Automation tools for prop-firm traders: which rail each firm signs in over
Short answer
Pick the tool by the rail your firm puts you on, not by the tool’s homepage. Prop accounts sign in over one of three rails: Tradovate (most evaluation and funded accounts run on its Simulated environment), Rithmic (many Apex, MyFundedFutures and Tradeify accounts; Bulenox’s own site names Rithmic), or ProjectX (TopstepX). Your login screen tells you which. Then check the three things vendors price differently: whether accounts are unlimited, whether the bracket rests at the broker, and whether anything has to run on your own PC.
Updated: September 25, 2026
| Rail | How you sign in | Who tends to be on it | Shifu today |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tradovate | A Tradovate (or NinjaTrader) username and password, approved on Tradovate’s own site | Most evaluation and funded accounts, on Tradovate’s Simulated environment | Carrying real orders today: brackets, trailing stops, flatten-before-entry, balance and positions in Shifu |
| Rithmic | A username, a system name your firm gave you (e.g. “Rithmic 01”) and an account number | Many Apex, MyFundedFutures and Tradeify accounts; Bulenox’s own site names Rithmic | Live: brackets and trailing stops; no flatten before entry; balance not read back yet |
| ProjectX | The firm’s own platform login | TopstepX | Not supported today — the card in the account picker is disabled |
The rail is your firm’s choice. If you are not sure which you are on, pick the platform you log into in the connect dialog and answer its one question. Whether your firm allows automation is its rule to check.
Once the rail is settled, the tools differ on a short list of things that a prop trader feels every month. The chart below is the pricing page’s own dated comparison, one line per tool.
| Tool | Accounts included | Extra-account fees | Runs with your PC off | Claude / ChatGPT control (MCP) | Trade journal built in | News pause |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shifu | Yes — Unlimited | Yes — None | Yes | Yes — Included | Yes — AI-powered, every fill | Yes — Built-in calendar, whole trade day; opt-in per bot |
| QuantLynk | Yes — Unlimited | Yes — None | Yes | Not listed | Yes — Built-in P&L tracking and trade logs | Not listed |
| TradersPost | No — 1–6 live accounts per plan | No — $10/mo per extra live account | Yes | Not listed — AI-signal workflow; MCP not listed | Yes — Analytics dashboard, per its reference manual | Yes — Trading windows you set; no calendar listed |
| PickMyTrade | Yes — Unlimited under one broker login | No — A subscription per broker login | Yes — Interactive Brokers needs TWS or IB Gateway running | Not listed | Not listed | Yes — Minutes you set around releases; Tradovate docs |
| CrossTrade | Yes — Unlimited; one NT8 machine per plan | Yes — None; a second live NT8 machine is a second plan | Yes — Tradovate in the cloud; NT8 needs its add-on on a PC or VPS | Yes — Elite plan, $99/mo | Yes | Yes — 5 min each side of high-impact USD releases |
Every rival cell is what that vendor's own pricing page, docs, FAQ and other public pages said on Sept 25, 2026; "Not listed" means none of those pages said. Their prices are theirs to change.
- Accounts: a prop trader runs several — an evaluation, a funded account, a second firm. A per-account fee or a per-plan cap turns into the real price fast.
- Where the bracket lives: cloud tools, Shifu among them, place the take-profit and stop with the entry from the alert itself; a desktop bridge places them only while the machine it runs on is up. Ask where yours live.
- What runs on your PC: a desktop bridge needs the machine on, and a VPS if it is not. Cloud tools need nothing on your desk.
- One alert, every account: with Shifu one TradingView alert places the same order on every attached account at once, each sized by its own rule, with no per-account fee.
Questions people ask
Does Shifu work with Apex?
It depends on the rail your Apex account signs in over. A Tradovate username takes the Tradovate route, which carries real orders today. A system name like “Rithmic 01” takes the Rithmic route, also live.
Does Shifu work with TopstepX or Bulenox?
TopstepX, not today: it signs in only over ProjectX, and that route is not built yet — the card in the account picker is there but disabled. Bulenox’s own site has you install R | Trader Pro to set up its account and names Rithmic, not ProjectX (read September 25, 2026). Check Bulenox’s rules on automation, then answer the connect dialog’s one question for the login you have.
Are prop-firm accounts allowed to be automated?
That is your firm’s rule, and it varies by firm and by account type. Shifu forwards your own alerts to accounts you own; it does not check a firm’s policy for you.
Can one alert trade my evaluation and my funded account at once?
Yes. Attach both to one bot, give each its own size rule, and one TradingView alert places the matching order in both — with the refusal above if the two would end up on opposite sides.