Equity Edge, a UK-based prop trading company, lost access to the MetaTrader 5 trading platform yesterday (Monday), which it was offering through a brokerage partnership. This has caused a service disruption for the prop trading firm, halting trading.

“Our broker has been facing issues with Platform 5, which has caused all accounts to be invalid,” an announcement by the prop trading firm on its social media channels noted.

However, the prop trading firm did not name its brokerage partner or the exact reason behind the sudden issue.

Déjà Vu in Prop Trading

The prop trading firm's services were disrupted yesterday morning (UK time). As highlighted by the prop firm, it “experienced complications with the broker server within our platform, and all trading has been stopped.” The platform's CEO, who goes by the name Berkay, also posted a video message to assure traders, “apologising for the inconvenience.”

Hours after the disruption, the prop trading firm confirmed that it had onboarded the Match-Trade trading platform and would migrate its existing customers from MT5 to the new platform.

“We are pleased to inform you that we have onboarded with Match-Trade, and all accounts will be merged to Match-Trade on Wednesday. We will be fully up and running on Wednesday, with all balances accurately transferred to Match-Trade,” the prop trading firm noted.

However, the platform is now facing massive backlash from the traders, most of whom are asking for payouts. The company assured that it will release the payouts on Wednesday.

“Some of you act as if we want to put ourselves through this stress,” Tris, one of the Discord server moderators of the prop trading platform, noted. “20-30 prop firms have faced similar issues in the past and have NOT issued accounts with the same previous balances or even processed previous payouts—we are doing both.”

He further highlighted that the prop trading firm is “working on bringing platform 5 back within the next couple of weeks.”

Another Wave of Prop Trading Crackdown?

Earlier this year, MetaQuotes, the company behind the two MetaTrader trading platforms, barred brokers from grey-labelling its platforms to prop firms who were onboarding US clients. The technology firm even cracked down on the use of its demo platform.

That move caused massive distress in the prop trading industry, as many companies lost their trading platform overnight. It led to a sudden surge in demand for MetaTrader alternatives among prop trading firms. However, many prop trading firms continued to offer MetaTrader platforms outside the US market.

Recently, SurgeTrader, another prop trading platform, lost its Match-Trader license and was forced to cease its operations. According to Match-Trade Technologies, the developer of Match-Trader, the prop firm “failed to meet the formal requirements.”