Prop firm rules / News trading
Prop firm news trading rules
Can you trade a big release on your challenge or your funded account? The answer depends on the firm and the phase. Below: the window, the releases that count and what happens if you trade inside it, quoted from each firm's own pages (read on October 9, 2026).
Side by side
| Firm | Challenge / evaluation | Funded account | Window | If you trade in it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FTMO (Standard) | No news restriction | No opening or closing on targeted instruments; SL/TP fills count | 2 min before to 2 min after | "may result in termination of an FTMO Account" |
| FTMO (Swing, 2-Step only) | No news restriction | No news restriction | none | none |
| FundedNext (Stellar 2-Step, 1-Step, Lite) | No news restriction | Allowed, but profit is cut | 5 min before to 5 min after | Only 40% of the profit counts; losses count in full |
| The5ers (High Stakes) | No order may execute in the window; holding allowed | Same rule, stated for the whole program | 2 min before to 2 min after | "soft breach": the profit is deducted |
| FundingPips (2-Step Standard) | No timed window, but "purposely trading news" is prohibited | Holding allowed; opening or closing in the window loses the profit | 5 min before to 5 min after | Funded: the trade's whole profit is deducted. Evaluation: purposely trading news means account closure |
Which releases count differs: FTMO and FundingPips publish their own lists, The5ers uses high-impact ("red folder") news on Forex Factory, FundedNext marks restricted events on its own calendar. See each firm below. Every big release's date and time in your time zone: economic calendar.
FTMO
- Evaluation (Challenge and Verification, 1-Step and 2-Step): no news restriction, for both account types.
- FTMO Account, Standard type: on the targeted instruments, no opening or closing from 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after a restricted release. A stop loss or take profit that fills in the window also counts. Positions opened more than 2 minutes before may be held.
- Swing type: no news restriction (offered on 2-Step only).
"On the targeted instruments, it is not permitted to open or close any trades, including the execution of pending orders (such as Stop Loss or Take Profit), within a time window starting 2 minutes before and ending 2 minutes after the release of selected news announcements."
"While trading during the Evaluation Process, the restriction does not apply regardless of the account type (Standard account or Swing)."
FTMO's restricted releases
| Currency | Targeted instruments | Restricted announcements |
|---|---|---|
| USD | Forex pairs with USD; gold (XAUUSD); US indices (US2000, US500, US100, US30 .cash); DXY | Federal Funds Rate & Statement; Non-Farm Employment Change; Unemployment Rate & Wages; Advance GDP q/q; FOMC Meeting Minutes; CPI y/y |
| EUR | Forex pairs with EUR | Main Refinancing Rate |
| GBP | Forex pairs with GBP | Official Bank Rate & MPC Votes; CPI y/y |
| CAD | Forex pairs with CAD | Overnight Rate / BOC Rate Statement; CPI m/m; Employment Change / Unemployment Rate |
| AUD | Forex pairs with AUD | Cash Rate & RBA Statement; Employment Change / Unemployment Rate; CPI m/m; CPI y/y; GDP q/q |
| NZD | Forex pairs with NZD | Official Cash Rate & RBNZ Rate Statement; Employment Change / Unemployment Rate; CPI q/q; GDP q/q |
| CHF | Forex pairs with CHF | SNB Policy Rate |
| Oil | USOIL.cash, UKOIL.cash | Crude Oil Inventories |
FTMO lists no JPY release. FTMO's forbidden trading practices (all phases) also include "gap trading", opening trades "when major global news, macroeconomic events, or corporate reports or earnings are scheduled".
Source: ftmo.com, "Can I trade news?" (the page showed an update on October 9, 2026; check it before you trade).
FundedNext
- Challenge phases (Stellar 2-Step, 1-Step, Lite): no news restriction.
- FundedNext Account: trades executed from 5 minutes before to 5 minutes after a listed high-impact release on a correlated symbol count only 40% of their profit; losses count 100%. Market and pending orders, stop loss and take profit included. Holding through news is allowed.
"Trades executed 5 minutes before and 5 minutes after a listed high-impact news event (a total 10-minute window) will be subject to the News Reward Share Rule."
"40% of the profit from these profitable trade(s) will be counted toward the trader's account balance."
Which releases are "listed": FundedNext's own calendar (fundednext.com/economic-calendar) marks them with a "Restrictions" filter and names forexfactory.com as its source; the help article publishes the affected instruments per currency, not a list of releases.
Source: help.fundednext.com, "Is News Trading Allowed at FundedNext?"
The5ers
- High Stakes, all steps: you may hold trades through high-impact news, but no order (market or pending) may be executed from 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after high-impact news in the related currency or index. What counts is when the order triggers, not when it was placed.
- If you do: a "soft breach"; profits from that trade are deducted and do not count toward your target.
"However, it is not allowed to execute any order (market buy, market sell, buy stop, sell stop, buy limit, sell limit) 2 minutes prior, after or within to high-impact news in the related currency or index. We refer to Forex Factory and we follow the server time."
"Example: US CPI is getting announced at 15:30 server time. You can't have a new order being executed between 15:28 – 15:32"
The rule is written for the High Stakes program as a whole, with no separate wording for the funded stage. Bracketing (buy and sell stops placed around the news) is a prohibited practice.
Sources: the5ers.com, news trading in High Stakes; "Can I trade during news?"
FundingPips
- 2-Step Standard, evaluation: no timed window and holding is allowed, but FundingPips also says purposely trading news is prohibited and leads to account closure.
- Master (funded) account: holding is allowed; trades opened or closed from 5 minutes before to 5 minutes after a high-impact release (speeches: 5 minutes before the start to 5 minutes after the end) on the affected currency lose their whole profit. Trades opened 5 hours or more before the release are excluded.
"Important: Purposely trading news in both evaluation phase and master phase is prohibited and will lead to account closure."
"Swing trader exception: the 5-hour rule. Trades opened 5 hours or more before a high-impact event or speech are excluded from the restriction and can be closed within the restricted window. Profits from these trades will count."
Which releases count: those tagged "Restricted" on the FundingPips dashboard calendar (its official source). Its announcements reference lists, for USD: unemployment rate, non-farm payrolls, PMI, ISM, CPI, PPI, GDP, Fed rate decisions and FOMC, trade balance, jobless claims, consumer confidence, JOLTS, average hourly earnings, 10-year and 30-year auctions, home sales, durable goods and speeches.
Sources: help.fundingpips.com, 2-Step Standard; News Trading & Weekend Holding
Every big release in your time zone · Daily loss and max loss rules · How did your trades do around the news?