1. Latency Arbitrage
Latency arbitrage involves exploiting delays between price feeds to gain quick, risk-free profits. For example, if EURUSD moves to 1.10020 on a fast broker but Mockapital’s feed still shows 1.10000, a trader may buy instantly and exit for a 2 pip profit as the price catches up. This relies on feed lag, not real analysis. It is prohibited at Mockapital because it creates unfair advantages, distorts performance metrics, and does not reflect genuine strategy. We monitor for such activity and take strict action against it. Only trading based on actual market setups and logic is allowed.
2. High-Frequency Trading (HFT)
High-Frequency Trading uses ultra-fast bots to place thousands of trades per day, often within milliseconds, targeting tiny fluctuations for small profits. For instance, an EA might execute 1,500 trades per day, each closing in under three seconds for a 0.1 pip profit. This approach does not involve real market logic or structure. At Mockapital, we prohibit HFT because it’s not scalable to real capital, produces fake win rates, and stresses our systems. Fast trading is allowed if it’s structured and based on analysis but bots reacting to every tick without logic will lead to disqualification.
3. Grid Trading
Grid trading opens buy and sell orders at fixed intervals to profit from price fluctuations without predicting direction. For example, a trader might place buy orders at 1.0980, 1.0960, and 1.0940 while simultaneously setting sell orders above the current price. If price moves sideways, small gains can be made but in a trend, losses escalate quickly. This system hides risk behind floating drawdowns and lacks stop losses or real bias. At Mockapital, such practices are banned because they distort true risk, show no market understanding, and can cause accounts to crash suddenly.
4. Martingale
Martingale strategies involve doubling the position size after each loss, hoping to recover past losses with one win. A trader starting at 0.5 lots might end up with 16 lots open after five losses. While this might seem profitable short-term, it leads to exponential drawdowns and violates all risk control. It’s gambling disguised as trading. At Mockapital, we allow scaling based on setups not reckless doubling with no stop loss. Martingale hides real losses and breaks our funding logic, so it is strictly prohibited.
5. Gap Trading
Gap trading means holding trades through weekends or market closures to profit from open-price jumps caused by news events. For example, buying AUDUSD on Friday at 0.6700 and hoping for a bullish gap Sunday to 0.6760 can result in big profits or big losses without the trader being able to manage risk. Since SLs don’t work during closures, the trader is gambling on direction without control. At Mockapital, all trades must be closed before the market closes unless explicitly allowed by an add-on. Weekend gap trading is not permitted.
6. Reverse Arbitrage
Reverse arbitrage is the act of watching one price feed and quickly entering on another slower feed before it updates. For instance, if a fast broker shows EURUSD jumping to 1.1050 but Mockapital still shows 1.1040, the trader buys before the feed catches up. While this produces quick profits, it’s not based on real setups, only feed lag. It manipulates platform speed, not market logic, and creates fake performance. Mockapital bans such behavior because it undermines fair evaluation and cannot scale to real environments.
7. Server Latency Abuse
Server latency abuse occurs when traders exploit the delay between their terminal and the broker’s server. For example, a trader detects a 100ms delay and places trades just before the server updates, gaining unfair advantage. Tools like fast VPS, latency bots, or network sniffers are used to gain edge not from skill, but infrastructure. At Mockapital, we prohibit latency abuse because it’s not trading, it’s server manipulation. True trading should reflect execution based on setups, not technical tricks.
8. Server Spamming
Server spamming floods the trading platform with excessive order placements, modifications, or cancellations to disrupt execution logic. A common example is a bot that places 40 orders on gold every tick, then cancels them rapidly to confuse pricing. This tactic strains the system, manipulates quotes, and creates false performance. Mockapital allows fast execution if it’s based on real trades but spamming orders to stress-test servers is prohibited and will result in disqualification.
9. Copy Trading
Copy trading involves duplicating another trader’s actions, often through EAs, APIs, or platforms. For instance, if a trader connects their account to a profitable master account, all trades are mirrored automatically. While the results may look impressive, they don’t reflect the copier’s own skill or decision-making. At Mockapital, we fund independent traders not followers. Manual signal-following must still show clear intent and understanding. Automated copying is strictly forbidden.
10. Account Mirroring
Account mirroring means duplicating the same trades across multiple accounts or firms, either manually or via software. A trader might use one main account to generate trades, then mirror them to several prop accounts, including Mockapital. This bypasses individual analysis and falsely inflates performance. We prohibit this practice because it breaks the integrity of our evaluations. Each Mockapital account must reflect unique decisions and independent strategy not duplicated orders from elsewhere.
