Prop Firm News Trading Rules

Most forex and CFD prop firms allow news trading during the evaluation but restrict it once you are funded, usually by banning the opening or closing of trades on affected instruments for two to five minutes either side of a high impact release. A minority restrict it in the evaluation as well, and several futures firms place no limit at all. The penalty ranges from losing the profit on the offending trades to losing the account, so the exact wording matters.

How news trading rules work

A news rule has five parts, and firms vary on each of them.

• Which events. Most firms restrict only high impact releases, often defined as the red folder events on the Forex Factory calendar, plus central bank decisions such as FOMC. Some publish their own list of selected announcements.
• Which instruments. The restriction usually applies only to instruments affected by the release. A US jobs report affects dollar pairs, US indices and gold, but not necessarily a trade on EUR/GBP.
• The window. Typical windows are two, three, four or five minutes before and after the release time.
• What counts as a trade. Opening and closing both count at most firms. Many also count pending orders that fill, and stop loss or take profit orders that trigger, inside the window. Positions opened well before the window can usually be held through it.
• The consequence. Firms either remove the profit from trades made in the window, record a soft breach, or treat it as a hard breach that ends the account.

Firms restrict news trading on funded accounts because prices can jump through several levels in a second. On a simulated account the fill can be better than a live market would give, so profits made in those seconds may not be repeatable with real capital.

Worked example

This example uses a made up $100,000 funded account at an imaginary firm. Its rule bans opening or closing trades on affected instruments from five minutes before to five minutes after a high impact release, counts stop loss and take profit fills, allows positions opened earlier to be held, and removes any profit made inside the window.

The US jobs report is due at 8:30am New York time, so the window runs from 8:25am to 8:35am. The trader has three positions on EUR/USD, where one standard lot is worth about $10 per pip.

The trader made $3,700 on the morning but keeps $600 of it. At a firm that treats the same rule as a hard breach, trades A and C would each end the account, and trade A would do so even though the trader did nothing at 8:31am except leave a take profit order in place. The simplest way to avoid that outcome is to have no orders on affected instruments that could fill inside the window.

How firms differ

The rules below are those published by each firm in September 2026. Firms change them often, so confirm the current version before you buy.

FTMO places no news restriction on any account during the evaluation. On a funded FTMO Account of the Standard type, trades on targeted instruments may not be opened or closed from two minutes before to two minutes after selected announcements, and a stop loss or take profit triggered in that window also counts. Positions opened more than two minutes before the event may be held, and a violation may lead to termination. The Swing account type has no news restriction.

Blue Guardian allows news trading during challenges. On funded accounts, trades may not be opened or closed from five minutes before to five minutes after high impact news and FOMC events; profits made in the window are removed but the account is not breached. Instant Standard accounts bought after 13 November 2025 may not trade news at all.

Blueberry Funded restricts news on evaluation and funded accounts alike, with a two minute window either side that includes pending orders triggered in it. Prime accounts may still close and manage existing trades during the window, and a stop loss hit on a position opened more than six hours earlier is not treated as a breach.

Moneta Funded restricts every program except Instant Funding Pro, with a five minute window either side of high impact releases on Forex Factory that covers take profit and stop loss fills, unless the trade was opened at least two hours earlier. Profits from violating trades may be deducted, and repeated attempts across several days may lead to a restriction or a violation.

WSFunded allows news trading in evaluation phases. On funded accounts the window is four minutes either side of red folder news; profits made in it are deducted and a soft breach is recorded.

Orion Funded has no timing restriction during evaluations, although using news trading as a strategy is prohibited on every program. Funded Nova, Standard and Select accounts may not open, close or modify trades within two minutes of a high impact event, while funded Swing accounts have no restriction. On Orion Zero, trades opened or closed within five minutes of a release are rewarded at 50% instead of 80%.

Futures firms are more varied. Funded Futures Family allows trading through all news, including FOMC, CPI and employment reports, with no requirement to be flat. YLOS Trading allows news in the evaluation, but funded accounts must not be in a position at the moment of a release, although they may trade straight after it, and bracketing a release with pending orders on both sides is prohibited.

A ranked view of firms that suit news traders is in best prop firms for news trading.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting orders already in the market. A take profit, stop loss or pending entry that fills inside the window counts as a trade at many firms, even if you placed it hours before.
• Assuming the evaluation rules carry over. Traders often pass a challenge that allowed news trading, then keep the same habits on a funded account where it is restricted.
• Checking the wrong calendar or time zone. Firms name their source, often Forex Factory, and the release time must be converted correctly. A window of 8:25am to 8:35am in New York is 1:25pm to 1:35pm in London for most of the year.
• Ignoring which instruments are affected. Gold and US indices usually move on US data, so a rule that covers affected instruments can reach further than the currency pair you had in mind.
• Treating profit removal as harmless. Even where the account survives, repeated violations can lead a firm to review the account more broadly. How firms spot these patterns is covered in how prop firms detect rule violations.

How to trade within news rules

Start each week with the economic calendar your firm uses and mark every high impact release against the instruments you trade. Set alerts ten minutes before each one, which leaves time to close positions or cancel orders before the window opens.

Decide in advance what you will do with open trades. If your firm allows positions opened before the window to be held, and does not count stop or target fills inside it, you can hold with protective orders in place. If fills inside the window count, the only way to be certain of compliance is to be flat, or to have no orders that could trigger during it. Removing a stop loss to avoid a fill swaps a rule risk for a much larger market risk, which the funded account risk management guide explains.

If news trading is central to your approach, choose the account type to match. FTMO’s Swing type, the Dual Step Swing account at ThinkCapital and several futures firms allow it, while other firms sell it as a paid add on. Related rules often travel together: accounts that restrict news also tend to restrict holding over the weekend, covered in weekend and overnight holding rules, and the difference between losing a trade’s profit and losing the account is explained in soft breach vs hard breach. Firm by firm rules are listed in the forex and CFD and futures directories, and every rule topic is in the prop firm rules hub.

Checklist

• Does the restriction apply in the evaluation, the funded account, or both?
• How long is the window, and which calendar defines a high impact event?
• Does it cover only affected instruments or every instrument?
• Do pending orders, stop losses and take profits that fill in the window count?
• Can positions opened before the window be held through it?
• Is the penalty profit removal, a soft breach or loss of the account?
• Is there an account type or add on that removes the restriction?