Intro: How PropEA Helps You Tackle Prop Challenges

First of all, we're happy to be part of the EliteTrader community, and we're looking forward to friendly and positive interactions with all members!

In this thread, we would like to introduce PropEA and shed the light on how it can help traders manage their Prop challenges without risky speculations. Your feedback is always welcome, we will be happy to answer your questions.

The Problem
You probably know that 95% of traders fail to pass prop challenges, but how many challenges a trader loses or can afford to lose? We asked that question to Prop traders in a survey, and not so shockingly, about 50% of traders reported that they have lost 5+ challenges at the time of the survey

In other words, 50% of traders have paid 5x the challenge fees trying to get funded, driven by hope and ambition, but to no avail.

And that's how PropEA got ignited!

What is PropEA?
PropEA is an Expert Advisor (EA) that is designed to help traders manage their Prop trading risk and cost with the aim to hit the challenge target OR at least recover the challenge fees to stop the traders' pocket from bleeding. Additionally, PropEA can be used to manage the Prop funded accounts with a focus on high potential returns.

PropEA is compatible with MetaTrader4 and MetaTrader5, and with the most common Prop trading rules.


PropEA is compatible with both MT4 & MT5, and it works with almost all Prop firm rules.

How PropEA Works
PropEA employs a well calculated hedging strategy that prioritizes fund protection. It serves as both a risk/cost management tool for challenges and a means to profitably trade Prop-funded accounts, operating as a valuable asset in prop trading endeavours.

For this hedging process to work, a trader needs to install PropEA on two accounts: a prop challenge account and a live account funded with a smaller amount.

The size of the live account depends on 2 actors: the cost of the challenge and the number of phases; you would need up to 2x the challenge fee for a 1-phase challenge, or up to 3x the challenge fee for a 2-phase challenge.

Once installed, all you need is to enter your challenge rules in the PropEA settings, and it will automatically do the following:

1. Calculate the lot size needed to hit the target on the Prop account.
2. Accordingly, it will calculate the lot size needed to recover the challenge cost in your live account, in case it fails to hit the target.
3. It opens the trades on both accounts simultaneously.
4. It calculates the daily drawdown level based on the selected drawdown type and places the SL on the Prop account above the daily DD to avoid breaching the account.
5. It closes the trades simultaneously on both accounts once the target or Max DD is hit (without SL on live account or TP on the prop account).
6. It tracks the number of trading days and places and complies with the minimum trading days rule.

Main Features

1. Visual Info Panel that tracks all metrics on both accounts in real time.
2. Visual representation of the highest equity and balance at rollover time on the chart.
3. The option to choose between 3 different trade modes: Fast, Normal, or Slow. The difference between these modes is the trade size and the distance to target or SL (in pips).
4. The option to place manual trades or trade in conjunction with another EA.
5. Compatibility with most common Daily DD types:
   • EOD Balance
   • EOD Equity
   • EOD Balance/Equity (whichever is higher)
6. Automatic closure of one leg of the hedge if the other was closed.
7. To avoid miscalculation, it doesn't trade if deposit currencies don't match on both account.

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What Happens after Passing?
You can run PropEA on a funded account after passing. Here is an example with calculations:

Funded Account Size: $100,000
Max DD: $10,000
Profit Split: 90%
Live Account Size: $3,000 (this is up to you)

In this example, the actual value of the funded account is not $100k, it is the maximum allowed loss (Max DD), which is 10%, that's the amount over which you have control.

So let's say you've got $10,000 in the funded account, and $3000 in your live account
PropEA will start trading on both accounts, aiming to double the value of either account.
If it doubles the value of the funded account, you would make $10,000 of which you can withdraw about 90% ($9,000) and lose $3000 on the live account.
In that case, your net profit would be: $9000 - $3000 = $6000
If it doubles the value of your live account, you would make $3000 on top of your initial $3000.
In that case, your net profit would be $3000.

More Questions?
Visit our website to learn more, our customer support team is available 24/5 via Live Chat and is happy to answer your questions or assist you with setup via remote desktop.

Wishing you successful trading!
The PropEA Team

 

So this is a reverse trading strategy between prop challenges and live broker personal account right ? Therefore is your EA then not flagged on diverse prop firms as it is not allowed or wished ?

 

Great question, PropEA shouldn't expose you to the risk of being banned by Prop firms for the following reasons:

1. Each trade is based on your personal symbol selection
2. Even if all users select the same symbol, the trade timing is unique to every user, and the trade size varies.
3. The hedging takes place on a completely different platform that is only accessible to you.
4. The EA runs on the client terminal, not the server side, and only you can see what kind of EA you're using.
5. You can add a custom comment for your trades to camouflage them further.
6. You can change the magic number.
7. PropEA doesn't use gridding or martingale strategies.

All the above make it almost impossible to be detected.

Most importantly, the EA itself doesn't really have an impact on your winning probability, think of it a safety net or an insurance against failure.

You can still trade manually following your own strategy or using another EA.

 

Prop firms should love this. With such an "insurance", people will spend even more money on evaluations.

 

Does your EA calculate it that way, that if a challenge has 2 phases with 10% and 5% profit goal and 10% max. Drawdown and say it cost you $500 for 100k challenge. That exactly $1500 are the losses on a live broker account when you pass both challenges to get a funded account ? It is always (TP1/MDD+1)*(TP2/MDD+1) as calculation for total loss on broker live account (so here (10%/10% +1)*(5%/10%+1)=2*1.5=3 times) ?

Second is this total loss formula for broker live account then used again as loss for funded account on a broker live account. So that if you make MDD as TP on funded you gain as much on broker live account if you loose your funded that you can repeat the whole process from trading the challenge account again ?
So to be in that above example it means you make at least 3 challenge fee as gain on broker live account when you loose your funded prop account. Correct ?

If not, how is your reverse trading then calculated between challenge/funded prop account versus broker personal live account ?

 

True, and traders can have more chances without stressing their hard-earned cash.

 

Well done with the formula, that's brilliant! But this is not exactly how it's calculated. In fact, the actual amount needed in your live account is less than 3x when TP2 is 50% of TP1. But to be safe, we recommend 3x to account for variable charges (spread, slippage, swaps, etc.) and margin requirements. We're launching a calculator on our website very soon.

 

Do you also plan a version with trailing Drawdown instead of static DD only because some prop firms have trailing DD.

Second, do you also plan a compatible version to Future prop firms like APEX for example here because they have different trading platforms like Ninjatrader or Rithmic ? I ask this, because most traders here are trading futures (and not Spot Forex). And APEX is very popular here with decent payouts every month.

Please post your calculator of how much money is needed for broker personal live account here too. It would be interesting to see. Especially for futures prop firms with trailing Drawdowns, how you do that.

 

We're working on adding the Trailing Max DD type in the next versions, but meanwhile there is a workaround that requires some setting adjustments.

We also have other platforms in the future plans.

Here is the calculated live account size based on your previous example (this is not live yet, but the calculation is correct). You can see that the actual amount needed is 2.05x, but again 3x is recommended to account for margin requirements and variable charges. PropEA will only utilize the amount needed to pass or recover the cost.

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How do you calculate this 2.05 times needed here in that example if you give more details ?