have any questions? Feel free to reach out to our friendly customer support team. We're happy to help!