FTMO's News Trading Rule Explained: What 'Gap Trading' Restrictions Actually Mean for Your Account
Every trader who has blown an account during a Non-Farm Payrolls release understands the temptation. The calendar shows 8:30 AM EST. The chart compresses into a tight range. Volatility is about to explode. For some traders, this is the moment they wait for all month. For prop firms, it is the moment they fear most.
The gap between a trader's stop-loss price and their actual fill can exceed daily loss limits in a single tick. A strategy that works beautifully on a personal account can terminate a funded account before the candle closes.
FTMO addresses this risk through a policy called gap trading, listed under Forbidden Trading Practices. The rule is broader than the widely cited two-minute window that appears elsewhere on FTMO's site. It is principle-based rather than clock-based. It applies to some account types and not others. And it interacts with the Best Day Rule in ways that can block a payout even when no explicit breach has occurred.
This article provides a fully researched, education-first breakdown of FTMO's gap trading policy, how it compares to The5ers, FundedNext, and Funding Pips, and what traders must do to stay compliant while trading around high-impact events.
Important operational note: Funding Pips was shut down by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2024 and is no longer operational. The firm is included in this comparison for historical context and educational completeness. Traders should not attempt to purchase evaluations or access Funding Pips accounts. All references to Funding Pips describe its former rules as they existed before closure.
What FTMO's Official Rules Actually Say About News Trading
How Does FTMO Define 'Gap Trading' in Its Forbidden Trading Practices, and What Does It Prohibit?
FTMO's Forbidden Trading Practices page defines gap trading as a high-risk practice that carries potentially unfavourable outcomes if performed in real market conditions due to increased volatility.
The prohibition is written in principle-based language rather than as a specific time window. According to the official page as of September 2026, traders must not perform gap trading by opening simulated trades when major global news, macroeconomic events, or corporate reports or earnings are scheduled and they might affect the relevant financial market.
The rule also prohibits gap trading two hours or less before a relevant financial market is closed for at least two hours.
This language is intentionally broad. It does not specify exact minutes. It does not list every restricted event. It prohibits opening trades during periods when volatility from scheduled events is likely to cause execution gaps.
The principle-based approach gives FTMO discretion to review accounts for gap trading behavior even when no specific clock-based window was violated.
A trader who opens a position thirty seconds before NFP may not breach a two-minute rule, but they may still violate the gap trading prohibition if FTMO determines the trade was opened during a period of scheduled high volatility.
The gap trading rule sits alongside other forbidden practices, including:
- ●Exploiting technical errors
- ●Using slow data feeds
- ●Market manipulation
- ●Overleveraging
- ●One-sided bets
It is classified as a forbidden practice rather than a trading objective, which means a violation can result in account termination, trade removal, forfeiture of rewards, or permanent restriction from the programme. The severity depends on the firm's assessment of intent, pattern, and history.
Does FTMO Name an Exact Time Window, or Is the Restriction Principle-Based?
The gap trading prohibition on the Forbidden Trading Practices page is principle-based. It does not name a specific minute count.
However, FTMO's FAQ page and Trading Objectives section introduce a separate, more specific restriction for Standard funded accounts.
On Standard accounts, it is not permitted to open or close any trades, including the execution of pending orders such as Stop Loss or Take Profit, within a time window starting two minutes before and ending two minutes after the release of selected news announcements.
This two-minute window applies to a published list of restricted events and affected instruments.
The distinction matters.
The gap trading rule is broad and discretionary.
The two-minute window is narrow and mechanical.
A trader who holds a position through NFP without opening or closing anything has not violated the two-minute window. But if the position was opened immediately before the release in a way that exploits expected volatility, FTMO could still classify the behavior as gap trading under the broader principle.
Conversely, a trader who accidentally triggers a take-profit at 8:31 AM during NFP has violated the two-minute window even if the trade was placed hours earlier with no intent to trade the news.
The two-minute window applies only to Standard funded accounts and only to selected events listed on FTMO's Economic Calendar.
The gap trading prohibition applies more broadly and can be invoked for any major news event or market closure, regardless of whether it appears on the published calendar.
Traders who rely solely on the two-minute window as their compliance framework are leaving themselves exposed to the broader gap trading rule.
Evaluation vs. Funded Account: Does the Restriction Apply at Both Stages?
Does FTMO's Gap-Trading Rule Apply During the Challenge/Verification Phases, or Only After Funding?
The two-minute window restriction applies only to funded Standard accounts. It does not apply during the FTMO Challenge, Verification, or one-step evaluation phases.
