What prop firms actually check when you request a payout.
Two audits happen before your money moves. Most traders only know about one.
The first is execution quality — the one traders argue about after a failed challenge. The second is IP history — the one that quietly kills funded accounts at payout, weeks after the challenge passed. This guide explains both, names what real firms actually check, and tells you what TradersProxy can and cannot do for a prop firm challenger right now.
No pitches. No promises. Just the audit mechanics you need to know.
Or see the plans for non-prop-firm trading →
FTMO · Topstep · FundedNext · MyFundedFX · Prop firm network · FTMO IP requirements
TL;DR
Prop firms audit two things: IP history and execution quality. IP history checks whether your login IP is unique, stable, and untainted by collision with another trader's account. Execution quality checks whether your fills during news windows look consistent with a normal, low-jitter connection.
TradersProxy today is a shared address service. The stable exit IP helps execution quality, but the shared pool means multiple traders on a node can collide at payout review. That is why TradersProxy is not yet the right tool for a prop firm challenge — and why dedicated IPs are the next thing on the planned roadmap.
In this guide
The network things prop firms actually audit.
Prop firms run two network checks. They run them at different times. Most traders never learn about the second one until it stops their payout.
Audit one: IP history.
Every login to your prop firm dashboard gets logged. The firm records the IP address, the country, and the timestamp. Over the course of a challenge — sometimes 30, 60, or 90 days — that record builds into a pattern.
When you request a payout, a compliance review reads that pattern. It looks for three things.
Geographic consistency. If your IP showed the United Kingdom on day 1 and Singapore on day 14, the system flags it. Not because trading from two countries is illegal. Because it matches the pattern of account sharing — two people trading the same funded account from different locations. Account sharing is a hard rule violation at FTMO, FundedNext, Topstep, and MyFundedFX. The IP log is evidence.
IP collision detection. If two accounts at the same firm share an identical exit IP, the compliance system treats them as coordinated. This is the shared address problem. Consumer VPNs and shared data-centre proxies both create this risk. If another trader on your VPN server or proxy node also holds an account at your prop firm, your IP histories match. Both accounts can be flagged — even if neither trader knows the other exists.
Known blacklists. Major VPN providers, Tor exit nodes, and large consumer proxy services appear on publicly maintained abuse-list databases that prop firms license. Topstep queries these in real time. Their platform returns a hard 403 Forbidden if your IP is on the list. You cannot even log in. FTMO does not block at login — but their compliance team queries the same lists during payout review. An IP on a VPN blacklist at FTMO means a payout on hold.
Audit two: execution quality during payout-trade review.
The IP history audit is process-level. The execution quality review is strategy-level — but the network is still the mechanism.
Several firms, FTMO included, conduct a manual or semi-automated review of your highest-profit trades before releasing a payout. They are looking for signs of execution that could not plausibly have occurred under normal trading conditions. Trades that entered and exited within seconds at perfect intraday highs and lows. Fills that match a price that technically existed for fewer milliseconds than a human reaction time.
This matters for two reasons. First, it catches latency arbitrage — trading strategies that exploit the simulated feed's delay. Second, it flags news-spike trades during NFP, CPI, and FOMC windows, where the evaluation model widens spreads and the fill a trader claims to have received may not match the execution model's record.
Most challengers who fail this audit don't fail it for dishonest reasons. They fail it because jitter on their home connection created fill anomalies that look like arbitrage to an automated review. Inconsistent packet delivery means the terminal's recorded fill time does not align with the broker's server-side timestamp.
Backtested entries are invisible to this audit. Live fills are not.
What passes and what fails.
Not all infrastructure carries the same risk. Here is how the major categories read under audit.
Clean IP history — passes.
A single static IP, used consistently from the same geographic region, for the duration of the challenge. No country hops. No concurrent logins from different IPs. Not on any VPN or abuse blacklist. This is what a trader using their home ISP connection directly, or a properly configured VPS, looks like to the audit. It passes.
VPN-rotated IPs — fails.
Consumer VPNs rotate your exit node. You get a different IP each session. The audit sees geographic jumps and treats them as account-sharing evidence. The IP is also almost certainly on a known VPN range database. At Topstep, this means a hard block at login. At FTMO and MyFundedFX, it means a payout hold pending manual review.
