How to Automate a TradingView Strategy on FTMO

Last updated 5 November 2026 · By the TradingView Link team

Short answer

FTMO allows algorithmic trading and EAs. TradingView alerts can't place trades by themselves, so you connect them to an FTMO MT4 or MT5 account through a webhook bridge and an EA. FTMO's limits still apply: server activity, capital per strategy, and news and weekend rules on funded accounts.

We make TradingView Link, an EA bridge, and we're an FTMO affiliate: the "Connect to FTMO" link in our footer earns us a commission. The FTMO links on this page aren't affiliate links. Every FTMO rule below comes from FTMO's own pages, checked November 2026. FTMO changes its rules, so confirm them before you trade a funded account. To compare FTMO with other firms, see prop-firm EA rules at FTMO, FundedNext and The5ers.

Does FTMO allow TradingView automation?

Yes, with one point to confirm. FTMO says that if your trading is legitimate and avoids its forbidden practices, "we have no reason for limiting or restricting your trading strategy, whether it's discretionary trading, algorithmic trading or EAs". Its pages don't mention webhook bridges by name, so ask support in writing and keep the reply.

FTMO lists MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView as platforms. An alert only sends a message, so to place trades automatically you need a bridge that passes it to an EA on your MT4 or MT5 account. In the US, FTMO serves clients through ftmo.oanda.com, which lists MT5 and TradingView, so MT5 is the route there.

FTMO does warn about third-party EAs: "there might be other traders already using the same EA and therefore exactly the same strategy", and that can put you over its capital limit. Our EA has no strategy of its own and only places the alerts you send. Alerts from a strategy you built are your own trades. FTMO's capital rule counts trades "copied from or based on the same third-party source (such as signal groups or copy-trading services)" together, so signals from a group can be a problem.

Which FTMO rules affect an automated strategy?

FTMO rules for automated trading (checked November 2026)
Rule	What FTMO says	Applies to
EAs and algorithmic trading	Allowed, if the trading is legitimate, fits real market conditions and avoids the forbidden practices	FTMO Challenge, FTMO Account and Instant
Server activity	No EA that makes more than 2,000 server requests a day. Servers also limit you to 200 orders at a time and 2,000 positions a day	Evaluation and FTMO Account stages
Capital per strategy	$400,000 per trader or strategy across all accounts, before scaling. The Premium Programme raises it	All accounts and products
News	No order execution 2 minutes before or after selected releases, including stops, targets and pending orders	FTMO Account and Instant, Standard type
Market breaks	Close all positions before any market break longer than 2 hours, such as the weekend	FTMO Account and Instant, Standard type
Gap trading	No opening trades when major news is scheduled, or 2 hours or less before a market closes for at least 2 hours	Evaluation and FTMO Account stages
Price and feed errors	No strategies that exploit errors or delays in prices, or an external or slow data feed	Evaluation and FTMO Account stages

News and market-break exemptions: accounts in the Challenge or Verification phase and Swing accounts are exempt. Swing is only available within the 2-Step Challenge, so funded 1-Step and Instant accounts always carry both rules.
Trades already open at news: you can hold a position opened more than 2 minutes before the release, but a stop or target that triggers inside the window still counts. The restriction only covers symbols that include the affected currency or symbol.
Gap trading isn't fully defined: the news and weekend pages allow exempt accounts to trade freely "provided that the Forbidden Trading Practices are avoided", and no page says where the gap-trading line falls for them. Ask support if your strategy opens trades near news or a market close.

How does FTMO measure daily and maximum loss?

FTMO's trading objectives set percentages of your initial capital. Its homepage advertises accounts of up to $200,000.

FTMO loss limits and targets by product (checked November 2026)
Rule	2-Step	1-Step	Instant
Profit target	10%, then 5% in Verification	10%	None listed
Daily loss	5%	3%	3%
Maximum loss	10%, static	10%, end-of-day trailing	10%, intraday balance-based trailing
Also	At least 4 trading days	Best day at most 50% of total profit, on orders from 12 October 2026	Best day at most 30% of total profit

Open trades count. FTMO measures equity: "Balance + Open Positions P/L ± Swaps – Commissions". A floating loss can breach a limit even if no trade has closed.
The day resets at 00:00 CE(S)T. FTMO's MetaTrader servers run on GMT+2 with daylight saving, so that's 01:00 on the platform clock, which is the clock s= uses too.
A static limit doesn't move; a trailing one does. On a $100,000 2-Step account, the limits work out at a $5,000 daily loss and a $90,000 equity floor. On a $100,000 1-Step account, the daily amount is $3,000. The two trailing types work differently, so read FTMO's worked examples for your product.
Best-day limits affect how you split profit. FTMO forbids "hedging or holding opposing positions on the same or highly correlated instruments" to spread profit across days in order to get around them. Two strategies that often sit on opposite sides of one symbol are worth a closer look.

