You may not open or close a position from 30 minutes before to 30 minutes after a scheduled high-impact news release for either currency of the symbol. Doing either inside that hour breaches the rule, and a breach fails the account.
Key takeaways
- The window runs 30 minutes before to 30 minutes after each scheduled high-impact release: one hour in total.
- It covers releases for either currency of the symbol, so a pair has two sets of releases to watch.
- The ban is on opening or closing a position inside the window.
- It applies on the evaluation and on the funded account, on every program.
What the rules page says
The rule appears twice on the trading rules page. In the holding and news table:
| News trading window | 30 minutes | No position may be opened or closed from this many minutes before to this many minutes after a scheduled high-impact release for either currency of the symbol. |
|---|
And in the list of restricted market windows at the bottom of the page, in the same terms: no opening or closing a position from 30 minutes before to 30 minutes after a scheduled high-impact news release for either currency of the symbol.
The site gives no reason for the rule, so we will not invent one. The page does say, in general, that breaching any rule fails the account, with no warnings and no soft strikes.
Reading the rule line by line
The 30 minutes apply on each side. A release at 12:30 UTC closes the window from 12:00 to 13:00 UTC. The 30 minutes are counted from the scheduled time of the release.
Either currency of the symbol. A currency pair has two currencies, and a release for either one sets a window on that pair. A high-impact US release puts a window on EURUSD and on USDJPY. A high-impact euro area release puts one on EURUSD and on EURGBP, but not on USDJPY. On a busy day one pair can have windows from both of its currencies.
Opening or closing. The rule bans both actions inside the window. It does not ban holding: a position opened before the window starts is not a breach just by staying open through it. It cannot be closed until the window ends, though, and a stop-loss or take-profit that fills inside the window closes the position inside the window. If you do not want to sit through the release with a position you cannot close, be flat before the window starts.
Which releases count. The rule covers scheduled high-impact news. The site does not publish a list of the releases it treats as high-impact, or name a calendar it uses. If a release you care about is borderline, open a ticket in the client portal and ask before the day.
How it sits next to the other time rules
The news window is one of several clocks in the rule book, and they overlap on a normal day.
Every position has to be closed before 22:00 UTC, and nothing may be opened or closed between 22:00 and 23:00 UTC while spreads and swaps are recalculated. No position may be held while markets are shut at the weekend. The overnight and weekend holding article has a full timeline of those.
A position with no stop-loss for more than 10 minutes breaches on its own. If you open shortly before a news window and plan to be flat in time, the stop still has to be in place within 10 minutes. The stop-loss rule explains the grace period.
The restricted windows list has one more line that is not a hard ban: trading during periods of extreme low liquidity "may be reviewed if execution is not replicable in live market conditions". That is a review, not an automatic breach, and the site says no more about it.
A worked plan for a release day
Take a €100,000 1-Step Challenge. The target is 5%, €5,000. While you evaluate, the daily loss limit is 5%, €5,000, and the overall limit is 12%, €12,000.
Say a high-impact US release is scheduled for 12:30 UTC and you have a EURUSD position open in the morning.
| Before 12:00 UTC | Open or close | Normal trading under every other rule. |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 to 13:00 UTC | Locked | No opening or closing on EURUSD, or on any other symbol with USD in it. |
| From 13:00 UTC | Open or close | The window has ended. |
If you want to be free to close the morning position, close it before 12:00 UTC. If you keep it, it stays open until 13:00 UTC at least, and its stop-loss and take-profit have to sit where they will not fill during that hour. Leave pending orders out of the hour too. The site does not mention pending orders, and an order that fills at 12:31 is a position opened inside the window.
From 13:00 UTC you trade as normal, with every position closed again before 22:00 UTC.
The cost of sitting out is time, nothing else. No step has a deadline, so an hour away from the chart does not move the €5,000 target. A breach would end the account.
An hour out of the market costs time; a trade inside the window costs the account.
Where this leaves news-based trading
The rule is a ban on opening and closing inside the window, not a ban on reacting to what the news did afterwards. Once the window has closed, the market is open to you under the usual rules.
How you trade after a release is your decision, and we do not give advice on it. The only thing this article can tell you is where the line is. Your account is a Simulated Demo Trading Account, sold as a digital product, and a breach inside the window fails it the same way as any other rule. If it happens in the first step, the options are in what happens when you breach.
Frequently asked questions
Is the news window 30 minutes before and after, or 30 minutes in total?
Before and after. No position may be opened or closed from 30 minutes before to 30 minutes after the release, so the window is one hour long.
Which symbols does a release affect?
Every symbol where the release's currency is either of the two currencies. A US release sets a window on EURUSD, GBPUSD and USDJPY alike.
Which news releases count as high-impact?
The site says "scheduled high-impact news releases" and does not publish a list. If you are unsure about a specific release, open a ticket in the client portal before you trade it.
Does the news rule apply on the funded account?
Yes. It is in the main rule set on the trading rules page, which governs the funded account and also applies during the evaluation.
Can I keep a position open through a release?
The rule bans opening and closing inside the window, not holding. A position opened earlier can stay open, but it cannot be closed until the window ends, and a stop or target that fills inside the window is a close inside the window.
Read the rules, then pick a program
Every rule that can fail an account is published in full before you pay. Three programs, five sizes, an 80% reward and no time limit on any step.