This is not a judgment on VPN security in general. For trading, VPNs are the wrong tool at both the network quality level and the compliance level.
Shared data-centre IPs — borderline.
This is the category that most traders underestimate. A shared data-centre IP is stable — it does not rotate between sessions. That solves the geographic consistency problem. But it does not solve IP collision. If two traders at FTMO share a node and both use it for their challenge logins, their IP histories match. The compliance system flags both.
Some firms flag this automatically. Others require a human reviewer to notice. The risk is real but not guaranteed. It depends on how many traders at your specific firm happen to be on your specific node. At low-density nodes, the collision probability is low. At high-density shared proxies, it is not.
Execution quality — what gets reviewed.
The execution quality check focuses on news-window trades. NFP, CPI, FOMC, major central bank announcements. These are the sessions where the evaluation model's spread-widening is most aggressive and where a jittery connection creates the largest discrepancy between what a trader's terminal recorded and what the broker's engine shows.
A trader whose fills are consistently timestamped within normal human reaction windows, whose entries and exits match prices that existed for multiple seconds, and whose connection jitter stayed low during the session — that trader does not look like an arbitrageur to the review. A trader whose fills show millisecond precision during a news spike, because their jittery connection created timestamp anomalies, looks very different.
The irony: the trader who got bad fills due to jitter may also be the trader whose fill record looks most suspicious. A jitter spike at the exact moment of a news trade creates fill timestamps that cluster in unexpected ways.
Why most trading VPS options pass IP audits but fail execution audits.
This is the mistake that costs traders the most money. A VPS can give you a fixed IP. It does not automatically make the connection smoother. Most VPS marketing stops after the IP part and ignores the rest.
A VPS — a virtual private server — is a rented computer in a data centre. When you run your trading terminal on a VPS, all your logins originate from that server's IP address. That IP is dedicated to your account. It does not rotate. It does not share. The prop firm sees the same IP for 90 days. Audit one is clean.
But a VPS does not tune the network path between the VPS and the broker's matching engine. The VPS sits in a data centre with adequate CPU and RAM. Its network connection is a standard business-grade fibre link shared across many VPS customers on the same host. During news windows, when every trader on that host fires orders simultaneously, the host's egress queue backs up.
Your order packet waits. The jitter on that waiting period is not measured or managed by any VPS provider's standard plan.
A cheap VPS near Equinix London improves raw latency to FTMO's execution environment. It does not improve the consistency of your fills during a 13:30 NFP spike when the host's egress is saturated by every other VPS customer doing the same trade you are.
The challenge can fail for either reason. Some traders solve the IP side and then discover that the connection itself is still the problem. Others pass the challenge but later get questioned because their fills look strange during news windows.
Solving for one without solving for both is not a complete solution. It is a half-measure with a remaining blind spot.
The clean setup combines a dedicated IP with a low-jitter network path. Those two pieces need to work together.
What TradersProxy is, and is not, for a prop firm challenge.
Here is the honest version.
TradersProxy today is a shared address service. The exit IP is stable — it does not rotate between sessions. Your trading terminal keeps the same node address. But it is shared with other users on the same node. If another TradersProxy user on your node also holds an account at FTMO, both of your challenge logins show the same exit IP. That is an IP collision. The FTMO compliance system flags IP collisions.
This is not a theoretical risk. It is the exact pattern that triggers payout holds at FTMO, MyFundedFX, and FundedNext.
What this means for prop firm challengers:
If your challenge at FTMO, FundedNext, or MyFundedFX requires IP uniqueness — and at payout review, it does — then today TradersProxy carries IP-collision risk. The risk scales with how many other users on your node also trade at the same firm. At low occupancy, the odds of a collision are low. They are not zero.
For Topstep, the answer is simpler. Topstep blocks data-centre IP ranges at the login level. TradersProxy nodes sit in data centres. You will not be able to log in to Topstep through TradersProxy. Do not attempt it.
What this means for execution quality:
TradersProxy does improve execution quality. Jitter absorption, priority order routing, split TCP buffers, and news-spike traffic management are real features with code receipts. These features reduce the fill anomalies that trigger execution quality reviews. That part works regardless of the IP model.
