What is News Trading Restriction?
A prop firm rule that bans opening or holding positions during the minutes around a high-impact economic news release.
A news trading restriction prohibits opening, closing, or holding positions during a window — typically 2 to 5 minutes before and after — of high-impact news releases such as Non-Farm Payrolls, CPI, FOMC, or central bank rate decisions. The firm's risk team flags these events from an economic calendar in advance.
The reason is execution risk. Liquidity vanishes seconds before a major release, spreads widen, and slippage can exceed any reasonable stop-loss. A position held through Non-Farm Payrolls can move 50-100 pips in seconds — the firm absorbs that risk if the trader is funded, so it filters traders who routinely trade through news.
A breach of the news rule on most firms voids the account regardless of profit. Always cross-check your trading session against the firm's economic calendar before opening a position near major releases. Several firms now allow news trading on specific account variants (FTMO Swing, FundedNext Express) — verify on the firm's rule sheet before assuming it is forbidden.