How should you set up alerts for FTMO?

TradingView Link has no daily-loss guard or news filter, so your alerts have to do this work:

YourWebhookPassword
long EURUSD q=0.1 sl=300 tp=600 m=2001 s=08:00-18:00

The numbers are only an example, not a recommendation. Each part does one job:

Stop loss on every entry (sl= in pips, slp= as a price). The EA sets it on the order, so it stays at the broker if your terminal goes offline.
Fixed size (q= in lots). Work out the lots so that the trades you could lose in one day stay under the daily limit. qt=percent sizes from your balance, not from the distance to your stop, so it doesn't cap the loss per trade.
Its own magic number (m=), so the strategy only closes its own trades. How magic numbers keep strategies apart covers this, including why a flat needs the same number.
Trading hours (s=, in your broker's server time). It blocks new trades outside the window, so you can stop entries 2 hours or more before a long market close. It doesn't close open trades.

If your account has to be flat through a market break, your strategy also has to send an exit with the same magic number before the break starts:

YourWebhookPassword
flat EURUSD m=2001

Three more settings matter on FTMO:

Trade caps. The EA's MaxTradePerSymbol and Pyramiding settings (10 each by default) limit trades per symbol, which also keeps server activity down.
Trailing stops. FTMO counts trades "being opened, modified, or closed" towards its 2,000 requests, and a trailing stop (ts=) changes the stop often. Most strategies send far fewer, but check a fast one.
News. On accounts with the news rule, pause the alert before listed releases. A stop on an open trade can still trigger inside the window, so close trades first if yours sit close to the price.

How do you connect TradingView to an FTMO account?

Get a TradingView plan with webhooks, which start at Essential, and turn on 2-factor authentication, which TradingView requires for webhook alerts. Our plan comparison has the details, and prices vary by region.
Log in to your FTMO account in the MT4 or MT5 desktop terminal.
Install the EA, allow WebRequest and DLL imports, and attach it to one chart, as in the MT5 guide or the MT4 guide.
Keep the terminal running on a PC or VPS. FTMO says "the use of VPN/VPS is also generally allowed". Our VPS guide explains when you need one.
Spell each symbol exactly as your FTMO platform does, then add the commands to your strategy, as in how to automate a TradingView strategy.
Run everything on a demo account first, with the same symbols and sizes.
Ask FTMO support about the bridge in writing, and keep the reply.

Trading leveraged products is risky, and breaking FTMO's rules can cost you the account. This page summarizes FTMO's public pages as of 5 November 2026. It isn't legal or financial advice.

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Frequently asked questions

Can I automate a TradingView strategy on FTMO?

Yes. FTMO says it has no reason to restrict algorithmic trading or EAs, as long as the trading is legitimate and avoids its forbidden practices. Alerts can't place trades by themselves, so you need a webhook bridge and an EA on an FTMO MT4 or MT5 account. FTMO's pages don't mention webhook bridges by name, so ask support in writing.

Does a TradingView bridge count as a third-party EA at FTMO?

FTMO's pages don't say. Its warning about third-party EAs is that other traders may run exactly the same strategy, which can take you over the capital limit. Our EA only places the alerts you send, so what matters is where the signals come from. Signals from a group or a widely shared script can count together with other traders' trades.

Do the news and weekend rules apply during the FTMO Challenge?

No. FTMO exempts accounts in the Challenge and Verification phases, and Swing accounts. They apply on a funded FTMO Account or Instant account of the Standard type. FTMO's gap-trading ban isn't lifted by those exemptions, so read it before you trade around news or market closes.

Can a Swing account avoid the news and weekend rules?

Yes, but Swing is only available within the 2-Step Challenge, not on 1-Step or Instant, and FTMO says you can't change from Standard to Swing. Leverage on Swing is 1:30 instead of 1:100.

Will TradingView Link stop me from breaching the daily loss limit?

No. It places the orders your alerts send, with the stops you set, but it doesn't track your daily loss or equity, and it has no news filter. Put a stop loss on every trade and size trades so that a full day of losses stays under FTMO's limit.

Can I run several strategies on one FTMO account?

Yes. Give each strategy its own magic number with m= so its alerts only manage its own trades. FTMO allows opposite positions on a single account, but it forbids hedging to spread profit across days in order to get around its Best Day or Consistency rule.

Can I send the same alerts to several FTMO accounts?

Yes, within FTMO's capital limit of $400,000 per trader or strategy across all accounts, before scaling. Add up the capital on every account first. FTMO forbids opposite positions across connected accounts, so don't run one account long and another short.

Do I need a VPS for FTMO automation?

You need MT4 or MT5 running whenever an alert can fire, either on a PC that stays on or on a VPS. FTMO says the use of a VPS is generally allowed.

Sources

All checked November 2026.