A prop trading platform is not only the terminal where you press the button. We work out how prop trading MT5 differs from Match Trader for prop and DXtrade for prop, and who in that chain counts your drawdown and closes the account on a breach.
Programme descriptions mix up three different things: the terminal where you press the button; the firm's engine, which counts the limits; and an add-on over the account, which counts nothing but manages size. Below are all three classes in one catalogue, with a filter on the criterion that most often decides the choice: whether your advisors run here.
Shown: 9 of 9. The “advisors” column is about the possibility of automation in the environment itself, not about the firm's permission: a ban on advisors exists even where they technically run. Every environment has its own analysis — the link is at the foot of the card.
An old terminal that survives on its library of ready-made advisors and indicators. At prop firms it turns up less often than MT5 — the new engines barely support it — but programmes with a forex core keep it for those whose strategy is written in MQL4.
The de facto industry standard: almost every programme has it, and the MQL5 library remains the largest. For a prop account something else matters more: MT5 shows position history separately from trades, so reviewing a breach of the rules from an export is faster than in web terminals.
The only widespread one where algorithms are written in C# rather than MQL. It gives market depth and a detailed execution log — useful when an argument with the firm is about the fill price of a stop. MetaTrader advisors do not run here at all: the code has to be rewritten.
A Devexperts product, institutional in origin. At prop firms it is installed as a ready solution with a web terminal and its own risk module: the limits are counted by the engine itself rather than by an add-on over a terminal. For algorithms there is less on offer than in MetaTrader or cTrader.
An engine by Match-Trade Technologies, one of the most common at forex programmes. It is sold to firms together with a client area and a rules panel, so at such programmes the daily limit and the bans are often visible to the trader right in the interface — convenient, and it removes some of the questions to support.
The youngest of the widespread ones: built for the browser and the mobile screen, quick to connect and therefore cheap for a firm. MetaTrader code does not carry over here, but it has automation of its own — Studio, with strategy testing and a catalogue of bots. The analytics set is more modest than MetaTrader's.
Not a prop firm platform but an external chart from which some programmes allow you to send orders to your account. Your markup and indicators stay yours and do not depend on which firm you trade at now — when you change programme there is nothing to move.
Some programmes write the interface themselves. There is one plus: the rules, the drawdown counter and the log of breaches sit in the same place as the trades. The minuses are known in advance — the familiar tools are missing, advisors cannot be moved across, and the quality of execution can only be checked in practice.
Neither a terminal nor an engine but a management layer over a MetaTrader account: the account is divided between several strategies, each with its own budget, its own lot ceiling and its own stop on floating losses. The connection has read rights only — the platform cannot withdraw money. The product's site is allo.trading.
Click a column heading to sort. The last column is what makes an environment different in practice rather than in its description.
| Name | Class | Markets | Advisors | What sets it apart |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MetaTrader 4 | Terminal | Forex, metals, CFDs | Yes, MQL4 | no partial close by default |
| MetaTrader 5 | Terminal | Forex, metals, indices, crypto | Yes, MQL5 | report export to HTML and Excel |
| cTrader | Terminal and platform | Forex, metals, indices | Yes, cBots in C# | market depth and an execution log |
| DXtrade | A prop firm engine | Forex, CFDs, futures | Limited | a risk module inside the platform |
| Match-Trader | A prop firm engine | Forex, metals, crypto | Limited | the rules are shown in the interface |
| TradeLocker | A prop firm engine | Forex, CFDs, crypto | Its own environment | runs with no installation, its own Studio |
| TradingView | An external interface | Everything the firm provides | No | works only where the firm has connected it |
| The firm's own terminal | The programme's web platform | As the firm declared | Usually not | rules and trades in one interface |
| Allocation | An add-on over the account | Forex, CFDs via MT5 | Not needed | strategy budgets and a breakdown by symbol and hour |
Which environment a particular programme uses is written in its terms, and one firm often offers a choice of two or three. A list of live programmes with references to their rules is on the choosing a firm page.
One screen per environment: the chart and the order panel — what you work with every day. These are official App Store app screenshots recoloured to the site's palette so that another company's brand colour does not clash with the design; the interfaces are not redrawn. The full set of screens and the analysis are on each environment's page.
Every firm's own terminal is its own: there is no single product, and showing one of them as representative would be wrong. The other eight environments are above, one screen each; for the add-on it is not a chart but a panel for distributing capital.
