Prohibited trading strategies
Applicable to Challenges and Funded accounts
These rules apply to all Prop Firm challenge types and their funded stage.
Breaking a prohibited rule can lead to trade cancellation, profit disqualification, account suspension, or account disqualification.
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Rules by challenge type (summary)
Key restrictions
Grid trading: allowed only with conditions:
Max 6 simultaneous positions per grid cycle.
Cumulative price deviation from the first entry must stay within 0.3%.
Exceeding these limits can lead to disqualification.
Maximum exposure (margin usage) — hard rule (Challenge):
Total required margin (all positions + pending orders, where applicable) must be ≤ 20% of Balance.
Required margin per single symbol must be ≤ 10% of Balance.
Martingale: prohibited.
HFT / tick scalping: prohibited.
Trade duration rule: at least 80% of your closed trades must stay open for ≥ 1 minute.
Synthetic profit cap: synthetic pairs have a maximum profit cap of 10% per month.
Key restrictions
Grid trading: allowed only with conditions:
Max 6 simultaneous positions per grid cycle.
Cumulative price deviation from the first entry must stay within 0.3%.
Exceeding these limits can lead to disqualification.
Maximum exposure (margin usage) — hard rule (Challenge):
Total required margin (all positions + pending orders, where applicable) must be ≤ 20% of Balance.
Required margin per single symbol must be ≤ 10% of Balance.
Martingale: prohibited.
HFT / tick scalping: prohibited.
News trading: no trading 5 minutes before and after major macroeconomic events.
Closing positions is allowed in that window.
Opening new positions is not allowed.
Trade duration rule: more than 70% of your closed trades must stay open for ≥ 1 minute.
Key restrictions
Grid trading: allowed only with conditions:
Max 6 simultaneous positions per grid cycle.
Cumulative price deviation from the first entry must stay within 0.3%.
Exceeding these limits can lead to disqualification.
Maximum exposure (margin usage) — hard rule (Challenge):
Total required margin (all positions + pending orders, where applicable) must be ≤ 20% of Balance.
Required margin per single symbol must be ≤ 10% of Balance.
Martingale: prohibited.
HFT / tick scalping: prohibited.
News trading: no trading 5 minutes before and after major macroeconomic events.
Closing positions is allowed in that window.
Opening new positions is not allowed.
Trade duration rule: more than 70% of your closed trades must stay open for ≥ 1 minute.
Key restrictions
Grid trading: allowed without limits.
Martingale: allowed without limits.
HFT / tick scalping: prohibited.
News trading: avoid trading 5 minutes before and after major macroeconomic events.
Closing positions is allowed in that window.
Opening new positions is not allowed.
Trade duration rule: more than 70% of your closed trades must stay open for ≥ 1 minute.
Quick list — what is prohibited (unless an exception says otherwise)
Over-exposure (excessive risk concentration).
Maximum exposure (margin usage) — hard rule (Challenges): total required margin must be ≤ 20% of Balance, and required margin per single symbol must be ≤ 10% of Balance (LIVE FX, LIVE Synthetics, Boost+).
Martingale (except Power Live).
HFT and tick scalping (including “Quick Strike” behavior).
Grid trading abuse (allowed only under program limits).
Group trading / opposite positions (hedging on the same instrument).
Arbitrage of any kind.
Copy trading from external accounts (signals, other brokers, other prop firms).
Third-party account management (anyone else trading your account).
Position sizes noticeably larger/smaller than your normal trade size.
Common IPs/devices used by different users (account/device sharing).
Inconsistencies in trading patterns (sudden, unexplained behavior changes).
Taking advantage of system errors, bugs, or vulnerabilities.
High-Frequency Trading (HFT)
HFT uses EAs or infrastructure to place a very high number of orders in milliseconds.
It creates unfair execution advantages. It can destabilize pricing and overload trading servers.
If a trader is warned for hyperactivity and repeats it, the system may suspend the account.
Quick Strike Method (tick scalping)
Quick Strike is an ultra-fast style that tries to capture tiny moves repeatedly. It is usually linked to tick scalping and hyperactivity.
It distorts execution conditions for others. It can also create abnormal server load.
Copy trading
Allowed
Copying between your own FXLiveCapital accounts.
Not allowed
Copying from external accounts (other brokers, other prop firms, signal services).
Copying between accounts owned by different people (friends, family, groups).
Hedging / Group trading (opposite positions)
Hedging is opening opposing positions (Buy and Sell) on the same instrument.
This is prohibited:
In the same trading account.
Across multiple accounts under the same client ID or IP.
Using external platforms coordinated with internal accounts.
