Prohibited Trading Practices

To ensure fairness and protect the integrity of our platform, certain trading activities are not allowed. These policies exist to create a transparent and supportive environment for all traders.

Unethical Trading Practices #

We prohibit unethical trading practices, such as:

• Latency Arbitrage: Exploiting delays in data updates for unfair advantages.
• Tick Scalping: Attempting to profit from minimal price fluctuations at unsustainable speeds.
• Account Arbitrage: Using multiple accounts to exploit differences in trading conditions, bonuses, or risk limits for unfair gain.

Exploiting System Glitches #

Exploiting platform glitches, such as incorrect price quotes or delayed updates, is strictly prohibited. Reporting these issues helps us resolve them quickly and ensures accurate pricing.

Reverse Trading and Group Hedging #

• Reverse Trading: Involves using multiple accounts to take opposing positions on the same asset (e.g., one account goes long while another goes short).
• Group Hedging: Occurs when multiple traders coordinate their positions to hedge risk across accounts.

These practices disrupt the evaluation of individual performance and compromise fairness. To maintain transparency, they are strictly prohibited.

Group Copying and Account Management #

Each account must reflect individual trading decisions. This means: 

• No copying trades between accounts or using identical settings on commercial Expert Advisors (Group Copying).
• No trading on behalf of others. This is Account Management and violates KYC/AML rules.

These rules protect fairness and ensure every trader’s performance is genuine.

High-Frequency Trading (HFT) #

HFT involves holding trades for 60 seconds or less. While these trades may offer quick profit opportunities, they can lead to unfair advantages, which goes against our commitment to fair trading. To ensure a level playing field, HFT is not permitted.

Third-Party EAs #

Publicly available third-party Expert Advisors (EAs), algorithms, or bots are not permitted. 

We encourage traders to develop their own unique strategies and experiment responsibly within the platform’s guidelines. To maintain a fair platform, we only support first-party automated tools (EAs, algorithms, or bots).

Account Churning (Rolling) #

Opening multiple funded or challenge accounts in quick succession is prohibited. This includes:

• Repetitive account losses from high-risk trading.
• Starting multiple new challenges within a short period of time.
• High-risk positions that lead to significant losses and rule breaches.

Account churning undermines the principles of professional trading and is not allowed.

High-Risk or Speculative Practices #

We prohibit trading behaviors that involve excessive risks or speculative approaches, as they undermine responsible trading principles and increase the likelihood of significant losses.

• Martingale: Increasing position size after a loss or while the original position is still open, aiming to recover all previous losses with one win. This includes adding smaller positions that, together, exceed the size of the original position.
• One-Sided Bets: Taking positions in a single direction without proper analysis or consideration of market trends, often leading to excessive exposure.
• Grid Trading: Placing buy and sell orders at fixed intervals, relying solely on price fluctuations rather than informed analysis. This strategy disregards market conditions and often leads to uncontrolled losses.
• Overleveraging: Using more than 50% of the starting balance on a single trade idea. This creates excessive risk and significantly increases the chances of account wipeout.
• Gambling: Engaging in trades that resemble betting rather than strategy, such as placing random positions without analysis or risking large portions of the account on a single trade idea.

Major News Trading #

Trades executed within 4 minutes before or after a major news event are restricted (see the full list of events). Such trades can lead to unpredictable outcomes, which may not align with responsible trading practices. 

This rule applies only to instruments directly affected by the news and does not prevent trades opened beforehand and closed after the window ends. It also does not apply to accounts with the major news trading add-on or phases one and two of all challenges.

For more details, please refer to our article on Major News Trading Restrictions.

Consequences of Violations #

If we detect prohibited trading, we may need to:

• Reset the account or adjust profits.
• Issue a rule breach notification.
• Review withdrawal requests.
• Adjust trading conditions.

We will contact you directly to discuss any concerns and next steps.

Am I Following the Rules? #

Traders are responsible for compliance with these guidelines. Our customer support team cannot verify individual trading activity upon request.If a rule violation is identified, our team will thoroughly review the case and contact the trader with detailed guidance on the next steps. For detailed information, please refer to our Terms and Conditions or contact support@instantfunding.io.