Every Prop Firm With a Public Trading API in 2026 (Master List)

A question has sat unanswered in r/algotrading since December 2024: is there an actual list of prop firm with public trading API ? Not marketing pages, not “we support automation,” but an actual breakdown of who has a real API, who hides behind a broker’s platform, and who has nothing at all.

The honest answer is that almost no prop firm builds its own API. What you’re really mapping is a handful of platform vendors: Tradovate, Rithmic, ProjectX, MetaTrader. Those are the four rails almost every firm sits on, and that distinction matters more in 2026 than it did a year ago, because the platform landscape just went through its biggest shakeup yet.

So which tier does your firm actually fall into? This list breaks down each one: who has a public REST API, who gates access behind developer approval, who only exposes a webhook layer, and who blocks automation outright.

Key Takeaways

• Only one platform, ProjectX (now exclusive to Topstep as TopstepX), ships a public, self-serve REST API with open documentation.
• 18 futures prop firms run on Tradovate as of July 2026, including Apex, Tradeify, and FundedNext.
• Rithmic access is gated behind a developer-kit request, not a public sign-up.
• Forex prop firms like FTMO and FundedNext automate through MT4/MT5 Expert Advisors, not a REST API.
• The prop trading industry hit an estimated $850M in 2026 revenue, up from $450M in 2021.

Why “Public API” Is the Wrong Question for Most Prop Firms

Most prop firms don’t operate a trading engine. They resell evaluation access on top of a broker’s rails, and that broker is the one with the API. Apex, Tradeify, and a dozen others sit on Tradovate’s infrastructure, so the API surface belongs to Tradovate, not the prop firm brand on the landing page.

That’s not a technicality. It changes how you build. A bot pointed at “the Apex API” doesn’t exist. A bot pointed at Tradovate’s order-routing layer, configured with an Apex-issued account, does. Group firms by underlying platform instead of by brand name, and the market splits cleanly into four tiers: public REST, gated protocol, webhook-only, and MT4/MT5 EA. Each tier has a different cost, a different approval process, and a different ceiling on what you can automate.

The market almost never talks about API access as a segmentation axis, but it should. It’s the clearest predictor of whether a firm will still let you run bots the same way in six months, since platform-level policy changes, like ProjectX’s 2026 exclusivity shift, hit every firm on that rail at once, regardless of each firm’s individual marketing promises.

See PickMyTrade’s full list of supported prop firms and brokers for how the connection layer actually works underneath each tier below.

Does Topstep Have a Public API?

Yes. TopstepX runs on ProjectX, the one platform in this space with genuinely public documentation: REST endpoints, a Python SDK, and cURL/Postman examples anyone can read without requesting access first. As of 2026, though, it’s exclusive. Topstep locked in a branding and licensing deal that folded ProjectX into TopstepX, and third-party firms that previously ran on shared ProjectX infrastructure lost that access during the industry’s early-2026 platform shakeout.

Getting API access means paying for it separately from your funded account. Topstep’s help center lists API access at $29/month standalone, or $14.50/month for Topstep traders using a discount code, billed apart from your evaluation or funded subscription. Authentication runs through an API key, streaming data comes over SignalR/WebSocket, and there’s currently no sandbox: you’re testing against production from day one.

Here’s the catch that trips people up. Topstep’s terms explicitly prohibit running that automation from a VPS, VPN, or remote server. Trading has to originate from a personal device, or the account risks suspension. That’s an unusual restriction for a REST API built for bot developers, and it’s worth reading twice before you rent a VPS for this specific account.

Which Prop Firms Run on Tradovate?

Tradovate is where most of the market landed after the ProjectX split. As of July 2026, 18 futures prop firms run on Tradovate as their primary or secondary platform:

None of those firms expose their own API. What you get is Tradovate’s order-routing layer, plus whatever webhook or bridge tooling connects to it. That’s why third-party automation tools built specifically for Tradovate’s rails, rather than any one prop brand, are the practical way most retail algo traders actually execute here. A TradingView alert fires, a webhook receives it, and the order lands on whichever Tradovate-connected account you’ve mapped it to.

Grouping these 18 firms by platform instead of by brand name is the fastest way to answer the r/algotrading question directly. The “prop firm API list” that thread was after is really a list of four platforms, and Tradovate alone accounts for the largest single cluster of firms in this article.

Is Rithmic Harder to Get Than Tradovate?

Yes, considerably. Rithmic sits at the opposite end of the accessibility spectrum from ProjectX. Its documentation isn’t publicly browsable; developers request access through Rithmic’s own approval process before they see the protocol docs, and integration happens through the R | Protocol API or R | API+, with official C++/.NET libraries and community-built wrappers filling gaps for other languages.

