Banned strategies compared
What 17 prop firms say about ten strategies that get accounts closed. Every cell comes from the firm’s own rules or help page, linked in the cell.
"Not stated" means we didn’t find the rule on the firm’s pages, not that it’s allowed. Rules differ between programs and between the evaluation and the funded stage, and firms change them often. Read the linked page and ask the firm before you rely on a strategy.
- Banned The firm prohibits it.
- Not allowed Positions must be closed, for example every day.
- Restricted Allowed with limits, read the note.
- Allowed The firm allows it.
- Not stated Not mentioned on the pages we checked.
- Has a rule A consistency rule applies.
- No rule The firm says there is no consistency rule.
Why firms ban each strategy · Which firm fits your trading?
| Firm | Hedging across accounts | Copy trading | EAs and bots | HFT and tick scalping | Latency arbitrage and feed exploits | News trading | Overnight and weekend holds | Martingale and grid | Gambling and max-lot rules | Consistency rules |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lark Funding Forex / CFD | Banned Allowed inside one account; banned across accounts and firms. Source | Restricted Only between accounts you own and control; no signals or group trading. Source | Allowed Allowed, except HFT or arbitrage EAs. Source | Banned Source | Banned Arbitrage EAs are banned. Source | Allowed No news restrictions. Source | Restricted Overnight allowed; weekend holding needs a paid add-on. Source More | Not stated Checked page | Banned All-or-nothing trading banned; $10,000 daily and per-trade gain limit. Source | No rule No consistency rules. Source |
| FTMO Forex / CFD | Banned Opposite positions are allowed only within one account. Source | Restricted Trading in concert with others or letting a third party trade for you is banned. Source | Restricted Allowed unless it makes more than 2,000 server requests a day. Source | Banned Ultra-high-speed tools banned. Source | Banned Exploiting price delays or slow feeds banned. Source | Restricted Free in the evaluation (gap trading banned); funded accounts can’t trade 2 min around restricted news, except Swing. Source More | Restricted Allowed in the evaluation; funded Standard accounts must close before weekend breaks, Swing accounts are exempt. Source | Not stated Checked page | Banned Overleveraging, one-sided bets and account rolling banned. Source | Has a rule 1-Step: best day must be no more than 50% of total profit to pass. Source |
| FundedNext Forex / CFD | Banned Allowed inside one account; banned across accounts or with other firms. Source | Restricted Only between your own challenge accounts; not if a funded account is involved. Source | Restricted Needs a paid add-on; 5K to 25K accounts on MT4/MT5 only. Source | Banned Includes tick scalping and trades held only seconds. Source | Banned Source | Allowed Allowed in the challenge; funded profits in the news window count at 40%. Source | Allowed Overnight and weekend holding allowed. Source | Restricted Grid trading banned; martingale EAs not restricted. Source More | Banned All-in trades, 70%+ margin use and one-sided bets banned. Source | Has a rule Only on the funded on-demand reward option (40%); none stated for the challenge. Source |
| The5ers Forex / CFD | Banned Hedge arbitrage and opposite positions across firms banned. Source | Banned Copying or coordinating with other traders or accounts banned, including shared third-party EAs. Source | Restricted Only if you own the source code and other traders don’t run the same trades. Source | Banned HFT and tick scalping banned. Source | Banned Arbitrage and exploiting price errors banned. Source | Restricted No trades opened or closed 2 min before or after high-impact news; news bracketing banned. Source More | Allowed Overnight and weekend holding allowed; indices carry a high weekend swap. Source | Not stated Not named; bulk trading (many trades opened at once) is banned. Source | Banned Overleveraging, one-sided bets and gambling-style positions banned. Source | Not stated Checked page |
| FundingPips Forex / CFD | Banned Hedging and opposite-account trading banned. Source | Restricted Only between your own accounts or out to your external account; no inbound signals. Source | Restricted Third-party EAs only as trade or risk managers; your own EA with proof of ownership. Source | Banned HFT, tick scalping and server spamming banned. Source | Banned Source | Restricted Holding through news is fine in the evaluation, but purposely trading news is banned. Source | Restricted Allowed in the evaluation; master accounts need the Swing add-on. Source | Not stated Checked page | Banned Over-leveraging and gambling behaviour banned; 20 lots max per trade. Source More | Has a rule 35% score only on the on-demand reward cycle. Source |
| Blue Guardian Forex / CFD | Banned Allowed inside one account; banned between accounts. Source | Restricted Only between accounts legally owned by you. Source | Allowed Allowed for your own strategy. Source | Banned Trades closed in under 2 minutes may be flagged as tick scalping. Source More | Banned Source | Restricted Allowed in the challenge; funded accounts restricted 5 min around high-impact news. Source | Allowed No overnight or weekend restrictions. Source | Not stated Checked page | Banned Margin use above 80% counts as gambling. Source | Not stated Checked page |
