Instant Funding Prohibited Practices — What the Rules Mean and How Reviews Work

To maintain a fair and transparent trading environment, certain strategies and behaviours are strictly prohibited.

Any violation may result in:

📌 Please read this first

The examples in this article explain how rules may be applied. They are not trading advice or pre-approval of a strategy.

Support can explain the published rules and submit eligible cases for review, but cannot recommend lot sizes, risk percentages, or a method for passing a challenge.

A green dashboard or completed profit target does not automatically confirm payout approval. Final payout review also checks compliance with prohibited trading practices.

The Dealing Team reviews the complete trading history and context. A single trade should not be viewed in isolation.

Find the section that answers your question:

The dashboard tracks account objectives and loss limits. It does not replace the final compliance review.

At payout, the Dealing Team may review individual trades, complete trade sequences, risk changes, floating drawdown, trade duration, and activity across related accounts.

A review may also be requested by the trader. Support will collect the account details and explain the next step, but the final decision remains with the Dealing Team.

Depending on the finding and account terms, an outcome may include profit adjustment, payout rejection, account suspension, account breach, or removal from the program.

The Dealing Team may refer to:

💡 Why ticket and position IDs can look different

A platform ticket may be linked to a server-side position ID. Support or the Dealing Team may reference either identifier when explaining the same trade or trade sequence.

What this means: Using price differences, delays, or technical inefficiencies to obtain an execution advantage is not permitted.

This includes:

❓ Common question: What if the price on another platform was different?

Normal price differences can occur between providers, but deliberately trading to exploit a mismatch, delay, or infrastructure limitation is prohibited.

What may be reviewed: Execution timing, price-feed differences, platform activity, and repeated patterns.

Possible outcome: Profits may be adjusted, a payout may be rejected, or the account may be breached.

What this means: Ultra-fast execution intended to capture very small price movements within milliseconds is not permitted.

This includes:

❓ Common question: Is every short trade considered high frequency trading?

No single factor decides the outcome. The Dealing Team reviews speed, frequency, purpose, and the full pattern. The separate two-minute rule still applies to every position.

What may be reviewed: Execution speed, number of trades, repeated duration, use of an expert advisor and trade pattern.

Possible outcome: Profits may be adjusted, a payout may be rejected, or the account may be breached.

What this means: Any trade opened or closed within five minutes before or after a high-impact news release will be deducted at payout. Placing opposing pending orders around price immediately before major news to capture movement in either direction is prohibited.

This includes:

❓ Common question: Is all news trading prohibited?

Directional discretionary news trading may be permitted outside the restricted five-minute window, but structured buy-and-sell bracketing is not. Traders remain responsible for all other account rules during volatile conditions.

❓ Common question: Can a trade opened earlier remain open during news?

Follow the published five-minute rule and the official red-folder calendar. If you are unsure whether a specific position may remain open through a release, contact Support with the event and symbol before the release rather than relying on an assumption.

What may be reviewed: News-event time, entry and close timestamps, pending-order structure, order direction, and whether the setup was structured to capture either direction.

Possible outcome: Affected profit may be deducted at payout, and profits may be adjusted, a payout may be rejected, or the account may be breached.

What this means: Increasing position size or total risk after a loss in an attempt to recover previous losses is not permitted.

This includes:

❓ Common question: I only increased my lot size once. Is that automatically martingale?

A single size change is not explained in isolation. The Dealing Team reviews the order of trades, previous losses, timing, exposure, and whether the increase formed part of a recovery pattern. Support cannot pre-approve a sizing method.

What may be reviewed: The sequence of wins and losses, lot-size changes, amount risked changes, timing, and total exposure.

Possible outcome: Profits may be adjusted, a payout may be rejected, or the account may be breached.

What this means: Placing multiple layered orders at fixed price intervals without a clear directional basis is prohibited.

This includes:

❓ Common question: Are multiple entries always prohibited?

Multiple entries are not judged only by their number. The Dealing Team reviews the spacing, purpose, direction, timing, and risk structure. This is separate from the excessive risk rule. Support cannot approve a proposed entry plan in advance.

