Firms by Country

It depends on each company's specific policy, but generally one of the following scenarios occurs:

Hard Close: In the strictest cases (due to direct pressure from license providers like MetaQuotes or U.S. regulations), the company may be forced to immediately close all accounts from that country. Sometimes they offer a refund of the evaluation if no rules were violated, but it's not guaranteed.

Grandfathering: Many companies allow existing clients to finish their evaluation or continue operating their funded account until they lose it, but don't allow them to buy new accounts or restart existing ones.

Close Only Operations: They might restrict your account to "close-only," forcing you to close positions and withdraw funds if any, without allowing you to open new trades.

Restrictions are usually not a whim of the prop firm, but the result of three external factors:

Financial Regulations: Countries like the U.S. have very strict rules (like CFTC regulations) on CFD trading. If the company doesn't comply with those rules, they block the country to avoid lawsuits.

Platform Restrictions (Brokers/MetaQuotes): Technology providers (like MetaTrader or cTrader) pressure prop firms not to accept clients from "high-risk" or sanctioned jurisdictions to protect their own licenses.

International Sanctions: Lists like OFAC (U.S.) or FATF prohibit any commercial transactions with countries under sanctions or embargoes (e.g., Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba).

Not recommended and extremely risky.

VPN (Virtual Private Network): Most companies strictly prohibit the use of commercial VPNs to mask your location. Their security systems easily detect shared IP addresses and flag the account for "location fraud," which voids your contract.

VPS (Virtual Private Server): Using a VPS is usually allowed if it's for running automated trading (and the company permits it), but you must declare its IP. If you use a VPS only to simulate being in another country, you will be detected during the KYC (verification) process or when withdrawing profits.

Companies usually verify all three, but with different weight:

Residence (Most Important): Where you legally live and pay taxes. If you reside in a restricted country, you won't pass KYC (identity verification), even if you have nationality from another country. They will ask for recent proof of address (electricity, water, bank bill).

Nationality: Your passport. Some restrictions affect citizens of sanctioned countries regardless of where they live, though this is less common than residence-based restrictions.

Location (IP): Where you connect from to trade. If you're a resident of an allowed country (e.g., Spain) but try to trade connected from a sanctioned country's IP (e.g., Iran or Cuba), your account will be automatically blocked by security systems.

Yes, you can generally travel, but with vital precautions:

Notify Support: Before traveling, notify the prop firm about your dates and destination. If you don't, a sudden IP change (e.g., from Mexico to Germany in 2 hours) can trigger a "third-party account management" alert and block your account.

Avoid Sanctioned Countries: Never open your trading platform if you travel to a country under strict sanctions (like Cuba, Syria, or North Korea), not even to "look." Connecting from that IP can cause an automatic and irreversible account closure due to international laws.

The main risk is working for free. You might buy the evaluation using a VPN and perhaps even pass it. However, the real problem comes at the time of KYC (Identity Verification) and Payout:

When requesting your first withdrawal, you must send documents proving your real residence. If these don't match the allowed country you simulated, your account will be terminated and you'll lose all generated profits, with no right to claim.

Additionally, you'll be put on an internal "blacklist" that the technology provider might share, preventing you from opening accounts at other companies using the same provider.