Permission is on both options, and the trail still differs
You do not have to pick Option 2 to run an advisor. Both choices allow it when the data pace is compliant. The risk engine underneath is not the same. Option 1 marks a $3,000 trail on live equity and does not scale you up for a smooth week. Option 2 marks that trail at 4:59 PM CT and hard-stops the day at $2,200. An EA sized for one option will misread the other.
Semi-wild size is the usual failure, not the mere presence of code. Four NQ contracts through a 40-point dip are $3,200, past the Option 1 trail, whether a person clicked or an EA did. Automation controls should cap contracts in dollars, then send the order.
Step the stop so Rithmic sees a few changes, not a stream
Rithmic modification limits count how often the working order is touched. A stop that steps after price has moved a handful of points is a different pattern from a stop that chases every tick. The second pattern can end the review even when the trade is green and the $2,200 day, on Option 2, was never close. Quiet updates are the compliant version of the same protection.
The futures login is on NinjaTrader, Tradovate, or Rithmic. An MT5 terminal beside it does not get its own, larger modification budget with the firm. If both sides restop the same idea, you are spending the pace twice. Protect the login that holds the contracts.
An EA that swings past 3:59 PM CT is already outside the rule
Positions are closed by 3:59 PM CT every day. That is earlier than a 4:59 PM CT session mark, and it is the deadline that matters for holding. An EA built to swing the cash close will be in the market at 4:00 PM CT, which is already late. The reopen gap then counts. One NQ through 30 points is $600, real money against an Option 2 day of $2,200 and real open heat against an Option 1 trail.
News can be traded in the evaluation. Master accounts restrict bracket scalping into Tier-1 releases. An EA that fires a bracket into CPI on a Master login is the later problem. Build the pause before you are funded, not after the first rejection.
Put a cash flatten under the advisor on each option
Equity Guard on an Option 2 login should flatten near $1,450 of the $2,200 day. On Option 1 it should flatten from live equity as the giveback from the high approaches the $3,000 trail. The advisor will not do this by itself if its only job is entries. Leave the flatten outside the strategy so a bug in the entry loop cannot disable the exit.
Create a Venasri login and store one card per option. The $145 fee is small next to a $3,200 four-contract dip. Pay for the option whose trail matches the holding time you actually use.