11. Long-Short Arbitrage
Long-short arbitrage occurs when a trader opens a long in one account and a short in another to remove risk. For example, buying EURUSD on Firm A while selling it on Mockapital means one account profits regardless of market direction. This guarantees a win somewhere, but not based on skill. We strictly prohibit this tactic as it undermines the purpose of our funding model, which is to evaluate risk, direction, and decision-making. It’s not trading’s hedging outcomes.
12. Synthetic Hedging
Synthetic hedging uses correlated instruments (like gold and silver, or EURUSD and GBPUSD) to offset risk without directly hedging the same asset. For example, a trader might buy gold and short silver, knowing they often move together. This masks exposure and hides drawdown. At Mockapital, we expect directional conviction, not disguised risk reduction. If synthetic pair trading becomes a pattern, it’s flagged and banned.
13. Standard Hedging
Standard hedging means opening a buy and sell position on the same asset to freeze exposure. A trader may buy 1 lot of GBPJPY, then sell 1 lot to prevent losses without closing the original position. This doesn’t solve the problem, it just delays it. It flattens equity and confuses risk evaluation. At Mockapital, hedging in this way is not allowed because it prevents us from assessing real decision-making. You must manage risk by closing trades, not locking them in place.
14. Toxic Trading Flow / Gambling
Toxic flow involves reckless, emotionally driven trading with no clear structure. A trader might go from trading 0.2 lots to 3.0 lots on impulse, or revenge trade after a loss. There’s no stop loss, no consistency, just gambling. For instance, after losing a trade, a trader opens a massive NASDAQ position to “win it back.” This isn’t trading, it’s emotional betting. At Mockapital, we look for structure, logic, and sustainability not chaos and hope.
15. Overleveraging / YOLO Trades
Overleveraging is risking a massive portion of equity on a single trade. A YOLO trade might involve opening 10 lots on US30 in a $50K account with no stop loss, aiming to hit the profit target in one go. This approach is high-risk, low-skill, and not acceptable. Even one such trade can lead to disqualification not because of the outcome, but because of the intent. At Mockapital, we value steady, repeatable risk not lottery-style bets.
16. Use of Commercial or Public EAs
Using commercial or publicly available Expert Advisors (EAs) is not allowed. These bots often exploit demo conditions, use grid or Martingale strategies, and fail in real trading. They produce identical trading patterns and remove the trader’s own decision-making. Only custom, transparent automation is allowed at Mockapital and only if the trader understands and controls the logic. We fund human skill, not plug-and-play bots.
17. Trading Based on Telegram Signals or Paid Groups
Following trades from Telegram, Discord, or paid signal groups disqualifies a trader at Mockapital. Copy-pasting trades from others shows no personal skill, logic, or timing. If a trader cannot explain their entries, trades exotic pairs at odd times, or mimics public signals, they will be flagged. Learning from mentors is fine but the trades must still be your own.
18. Account Passing or Selling
Giving someone else access to your account or buying one from someone else is strictly forbidden. A trader hiring someone to pass a challenge or using someone else’s EA or login violates all funding principles. Mockapital checks IPs, devices, and behavior patterns. If you didn’t trade the account, the results are invalid and payouts are denied.
19. Strategy Inconsistency
Changing your trading behavior drastically after funding is a violation. For example, a trader may pass with low-risk swing trades, but after funding begins high-frequency scalping with oversized lots. This is a bait-and-switch. At Mockapital, we fund consistency so your funded trading must reflect how you passed. Evolving is fine, but only gradually and with the same logic and risk.
20. Churning & Promo Abuse
Buying multiple discounted challenges and spamming retries with no strategy refinement is promo abuse. For example, a trader might buy 3 discounted accounts, gamble on each, and hope one passes. This behavior overloads the system and devalues serious traders. Mockapital promotions are meant to help real traders not be abused by mass attempts and coupon stacking. We monitor this closely.
21. Exploiting System Glitches
Trading during technical issues like frozen candles or delayed quotes is a violation. For instance, if gold freezes on your terminal while TradingView shows movement, and you enter based on that discrepancy, it’s considered exploitation. Even if it’s just once, we investigate intent. Repeatedly trading on glitches is treated as abuse. See a bug? Report it and don’t profit from it.
22. One-Sided Betting (Directional Gambling)
Placing only buys or only sells with no setup or stops is not a strategy, it’s gambling. A trader who buys NAS100 at random levels and keeps adding to the losing side is not demonstrating skill. Directional bias is acceptable if based on logic and confirmed with risk control. Blind betting in one direction is disqualifiable at Mockapital.
23. Term Holding and Passive Positioning
Mockapital accounts are meant for active trading not long-term holding or passive investing. Leaving positions open for weeks or months without managing them is against our model. For example, holding a small gold buy and hoping for macro appreciation is not an active strategy. We require consistent, hands-on risk management. Passive positioning leads to disqualification and payout denial.