What to check in your own firm's platformThe trader sees a terminal and chooses a programme by it. But the limits are counted not by the terminal but by the firm's engine — and it is the engine that closes the account on a breach. The terminal in that chain is only an interface.
Hence a practical consequence that breaks expectations: the same MetaTrader at two firms does not mean the same terms. The drawdown base, the moment the daily limit resets, the treatment of commission — all of that is set in the engine, not in the platform.
Three names that appear most often in programme descriptions. One of them is a terminal, the other two engines, and the choice between them comes down to three questions.
What to check before buying. Whether your advisor or indicator runs in that environment. MetaTrader code does not carry over into cTrader or into the engines' web terminals; discretionary strategies move across, automated ones do not. That condition is not in the rules but in the technical specification, and it is the one most often skipped.
Indirectly, but noticeably, and through three mechanisms. None of them is written in the rules — all three are discovered in use.
Six checks in order of how conclusive they are: the first settles the question at once, the last can only be tested on demo.
An MQL5 advisor will not go into cTrader, and an MQL4 one often will not go into MT5 either. If the strategy is automated, this point decides the choice entirely and first.
decides at onceThe platform name in a programme's description can refer to the terminal or to the engine. Ask about the second: the drawdown base and the moment the daily limit resets depend on it.
the main questionSome engines show the current cushion to the daily limit right in the client area. That is no small thing: counting the cushion in your head in the middle of a streak is a sure way to get it wrong.
saves accountsAn argument about the fill price of a stop is settled by an export. Check whether the environment has a detailed history with prices and times — the proving is yours to do.
needed for a disputeIf the strategy needs watching during the day, check that the mobile version can move a stop and close part of a position, not only display them.
check in advanceWeb terminals sometimes lag on quote updates during news. It can only be checked in practice: on the programme's demo account at the moment of a data release.
only on demoA separate class in the catalogue above — neither a platform nor an engine but a layer between the trader and the terminal. Its task is narrow: to divide one account between several strategies so that each lives within its budget and none can take the whole account out. For prop trading that is exactly the task that is done badly by hand: two independent algorithms on one account add up their risk, and the daily limit is breached twice as fast as calculated.
How it works at Allocation. The platform connects to a MetaTrader 5 account with rights to read and to place orders only — it cannot withdraw money. Each connected strategy is assigned a share of capital. No separate sub-account appears: the share works as a limit inside the platform, while the positions still live on one account and fall under the same firm rules. On top of the budget you can set a hard lot ceiling per position, a size multiplier and a stop on floating losses — once it triggers, the strategy opens no new trades.
The analytics answer the question that matters more than returns on a prop account: where the drawdown comes from. The result is broken down by instrument, hour of day, day of week and month; a trade log is kept separately, with the source price next to your fill price — so slippage is visible. From that you can see which strategy and in which hours creates the risk, rather than merely which of them is in profit.
For licence terms and current compatibility with brokers and account types, see the product itself: what we set out here is the mechanics of the class, not a commercial offer. We have neither affiliate links nor payment for a mention — disclosure.
Yes, and more than it seems. MT4 and MT5 cover forex and metals, cTrader adds market depth, and for futures and cryptocurrencies firms more often provide their own web terminals. What exactly is available on each market is in the analysis of prop programme markets.
The one your strategy runs in. For discretionary trading the difference is small and comes down to convenience; for algorithmic trading compatibility decides it: MetaTrader code does not carry over into cTrader or into the engines' web terminals.
MT5 is a common terminal at prop programmes, but it does not set the rules itself. The same MT5 at two firms does not mean the same limits: they are counted by the firm's engine.
Match-Trader is an engine with its own web terminal, common at forex programmes. It also counts the limits and keeps the log, so the drawdown base is set in it rather than in the terminal.
DXtrade is another engine with web and mobile access, common at programmes with a wide range of markets. Like Match-Trader, it is responsible for computing the limits and closing the account.
No. MetaTrader code does not carry over into cTrader or into the engines' web terminals. Check that in the technical specification before buying rather than in the trading rules.
The spread is set by the liquidity provider the firm has chosen, not by the terminal. But different engines work with different providers, so the platform affects the spread indirectly.
Yes, if the limit is measured from equity and the engine recalculates it on every tick. A momentary spike on an illiquid instrument can touch the threshold without leaving a trace on the terminal's chart.
Usually not: the platform is tied to the account at purchase. Changing it means a new account and sometimes a new purchase — a condition worth checking if you are unsure of the choice.
Functionally usually not, but the latency can differ. For scalping that is material and it is tested in practice rather than read in a description.
PPTF