Yes, at most firms, but not on every account. Of the 18 futures prop firms we track, 8 set a blackout window around scheduled releases like CPI, FOMC, and NFP, 4 allow news trading but ban or flag certain ways of doing it, and 6 have no news rule at all. The windows run 1 to 5 minutes either side of the release, and at 7 of the 8 firms they only apply once you're funded.

The short version. Passing an evaluation tells you nothing about the news rule you'll trade under once funded. At Take Profit Trader, Lucid Trading, Funded Futures Network, MyFundedFutures, Alpha Futures, Top One Futures, and Elite Trader Funding, the evaluation allows news trading and the funded account doesn't. At 4 of the 8 firms with a window, the rule also reaches orders you placed before the window opened, not just new trades.

The firms with a blackout window

These are the 8 firms that tell you to stay out of the market around scheduled releases. The rules differ on four things: how long the window is, which accounts it covers, what you must do during it, and what happens if you don't. The firms where news trading is allowed are listed further down.

Firm Window Applies to During the window If you break it
Take Profit Trader 1 min before and after PRO and PRO+ (funded) Flat, no resting orders Not stated
Lucid Trading 1 min before and after LucidDaily funded accounts only Flat Hard breach
Funded Futures Network 1 min before and after Sim-funded and live-funded accounts Flat, no resting orders Account liquidated, profits forfeited, no appeal
MyFundedFutures 2 min before and after Rapid, Rapid EOD and Pro funded accounts Flat, no resting orders Not stated
Alpha Futures 2 min before and after Zero, Standard and Direct Qualified accounts No orders executed (holding is allowed) First time: warning, that trade's profit voided, payout denied. Repeat: account breached
TradeDay 2 min before and after Not stated by stage The firm closes positions itself Deliberate violations: suspension and loss of profits
Top One Futures 2 min before and after Funded Elite Daily and Elite ACCESS accounts No opening, closing, or changing trades or orders Profits from those trades, or a payout, unless abuse is suspected
Elite Trader Funding 5 min before and after Elite (funded) accounts Flat Not stated

Window length: 1 minute either side at Take Profit Trader, Lucid Trading, and Funded Futures Network; 2 minutes either side at MyFundedFutures, Alpha Futures, TradeDay, and Top One Futures; 5 minutes either side at Elite Trader Funding. For reference, TradeDay's rule puts CPI and Non-Farm Payrolls at 7:30 am CT and FOMC at 1:00 pm CT.

The events covered differ as much as the timing. Take Profit Trader names FOMC statements, NFP, and CPI, and explicitly allows Fed speakers and FOMC minutes. MyFundedFutures and Funded Futures Network include FOMC minutes. Alpha Futures includes the start of red-folder speeches, and only for events tied to the asset you trade. Energy and ag traders get extra dates at MyFundedFutures, Funded Futures Network, and TradeDay: EIA inventory reports and crop reports.

The calendar is part of the rule. Alpha Futures goes by ForexFactory's red-folder events, Funded Futures Network by the Financial Juice calendar, Lucid Trading by high-impact USD (red folder) news, and Elite Trader Funding by a list of its own. At Elite Trader Funding, an older help article still says there are no news restrictions, but the newer Terms of Service (effective July 13, 2026) require funded accounts to be flat 5 minutes either side. Go by the Terms.

Why traders break the rule after they pass

Of the 8 firms with a window, 7 exempt the evaluation. TradeDay's rule doesn't say which stage it covers. That creates a habit trap: you can spend weeks trading CPI mornings in an evaluation without a problem, pass, and break the rule on your first funded CPI day by doing exactly what got you funded.

The rule can also follow the plan rather than the firm. At MyFundedFutures, the Builder plan allows news trading in funded while Rapid, Rapid EOD, and Pro don't. At Lucid Trading, only LucidDaily funded accounts carry the ban; LucidPro, LucidFlex, and LucidDirect allow news. If you plan to trade releases after funding, check the funded rule for the exact plan before you buy the evaluation. The compare tool puts the news rules of up to three firms side by side.

The common trap: orders you placed before the window

Most violations aren't a trader deciding to trade CPI. They're a position opened twenty minutes earlier with a stop and a target still working when the number drops. How that's treated depends on the rule's wording:

  • Flat with no resting orders (Take Profit Trader, Funded Futures Network, and MyFundedFutures). Any open position or working order when the window opens is a violation, even if nothing fills. A bracket is two working orders.
  • Flat (Lucid Trading and Elite Trader Funding). No open position. Whether a resting entry order counts isn't stated, so cancel it anyway.
  • No orders executed (Alpha Futures). You may hold through the release, but a stop or target that fills inside the window is, read literally, an order executed inside it.
  • The firm closes you out (TradeDay). Positions are closed for you 2 minutes before the release, so you don't choose the exit.

Worked example

Time (CT)What happensUnder a 2-minute, flat-with-no-orders rule
7:10:00You buy 1 MES with a bracket: stop 10 points below, target 20 points aboveFine. Window not open
7:28:00Window opens. The position and both bracket orders are still workingViolation: not flat, two orders resting
7:30:02CPI prints, price jumps, your target fillsA fill inside the window
7:30:02The bracket cancels your stop. You're flatToo late

You didn't place a single order during the window. Under a flat-with-no-orders rule, you broke it at 7:28:00, two minutes before the release, and the 7:30:02 fill is the evidence. Under a no-orders-executed rule, holding at 7:28 is fine, but the target fill at 7:30:02 isn't.

Brackets don't read the calendar. An OCO bracket, an ATM strategy, a trailing stop, or a limit order you parked an hour ago at a level the spike might reach all keep working through the release. Cancel them before the window opens, not at the release.

