Why Your Prop Firm EA is Getting Detected (And What Actually Works)

Why Your Prop Firm EA is Getting Detected (And What Actually Works)

You bought an EA. You set it up on your challenge account. It ran for a few days, maybe even made some profit.

Then you got the email.

"Your account has been terminated due to violation of our terms of service."

No warning. No explanation. No refund. Just gone.

If this has happened to you, you're not alone. And it's happening more often than ever.

Prop Firms Are Getting Smarter

Two years ago, you could run almost any EA on a prop firm challenge and nobody would notice.

That's no longer the case.

Prop firms have invested heavily in trade pattern detection. They're not just looking at whether you're using an EA, they're analyzing your trades across their entire user base.

And if your trades match someone else's? Red flag.

How They Actually Detect You

Most traders think detection means someone is watching their screen or checking if MetaTrader is running an Expert Advisor.

That's not how it works.

Here's what prop firms actually look for:

1. Identical entry times across accounts

If 50 traders all open a EURUSD BUY at 10:32:15 on the same day, that's not a coincidence. That's an EA with one strategy sending the same signal to every user.

2. Matching stop loss and take profit levels

Your EA sets SL at 20 pips and TP at 40 pips on every trade? So does every other user running the same EA. That pattern is trivial to detect.

3. Same strategy fingerprint

Every trading strategy has a fingerprint, the combination of when it enters, where it places stops, how long it holds trades, and how it exits. When hundreds of accounts share the same fingerprint, the prop firm doesn't need to know what EA you're using. They just need to see the pattern.

4. Consistent risk-to-reward ratios

If every single one of your trades has a 1:2 risk-to-reward ratio, that's a signature. Human traders don't trade that consistently. Algorithms do.

5. Trade clustering

Multiple accounts opening and closing positions within seconds of each other. Even if the entries are slightly different, the timing pattern gives it away.

Why Most EAs Fail This Test

The problem with 99% of prop firm EAs is simple:

Every user runs the exact same strategy.

Same logic. Same indicators. Same parameters. Same entries. Same exits.

The EA might work perfectly from a trading perspective. The strategy might be profitable. But when 500 people are running the same code, it creates a pattern that's impossible to hide.

It doesn't matter how good the strategy is. If it's detectable, it's useless on a prop firm.

What "Undetectable" Actually Means

Being undetectable doesn't mean hiding the fact that you're using an EA. Prop firms don't care about automation, many of them encourage it.

Being undetectable means: your trades cannot be grouped with any other trader's trades.

Your entry logic is different.
Your exit logic is different.
Your stop loss levels are different.
Your take profit levels are different.
Your trade timing is different.

When a prop firm looks at your account, they see a unique trader. Not one of 500 running the same bot.

The 1,000 Combination Approach

This is the approach I use, and the one I built into my EA.

Instead of one strategy, the EA uses a 3-layer system:

Layer A: Entry Strategy (10 options)
When to enter, breakout, mean reversion, pullback, momentum, range breakout, trend continuation, reversal, session open, news fade, or volatility squeeze.

Layer B: Market Structure (10 options)
How to read the market, ICT concepts, power of 3, smart money, supply and demand, support and resistance, fibonacci, pivot points, market profile, order flow, or liquidity zones.

Layer C: Pattern Confirmation (10 options)
What to look for, Elliott wave, divergence, harmonics, candlestick patterns, chart patterns, Wyckoff, moving average cross, RSI extremes, MACD signal, or volume confirmation.

10 x 10 x 10 = 1,000 unique combinations.

Each user selects a different combination. Or sets it to random and lets the EA choose.

The result: no two users trade alike. Different entries, different timing, different patterns. Zero overlap.

But It's Not Just the Strategy

A unique strategy is only part of the puzzle. There are other fingerprints that can give you away:

Fixed risk-to-reward ratios

If your EA always targets 1:3, that's a pattern. My system randomizes the R:R between 1:2 and 1:5 on every trade. Sometimes you take 1:2, sometimes 1:5. Just like a human would.

Predictable lot sizing

Always trading 0.10 lots? That's a signal. Calculated lot sizing based on dollar risk and stop loss distance creates natural variation, different lot sizes on different trades depending on the setup.

Trading during news events

Most EAs don't know when major news is happening. They trade right through NFP and FOMC, and the resulting price action looks nothing like normal trading. A built-in news filter avoids these windows automatically.

No cooldown between trades

Human traders don't immediately open a new position after closing one. They take a break, analyze the market, wait for the next setup. Cooldown timers between trades (30-60 minutes) replicate this natural behavior.

The Checklist for a Truly Undetectable EA

If you're evaluating any EA for prop firm use, ask these questions:

• Does every user get a unique strategy, or does everyone run the same logic?
• Is the risk-to-reward ratio fixed or randomized?
• Does it include a news filter?
• Is there a cooldown between trades, or does it trade non-stop?
• Does it use martingale or grid? (Instant red flag for prop firms)
• Can the lot sizing vary naturally between trades?
• Does it trade one position at a time, or stack multiple trades?

If the answer to most of these is "no", your EA is a ticking time bomb. It might work for a while. But eventually, the pattern shows up, and the account gets flagged.

The Bottom Line

The era of running any EA on a prop firm challenge and getting away with it is over.

Prop firms have the data. They have the tools. And they're getting better at pattern detection every month.

The EAs that survive aren't the ones with the best strategy. They're the ones that look different for every user.

1,000 strategy combinations. Randomized risk-to-reward. News filter. Cooldown timers. One trade at a time. No martingale. No grid.

That's not just a feature list. That's what it takes to stay invisible.

I built the Prop Firm Hedge Master EA with all of these anti-detection features because I needed them myself, across 300+ challenges. It's now available on MQL5 Market along with the Prop Firm Hedge Live EA for automatic hedge execution.

If you want to learn more about how the system works, check my product page or send me a message.