[September 2026] Expected Value Roundup: 6 Futures Prop Firms That Allow Automated Trading | FTMO Futures Pro Wins at Zero Edge and With an Edge

Note: Each firm's prices and rules were confirmed on its official site and help center between September 22–25, 2026. The figures are Monte Carlo results and don't guarantee future performance. Detailed calculations for each firm are in their individual articles.

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TL;DR

• The subjects are the 6 firms classified as "fully automated OK (Category A)" in a full review of automated-trading rules across 28 futures prop firms
• At zero edge, FTMO Futures Pro $50K wins ($139/month). At 0.30 lots, +$4,836 a year. 2nd is BluSky Propel at +$2,988, 3rd is Lucid Flex at +$2,152
• FTMO Pro wins even at "medium" edge (+$26,306). But FFN STEADY (+$24,104), MFFU Rapid EOD (+$24,039), and Lucid Daily (+$23,859) all cluster close behind
• FFN is the only one negative at zero edge (even at best, −$312)
• If you're running a bot 24/7 on a VPS, go with FTMO or FundedNext. These are the only 2 firms that explicitly allow VPS; the other 4 have no stated policy
• The 5 Category B firms (own bots only, with conditions) were also calculated under the same conditions (added September 25, 2026). At zero edge, the top are TradeDay at +$2,522 and Topstep at +$2,519, neither of which catches FTMO Futures Pro (see "Comparison With Category B" below)

Comparing the 6 Firms ($50K)

Firms with 2 "best plans" listed are ones where the ranking flips between zero edge and having an edge (left is zero edge, right is with an edge).

Assumptions (Common to All Firms)

• 1 trade a day on micro gold (MGC). At a 0.6% stop-loss, the loss on 0.10 lots (1 MGC contract) is $262
• Standardized at $50K, 0.30 lots (FTMO Pro's $1,000 hard daily loss caps it at 0.30)
• Same lot size on the evaluation and post-pass account. 1 year (252 trading days). Profit left in the account after 1 year and anything after moving to a live account isn't counted
• Reset on disqualification, buy again if you lose a passing account
• Fees use each firm's official figures (FundedNext and FFN don't publish theirs, so a round-trip of $1.82 was used; BluSky uses third-party-sourced $1.00)

Result ①: Zero Edge (Someone Who Neither Wins Nor Loses)

FTMO Pro beats 2nd place by over $1,800. There are 3 reasons.

1. Its max loss is $3,000. Most other firms sit at $2,000 for $50K, so it's harder to fail even at the same 0.30 lots
2. You can withdraw 100% of profit, up to $5,000 per payout. FundedNext Flex and Lucid Flex cap you at 50% of profit
3. The monthly fee stops once you pass. Even under a subscription model, passing the evaluation quickly makes it behave like a one-time fee

Result ②: 'Medium' Edge (55% Win Rate, 1.2 Win/Loss Ratio)

With an edge, plans with no payout cap, or that allow daily payouts (FFN STEADY, MFFU Rapid EOD, Lucid Daily), pull ahead. FTMO Pro still comes out on top because its $5,000-per-payout cap doesn't actually function as a ceiling at 0.30 lots. BluSky lands 6th because the calculation conservatively cut off withdrawals from a single account at $10,000 (not counting anything after moving to live).

Result ③: 'Small' Edge (50% Win Rate, 1.2 Win/Loss Ratio)

Sizing Up Changes the Ranking

If you don't standardize at 0.30 lots and instead pick whichever lot size is best for each plan, plans with no daily loss limit rise to the top.

But at 0.70 lots, a single loss is $1,834 — nearly the entire $2,000 max loss. This is sizing where one loss can end the account, meaning in reality you'd be resetting or buying again dozens of times a year. FTMO's terms also ban trades that "can't be replicated with real capital" (overleveraging), so this isn't a setup to aim for with automated trading.

How to Choose If You're Running a Bot

The steps the site owner actually used to run a NinjaTrader bot on FTMO Futures are covered in How to Run Automated Trading on a Futures Prop Firm.

Comparison With Category B (Added September 25, 2026)

The 5 Category B firms — where automated trading is allowed "only with your own bots, with conditions" — were also calculated under the same conditions ($50K, 0.30 lots). See Expected-Value Roundup: 5 Futures Prop Firms Where Your Own Bot Is Allowed for details.

Here's each Category B firm's best plan (0.30 lots).

The conclusion doesn't change: Category A's FTMO Futures Pro comes out on top whether at zero edge or with an edge. Within Category B, The Trading Pit is the only one that explicitly allows VPS.

What's Not Included in This Calculation

• Slippage on fills
• Each firm's payout delays, or account closures at the firm's discretion
• Coupon expiration (BluSky 30OFF, FFN DOUBLE50 (until September 30), MFFU CLUB, Lucid VAULT)
• What you keep after moving to a live account

Individual Articles

• I Calculated FTMO Futures Challenge's Expected Value
• I Calculated FundedNext Futures's Expected Value
• I Calculated MyFundedFutures's Expected Value
• I Calculated Lucid Trading's Expected Value
• I Calculated BluSky's Expected Value
• I Calculated Funded Futures Network's (FFN) Expected Value
• For reference: I Calculated Topstep's Expected Value
• Category B: Expected-Value Roundup: 5 Futures Prop Firms Where Your Own Bot Is Allowed (Bulenox, Tradeify, TradeDay, The Trading Pit)

Simulation scripts: scripts/sim-ftmo-futures-ev.py (FTMO), scripts/sim-futures-3firms-ev.py (FundedNext, MFFU, Lucid), scripts/sim-futures-blusky-ffn-ev.py (BluSky, FFN)