During evaluation, traders may trade freely during all macroeconomic news releases provided they do not engage in any Forbidden Trading Practices. This means a trader can execute NFP trades during the Challenge without violating the two-minute rule.
However, the gap trading prohibition under Forbidden Trading Practices applies at all account stages.
FTMO's FAQ explicitly states that while trading during the Evaluation Process, the restriction does not apply regardless of account type, provided you do not engage in any Forbidden Trading Practices.
The gap trading rule is a Forbidden Trading Practice.
Therefore, while the two-minute mechanical window is evaluation-exempt, the broader principle against exploiting scheduled volatility is not.
In practice, FTMO rarely enforces the gap trading principle during evaluation unless the behavior is egregious, such as bracketing or straddling news releases. But the legal framework exists to cover all stages.
The Swing account type is exempt from both the two-minute window and the gap trading restrictions related to news events. Swing accounts have no restrictions on trading during news releases.
The trade-off is leverage capped at 1:30 compared to 1:100 on Standard accounts, and Swing is only available for the two-step challenge, not the one-step.
Traders who intend to trade news on funded accounts must select Swing at checkout. Once purchased, the account type cannot be changed.
Why Do Many Third-Party Review Sites Claim Evaluation Is News-Trading-Unrestricted, and Does That Match FTMO's Own Documentation?
Third-party review sites commonly state that FTMO evaluation accounts have no news trading restrictions.
This is partially accurate but potentially misleading.
The two-minute window does not apply during evaluation, which is the specific restriction most sites reference. However, the gap trading prohibition under Forbidden Trading Practices applies universally.
A site that tells traders they can trade news freely during the Challenge without mentioning the gap trading principle is providing incomplete information.
The mismatch between secondary sources and primary documentation creates real risk for traders.
A trader who reads a blog post stating evaluation is unrestricted, then places aggressive bracket orders around NFP, may find their account terminated for gap trading even though they never violated the two-minute window.
The gap between what third-party sites summarize and what FTMO's legal documentation actually prohibits is one of the most common sources of trader confusion in the prop firm industry.
Traders should always verify rules against FTMO's official:
- ●Forbidden Trading Practices page
- ●FAQ
- ●Account Agreement
The official documentation is updated periodically, and secondary sources may reflect outdated rules or oversimplified interpretations.
As of September 2026, FTMO's official position is that evaluation accounts are unrestricted by the two-minute window but remain subject to all Forbidden Trading Practices, including gap trading.
The Best Day Rule and How It Interacts With News-Driven Trading
How Does the 50%-of-Positive-Days'-Profit Best Day Rule Affect a Trader Whose Edge Comes From Event-Driven Setups?
The Best Day Rule applies to FTMO's one-step challenge and one-step funded accounts.
It requires that no single trading day represents more than 50 percent of the total Positive Days' Profit.
Positive Days' Profit is the sum of closed profits from all profitable trading days, with each day beginning at midnight CE(S)T.
The Best Day is the single day with the highest closed profit.
If the Best Day exceeds 50 percent of the Positive Days' Profit total, the rule is not satisfied.
Crucially, exceeding the Best Day limit is not treated as a rule breach. The account is not terminated.
However, the trader cannot pass the evaluation or request a reward until the ratio normalizes.
For example, a trader who captures a large NFP move on Day 3, making $10,000 when their other profitable days total $6,000, has a Best Day representing 62.5 percent of Positive Days' Profit.
They must continue trading and generate additional profitable days until the Best Day falls to 50 percent or less of the new total.
On a $100,000 account with a 10 percent profit target, this effectively forces at least two significant profitable days to pass.
For news traders, this rule creates a structural disadvantage.
A strategy that produces one or two large event-driven profits per month, with small losses or flat days in between, will struggle to satisfy the Best Day Rule.
The trader needs either multiple news events with profitable outcomes or a secondary strategy that generates consistent smaller profits between major releases.
The Best Day Rule is designed to prevent lucky clicks and force consistency, but it also filters out legitimate event-driven strategies that are inherently lumpy in their profit distribution.
The two-step challenge does not have a Best Day Rule.
Traders on the two-step path can pass with a single large profitable day in Phase 1 and another in Phase 2, provided they meet the minimum four trading days per phase.
For news traders, the two-step path may be more suitable than the one-step path because it removes the profit-distribution constraint that the Best Day Rule imposes.
What's the Practical Difference Between a 'Forbidden Practice' (Gap Trading) and a 'Payout Gate' (Best Day Rule) at FTMO?