The gap is the unique-IP requirement. Until dedicated IPs ship, TradersProxy is not a complete solution for firms that run IP checks at payout.
That is the honest position. It does not change the product — it describes where the product stands today.
What comes next — dedicated IPs.
Later on the TradersProxy roadmap is dedicated IPs. One user per exit address. No collision possible. That removes the shared address problem described above and makes TradersProxy a complete prop firm solution: unique IP plus a tuned execution path, in one product.
There is no committed ship date yet. It should not ship until the infrastructure is ready. A half-built dedicated-IP product would be worse than being clear about the current shared address setup.
What is confirmed on the roadmap:
- Dedicated IPs are coming. Not a “maybe someday.”
- The dedicated-IP tier will be priced above the current Pro plan. It requires per-user infrastructure.
- This page stays informational until dedicated IPs exist.
For now, the guide explains the audit mechanics and the current shared address limits honestly.
Where TradersProxy today still helps.
The shared address limitation only matters when the firm requires a unique IP. It does not say anything about the quality of the connection itself.
Consider the scenario that applies to a significant number of challengers:
A trader running a challenge from a home ISP in Southeast Asia, South America, or Eastern Europe. The raw latency to an FTMO-partnered broker's Equinix endpoint is 180ms on a good day. During NFP, their ISP's exchange congests. Jitter hits 60–90ms. Their fill timestamps on news-window trades cluster in ways that look anomalous. Not because they cheated. Because their connection was terrible at the exact moment the review later scrutinises.
That trader already has a VPS with a dedicated IP. What they need is a better route for the actual trading traffic during busy news windows.
TradersProxy can sit on top of a VPS. The VPS handles the fixed IP. TradersProxy handles the routing path. TradersProxy nodes sit in Tier 1 data centres including Iron Mountain LON1 (London, Premium plan), Equinix SY4 (Sydney), Equinix TY8 (Tokyo), Equinix HK1 (Hong Kong), and CoreSite CH2 (Chicago) — so the hop from VPS to TradersProxy node to broker is measured in single-digit milliseconds in most major trading regions. That lets the terminal keep the same login IP while still using TradersProxy's network tuning.
The two are not competitive. They solve different parts of the setup. The VPS gives you the fixed IP. TradersProxy improves the path to the broker.
Traders already on a VPS are the best fit for today. They do not need to replace it. They add TradersProxy for the network path the VPS was never meant to solve.
Other challengers who benefit from today's execution quality, even without the dedicated-IP solution:
- Traders who travel. Mobile ISPs and hotel WiFi get noisy. TradersProxy makes that path steadier than a raw mobile connection.
- Traders on slow home ISPs where congestion during news windows is the fill problem, not the IP problem.
- Traders at firms that do not enforce strict unique-IP rules. The connection improvement still helps even without the IP risk.
The right question to ask is simple: does your firm require a unique IP at payout? If yes, use a VPS or another dedicated-IP setup. If no, or if you already have the IP side covered, TradersProxy today can still help with the connection path.
What to do if your firm needs a dedicated IP.
If your firm requires one fixed IP per account, a shared address service is the wrong choice. Use a setup that gives you a dedicated IP from day one.
Best fit: use a VPS or another setup that gives you a dedicated IP, then keep it unchanged for the whole challenge.
Wrong fit: a shared address pool where another trader can end up sharing your public IP.
Decision rule: if your firm is strict about unique IPs, do not use the shared address product for that account. If the IP side is already solved with a VPS, TradersProxy can still help with the connection path.
Coming later: dedicated IPs are on the planned roadmap. See the plans and register to be notified at launch.
Before-you-start checklist for prop firm challengers.
Regardless of which setup you use, run this checklist before Day 1 of your challenge. These are the network checks that matter.
- 01 Confirm your firm's IP policy. Read your firm's Terms and Conditions. Search for "VPN", "proxy", "IP", and "VPS". If the rule is unclear, use a direct connection or a VPS until you know exactly what the firm allows.
- 02 Use a dedicated or static IP from Day 1. If your firm checks IPs at payout, start on the same IP you will use to finish. Switching connection methods mid-challenge creates a log mismatch. A VPS is the clean answer when the firm requires a unique IP.