| Maven Forex / CFD | Banned Hedging between accounts and accounts that only hedge are banned. Source | Restricted Only manual copying of your own trades; copier software banned. Source | Banned EAs not permitted on any platform. Source | Banned At least 50% of trades must be held over 60 seconds. Source | Banned Source | Restricted No trades opened or closed 2 min before or after high-impact news. Source | Allowed Overnight and weekend holding allowed. Source | Banned Grid and gap strategies banned; martingale not stated. Source | Banned All-in trading and gamifying the challenge banned. Source | No rule No consistency score on 2-Step Standard. Source |
| E8 Markets Forex / CFD | Banned Banned across accounts, even your own. Source | Restricted Allowed across accounts that all belong to you. Source | Restricted Any EA, but identical trades across users can end the account. Source | Restricted No more than 50% of trades held under one minute. Source | Banned Feed abuse and freezing banned. Source | Allowed No news restrictions on E8 Signature. Source | Not allowed E8 Signature positions are closed by 23:00 server time. Source | Allowed Martingale allowed within the platform limits. Source | Banned Risking your whole daily drawdown on one trade is banned. Source | Not stated Checked page |
| Topstep Futures | Banned Opposite positions across accounts banned. Source | Restricted Trade copiers allowed across your own accounts; coordinated trading banned. Source More | Restricted Allowed with conditions; no exceptions for errant trades. Source | Banned Scalping algorithms that exploit sim fills banned. Source | Banned Trading on slow or external data feeds banned. Source | Restricted Trading your full max position size into major news is banned. Source | Not allowed Flat by 3:10 pm CT every weekday. Source | Not stated Checked page | Banned Account stacking banned. Source | Has a rule Best day at or below 55% of the target, or the target rises. Source |
| Apex Trader Funding Futures | Banned No hedging of any kind, even within one account. Source | Restricted Trade copying with other traders banned; own accounts not stated. Source | Banned No automation or algorithms. Source | Banned Source | Banned Exploiting the simulation in any way is banned. Source | Restricted Allowed for your normal strategy; two-sided news bets banned. Source | Not allowed Positions must be closed before the market close. Source | Not stated Checked page | Banned Using the full drawdown as a stop and stockpiling accounts banned. Source | No rule Not applied in the EOD evaluation. Source |
| Take Profit Trader Futures | Banned No opposite positions across accounts you control. Source | Restricted Copiers allowed only across accounts solely yours. Source | Banned No bots or algos. Source | Not stated Checked page | Not stated Checked page | Restricted PRO accounts must be flat 1 min before and after FOMC, NFP and CPI. Source | Not allowed Positions can’t be held from one session to the next. Source | Not stated Checked page | Not stated Checked page | Has a rule Best day below 50% of net profit; the goal rises, no fail. Source |
| My Funded Futures Futures | Banned No hedging of any kind on the same underlying. Source | Restricted Copying other traders banned; own-account copying not stated. Source | Restricted Allowed if it doesn’t exploit sim fills. Source | Banned Source | Not stated Checked page | Restricted Evaluations may trade Tier 1 news; Rapid and Pro Sim Funded can’t. Source | Not allowed Positions auto-close at 4:10 pm ET. Source | Not stated Checked page | Not stated Checked page | Has a rule 50% in the Rapid evaluation. Source |
| Tradeify Futures | Banned Banned in one account or across accounts, including correlated products. Source | Not stated Checked page | Restricted Your own bot only, with proof of ownership; not shared or used at other firms. Source | Restricted HFT bots banned; funded payouts need most trades held over 10 seconds. Source | Banned Exploiting price-display errors or delays banned. Source | Allowed No news restrictions on any account. Source | Not allowed Flat by 4:45 pm ET. Source | Not stated Not named; DCA allowed, endless averaging down discouraged. Source | Not stated Checked page | Has a rule 40% in the Select evaluation. Source |
| Lucid Trading Futures | Banned All hedging banned, including across firms. Source | Allowed Trade copiers permitted. Source | Allowed Automated systems permitted; you own any errors. Source | Banned Microscalping flagged if over 50% of profit comes from trades of 5 seconds or less. Source | Not stated Checked page | Restricted Allowed on Flex, Pro and Direct; a hard breach on LucidDaily. Source | Not allowed Flat by 4:45 pm ET. Source | Restricted Scaling in allowed; martingale strongly discouraged. Source | Not stated Checked page | Has a rule LucidFlex evaluation: largest day 40% or less (50% with add-on). Source |
