Prop firm trading rules: news, weekends, EAs and copy trading

Why the small print matters

Most failed or cancelled accounts do not break the daily loss limit; they break a rule the trader did not read. Rules differ between firms, between programs of the same firm and between the evaluation and the funded stage.

Trading around news

Some firms allow trading through high-impact news, others forbid opening or closing trades a few minutes before and after listed events, and some apply the rule only to funded accounts. If a restriction applies, find which calendar the firm uses and which events count.

Holding over the weekend and overnight

Weekend holding may be forbidden, allowed or allowed only on certain account types. Futures firms often require all positions to be closed before the session ends. Gaps after the weekend can also move your equity past a limit before you can react.

Expert advisors and copy trading

Expert advisors are often allowed with conditions: no high-frequency or latency strategies, no third-party EAs that many traders run at the same time, and sometimes approval in advance. Copy trading between your own accounts may be allowed while copying other people’s signals is not.

Consistency rules

A consistency rule caps the share of total profit that may come from your best day, either in the evaluation or before a payout. The consistency calculator shows how much more profit you need — or how large your next day may be — to stay within it.

Prohibited practices

Firms list strategies they treat as abuse: exploiting price-feed delays, arbitrage between brokers, hedging between accounts or between firms, very large positions just before a reset, and splitting a target across many accounts. Breaking these rules usually voids the profits even if every loss limit was respected.

A routine for the rules

1. Save the rules page of your program as a PDF on the day you buy, with the date.
2. Make a one-page list: limits, minimum days, news rule, weekend rule, EAs, consistency.
3. Re-read it after any rule change the firm announces; our reviews show when we last checked each rule.