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News trading rules at prop firms

Updated October 19, 2026. PropFirmNerd editorial team

News releases like CPI, NFP and FOMC move markets in seconds, and prop firms handle them very differently. Some let you trade straight through. Others close your positions for you or remove profits made around the release. Most only restrict news once you are funded, not in the evaluation.

The three things to check

Which stage. FTMO, Alpha Futures, MyFundedFutures, Funded Futures Network, E8 One, Blue Guardian and FundedNext only restrict news on funded accounts.
The window. 5 minutes before and after is the most common (Alpha Capital Group, Aqua Funded, Blue Guardian, BrightFunded, E8 One, FundedNext, FundingPips Master, Funding Traders, Goat, Hola Prime). 2 minutes is next (Alpha Futures, Blueberry Funded, FTMO, FunderPro, Maven, MyFundedFutures, TradeDay, The5ers High Stakes). Take Profit Trader and Funded Futures Network use 1 minute; FundingPips Zero uses 10.
The penalty. It ranges from losing some profit to losing the account.

Firm by firm

Firm	Rule	Penalty
Alpha Capital Group	Free in evaluations. Funded accounts: no opening or closing trades on the affected instrument from 5 minutes before to 5 minutes after the release; speeches are restricted for their whole length plus 5 minutes.	Per terms
Alpha Futures	Free in evaluations and Advanced. On Standard, Zero and Direct funded accounts, no orders from 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after high-impact news on the traded asset.	Profits voided; first time a warning, then a breach
Apex Trader Funding	Allowed as part of a normal strategy. Orders on both sides to gamble on the outcome are banned.	Not a time-window rule
Aqua Funded	Allowed on accounts bought from April 27, 2026, but profit from trades opened or closed within 5 minutes of red-folder news or FOMC is capped at 0.5% of the starting balance per payout cycle.	Excess profit removed, no breach
Blue Guardian	Free in challenges. Funded: no opening or closing trades from 5 minutes before to 5 minutes after high-impact news and FOMC.	Profits may be removed, no breach
Blueberry Funded	All accounts: no opening or closing trades from 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after high-impact news. Flex 1-Step uses a 5-minute window.	Flex: strikes (profit removed, split cut to 60%, then closure)
BrightFunded	Free in both evaluation phases. Funded: no order executions from 5 minutes before to 5 minutes after significant news on the affected instruments.	Profit deducted, account not failed
Bulenox	Allowed, including CPI, FOMC and NFP, with no blackout windows.	None
E8 Markets	Free on E8 Signature and E8 Pro. E8 One: free in the challenge; in the Performance account, no trades from 5 minutes before to 5 minutes after high-impact news.	Profits may be removed
Earn2Trade	No restrictions around economic announcements.	None
FTMO	Free in Challenge, Verification and Swing. Standard funded accounts: no order execution from 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after selected high-impact news on affected instruments.	May result in termination
Funded Futures Network	Free in evaluation only. Funded accounts must be flat from 1 minute before to 1 minute after Tier 1 US events (CPI, FOMC, NFP, GDP).	Immediate liquidation, profits forfeited
FundedNext	Free in challenges. Funded: profitable trades within 5 minutes of high-impact news on a related pair count at only 40%.	Profit counted at 40%; losses count in full
FunderPro	Free in all challenge phases. Funded: no new trades from 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after high-impact news, unless the account has the Swing add-on.	Per terms
Funding Traders	Free in challenges. 1-Step and 2-Step funded: trades within 5 minutes of high-impact news may make up at most 30% of total profit. Instant: no trading within 5 minutes of the release (one of its pages says 10).	Payout delayed (1-Step, 2-Step); termination (Instant)
FundingPips	Evaluation: holding through news is fine, deliberately trading it is not. Master: trades within 5 minutes of restricted news lose their profit. Zero Master: no activity within 10 minutes.	Profit deducted (Master); account closed (Zero, evaluation)
FXIFY	We could not find a published news rule on FXIFY's pages.	Ask FXIFY before trading news
Goat Funded Trader	Trades opened or closed within 5 minutes of high-impact news can make at most 1% of the starting balance.	Excess profit removed, no breach
Hola Prime	Allowed in all challenges and on Forex Prime and futures funded accounts. Forex 2-Step Pro and Direct funded: no trading from 5 minutes before to 5 minutes after high-impact news.	Per terms
Lucid Trading	Allowed on LucidFlex, LucidPro and LucidDirect. On LucidDaily, trading red-folder news is a hard breach.	Hard breach (LucidDaily only)
Maven Trading	Standard 1, 2 and 3 Step: no opening or closing trades from 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after red-folder news. Instant accounts have no news rule.	Hard breach in the challenge
MyFundedFutures	Free in all evaluations and on Builder. Rapid and Pro funded: flat from 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after Tier 1 releases, including FOMC minutes.	Not stated
Phidias	Allowed on all accounts.	None
Take Profit Trader	PRO accounts: flat from 1 minute before to 1 minute after FOMC statements, NFP and CPI. Fed speakers and FOMC minutes are allowed.	Not stated
The5ers	High Stakes: no trading from 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after high-impact news. All programs: no bracketing orders around news.	Per terms
Top One Futures	Allowed.	None
Topstep	Allowed, but you may not purposely trade your full maximum position size into a scheduled major news event.	Prohibited strategy
TradeDay	TradeDay closes open positions 2 minutes before Tier 1 releases (FOMC, CPI, NFP; EIA and crop reports for those markets) and reopens 2 minutes after.	Accidental trades not failed; abuse loses the account
Tradeify	No rules against trading news.	None

From each firm's own rules pages, checked October 19, 2026.

Not every "FOMC" is the same

Event lists differ. MyFundedFutures restricts FOMC minutes as well as the rate decision. Take Profit Trader explicitly allows FOMC minutes and Fed speakers. Firms also point to different calendars: Alpha Futures names ForexFactory, Goat names ForexFactory or Myfxbook, and FTMO, E8, FundingPips, MyFundedFutures and TradeDay publish their own. Use the calendar your firm names, not a general one.

If you trade news

Shortlist firms that allow it on funded accounts: Bulenox, Earn2Trade, Lucid (not LucidDaily), Phidias, Top One Futures and Tradeify on futures, plus Apex and Topstep with the limits in the table; on forex, Hola Prime's Prime accounts.
If your firm has a window, set an alarm a few minutes before the window starts, so you are flat in time. Some firms count pending orders and stop-losses as activity.
Remember that slippage around news can hit your drawdown even where news is allowed. See trailing drawdown explained.

Sources

Checked October 19, 2026.

Questions traders ask

Which prop firms allow news trading?

Among the firms we checked, Apex, Bulenox, Earn2Trade, Lucid (except LucidDaily), Phidias, Top One Futures and Tradeify allow it on funded accounts without a time window. Many others allow it in the evaluation but restrict it once you are funded.

What is the usual news blackout window?

Among the 29 firms we checked, 5 minutes before and after the release is the most common window, followed by 2 minutes. A few firms use 1 or 10 minutes.

What happens if I trade news when it's not allowed?

It depends on the firm: removed profits (Blue Guardian, Goat), profits counted at 40% (FundedNext), a warning and then a breach (Alpha Futures), automatic liquidation (TradeDay), or immediate liquidation with forfeited profits (Funded Futures Network).