This behavior is treated as platform manipulation. It can be used to bypass drawdown rules or delay losses.
Any form of arbitrage trading
Arbitrage exploits price discrepancies or time lags across venues or feeds.
This includes (but is not limited to):
Triangular arbitrage
Statistical arbitrage
Latency arbitrage
Market-making arbitrage
Spatial arbitrage
Pairs arbitrage
Risk arbitrage
Convertible arbitrage
Volatility arbitrage
Dividend arbitrage
Tax arbitrage
Yield curve arbitrage
Any form of arbitrage is prohibited.
Martingale strategy
Martingale increases trade size after losses (often doubling).
Prohibited on LIVE Synthetics, LIVE FX, and Boost+.
Allowed without limits on Power Live.
Martingale often causes:
Exponential growth of open positions.
Rapid drawdown escalation.
Margin exhaustion after a few consecutive losses.
Grid trading
Grid trading is placing multiple positions at fixed/variable price intervals.
It is restricted due to the risk of uncontrolled exposure.
Allowed conditions (LIVE Synthetics, LIVE FX, Boost+)
Max 6 open positions per grid cycle.
Cumulative price deviation from the first entry must stay within 0.3%.
If a new order is executed beyond the allowed range, the account can be flagged. This can lead to trade cancellation, profit disqualification, suspension, or disqualification.
Power Live exception
Power Live: grid trading is allowed without limits.
Maximum Exposure (Margin Usage) — Hard Rule
Applies to (Challenge phase only): LIVE FX, LIVE Synthetics, Boost+.
To prevent over-exposure, the total required margin of all open positions (and pending orders, where applicable) must not exceed 20% of the account Equity at any time.
Additionally, required margin per single symbol must not exceed 10% of Equity.
If either limit is breached, it is treated as a SOFT Rule violation and the Challenge will be restarted (reset to initial balance).
This is not a permanent disqualification.
Definitions
Equity: the real-time account equity including floating P&L.
Balance: is considered the innitial balance of your challenge
Required margin: calculated by the platform/broker for each position/order, based on instrument specifications and leverage.
One-sided betting
One-sided betting is repeatedly trading only one direction without market justification.
Example: continuously buying (or selling) the same instrument regardless of conditions.
This behavior is treated as excessive speculation and can lead to disqualification.
Trading during major macroeconomic events (news trading)
To reduce abusive fills during extreme volatility, trading is restricted around major news.
Applies to: LIVE FX, Boost+, Power Live.
No trading 5 minutes before and after a major macroeconomic release.
Only close orders are allowed in that window.
Major news includes (not limited to):
Central bank interest rate decisions (FOMC, ECB, BoE).
Non-Farm Payroll (NFP).
CPI / inflation releases.
GDP releases.
Employment and labor reports.
Major geopolitical announcements or economic summits.
Major news is any high-impact scheduled event on recognized calendars.
Minimum trade duration (1-minute rule)
Short-duration trading is restricted. This is monitored on your closed trades.
LIVE Synthetics: at least 80% of trades must stay open for ≥ 1 minute.
LIVE FX / Boost+ / Power Live: more than 70% of trades must stay open for ≥ 1 minute.
If your account drops below the minimum threshold, it can be disqualified.
Other prohibited activities
Over-exposure: excessive concentration of risk in one instrument, one direction, or one execution pattern.
Taking advantage of system errors: bugs, price delays, or vulnerabilities (including latency trading).
Use of external or slow data feeds: trading based on delayed feeds or “gap trading”.
Group trading: using multiple connected accounts to manipulate outcomes (including opposite positions).
System manipulation using technology: software, AI, ultra-high-speed trading, or mass order entry designed to abuse platform conditions.
Third-party account management: any person or service trading on your behalf.
Inappropriate position sizing: lot sizes noticeably larger/smaller than your own average.
Account/device sharing: common IPs/devices across different users.
Inconsistent trading patterns: sudden style changes that indicate rule-bypass behavior.
Trades inconsistent with normal market behavior: activity that does not reflect typical market execution or price discovery.
Extremely risky / high-margin strategies: using excessive leverage or risk profiles that endanger account integrity.
Power Live (Direct Funded) — exceptions
Power Live acts as a genuine account with fewer restrictions. These are the explicit exceptions in this program:
Martingale: allowed without limits.
Grid trading: allowed without limits.
Deposit refund: your initial deposit is refunded if you withdraw at least 5% monthly for three times within a six-month period.
Challenges related to synthetic pairs
To improve program sustainability, synthetic pairs have a profit cap of 10% maximum profit per month.
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