Can I place simulated trades during news?

Restrictions for trading during selected news releases apply only to the Standard account type. The Swing account type does not have any restrictions on trading during any news releases.

For Standard type accounts, these restrictions apply only once you start trading on an FTMO Rewards Account. They do not apply during the Evaluation Process.

Evaluation Process

While trading during the Evaluation Process, the restriction does not apply regardless of the account type (Standard account or Swing). You may trade freely during all macroeconomic news releases without any restrictions.

This applies to both products:

• FTMO Challenge: 1-Step — the Evaluation consists of a single phase (FTMO Challenge).
• FTMO Challenge: 2-Step — the Evaluation consists of two phases (FTMO Challenge and Verification).

FTMO Rewards Account

FTMO Verified Prop Traders trading on an FTMO Rewards Account must comply with the following restrictions when trading during selected news releases. An exception applies only to Swing accounts.

This rule applies equally to traders who qualified through FTMO Challenge: 1-Step and FTMO Challenge: 2-Step.

On the targeted instruments, it is not permitted to open or close any trades, including pending orders (such as Stop Loss or Take Profit), within a time window starting 2 minutes before and ending 2 minutes after the release of selected news announcements. Activating or closing pending orders is also considered as opening or closing a trade.

You are allowed to hold open positions on the targeted instruments if they were opened more than 2 minutes before the restricted event. Please note that if a Stop Loss or Take Profit is triggered within the restricted time window, this will also be considered a breach of the Signal Provider Agreement.

Trading on non-targeted instruments is not restricted. For example, during the US NFP release, you may trade EURGBP or AUDNZD; however, you must not open or close trades on USDJPY or GBPUSD within the time window of 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after the NFP release.

The following table lists all restricted events and the affected simulated assets. Additionally, the news releases schedule can also be monitored in our Economic Calendar, where these restricted events are marked with the note “Restricted event“.