Trading rules
News trading rules at futures prop firms: restricted windows
How to match an economic release to your account's restrictions and calculate a flat-position window.
Can you trade during news?
There is no single news-trading rule across futures prop firms. Check the policy for your exact program and account stage: permission in an evaluation does not automatically carry into a simulated-funded or live account.
For example, Topstep says its economic-release policy does not require positions to be flattened in SIM or Funded Accounts. BoxcarPayout permits news trading during its evaluation but requires a flat-position window in its simulated-funded stage.
Sources: Topstep: economic releases · Boxcar: news trading by account stage
Turn the rule into five concrete checks
Before applying a calendar filter, record what the policy actually covers. A prohibition on opening trades is different from a requirement to hold no position.
| Check | What to record |
|---|---|
| Account | Program name and evaluation, simulated-funded or live stage. |
| Event | Named release or required impact, currency and product filters; the calendar the firm directs you to use. |
| Actions | Whether the rule covers opening positions, holding positions, order placement or executions. Do not infer permission for an unmentioned action. |
| Window | Minutes before and after the release, time zone, and how the start and end boundaries are defined. |
| Consequence | The policy's stated consequence for a violation. |
Sources: Boxcar: news trading by account stage · Topstep: economic releases
Use the release date and its time zone
A report's reference month is not its publication date. The Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI schedule has separate columns for reference month, release date and release time. Put the release date in your trading calendar. The BLS monthly calendar explicitly uses Eastern Time; Topstep's economic-release table uses Central Time.
Convert the event using its actual date and a named time zone such as America/New_York. Then display the event and both ends of the restricted window in the same zone as the clock you use to manage orders. Recheck the schedule before the session instead of relying on a copied time from a previous month.
Sources: BLS: CPI release schedule · BLS: monthly release calendar · Topstep: economic releases
Worked example: a two-minute window on each side
Suppose an imaginary program requires no open positions from two minutes before through two minutes after an event at 08:30:00 ET. This example is not Boxcar's window or a quote from another firm.
| Moment | Result under this hypothetical rule |
|---|---|
| Before 08:28:00 ET | Any required exit must be completed before the restricted window begins. |
| 08:28:00 ET | The window starts: 08:30:00 minus two minutes. |
| 08:30:00 ET | The announcement occurs; the flat-position requirement continues. |
| Through 08:32:00 ET | The window still applies: 08:30:00 plus two minutes. Resume only after the defined end boundary. |
A flat position can still have a pending entry
For a flat-position restriction, check open positions and working entry orders separately. A resting entry, strategy or copier can reopen exposure after you close a trade. Boxcar's restricted-window instructions explicitly call for cancelling pending entries and pausing systems that could open positions.
Before the window begins, confirm that each affected account, including copier followers, has no open position or working entry order and cannot receive a new automated entry. Follow the firm's treatment of exits and protective orders; a flatten or cancel request by itself does not confirm the final account state.
Check separate announcements and overlapping windows
The Federal Reserve calendar distinguishes policy statements, press conferences and minutes. A meeting date alone does not identify every announcement: the Fed says regularly scheduled meeting minutes are released three weeks after the policy decision. Check which events your firm includes and their individual times.
If two covered events create overlapping flat-position windows, combine them. Using the same hypothetical two-minute rule, releases at 08:30 and 08:33 create windows of 08:28–08:32 and 08:31–08:35. There is no permitted gap between them; the combined restricted period runs from 08:28 through 08:35.
Sources: Federal Reserve: FOMC calendars, statements and minutes · Boxcar: news trading by account stage
Outside a scheduled window, ordinary risk rules still apply
A scheduled-news calendar does not predict unscheduled headlines. Being outside a listed window establishes only that this particular scheduled restriction is not active; it does not remove the account's other limits or any separate firm notice.
Topstep warns that news-event orders can fill at worse prices than expected and that economic-release losses are not eligible for exceptions or Reset credits. Boxcar likewise keeps normal drawdown, Daily Loss Limit, position-size and conduct rules in force when news trading is allowed. Permission to trade is not a guarantee that an exit fills at its intended price.
Sources: Topstep: economic releases · Boxcar: news trading by account stage