What may be reviewed: Order spacing, layering, direction, timing, and total risk.

Possible outcome: Profits may be adjusted, a payout may be rejected, or the account may be breached.

What this means: Opening additional positions on the same asset while an existing position or sequence is in drawdown is not permitted. This applies within one account and across multiple Traderscale accounts.

This includes:

Traders have two minutes or entry within five pips to add a new position for scaling.

❓ Common question: I'm scaling my positions, why have I been breached?

Scaling in is not judged by its name but by what the trading history shows. If additional positions were opened on the same asset while an earlier position or sequence was in floating loss, the review may classify this as drawdown recovery regardless of whether it was part of a planned entry method. The Dealing Team considers the account state at the moment each position was added, including floating PnL, combined exposure, lot sizes, and timing. Support cannot pre-approve a scaling or entry method.

What may be reviewed: Open-position PnL, account equity, entry timing, symbol, direction, combined size, and activity on other accounts.

Possible outcome: The sequence may result in profit adjustment, payout rejection, or account breach.

Traders must not distribute, transfer, or offset risk across multiple TraderScale accounts in a way that circumvents the intended account allocation or loss limits.

This includes:

What this means: Profiting from a known or apparent technical issue, pricing error, feed delay, or platform malfunction is prohibited.

This includes:

❓ Common question: What should I do if I notice a platform or price issue?

Stop trading the affected instrument and contact Support with a screenshot, time, symbol, and account number. Do not attempt to take advantage of the issue.

What may be reviewed: Platform logs, price feed, execution records, and the trader's activity after the issue became apparent.

Possible outcome: Affected profits may be removed and further enforcement may apply.

What this means: Each account must be traded independently by the registered trader. Coordinated or mirrored execution is not permitted.

This includes:

❓ Common question: Can I copy trades from my own main account or trade the same setup as another person?

Traderscale accounts must be traded manually and independently by the registered trader. Mirrored trading of accounts under one Traderscale user is prohibited without the use of a trade copier and within the rest of the platform rules.

What may be reviewed: Matching symbols, directions, entry times, exits, lot sizes, and repeated patterns across accounts.

Possible outcome: Profits may be adjusted, payout may be rejected, or accounts may be breached.

What this means: Repeated unbalanced directional exposure without controlled risk or a consistent trading rationale may be reviewed as speculative behaviour.

This includes:

❓ Common question: Does Traderscale require a specific strategy?

No specific strategy is recommended. However, trading must show controlled risk and must not rely on reckless or purely chance-based exposure. Support cannot assess or pre-approve a strategy before it is traded.

What may be reviewed: Consistency of risk, repeated directional exposure, trade rationale visible from the pattern, and overall account behaviour.

Possible outcome: The account or payout may be affected if the behaviour is considered structurally unsound.

What this means: Expert Advisors, bots, scripts, automated execution tools, and systems that automatically place or manage trades are prohibited.

This includes:

❓ Common question: Can I use a tool only for trade management?

If the tool places, changes, closes, or manages trades automatically, it falls within this restriction. All trading must be manually executed by the registered trader.

What may be reviewed: Platform logs, order timing, repeated execution patterns, and software-linked activity.

Possible outcome: The account or payout may be affected.

What this means: Entering and exiting within seconds to capture minimal price movement is prohibited. Every position must be held for at least two minutes.

This includes:

❓ Common question: If one trade closes in less than two minutes, is the whole account automatically breached?

Profit from trades below two minutes will be removed and will affect payout share. The final outcome depends on the account terms, trade result, frequency, and the complete review. If profits below two minutes exceed the payout share, your payout will be rejected and your account will be reset with a 7 day delay before the next eligible payout window.

What may be reviewed: Server entry and close times, trade result, frequency, and repeated duration pattern.

Possible outcome: Profit may be removed and payout may be rejected; further action may apply depending on the finding.

What this means: Opening opposing positions on the same instrument at the same time, including across multiple accounts, is prohibited when used to offset exposure or exploit pricing inefficiencies.

