Blue Guardian vs ROMER

Two rulebooks for automation

Blue Guardian runs a CFD business and a futures business, and they answer the bot question in opposite ways. We checked both help centres on 1 October 2026.

The CFD side says yes. “EAs are allowed. You may use EAs (Expert Advisors) that you setup to suit your own strategy or trading style,” reads its 2 Step Standard rules, and the plan cards on the forex page list “Expert Advisors: Yes”. The limit is on bought strategies: the terms prohibit “Utilizing any third-party strategy, off-the-shelf strategy or one marketed to pass challenge accounts”. On MT5, Match-Trader or TradeLocker, an EA you wrote yourself is within the rules, though US clients are “restricted to using Match Trader and TradeLocker only” (platform rules).

The futures side says no. Its prohibited strategies page reads “Automated Tools: AI, bots, and other fully automated trading mechanisms are strictly prohibited across all account types.” Semi-automation is “Allowed only if traders actively monitor and manually manage trades, fully understanding the system’s purpose and limitations,” and “Fully hands-off, continuous, day-and-night trading or any type of complete automation is strictly forbidden.” Martingale is not permitted either. The same page then says “BGF limits the use of automated systems designed for ultra-high-frequency scalping, particularly systems that exceed 200 trades per day”, a limit that only makes sense for the semi-automated tools still allowed. An EA that is within the rules on a Blue Guardian MT5 account would break them on a Blue Guardian futures account.

HFT is banned on both. The CFD prohibited practices list includes “Tick scalping, high-frequency trading, or arbitrage bots” and “Latency arbitrage”, and the 2 Step rules add: “The minimum holding time is 2 minutes. If a trade is closed in under 2 minutes, it may be flagged for tick scalping, which is against our trading rules.” The futures Standard rules allow scalping, but “Less than 50% of your total profits may come from trades held for under 10 seconds.” Our HFT definitions page shows how other firms set this line.

On servers, the CFD rules accept a VPS with conditions: “While VPNs and VPS are allowed, using either service to bypass rules related to copy trading, group trading, or signal trading is strictly prohibited.” The prohibited practices list also bans “VPS services linked to multiple trader accounts”. The futures help centre has no VPS rule. Its only related line, in the introduction, forbids completing identity checks through “a virtual machine (VM), remote desktop environment, proxy, or similar virtualized setup”.

Prices, targets and payouts

These are list prices, checked against Blue Guardian’s checkout on 1 October 2026.

On CFDs, the 2 Step Standard 50K costs $232 once. It needs 8% in phase one and 4% in phase two, with an 8% static maximum loss and a 4% daily loss limit. Funded traders get 85%, or 90% with a paid add-on, every 14 days. Funded CFD accounts also carry what Blue Guardian calls Guardian Shield (2 Step rules): an open-trade loss of 2% closes all your trades, the first trigger cuts your split to 50% for good, and a second trigger breaches the account. The 1 Step Standard 50K costs $200.

On futures, the Standard 50K costs $209 once, and “Blue Guardian Futures does not require any monthly subscription fees or activation fees” (introduction). It has a $3,000 target and a $2,000 drawdown that trails the end-of-day balance. Hitting the $1,000 daily loss limit closes your trades and pauses the account until the next trading day. Funded accounts pay 90%, the first payout can come three days after your first funded trade, and it’s capped at $2,500 on 50K. Other futures plans include Reserve, from $100 for 50K, and Express at $179 with daily payouts, while Direct, at $452, skips the evaluation (futures page). All futures positions close automatically at 4:10 PM EST (trading hours), and you trade on Tradovate, with NinjaTrader and TradingView connections, or on DeepCharts (platforms).

Both sides take a cut of every withdrawal: “All payouts are subject to a 3% processing fee” (payouts; futures payout policy).

Demo accounts, and a Live Account on futures

The CFD help centre is blunt: “All accounts provided by Blue Guardian, including funded accounts, are demo accounts operating in a simulated trading environment with virtual funds,” and “Funded accounts should not be considered live trading accounts with real capital” (general rules). The terms say otherwise, that traders who pass “shall be allocated capital to trade in a live account under the terms of an agreement with the Company”.

Futures funded accounts are simulated too, but the futures side has a route to real money. “Unlike Evaluation and Funded Accounts, Live Accounts operate using real CME market execution with real capital through Blue Guardian’s partnered brokerage infrastructure,” says its Live Account article. Reaching a fifth payout puts you in a review pool, with a caveat: “Reaching Payout 5 does not guarantee promotion to a Live Account.” If you’re promoted, every funded account with at least one payout merges into one Live account that starts at $0, with a combined drawdown, daily payouts, no caps and a 90% split. You can take a cash buyout instead, worth half the combined Live drawdown. News trading isn’t permitted on Live accounts.

Our program, ROMER

ROMER is our funded-trader program, and this page is ours, so we gain if you choose it. The terms below are planned.

ROMER is aimed at the fully automated futures trading that Blue Guardian Futures rules out. Bots, algos and HFT are allowed at every stage, and so is trading by hand. Spoofing and other forms of manipulation are prohibited, and each algo has to respect the exchange’s message limits. The algo runs on our hardware inside the exchange’s data centre, which is called colocation.

Both of ROMER’s first stages are simulated. In Stage 1 the algo must reach a 6% profit target while staying inside a 4% trailing maximum loss and a 2% daily loss limit, across at least 3 trading days. Stage 2, Verification, sets the same test on a new run of at least 10 trading days. Algos with the best results after both stages go live on the real exchange with our capital, and the trader keeps 80% of real profits. As with Blue Guardian’s review pool, passing doesn’t guarantee funding. Blue Guardian’s live split is higher, at 90%.

Blue Guardian Futures charges $209 once for a 50K Standard. Our planned price for $50K is $249 a month, with no activation fee. Our monthly fee pays for the algo’s place on our hardware at the exchange. ROMER covers futures and digital-asset derivatives.

Who each suits

Blue Guardian suits a CFD trader with a self-built EA that holds trades for minutes or longer, and a futures trader who trades by hand, wants a one-time fee and likes having a defined route to a live account.

ROMER suits a futures or digital-asset strategy that runs on its own, which Blue Guardian Futures prohibits, and any strategy fast enough to trip the 2-minute or 10-second rules.