| Alpha Futures Futures | Banned Banned across accounts and within one account (e.g. long NQ, short MNQ). Source | Restricted Allowed for your own accounts; group trading banned. Source | Banned AI, bots and full automation banned; semi-automated signals allowed. Source | Banned Over 100 trades a day and tick scalping banned. Source | Not stated Checked page | Restricted No limits on evaluations; Standard, Zero and Direct qualified accounts can’t trade 2 min around high-impact news. Source | Not allowed Flat by 4:20 pm ET. Source | Restricted Reasonable DCA allowed; order-book spamming banned. Source | Banned All-or-nothing trades and account rolling banned. Source | Has a rule 50% on the evaluation, 40% once qualified. Source |
| Bulenox Futures | Not stated Checked page | Restricted Copiers allowed for your own use; shared or commercial tools not. Source | Restricted Your own bots for personal use only; third-party API connections cost extra. Source | Not stated Checked page | Not stated Checked page | Allowed No blackout windows. Source | Not allowed Flat by 3:59 pm CT; overnight holding strictly prohibited. Source | Not stated Checked page | Not stated Checked page | Has a rule Applies to payouts; missing it is not a violation. Source |
| Earn2Trade Futures | Banned Hedging or pooling risk across unrelated accounts banned. Source | Banned Trade copiers not allowed on any program. Source | Not stated Not named; software that gives an unfair advantage is banned. Source | Banned Ultra-fast data entry banned. Source | Banned Exploiting price display errors or delays banned. Source | Allowed No restrictions around economic announcements. Source | Not allowed Flat by 3:50 pm CT. Source | Not stated Checked page | Banned An unrealistic number of contracts in one day is banned. Source | Has a rule 30% rule, so at least four profitable days. Source |
Why firms ban this
Hedging across accounts
Opposite positions on two accounts mean one of them almost always passes, whatever the market does. That tests nothing about your trading, and on a real exchange it can count as wash trading. Hedging inside one account is a separate question, and firms answer it differently.
Banned, restricted or ruled (firms in the table): 16 / 17
Copy trading
Firms want to fund your own decisions. Copying a signal seller or another trader means many accounts take the same risk at once, and it hides who is really trading. Copying between your own accounts is often allowed.
Banned, restricted or ruled (firms in the table): 15 / 17
EAs and bots
A bot can trade far faster and more often than a person, and the same commercial EA running on hundreds of accounts concentrates the firm’s risk. Some firms ban automation outright; others allow your own code only.
Banned, restricted or ruled (firms in the table): 13 / 17
HFT and tick scalping
Trades held for seconds often profit from the simulator’s instant, slippage-free fills rather than from the market. Those results disappear on a live account, so firms ban them or set a minimum holding time.
Banned, restricted or ruled (firms in the table): 15 / 17
Latency arbitrage and feed exploits
Trading against a delayed or wrong price is a near-certain win in a demo environment and impossible to repeat with real money. Every firm that mentions it bans it.
Banned, restricted or ruled (firms in the table): 12 / 17
News trading
Prices gap and spreads widen around big releases. In a simulation the fills can be far better than a live market would give, so some firms block trading in a window around high-impact news, especially on funded accounts.
Banned, restricted or ruled (firms in the table): 11 / 17
Overnight and weekend holds
Weekends and the daily futures close leave positions exposed to gaps the firm can’t manage. Futures firms usually require you to be flat every day; forex and CFD firms often allow holds in the evaluation.
Banned, restricted or ruled (firms in the table): 13 / 17
Martingale and grid
Doubling down or stacking orders at fixed intervals wins small and often, then loses big. It can pass a challenge by luck and blow up a funded account. See why martingale fails a prop challenge.
Banned, restricted or ruled (firms in the table): 4 / 17
Gambling and max-lot rules
One oversized trade that risks the whole daily or max loss turns the challenge into a coin flip. Firms call it all-or-nothing trading, overleveraging or account rolling, and cap lot sizes or margin use to stop it.
Banned, restricted or ruled (firms in the table): 12 / 17
Consistency rules
A consistency rule stops one lucky day from carrying the whole result: your best day must stay under a set share of total profit. It usually delays a pass rather than failing you. See consistency rules explained.
Banned, restricted or ruled (firms in the table): 11 / 17
Before you buy a challenge
- Read the rule for your exact program. One firm can allow news trading in the evaluation and restrict it once you’re funded.
- Breaking a conduct rule usually costs more than a failed challenge. Firms can remove profits, deny payouts or close every account you hold.
- Ask in writing if you’re unsure. Keep the support reply.
For targets, drawdowns and daily limits, see the prop firm rules comparison.