FTMO News Trading Rules Explained (2026 Updated Guide)
There is no feeling quite as devastating in the prop firm industry as passing a grueling evaluation, securing a 5,000 over two weeks, and then waking up to an email stating your account has been permanently terminated for a "News Rule Violation."
This exact scenario happens to hundreds of FTMO traders every single month.
FTMO is arguably the most trusted, reliable, and consistent proprietary trading firm on the planet in 2026. However, their strict adherence to risk management means they possess zero tolerance for what they classify as "gambling" on macroeconomic data releases.
If you are trading an FTMO account, ignorance of their news rules is not an excuse. In this exhaustive, 2000-word technical guide, we will dissect FTMO’s restricted news trading window down to the exact second. We will explain exactly which economic events will trigger a ban, how pending orders factor into the equation, and the one specific account type you must choose if your strategy relies on news volatility.
1. What Exactly is the FTMO News Trading Rule?
The FTMO news rule is actually highly specific and mechanical. It is not a vague guideline; it is an automated, zero-tolerance server-side parameter.
The 4-Minute Danger Zone
If you are trading an FTMO Normal Account, you are strictly prohibited from executing any new trade or closing any existing trade on a specifically targeted instrument within a window of 2 minutes before until 2 minutes after the release of a restricted macroeconomic news event.
This creates a total restriction window of exactly 4 minutes.
Let us look at a practical example: Suppose the US Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) report is scheduled to be released at exactly 8:30:00 AM Eastern Time.
- The restricted window begins at 8:28:00 AM.
- The restricted window ends at 8:32:00 AM.
During this 4-minute window, you absolutely cannot:
- Click "Buy" or "Sell" manually.
- Have an Expert Advisor (EA/Bot) open a new position.
- Manually close an existing floating position (even if it is in massive profit).
- Have a pending limit or stop order triggered.
If any of these 4 actions occur during those 240 seconds, your account will flag a hard violation. If you are on an evaluation (Phase 1 or Phase 2), you fail. If you are on an FTMO Account (Live), you lose the account and all pending profits.
2. Does This Rule Apply to the Evaluation Phase?
This is where the vast majority of confusion lies, leading to lethal mistakes.
During the FTMO Challenge (Phase 1) and Verification (Phase 2): You ARE allowed to trade the news. FTMO does not enforce the 2-minute restricted window during your evaluation phases on any account type. You can gamble your entire $100k demo balance on a CPI print if you choose to (provided you do not hit your 5% daily drawdown).
During the FTMO Account (The Live/Funded Phase): The moment you receive your real, funded account credentials, the news rule activates instantly.
This creates a dangerous psychological trap. Traders spend a month passing their evaluation by aggressively trading news events like FOMC because there is no penalty. When they get their funded account, muscle memory takes over. They attempt the exact same NFP strategy they used to pass Phase 1, and their Live Account is instantly terminated.
You must trade the evaluation phase exactly as you intend to trade the live phase to build the correct habits.
3. Which News Events Trigger the Rule?
FTMO does not prohibit trading during all news. A Yellow (Low Impact) or Orange (Medium Impact) folder on ForexFactory will not trigger a violation.
FTMO exclusively restricts trading around Tier 1 Macroeconomic Data Releases relevant to the currency pair you are actively holding.
The Restricted Calendar
FTMO provides their own real-time economic calendar on their dashboard. You must use their calendar, not a third-party site, as FTMO’s server algorithms are tied directly to the flags on their proprietary calendar.
The most common restricted events include:
- USA (USD): Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP), Core CPI, FOMC Rate Decisions/Press Conferences, Advance GDP.
- Eurozone (EUR): ECB Interest Rate Decisions, ECB Press Conferences.
- UK (GBP): BOE Rate Decisions, CPI.
- Canada (CAD): BOC Rate Decisions, Employment Change.
- Australia (AUD): RBA Rate Decisions, CPI.
The Currency Correlation Trap
This is a critical nuance that catches many professional traders off guard. The restriction applies not just to the direct currency, but to any instrument correlated with the event.
Example 1: If the US Federal Reserve (FOMC) is releasing an interest rate decision (a USD-restricted event), you obviously cannot trade EURUSD, GBPUSD, or USDJPY during the 4-minute window.
Example 2 (The Trap): However, the USD restriction also applies to XAUUSD (Gold), US30, NAS100, and SPX500. Because Gold and US indices are priced in US Dollars, they are heavily impacted by USD macroeconomic data. If you open a Gold trade during an FOMC press conference, you will be violated for breaking the USD news rule.
If there is a GBP (British Pound) restricted event, you cannot trade GBPJPY, EURGBP, or the UK100 index. If you trade EURUSD during a GBP event, you are perfectly safe, because neither the Euro nor the Dollar is the primary target of the UK data release.
4. The Exceptions: What Are You Allowed to Do?
FTMO is strict, but they are not unreasonable. They understand that holding trades through news is sometimes necessary for medium-term strategies.