The distinction between a forbidden practice and a payout gate determines the consequence of non-compliance.
A forbidden practice, such as gap trading, can result in:
- ●Account termination
- ●Trade removal
- ●Forfeiture of rewards
- ●Permanent ban from the program
It is a disciplinary violation.
A payout gate, such as the Best Day Rule, delays progress without punishing the trader. The account remains open. Trading continues. The trader simply cannot pass or withdraw until the condition is met.
This difference shapes trader behavior.
A forbidden practice demands absolute avoidance. There is no margin for error.
A payout gate allows strategic adaptation.
A trader who exceeds the Best Day limit can adjust position sizing on subsequent days to generate smaller, more frequent profits that dilute the Best Day percentage.
The gate creates friction but not failure.
For news traders specifically, the interaction between these two rules creates a dual constraint.
The gap trading prohibition limits when they can trade around events.
The Best Day Rule limits how much of their total profit can come from any single event.
A trader who successfully navigates the gap trading rules but generates 70 percent of their profit from one NFP day will hit the Best Day gate and be forced to keep trading.
The combination means that news trading at FTMO is not just about timing entries around releases. It is about distributing profits across enough days to satisfy the consistency framework.
Why So Many Sources Describe a Specific '2-Minute Rule' — and What's Actually Verifiable
Where Does the Widely-Repeated '2-Minute Before/After' Figure Come From, and Can It Be Confirmed Against FTMO's Current Pages?
The two-minute figure originates from FTMO's FAQ page and Trading Objectives documentation, not from the Forbidden Trading Practices page.
According to the FAQ as of August 2026, on targeted instruments, it is not permitted to open or close any trades, including the execution of pending orders such as Stop Loss or Take Profit, within a time window starting two minutes before and ending two minutes after the release of selected news announcements.
This is a verifiable, published rule with a specific time window and a defined list of restricted events and affected instruments.
The confusion arises because the two-minute window and the gap trading prohibition are separate rules on separate pages.
The two-minute window is a trading objective restriction for Standard funded accounts.
The gap trading prohibition is a forbidden practice that applies more broadly.
Many traders, and many secondary sources, conflate the two into a single news trading rule.
They are not the same.
The two-minute window is clock-based and event-specific.
The gap trading prohibition is principle-based and market-wide.
Traders can verify the two-minute rule directly on FTMO's FAQ page under "Can I trade news?"
The page lists all restricted events and affected simulated assets.
The Economic Calendar on FTMO's site marks restricted events with a specific note.
This is primary source documentation that any trader can access without relying on third-party interpretation.
What Should a Trader Do When Secondary Sources and a Firm's Official Documentation Don't Fully Match?
When secondary sources conflict with official documentation, the official documentation always takes precedence.
Prop firms enforce the rules written in their Terms and Conditions, Account Agreements, and Forbidden Trading Practices pages, not the rules summarized on blogs or forums.
Traders should follow a three-step verification protocol.
Step 1: Read the primary source.
For FTMO, this means the Forbidden Trading Practices page, the FAQ page under "Can I trade news?", the Trading Objectives page, and the Account Agreement.
These documents are publicly available and updated by FTMO.
Step 2: Check the last-modified date.
FTMO's Forbidden Trading Practices page was last updated in February 2026 according to available data. Rules may have changed since a blog post was written.
Step 3: Contact FTMO support directly for clarification on specific scenarios.
Save the response.
Written confirmation from the firm's own support team is the strongest evidence in any dispute.
Traders should also be aware that FTMO maintains separate rule pages for different account types.
The futures program has its own Forbidden Trading Practices page, which includes additional restrictions such as trading within 2 percent of a CME price limit and holding positions past the end of the trading day.
Traders on futures accounts must verify the futures-specific rules, not just the CFD rules.
The principle of primary-source verification applies across all account types and programs.
How FTMO's News Trading Policy Compares to The5ers, FundedNext, and Funding Pips
How Does The5ers Handle News Trading Across Its Bootcamp, High Stakes, Hyper Growth, and Pro Growth Programs, Including Any Program-Specific Restrictions?
The5ers offers the most program-specific news trading architecture in the prop trading industry.
On Bootcamp, Hyper Growth, and Pro Growth, news trading is permitted without a restricted blackout window.
Traders can open, close, and hold positions through NFP, FOMC, CPI, and any other economic release.
The only explicit prohibition is on bracket strategies around high-impact news events, which The5ers defines as placing simultaneous buy-stop and sell-stop orders near price ahead of a release.
