Is there a prop firm with colocated servers?

What colocation is

A colocated server sits in the same data centre as the exchange’s matching engine, the computer that pairs buy orders with sell orders. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) defined the service in a 2010 concept release on equity market structure:

“Co-location is a service offered by trading centers that operate their own data centers and by third parties that host the matching engines of trading centers. The trading center or third party rents rack space to market participants that enables them to place their servers in close physical proximity to a trading center’s matching engine.”

Why microseconds matter

A few milliseconds of delay between a market move and your system’s response make no difference to most traders. For a high-frequency strategy, that delay (latency) can decide whether a trade happens at all. The same SEC release says: “Speed matters both in the absolute sense of achieving very small latencies and in the relative sense of being faster than competitors, even if only by a microsecond. Co-location is one means to save micro-seconds of latency.”

Queue position is one reason speed matters. Many exchanges fill orders at the same price in the order they arrive, a rule known as price/time priority. Prop firms know queue position matters, and it is part of why some restrict HFT on simulated accounts. Topstep’s list of prohibited trading strategies includes “Making hundreds of rapid trades to take advantage of preferential queue position in SIM”.

Set-up	Delay	Note
Home internet connection to a simulator	Roughly 30 ms (30,000 µs)	Illustrative; depends on distance and network
Colocated trading system	Microseconds	Server inside the exchange’s data centre
ROMER’s design target	Under 1 µs	Not a measured result

What retail prop firms offer today

At a retail prop firm you trade from your own computer over the internet, through the firm’s trading platform or, where the firm offers one, an API that lets your code send orders to that platform. Topstep’s API access costs “$29/month” and is aimed at people “who want to work with REST and WebSocket APIs”.

Running your code around the clock on a VPS (virtual private server), a rented machine in a data centre, is allowed at some firms and banned at others:

Firm	Rule, in the firm’s own words
Topstep	“All trading activity must originate from your personal device. The use of VPS, VPNs, and remote servers is prohibited by Topstep’s Terms of Use.” (help centre). Its Terms of Use add: “Using any VPN or VPS on Accounts is strictly prohibited and may result in account termination and forfeiture of profits.”
Tradeify	Bans a VPS “where such technology obscures, alters, masks, or prevents Tradeify from reliably verifying the user’s device, network, location, identity, or account activity” (Terms of Use)
FTMO	“The use of VPN/VPS is also generally allowed.” (FAQ)
FundedNext	Sells “EA” and “VPS & EA” add-ons, which “carry a usage fee” (help centre)

We checked each rule on 30 September 2026.

Fast algos also run into firms’ wider rules on HFT and automation. FTMO forbids EAs, or automated strategies, that make the account “hyperactive in the sense of an excessive number of more than 2,000 server requests per day” (forbidden trading practices). Some firms don’t allow automation on live accounts at all. Topstep says: “No, Live funded accounts are not allowed to trade through the ProjectX API.”

Even where a VPS is allowed, your orders still go through the firm’s platform, and most funded accounts are simulated. Topstep calls its Express Funded Account “the simulated funded-level account you earn after passing your Trading Combine” (help centre). Orders on a simulated account never reach an exchange, so there is no real matching engine to put a server next to.

What prop firms’ own guides say

TradersYard and Audacity Capital are prop firms that publish guides comparing HFT rules across firms. Both say colocation isn’t on offer. TradersYard’s “Best HFT Prop Firms 2026” (15 January 2026) says: “True institutional-style HFT requiring co-located servers isn’t available at retail prop firms.”

Audacity Capital’s “9 Best Prop Firms That Allow HFT in 2026” (updated 28 July 2026) goes into more detail: “No prop firm offers genuine institutional high frequency trading. The true definition of HFT: colocated servers, direct market access for your trading, proprietary data feeds, and microsecond execution.”

Where ROMER runs your algo

ROMER is a funded-trader program for algorithmic and high-frequency traders, run by Entity Capital, LLC, and we are building it to run each trader’s algo on our own hardware inside the exchange’s data centre. You won’t need a VPS or servers of your own, because the monthly fee pays for running your algo next to the exchange. Our latency design target is under 1 microsecond, against roughly 30 milliseconds for a home internet connection to a simulator, and both figures are illustrative. ROMER is still in development, with a waitlist and a closed beta first.