Exception 1: Holding Trades Through the News
If you opened a EURUSD trade at 4:00 AM, and the US CPI data drops at 8:30 AM, you are allowed to hold that trade through the news release. The restriction only prohibits executing new trades or closing old ones within the 4-minute window. Simply riding out the volatility with an existing trade is perfectly legal (provided the volatility doesn't hit your daily drawdown limit).
Exception 2: Stop Loss and Take Profit Triggers
If you have an existing trade open, and the violent volatility of the news release triggers your already-established Stop Loss (SL) or Take Profit (TP) within the 4-minute window, you will not be penalized. FTMO’s system recognizes that a triggered SL/TP is a passive market event, not an active decision you made during the restricted window.
The Golden Rule for Stop Losses: Your SL or TP must have been placed before the restricted window began. You cannot modify your SL or TP during the 4 minutes.
5. The Limit Order Trap: A Guaranteed Violation
This is perhaps the most brutal way to lose an FTMO account.
Many traders use "Breakout Strategies" for NFP. They will place a Buy Stop order 20 pips above the current price, and a Sell Stop order 20 pips below, hoping the news volatility triggers one of the orders and rides the momentum.
On an FTMO Normal Account, this is a violation. If a pending order (Buy Limit, Sell Limit, Buy Stop, Sell Stop) is triggered and activates a live trade during the 2-minute before / 2-minute after window, it counts as executing a new trade. Your account will be terminated.
If you have pending orders sitting on your chart, and a major macroeconomic event is approaching, you must delete those pending orders before the restricted window begins, or move them so far away from the current price that the news spike cannot possibly trigger them.
6. The Ultimate Solution: The FTMO Swing Account
If reading this guide has caused you immense anxiety, there is a very simple solution provided by FTMO themselves.
When you purchase a challenge, FTMO forces you to choose an account type: Normal or Swing.
The FTMO Swing Account Mechanics
If you select the FTMO Swing Account, the news trading rule does not exist.
You can trade NFP. You can execute pending orders during CPI. You can scalp FOMC. You can hold trades over the weekend. There are zero restrictions on when you can click buy or sell.
The Trade-Off: Leverage Reduction FTMO does not offer this freedom for free. By choosing the Swing Account, you are accepting significantly lower leverage.
- FTMO Normal Leverage (Forex): 1:100
- FTMO Swing Leverage (Forex): 1:30
- FTMO Swing Leverage (Metals like Gold): 1:10
- FTMO Swing Leverage (Indices): 1:10
Is the Swing Account Worth It?
For 90% of retail traders, yes. Most traders fail prop firm challenges not because they lacked leverage, but because they broke a rule or hit the daily drawdown.
At 1:30 leverage on a 3,000,000 of buying power. Utilizing 1% risk per trade with a 20-pip stop loss is still entirely mathematically possible on 1:30 leverage. Unless you are an extreme high-frequency scalper trying to open 20 standard lots at once, the 1:30 leverage restriction will not hinder your strategy.
The peace of mind that comes with knowing you will never lose your funded account because you forgot about a Canadian employment report is worth the leverage reduction.
7. How to Survive the Normal Account (If You Must)
If you are a scalper and absolutely require the 1:100 leverage of the Normal Account, you must implement a militaristic operational procedure to protect yourself.
Step 1: Set Alarms Every Morning Before you open a single chart, open the FTMO Economic Calendar. Identify every restricted event for the day. Set an alarm on your phone for 10 minutes before the event.
Step 2: The 5-Minute Flatten When your 10-minute alarm rings, begin evaluating your active trades. If you are holding a correlated asset, either move your stop loss to breakeven or close the trade manually. Ensure your book is completely flat (or safely secured with passive SL/TPs) at least 5 minutes before the data release.
Step 3: Delete Pending Orders Manually scan your MetaTrader terminal for any pending Limit or Stop orders on correlated pairs. Delete them.
Step 4: Step Away from the Terminal During the 4-minute restricted window, take your hands off the mouse. Do not watch the 1-minute chart. The psychological lure of a massive 50-pip green candle is severe, and the urge to "just catch a piece of it" has ended thousands of careers.
8. Conclusion: Respecting the Institution
FTMO is not attempting to trick you into failing. They created the news trading rules because true institutional liquidity vanishes during macroeconomic events. If FTMO allowed thousands of funded traders to aggressively bracket NFP releases with 1:100 leverage, the resulting slippage and negative balances would mathematically bankrupt the firm.
They enforce the rule to protect their capital, and by extension, to ensure they remain solvent enough to pay out the traders who follow the rules.
If your strategy is statistically sound, you do not need the artificial, gambling-adjacent volatility of a CPI release to make your 10% target. You can extract your alpha during standard London and New York overlaps.
Decide what kind of trader you are. If you want the thrill of news volatility, sacrifice the leverage and purchase the Swing Account. If you want maximum leverage, accept the discipline required to sit on your hands during the red folders. Master the rules, and the payouts will follow.
PropFirmCircle Team
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