Bulenox connects exclusively through Rithmic, supporting more than 21 third-party platforms including NinjaTrader, Sierra Chart, Quantower, and MultiCharts. Take Profit Trader, Lucid Trading, and DayTraders also run Rithmic feeds alongside Tradovate, giving traders on those firms a choice of rail depending on latency needs. The tradeoff for that lower latency is a slower, screened onboarding process. This isn’t a platform you sign up for and start coding against in an afternoon.

Do Forex Prop Firm Like FTMO Offer a REST API

No. Futures firms borrow Tradovate, Rithmic, or ProjectX. Forex prop firms borrow MetaTrader, and automation there means an Expert Advisor calling MT4/MT5’s built-in WebRequest function, not a standalone REST API you’d integrate the same way twice across firms.

FTMO allows custom and third-party EAs across Challenge, Verification, and funded accounts without pre-approval or source-code submission. The strategy just has to stay inside FTMO’s drawdown rules and avoid one hard technical cap: no more than 2,000 server requests per day across opening, modifying, or closing orders, and no third party trading the account on your behalf.

FundedNext takes a narrower approach. EAs, indicators, and bots are allowed on MT4 and MT5 only, they carry a separate usage fee, and they’re explicitly banned on cTrader and Match-Trader, along with any cloud-based third-party copier.

That per-platform inconsistency is the real headache in forex prop automation. The same EA that’s fine on FTMO’s MT5 account can violate FundedNext’s cTrader terms outright, because the rulebook is set by the prop firm, not the platform vendor.

Which Prop Firms Restrict or Block Automation?

Not every firm on this list wants bots running unattended. Elite Trader Funding permits semi-automated trading only: traders using tools to route orders must still actively monitor and manage every trade, and fully automated “set and forget” strategies are explicitly prohibited. That’s a meaningfully different restriction than Topstep’s API disclaimer that orders are final with no review, since Elite Trader Funding’s rule is about how you automate, not just what happens after the order fills.

If your strategy depends on unattended execution, confirm a firm’s automation policy before you fund an evaluation, not after, when you’re trying to figure out why a bot-managed position got flagged. Policies here change faster than most prop firm FAQ pages get updated.

The pattern we see most often from traders reaching out about automation is assuming “the firm allows EAs” also means “the firm allows unattended bots.” Those are two different permissions, and firms like Elite Trader Funding draw that line explicitly.

How Do You Automate Across Every Firm on This List Without Rebuilding for Each One?

Here’s the practical problem this whole list points to: even once you know which tier a firm sits in, you still need separate integration work for Tradovate’s webhook layer, Rithmic’s gated protocol, ProjectX’s REST API, and MT4/MT5’s EA model. That’s four different technical paths to the same goal of turning a TradingView signal into a filled order.

PickMyTrade collapses that into one connection. It routes TradingView alerts to Tradovate, Rithmic, Interactive Brokers, TradeStation, TradeLocker, ProjectX/TopstepX, Match-Trader, Tradier, Binance, and Bybit through a single webhook, processing each alert in under 200ms. It covers the named prop firms in this article, plus any other firm operating through those same broker rails, even if it isn’t listed by name.

You can see a real-world version of this with the Tradovate-to-Apex automation walkthrough, which shows the webhook setup end to end. Pricing runs $50/month or $500/year, with unlimited strategies, trades, and connected accounts on every plan.

The difference isn’t just price. It’s scope. A ProjectX subscription gets you API access to one firm’s account. A single PickMyTrade connection covers every account you run across every supported broker and prop firm, on one webhook, without separate integration work for each platform’s auth model.

Frequently Asked Questions

Bottom Line

Nearly every prop firm on this list inherits its API from a platform vendor rather than building one. That’s why the r/algotrading thread never got a clean answer: the honest list isn’t organized by prop firm brand, it’s organized by Tradovate, Rithmic, ProjectX, and MetaTrader.

Know which rail your firm runs on before you write a line of integration code. And budget for the fact that platform-level changes, like the 2026 ProjectX exclusivity shift, can move faster than any individual firm’s terms page.

If you’re automating across more than one firm or broker, a unified webhook layer like PickMyTrade removes the need to rebuild that integration work every time a firm changes platforms underneath you.

Disclaimer:
This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or trading advice. Trading and investing in financial markets involve risk, and it is possible to lose some or all of your capital. Always perform your own research and consult with a licensed financial advisor before making any trading decisions. The mention of any proprietary trading firms, brokers, does not constitute an endorsement or partnership. Ensure you understand all terms, conditions, and compliance requirements of the firms and platforms you use.

Also Checkout: Automate TradingView Indicators with Tradovate Using PickMyTrade