Trading Objectives & Rules

Alpha Capital Group Rules Architecture

Alpha Capital Group maintains transparent operational guidelines, but specific execution rules differentiate its programs. The most common pitfall for funded analysts is confusing Alpha Pro intraday restrictions with Alpha Swing permissions.

Rule / Parameter	Alpha Pro (Funded)	Alpha Swing (Funded)	Alpha One (Funded)
Weekend Holding	❌ Strictly Prohibited (Close Fri 21:00 UTC)	✅ Fully Permitted	❌ Strictly Prohibited
News Trading Window	❌ Restricted (±2 mins)	✅ Fully Permitted	❌ Restricted (±2 mins)
3x Position Scaling	Active (Max 3x Initial Lot)	Active (Max 3x Initial Lot)	Active (Max 3x Initial Lot)
Martingale / Grid	❌ Prohibited	❌ Prohibited	❌ Prohibited
Stop-Loss Mandate	Recommended	Recommended	Recommended
Inactivity Window	30 Calendar Days	30 Calendar Days	30 Calendar Days
Max Allocation Cap	$2,000,000	$2,000,000	$2,000,000

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Critical Hidden Rules & Execution Constraints

1. The Friday 21:00 UTC Weekend Closure Trap (Alpha Pro)

One of the most frequent surprises for new Qualified Analysts is the weekend holding policy on Alpha Pro accounts:

• Mandatory Friday Liquidation: On Alpha Pro funded accounts, all open positions and pending orders must be completely closed before 21:00 UTC on Friday.
• Automated Soft Breach: If a trader leaves an order open past 21:00 UTC, the ACG risk engine will automatically close the position at current market prices. While this soft breach does not immediately revoke your funded account, any resulting weekend gap slippage is charged to your account equity.
• The Swing Alternative: If your strategy requires holding multi-day swing positions across Saturday and Sunday, you must register for the Alpha Swing account, which officially permits weekend holding in exchange for 1:30 leverage.

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2. The 3x Position Scaling Limit (Anti-Martingale Rule)

Alpha Capital enforces a specific mathematical ceiling on position sizing to prevent revenge-trading and unchecked martingale scaling:

• The Rule: You cannot scale into an active position by more than 3 times the initial lot size.
• Practical Application:
  • Initial Position: 1.0 standard lot.
  • Allowed Additional Scaling: Up to 3.0 standard lots total.
  • Maximum Aggregated Exposure on that Trade: 4.0 standard lots.
• Violations: Opening an initial 1.0 lot position and subsequently stacking 5.0 or 10.0 lots as the trade moves into floating drawdown violates the rule and triggers risk desk intervention.

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3. News Trading Window on Alpha Pro Accounts

On Qualified Funded accounts under the Alpha Pro track:

• Restricted Window: 2 minutes prior to 2 minutes after high-impact (red folder) macroeconomic announcements (e.g., US Non-Farm Payrolls, CPI, FOMC rate announcements).
• Enforcement: Opening market orders or having limit/stop orders fill within this 4-minute window is prohibited.
• Profit Forfeiture: Profits generated from orders executed within the news window are removed from the account upon payout request.

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4. 30-Day Account Inactivity Expiration

To prevent abandoned accounts from consuming server license capacity:

• Any account that records zero trades for 30 consecutive calendar days is permanently expired.
• Placing a single trade of any size (such as 0.01 lot) within any 30-day window resets the dormancy counter.

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5. Prohibited Algorithmic Strategies & Risk Limits

Alpha Capital permits Expert Advisors for trade execution, position management, and risk monitoring. However, the following tactics and parameter breaches result in immediate termination:

• Drawdown Limit Enforcement: Accounts must strictly observe the 5% static daily loss limit ($5,000 on a $100,000 account) and 10% static maximum drawdown ($10,000 maximum loss floor at $90,000).
• Consistency Score Rule: To unlock on-demand payouts, traders must maintain a 40% consistency score, ensuring no single trading day contributes more than 40% of total cumulative net profit.
• High-Frequency Trading (HFT): Sub-second order submission to exploit feed latency.
• Latency Arbitrage: Cross-broker price arbitrage exploiting ACG Markets price quotation buffers.
• Reverse Hedging / Cross-Account Arbitrage: Opposing positions across multiple evaluation accounts to guarantee passing on one account.
• Public Commercial EAs: Deploying black-box commercial EAs that execute identical trades simultaneously with hundreds of other prop traders.