This includes:

❓ Common question: What if the buy and sell positions were opened only a few minutes apart?

The review considers overlap, purpose, timing, instruments, and account activity. It is not limited to positions opened in the exact same second.

What may be reviewed: Direction, entry and close times, overlap, exposure, and activity across accounts.

Possible outcome: Profits may be adjusted, payout may be rejected, or the account may be breached.

What this means: Deliberately using the full daily loss allowance on one trade or a layered sequence is considered reverse arbitrage and is prohibited.

Maximum allowable daily exposure:

❓ Common question: Does staying just below the daily loss limit make the trade acceptable?

No. The review considers whether the risk was deliberately structured to use the full allowance, not only whether the final number remained below the limit. Support cannot recommend a maximum safe risk amount.

❓ Common question: Is the 2.5% limit measured on each ticket separately?

No. Risk may be assessed using the combined exposure of all open positions on the same asset, rather than each position in isolation. Staying below the daily drawdown does not override this rule.

What may be reviewed: Planned exposure, combined open risk, layered trades, equity movement, and repeated behaviour.

Possible outcome: Structured attempts may result in account termination or other enforcement.

What this means: Only the registered trader may access, control, and trade the account. Accounts cannot be sold, shared, transferred, or managed by another person.

This includes:

❓ Common question: Can my spouse, friend, mentor, or account manager trade for me?

No. The registered trader must make and execute all trading decisions. Another person may not access or manage the account on the trader's behalf.

What may be reviewed: Login and access records, account activity, device ID's and evidence of third-party control where relevant.

Possible outcome: The account may be suspended, breached, or removed from the program.

What this means: Reckless or structurally unsound risk behaviour identified by the Dealing Team is prohibited. This may include failure to meet applicable stop-loss requirements and negative risk-to-reward behaviour.

This includes:

❓ Common question: I used a stop loss. Why can the trade still be classified as toxic or prohibited?

A stop loss addresses only one part of risk control. The review may still consider the furthest stop-loss distance, entry price, close price, total exposure, drawdown recovery, lot-size changes, and the overall sequence. An active add-on does not exempt the account from unrelated prohibited-practice rules.

What may be reviewed: Entry price, furthest stop-loss distance, close price, risk-to-reward, exposure, and full trade sequence.

Possible outcome: Profit may be reduced, payout may be rejected, or the account may be breached. Negative risk-to-reward above 60% may lead to payout rejection and account breach, while applicable positive PnL below that threshold may be deducted from the payout share.

What this means: Repeatedly cycling through accounts or relying on random, all-or-nothing outcomes instead of a defined and controlled trading approach is prohibited.

This includes:

❓ Common question: Can one failed account be considered account churning?

The rule concerns the broader pattern. The Dealing Team reviews behaviour across attempts and accounts rather than classifying one normal loss by itself.

What may be reviewed: Account history, repeated patterns, risk behaviour, direction changes, and activity across multiple accounts.

Possible outcome: Payout rejection, profit forfeiture, suspension, breach, or removal from the program may apply.

What this means: TraderProtect is designed to close all open positions across all symbols when combined open PnL reaches a 2% loss of the account balance, in most cases.

This includes:

Example: On a $100,000 balance, combined open PnL of −$2,000 equals 2%. TraderProtect may close all open positions to prevent further drawdown, and trading can continue as usual afterward.

❓ Common question: Is TraderProtect the same as the daily drawdown rule?

No. TraderProtect is a separate protective closure at 2% floating loss. The 3% daily drawdown and 6% trailing maximum drawdown rules still apply. TraderProtect does not remove responsibility for managing exposure.

What may be reviewed: Combined open PnL, balance, closure records, number of TraderProtect events, and equity movement.

Possible outcome: The first event is a soft breach; a second event makes the account inactive.

Please prepare the following so the case can be checked efficiently:

Need help after reading this article? Contact [email protected] and include the requested account and trade information. Support will explain the next step and, where appropriate, submit the case for review.