Key Takeaways: News trading, overnight holding, weekend holding, and automated trading through Expert Advisors are each governed separately at most prop trading firms rather than falling under one blanket policy. Some activities are permitted by default, others require a specific add-on, and a few remain restricted outright, so you must check each rule individually before assuming your trading style will transfer directly to an evaluation account.
Four of the most common questions from traders considering a funded account all involve the same underlying worry: will my normal trading style even be allowed here? News trading, holding positions overnight, holding over the weekend, and running an Expert Advisor are each treated differently, and assuming one rule applies to all four is one of the fastest ways to trigger an unexpected breach.
Prop firm trading rules around news events, holding periods, and automation exist primarily to manage risk exposure the firm cannot directly control. A high-impact news release can move price several percent within seconds, and a weekend gap can do the same before markets even reopen. Firms restrict these windows by default, then offer specific add-ons for traders whose strategies genuinely depend on trading through them.
A handful of specific activities generate the vast majority of questions from traders comparing evaluation programs, and each one carries its own answer rather than a single shared rule.
This is typically the most restricted activity of the six. Under the baseline rules for most evaluation programs, trades opened or closed within five minutes before or after a high-impact news event are treated as a breach, and the account is automatically flagged. This restriction applies to every type of order, including manual entries, pending orders, stop losses, and take profit levels.
However, according to prop firm rules, news trading access becomes available through a specific add-on rather than as a default setting. Traders whose strategies depend on volatility around scheduled releases need to purchase this add-on in addition to a challenge before attempting to trade through a news window, since attempting it under the default rule set will end the evaluation. The restriction typically covers every currency pair when the news event involves the US dollar, and only the currency pairs directly tied to the affected currency for events involving other currencies.
Overnight holding is the most permissive of the six activities across most programs. Under a typical rule set, holding a position overnight is allowed by default, with no add-on required. This differs meaningfully from weekend holding, which is treated as a separate and more restricted category entirely, since a full weekend closure carries more gap risk than a single overnight session.
Weekend holding carries more risk than an ordinary overnight hold, since a position can sit exposed to price gaps across two full days of market closure rather than one overnight session. Because of that added exposure, rules for prop firm overnight tradingand weekend holdings are generally treated as two separate policies rather than a single combined one, even though traders often assume they work the same way.
Weekend exposure commonly requires an add-on before it becomes permitted under a program's rules. Attempting to hold a position across a weekend close without that add-on active is treated the same way as any other rule violation, regardless of whether the position was profitable when markets reopened. A trader without the add-on active is generally expected to close every open position before the market closes for the weekend and to avoid opening new ones until trading resumes.
Automated trading through an Expert Advisor is commonly supported through a dedicated EA add-on, though the terms usually go further than a simple toggle. A personal EA used for trading or risk management under the account holder's own control is generally fine once the add-on is active, while a commercial, public, or widely distributed EA often needs separate written approval on top of that, since prohibited-strategy rules typically single out purchased or rented automated systems for extra scrutiny. Third-party EAs used for account management by someone other than the account holder remain prohibited regardless of add-on status, since that crosses into the kind of external account management most funded programs restrict outright.
Copy trading rules vary meaningfully depending on where the signal originates. Mirroring trades between a trader's own accounts is commonly permitted, since the same person is still making every underlying decision. Copying trades from a third-party vendor, group, or external trader is a different matter entirely and remains prohibited outright across most funded programs, regardless of add-on status, since it removes the individual decision-making the evaluation is designed to measure.
Running a Virtual Private Server is commonly available through a dedicated VPS add-on, letting a trader keep positions and automated systems running without depending on a personal computer staying online. A VPN is generally permitted as well, provided the account remains under the trader's own control at all times and every other trading rule continues to apply normally.
| Activity | Default Status | How to Unlock It |
| Overnight holding | Allowed | No add-on required |
| Weekend holding | Restricted | Requires the applicable add-on |
| News event trading | Restricted, automatic breach | Requires the applicable add-on |
| Expert Advisor use | Restricted | Requires the EA add-on |
| Copy trading between own accounts | Allowed | No add-on required |
| Third-party copy trading | Prohibited | Not available under any add-on |
| VPS or VPN use | Restricted | Requires the VPS add-on for VPS use |
Knowing the rules is only half the equation. The other half is knowing exactly where to find it before you're mid-trade wondering if you're about to trigger a breach. That's the real value of a program that publishes this level of detail upfront rather than leaving traders to piece it together from support tickets after the fact.
This is where Mockapital's approach stands out. Every rule in the table above, along with the specific add-ons that unlock each one, is published directly on its funding programs page rather than buried in fine print you only discover after a violation. If your strategy depends on news volatility, weekend exposure, or automated execution, reviewing that page before you buy a challenge means you already know what to add before your first trade, not after your first breach.
Ready to see which programs and add-ons fit how you actually trade? Explore Mockapital's online prop trading programs and start your evaluation with the full rule set already in hand!
Breaching any of these rules without the correct add-on active follows the same basic sequence, regardless of which rule is involved:
This is worth internalizing before an evaluation begins, not after a breach occurs. A single well-timed news trade or an unplanned weekend hold can undo weeks of otherwise disciplined trading if the correct add-on was never purchased.
Traders who already trade this way on a personal account, somewhat counterintuitively, since the behavior feels routine rather than restricted. Someone who regularly holds swing positions over a weekend, or who trades comfortably through a central bank announcement, needs to actively remember that the same habit requires an add-on on an evaluation account. Building that check into a pre-trade routine, rather than relying on memory alone, is one of the simplest ways to avoid losing an otherwise strong evaluation to a rule that had nothing to do with trading skill.
It would be simpler for a firm to either allow everything or restrict everything, but neither extreme serves traders well. Allowing every activity by default would expose the firm to risk from strategies it cannot evaluate in advance. Restricting everything permanently would exclude traders whose legitimate, well-managed strategies genuinely depend on news volatility or multi-day positioning. Add-ons split the difference, keeping the default rule set conservative while still giving traders a defined path to unlock the specific activity their strategy actually needs.
Prop firm news trading and holding rules vary enough between firms that assuming your personal trading style will transfer directly onto any evaluation account is a genuine risk. A strategy that trades comfortably through news releases on a personal account can end a funded evaluation in seconds if the same behavior happens without the correct add-on active.
The safest approach is checking each of these rules individually against the specific program you are evaluating with, rather than assuming a single blanket policy covers all of them. Reading the program's rules and any relevant add-on page before your first trade removes an entire category of avoidable, rule-based failures.
If your strategy depends on news volatility, weekend exposure, or automated execution, reviewing Mockapital's add-on options before starting an evaluation with our funded prop firm ensures your normal trading approach is actually permitted from your very first trade, rather than discovered as a violation after the fact. Check out all our rules for trading and holding today!