This bracketing ban is written into the Terms and Conditions and applies across all programs.
The High Stakes program operates under different rules.
On High Stakes, executing any order, including market orders, pending orders, stop-losses, and take-profits, within two minutes before or after a high-impact news event is prohibited.
Holding an open position through the release is permitted, provided the position was opened before the window begins.
The critical trap is the exit: if a stop-loss or take-profit triggers automatically inside the two-minute window, the trade violates the rule.
The5ers does not publish a definitive list of which events count as high impact, which means traders must treat all red-folder Forex Factory events as restricted or contact support for clarification.
The5ers Futures program, which uses an end-of-day trailing drawdown model, permits news trading without the two-minute restriction that applies to High Stakes.
This creates a meaningful distinction between CFD and futures traders at The5ers.
A trader who wants unrestricted news access can choose the futures program, while a trader who prefers the High Stakes CFD structure must accept the two-minute blackout window.
For traders comparing The5ers to FTMO, the key difference is program-level flexibility.
FTMO offers one challenge structure with two account types: Standard with restrictions and Swing without.
The5ers offers four distinct CFD programs plus futures, each with different news policies.
A trader who wants unrestricted news trading on CFDs can choose Bootcamp or Hyper Growth.
A trader who wants higher leverage and faster scaling can choose High Stakes and accept the news restriction.
A trader who wants futures can access unrestricted news through the EOD trailing program.
This granularity allows traders to match their strategy to their program rather than adapting their strategy to a firm's uniform policy.
Do FundedNext and Funding Pips Restrict News Trading, and How Does Their Approach Differ From FTMO's Gap-Trading Language?
FundedNext takes a different approach from both FTMO and The5ers.
On evaluation accounts, including Stellar one-step, two-step, and Lite models, news trading is fully unrestricted.
On funded CFD accounts, FundedNext applies a five-minute window around listed high-impact events.
Trades executed within five minutes before or after the release on a correlated pair fall under the News Reward Share Rule.
Under this rule, only 40 percent of the profit from those trades counts toward the trader's balance.
Losses count in full.
This creates an asymmetric payoff where winners are haircut and losers are not, making deliberate news strategies mathematically unfavorable over time.
FundedNext Futures accounts operate without news trading restrictions according to publicly available information as of 2026.
The firm explicitly states that FundedNext Futures does not impose any news trading rules, and traders are allowed to engage in news trading during both the Challenge Account and the FundedNext Account.
This distinction between CFD and futures is similar to The5ers' structure, though FundedNext's CFD policy is more punitive than The5ers' Bootcamp or Hyper Growth policies.
In May 2026, FundedNext introduced News Trading Clarity Cards, which display in real time exactly which trades fall within the news window and are subject to the 40 percent split.
This transparency upgrade allows traders to see the impact of news trades before submitting a withdrawal request, addressing a common source of trader frustration.
Funding Pips is no longer operational.
The firm was shut down by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2024.
Before its closure, Funding Pips operated one of the strictest news trading policies in the industry.
Deliberate news trading was prohibited even during the evaluation phase and could lead to account closure.
On Master accounts, any trade opened or closed within five minutes of a red-folder event had its full profit deducted unless the trade had been open for five or more hours before the release.
The Zero model imposed a hard breach for news trading violations.
For educational purposes, Funding Pips serves as a cautionary example of how excessive restriction, combined with operational instability, can create unsustainable trading conditions.
No trader should attempt to access Funding Pips accounts in 2026.
News Trading Policy Comparison
| Firm | Evaluation Policy | Funded Account Policy | Key Restriction | Exceptions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FTMO | Unrestricted (2-min window does not apply) | Standard: 2-min window on selected events | Gap trading principle + 2-min mechanical rule | Swing account: no restrictions |
| The5ers Bootcamp | Allowed (bracket ban only) | Allowed (bracket ban only) | Bracket strategies prohibited | None |
| The5ers High Stakes | 2-min window on high-impact news | 2-min window on high-impact news | No orders within 2 min of news | Futures program unrestricted |
| FundedNext CFD | Unrestricted | 5-min window; 40% profit split rule | Only 40% of news profit counts | Futures: no restrictions |
| Funding Pips (Closed) | Prohibited (historical) | N/A - Firm Closed | Hard breach for news trading | N/A |
Practical Guardrails for Trading News Under FTMO's Rules
What Should a Trader Do Before Taking a Position Around a Scheduled High-Impact Release on an FTMO Account?