- 03 Choose a data centre near your broker's matching engine. Most brokers used by prop firms sit in London (Equinix LD4/LD5 in Slough, or Iron Mountain LON1) or New York (Equinix NY4/NY5 in Secaucus, NJ). A VPS near that location gives you lower latency than a home ISP far away. Check your broker's co-location info if it is public.
- 04 Verify your broker permits your connection method. Some brokers used by prop firms have their own terms that restrict proxy usage independently of the prop firm's rules. Both sets of terms apply. Check the broker, not just the prop firm.
- 05 Measure jitter before news windows, not just ping. Average ping can hide a big jitter spike during congestion. Test the connection just before a news event. That tells you more about real trading conditions than a speed test does. Below 10ms is clean. Above 30ms is a problem.
- 06 Test your full setup on a demo for at least one news cycle. Test the exact setup you plan to use. If the fills look inconsistent or the delay is larger than expected, fix the connection before Day 1.
- 07 Do not change infrastructure mid-challenge. Whatever you start with, finish with. A new VPS, a new proxy, or a new country can all change the IP log. Set it up once, test it, then leave it alone.
These seven criteria apply regardless of whether you use TradersProxy, a VPS, a direct ISP connection, or any other infrastructure. They are the network floor for a clean payout audit.
Common questions answered.
FTMO does not explicitly ban proxies in its published rules. But it runs an IP history review before approving payouts. A stable, consistent IP from a clean data-centre range is less likely to trigger a flag than a rotating VPN exit. FTMO's compliance team checks geographic consistency and IP-collision patterns across accounts. Always review FTMO's current terms before connecting through any third-party infrastructure. Policies change without announcement.
Topstep's platform returns a hard block for connections from known VPN and proxy IP ranges. Their terms explicitly prohibit VPN usage. If you connect to Topstep via TradersProxy or any other proxy service, access will likely be blocked at login. For Topstep challengers, a direct ISP connection is the safest path. Do not use TradersProxy for Topstep.
TradersProxy routes through data-centre IP ranges — not residential. Your exit IP is a stable address assigned to your server node. It does not rotate between sessions. But it is shared with other users on the same node. Multiple traders on a node share the same public IP. This is a shared address pool. Prop firms that require a single-user, dedicated, or residential IP will not be satisfied by today's TradersProxy.
Yes. Running your trading terminal on a VPS gives you a dedicated IP for login and IP-history purposes. Routing that terminal's traffic through TradersProxy's SOCKS5 layer adds a better network path on top of the VPS's fixed IP. The two solve different problems and work together. The prop firm sees the VPS IP. The execution path benefits from TradersProxy's network tuning.
MyFundedFX's publicly available terms flag accounts showing IP sharing, location inconsistency, or VPN usage. The pattern mirrors FTMO: no login-time block, but a compliance review at the payout stage. IP-collision risk is present if you share a node IP with another MyFundedFX trader. The risk is real but probabilistic — it depends on whether another user on your node also trades at MyFundedFX. It cannot be eliminated in today's product.
The IP-collision risk exists whether you started the challenge on TradersProxy or switched to it mid-challenge. Switching connection infrastructure mid-challenge — from direct to proxy, or between nodes — creates geographic inconsistency in your IP log. That is one of the flags the compliance system looks for. If you are already mid-challenge on TradersProxy, staying on the same node is safer than switching. No guarantee of audit outcome can be made either way.
Do not use a shared address service for that account. Use a VPS or another setup that gives you a dedicated IP from day one, or wait until a dedicated-IP product exists. The point of this guide is to make that limitation clear before you take the risk. See the plans → and register to be notified at launch.
No. There is no dedicated-IP option today. The shared address pool is the current setup. If your firm requires a dedicated IP, use a VPS or another dedicated-IP setup instead. Dedicated IPs are later on the planned roadmap. Register above to be notified the day they launch.
Use the right path for your account type.
If your firm audits IP uniqueness, use a dedicated-IP setup until dedicated IPs ship. If you trade retail accounts — or already solve IP history with a VPS — this guide has shown where the live product still helps.
Prop firm challenger waiting for dedicated IPs? See the monthly plans →
Retail account or VPS already handling the unique-IP requirement? See the monthly plans →