Rules checked on each firm's own site · 25 September 2026
Prop firm news trading rules, and what the market does in the window
Most of the prop firms below restrict trading around high-impact releases only on funded accounts, for 2 or 5 minutes either side; evaluations are usually unrestricted. The window exists for a measurable reason: at the typical US CPI or Nonfarm Payrolls release, the typical broker account's EURUSD spread goes from 2.1 to 5 pips, and at US CPI gold's biggest move in the first minute is typically 0.39% of its price.
The rules, firm by firm
| Firm | Which accounts | Window | Which releases | If you trade in it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FTMO | Funded, standard type. Not during the evaluation; the Swing type has no restriction. | 2 min before to 2 min after, including stop-loss and take-profit fills | A named list per currency and instrument | May lead to termination of the account |
| The5ers | High Stakes. Bootcamp and Hyper-Growth ban only bracketing a release. | 2 min before to 2 min after | High-impact (“red folder”) on Forex Factory, for the related currency or index | Soft breach: profits deducted, losses stay. Its pages differ on whether pending orders count. |
| FundedNext | Funded and Stellar Instant accounts. Challenge accounts are exempt. | 5 min before to 5 min after | Listed high-impact events tied to the symbol traded | Only 40% of the profit counts; losses count in full. Not a breach. |
| FunderPro | Funded accounts without the Swing add-on; Instant restricted by default. Challenges are free. | 2 min before to 2 min after | Events on FunderPro's economic calendar | Instant: an account violation. Its terms restrict entering a trade; its help pages also restrict holding one. |
| Alpha Capital Group | Funded accounts. The evaluation is free; Swing has its own rule. | 5 min before to 5 min after; a speech counts for its whole length | A named list per instrument, high-impact on Myfxbook or Forex Factory | Soft breach: those profits earn no performance fee |
| Blue Guardian | Funded accounts; challenges are free. One page says Instant Standard accounts bought after 13 Nov 2025 may not trade news at all. | 5 min before to 5 min after | High-impact (“red folder”) events and FOMC | Profits removed, without an account violation |
| Topstep (futures) | No time window, in simulated or funded accounts | None | “Major” scheduled news | Trading your full maximum position size into a major release is prohibited |
| MyFundedFutures (futures) | Rapid and Pro simulated-funded accounts. Evaluations are unrestricted. | No positions or orders open from 2 min before to 2 min after | “Tier 1”: FOMC and its minutes, the Employment Report, CPI (plus energy and agricultural reports for those traders) | Profits from prohibited practices confiscated (per its Fair Play page) |
Read on each firm's own rules, help or terms pages on 25 September 2026; each firm name links to the page used. Rules change often — six of these pages were edited in the month before — so check the firm's page before you trade. E8 Markets and Apex Trader Funding are not listed because their pages could not be loaded to check.
What happens inside the window
Impact measures the market at the moment each release prints. Inside even the shortest window above:
- Spreads more than double. At the median US CPI or Nonfarm Payrolls release, the typical broker account's widest EURUSD spread in the half-minute around the release was 5 pips, against a normal 2.1; GBPUSD and USDJPY reached 8–10. Five years, measured.
- Accounts differ widely. At the same release, the widest account typically showed two and a half to three times what the middle account did.
- Most of the price move comes in the first minute. At US CPI, gold's typical release-minute swing was 0.39% of its price — half of the typical high–low range over the first 15 minutes — and about $31 an ounce over the last year. Five years, measured.
- The first move is not the last. In 18 of 65 CPI releases, gold was on the other side of its pre-release price an hour later.
What the rules have in common
- Account type decides it. Six of the eight restrict only funded accounts, so the same trade can be allowed in an evaluation and penalised once funded.
- The calendar decides which releases count. Firms name their own list, Forex Factory's “red folder” events or Myfxbook; the list differs by firm and by instrument.
- Orders can count, not just new trades. Some firms include pending orders, and stop-loss or take-profit fills, inside the window.
- The penalty ranges widely, from part of the profit not counting to the account being closed.
Impact reports what happened and what the firms publish. It gives no trading advice, and it does not rate or recommend any firm.
See it for every release
Impact shows, for every economic release, the spread at news time next to the normal spread and second-by-second reaction charts for each instrument it moved, with every past occurrence of the same release.