Where news trading is allowed, and the fine print

Tradeify, Bulenox, Earn2Trade, FundedNext Futures, Funded Futures Family, and Phidias Propfirm have no news restriction in our data. 4 more allow news trading but limit how you do it. Each row is the firm's own rule, shortened; open a firm for the full wording and its source.

Firm News trading
Topstep Allowed. Topstep does not require flattening for economic releases, but 'Trading Maximum Position Size into Major News Events' is listed as a prohibited strategy, and slippage from releases is not eligible for exceptions or reset credits.
Apex Trader Funding Allowed with your normal strategy. 'News trading' strategies that chase the market or place orders on both sides to gamble on the outcome are prohibited.
DayTraders.com Allowed on evaluation, Pro and S2F accounts (firm warns about liquidity and fills). The instrument page advises avoiding 'news-directional or multi-directional strategies'.
FTMO Futures Allowed in every phase with no special news restrictions. FTMO's risk standards can flag trading that bunches around scheduled economic events in a way that doesn't match your usual trading.
Tradeify No restrictions: news trading is allowed on all evaluations and funded accounts (trader bears slippage risk).
Bulenox Allowed on all account types with no blackout windows (CPI, FOMC, NFP included).
Earn2Trade Allowed. The trading-hours article states there are no restrictions on trading around economic announcements; funded accounts also list news trading as permitted.
FundedNext Futures Allowed in challenge and FundedNext Accounts; no news restrictions.
Funded Futures Family Allowed on all accounts at every stage, including Tier 1 releases such as FOMC, CPI and employment reports, with no requirement to flatten before or after.
Phidias Propfirm Allowed on all account types at every stage (evaluation, CASH, LIVE).

The limits at the 4 firms that restrict or flag tactics rather than timing:

  • Topstep: trading maximum position size into major news events is a prohibited strategy, and slippage from releases isn't eligible for exceptions or reset credits.
  • Apex Trader Funding: news strategies that chase the market or place orders on both sides to gamble on the outcome are prohibited.
  • DayTraders.com: the firm warns about liquidity and fills, and its instrument page advises avoiding news-directional or multi-directional strategies.
  • FTMO Futures: news trading is allowed in every phase, but FTMO's risk standards can flag trading that bunches around scheduled releases in a way that doesn't match your usual trading.

Some firms with windows also restrict news tactics on every account. MyFundedFutures bans news straddles and strangles and masking news trades on all accounts, evaluations included. Take Profit Trader's Sustainable Trading Policy says large bets timed to news releases can draw a closer review or end the relationship.

Where news is allowed, the slippage is yours. Tradeify and Lucid Trading say so directly. A stop can fill well past its price on a CPI spike, and your drawdown and daily loss limit count the fill, not the price you set. See how trailing drawdown moves and how daily loss limits work before you size up into a release.

Keeping a bot or copier out of the window

A strategy doesn't read the economic calendar unless you make it. An alert that fires at 7:29 am CT on CPI day is a news trade at a firm with a window. A trade copier does the same thing one step removed: a trade on the leader gets copied to every follower, including a funded follower that carries a window. Automation is prohibited outright at Take Profit Trader, Alpha Futures, Top One Futures, and Elite Trader Funding, so the question only comes up at firms that allow it. See which firms allow automated trading first.

Where your firm allows automation on NinjaTrader 8 or Tradovate, the economic event lockout in the CrossTrade Account Manager (from our publisher) blocks CrossTrade webhook signals from 5 minutes before to 5 minutes after scheduled high-impact USD releases, and can optionally flatten the account as the window opens. Know its limits. It doesn't cover unscheduled news. Blocking signals alone doesn't cancel orders already resting at the broker, so turn on the flatten option if your rule says flat with no orders. It works from a feed of high-impact USD events, which may not match your firm's list, and on NinjaTrader 8 it only acts while NinjaTrader and the XT Add-On are running. The lockout docs cover the details. Check your firm's rules on third-party tools before you connect anything.

If you copy across accounts, the news rule of the strictest follower is the one that matters. For the setup side, see how to copy trades across prop accounts.

A news-day routine

  1. Check the week's calendar on Sunday, using the source your firm names, not a generic one.
  2. Write down each release in your time zone, with your firm's window around it.
  3. Cancel resting orders and brackets before the window opens. Flat means flat at the start of the window.
  4. Pause automation and copiers for the window, and confirm every follower account is flat, not just the leader.
  5. Resume after the window closes, and check the fills log for anything you didn't expect.

Questions traders ask

Can I trade CPI or FOMC during a prop firm evaluation?
At most firms, yes. Of the 8 firms we track with a news window, 7 exempt the evaluation and apply the window only to funded accounts. TradeDay's rule doesn't say it is limited to one stage. The rule you need to plan around is the funded one, so read it before you buy.
Does holding a position through the news count as news trading?
It depends on the wording. Take Profit Trader, Funded Futures Network, and MyFundedFutures require you to be flat with no working orders. Lucid Trading and Elite Trader Funding require you to be flat. Alpha Futures lets you hold through the release but bans orders executing inside the window. TradeDay closes positions for you.
What if my stop loss fills during the blackout window?
At a firm that requires you to be flat with no resting orders, you were already in breach when the window opened with that stop working. At Alpha Futures, which bans orders executed in the window, a stop that fills there is, read literally, an order executed in the window. Cancel brackets before the window opens rather than counting on them not to fill.
Are Fed speeches and FOMC minutes covered?
Not everywhere. Take Profit Trader explicitly allows Fed speakers and FOMC minutes. MyFundedFutures and Funded Futures Network include FOMC minutes. Alpha Futures includes the start of red-folder speeches. Check the event list on your firm's page.

Prop firm rules change often. Figures here were checked against each firm's own site on the date shown on its firm page; confirm the current terms with the firm before you buy. Nothing here is financial advice.