Before any high-impact release, traders on FTMO Standard accounts should follow a pre-event checklist.
1. Verify the event.
Check whether the event appears on FTMO's restricted events list.
The Economic Calendar marks restricted events with a specific note.
If the event is restricted, identify whether your instrument is affected.
During a USD event such as NFP, EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, and all other USD-denominated pairs are restricted.
EUR/GBP, AUD/NZD, and other non-USD pairs are not.
2. Remove or adjust pending orders.
Remove or adjust all pending orders, stop-losses, and take-profits on affected instruments before the two-minute window begins.
Automatic order triggers count as execution.
A take-profit set at 8:15 AM that fires at 8:31 AM during NFP violates the two-minute rule even though the order was placed well before the event.
The only safe approach is to cancel pending orders and widen or remove brackets before the window opens.
3. Understand the risk of holding positions.
If you hold an open position through the release, ensure it was opened more than two minutes before the event.
FTMO explicitly allows holding open positions through restricted events provided they were opened before the window.
The risk is that your stop-loss or take-profit may trigger automatically during the window, which constitutes a breach.
Consider manually monitoring the position during the release or accepting the risk of a wider stop that will not trigger within the four-minute window.
4. Document your trades.
Screenshot your platform showing:
- ●Order placement times
- ●Position open times
- ●Automatic triggers
If a dispute arises, timestamped evidence strengthens your position.
5. Review the gap trading principle separately.
Even if your trade complies with the clock-based rule, ask whether the trade was opened during a period of scheduled high volatility with the intent to exploit gap risk.
If the answer is yes, reconsider the trade regardless of the two-minute boundary.
How Can a Trader Verify Current Rule Specifics Directly With FTMO Before Relying on a Blog's Summary?
The most reliable method is direct contact with FTMO support.
Submit a ticket through the FTMO website with a specific scenario.
For example:
I hold a long position on EUR/USD opened at 7:00 AM. NFP is scheduled for 8:30 AM. My stop-loss is at 1.0840. If price hits my stop at 8:31 AM, does this violate the two-minute rule?
Save the response.
Written confirmation from the firm's own support team is the strongest evidence in any dispute.
Traders should also bookmark the official rule pages and check them before each challenge purchase.
The three primary sources are:
- ●Forbidden Trading Practices
- ●FAQ under "Can I trade news?"
- ●Trading Objectives
Check the last-modified date on each page.
If a blog post was written in 2024 and the official page was updated in 2026, the official page governs.
Finally, test compliance on a small evaluation account before deploying significant capital.
Place a small trade inside a suspected news window on a $10,000 evaluation and observe whether FTMO flags it.
The cost of a small evaluation is minimal compared to the cost of breaching a funded account.
This empirical verification is especially important for traders who trade around events regularly and need certainty about where the boundary lies.
Summary and Key Takeaways for Traders Navigating FTMO's News Trading Rules
FTMO's news trading policy is more nuanced than the widely cited two-minute rule suggests.
The firm operates two parallel frameworks:
- ●A principle-based gap trading prohibition under Forbidden Trading Practices
- ●A mechanical two-minute window under Trading Objectives for Standard funded accounts
The gap trading rule is broad, discretionary, and applies at all stages.
The two-minute window is narrow, specific, and applies only to Standard funded accounts during selected events.
Traders who specialize in event-driven strategies face additional constraints from the Best Day Rule on one-step accounts, which limits how much of total profit can come from a single day.
The two-step path removes this constraint but adds a second evaluation phase.
The Swing account removes all news restrictions but caps leverage at 1:30 and must be selected at checkout.
Each path involves trade-offs that traders must evaluate against their specific strategy.
Compared to The5ers, FTMO offers less program-level flexibility.
The5ers permits unrestricted news trading on Bootcamp, Hyper Growth, and Pro Growth, with restrictions only on High Stakes and bracket strategies.
FundedNext allows news trading on funded CFD accounts but applies a 40 percent profit haircut within a five-minute window, making deliberate news strategies less attractive.
Funding Pips is closed and serves as a historical caution.
The practical framework for traders is clear:
- ●Verify rules against FTMO's official Forbidden Trading Practices page, FAQ, and Trading Objectives, not against blog summaries.
- ●Distinguish between the gap trading principle and the two-minute window.
- ●Remove all pending orders before restricted events.
- ●Document trades for dispute evidence.
- ●Test compliance on small evaluations before committing significant capital.
The traders who survive are not those who find loopholes in the rules.
They are those who understand the rules deeply enough to build strategies that comply by design.
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