Do I need a license to trade funded-trader or prop-firm challenge accounts?
Yes: funded-trader and prop-firm accounts, challenge, evaluation and simulated ones included, are capital that is not yours, so trading them with PineForge codegen and PineForge HPO (pineforge-hpo, from version 0.11.0) is Commercial Use, and Solo covers one person with up to $1M of such capital for $490 per year, while above $1M it is Fund, from $3,000 per year.
Count each funded-trader account at its nominal size, whether it is a challenge, evaluation, simulated or funded account and whether the capital in it is real or simulated, together with any money of relatives outside the household, friends or first clients held in their own accounts. Solo also covers up to $10M of your own trading capital. Above $1M of others' capital, with capital pooled in a fund, or for a firm rather than one person, the Fund band for your assets under management applies: the others' capital plus your own trading capital.
Plans and prices that apply
| Plan | Band | Price per year | How to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo | own trading capital up to $10M, others' capital up to $1M | $490 | Buy |
| Fund | AUM up to $5M | $3,000 | Buy |
| Fund | AUM over $5M up to $25M | $6,000 | Buy |
| Fund | AUM over $25M up to $100M | $13,500 | Contact us to buy |
| Fund | AUM over $100M up to $500M | $33,000 | Contact us to buy |
Prices in US dollars, plus tax where it applies, for 12 months. Self-serve plans renew automatically each year unless you cancel; plans bought by quote, invoice or purchase order, and the pilot, do not renew automatically.
- Above this: more than one person (Team); own trading capital above $10M (the Team band for that amount); others' capital above $1M (the Fund band for the AUM, own and others' capital together).
- Above this: AUM above $500M.
Which number you state
- Managers of others' capital state their AUM: the others' capital they manage, advise on or trade across the whole firm, whether or not with the software (regulatory AUM where a filing states it, else the average of its last 3 month-end values), plus their own trading capital.
- Owners of capital state only their own trading capital: the net liquidation value of the accounts traded with the software (the sleeve), on the same 3-month-end average; borrowing adds nothing. Own capital is what the licensee and its wholly owned subsidiaries own with no outside investor, client or beneficiary: a fund, pooled vehicle, managed account or other entity with outside holders holds others' capital, counted as AUM (Fund), even when the licensee controls it. An endowment, a public pension or public fund and a foundation's treasury count their own investment capital the same way: they pay on that sleeve, not on the whole fund.
- Exchange-rate moves count as market movement. You state the number at checkout, with how it was measured and as of which date.
What the LICENSE says
From the LICENSE: PineForge Source License 1.2
Capital that an employer, a proprietary-trading firm, a funded-trader program or anyone else outside the person's household provides or allocates to the person to trade, and that the provider still owns or whose losses the provider bears, is not the person's own capital, even if the person shares in the profits. An account that a proprietary-trading firm or a funded-trader program provides or allocates to the person to trade, including a challenge, evaluation or simulated account, whether the capital in it is real or simulated, is likewise not the person's own account and is not funded by the person's own capital.
Investment Management means using the software to manage, advise on, or trade investment capital; to research, develop or backtest strategies for investment capital that you, or anyone you do the work for, manage, advise on or trade; or to operate the software for others who do any of these things; in each case whoever the capital belongs to and whether or not for a fee.
Commercial Use requires a separate commercial license from the licensor.
The guide's answers for this case
The decision guide on the home page asks these questions. These answers lead to the result shown, as the guide and POST /api/recommend give it.
- Will you manage, advise on, or trade capital that belongs to any other person or entity outside your household, whether or not for a fee?Yes
- Is the capital that is not yours only funded-trader or challenge accounts, or the money of relatives outside the household, friends or first clients, up to $1M in total, traded by you alone as one person?Yes
- Will you use it by, for, or on behalf of a company, fund, partnership, or other organization, including your own company or your work for one?No
- Will you embed the software or its Output into a product or service made available to others, distribute either bundled with such a product or service, or use the software to generate Output for one?No
- Will you operate a hosted, software-as-a-service, or otherwise public-facing service through which others can run the software or receive its Output?No
Result: You need a commercial license: Solo
- Will you manage, advise on, or trade capital that belongs to any other person or entity outside your household, whether or not for a fee?Yes
- Is the capital that is not yours only funded-trader or challenge accounts, or the money of relatives outside the household, friends or first clients, up to $1M in total, traded by you alone as one person?No
- Will you use it by, for, or on behalf of a company, fund, partnership, or other organization, including your own company or your work for one?No
- Will you embed the software or its Output into a product or service made available to others, distribute either bundled with such a product or service, or use the software to generate Output for one?No
- Will you operate a hosted, software-as-a-service, or otherwise public-facing service through which others can run the software or receive its Output?No
Result: You need a commercial license: Fund
Next steps
For software agents: /api/plans lists every plan, band and price as JSON, and /openapi.json describes the API.