News trading windows explained: FOMC, NFP and CPI rules

What a news window is

A news window is a period before and after a scheduled high-impact release in which the firm restricts trading. Depending on the firm, you may not open trades, may not close them (except by stop or target), or may keep the trades but have the profit from them removed before a payout. The window is usually a few minutes on each side of the release.

Which events count

Firms usually name “tier 1” or “red folder” events from an economic calendar they link to. Common ones: Federal Reserve rate decisions and press conferences (FOMC), the U.S. employment report (non-farm payrolls), CPI inflation, and sometimes central bank decisions in other countries. The FOMC holds eight scheduled meetings a year, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the release dates of the employment report in advance, so the restricted moments are known weeks ahead.

Windows in our data

Window lengths, evaluation vs funded, as published by the firms:

Window known for 65 firms in the evaluation and 62 on funded accounts. 54 have no window in the evaluation; 29 have none on funded accounts. The table lists every firm that does restrict news.

Evaluation vs funded accounts

The window is often stricter on funded accounts than in the evaluation, because that is where the firm pays out. Several firms have no window in the evaluation and a two- to five-minute window on the funded account. A strategy that passed the evaluation can therefore break the funded rules without any change in how you trade.

Minimum hold times and microscalping

A related rule targets very short trades. Some firms set a minimum trade duration (for example 30 or 60 seconds) or exclude profit from trades held only a few seconds, because such trades exploit the simulated environment rather than the market. News spikes are where this happens most often. If you scalp, check both the news window and the minimum hold time; our scalping page lists firms that publish one.

A safe routine around releases

A routine that avoids most news breaches:

• Check the economic calendar every morning and note restricted releases in your local time.
• Be flat, with no pending orders, a few minutes before the firm’s window starts.
• Remember that stop orders filled inside the window can still count as trades in the window at some firms.
• Wait until the window has ended and spreads have normalised before trading again.

Worked example: reading a window

Example (hypothetical): the U.S. employment report is released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, and the firm restricts trading two minutes before and two minutes after. The restricted period is 8:28 to 8:32. A position opened at 8:27 and left open through the release breaks the rule at some firms and not at others, depending on whether the rule is about opening, closing, or both. A pending order that fills at 8:29 may count as a trade inside the window at some firms.

For a trader in Central European Time the release is usually at 14:30, although for a few weeks in spring and autumn the United States and Europe are on different daylight-saving schedules and the gap shifts by an hour. Checking the time in the calendar the week of the release avoids this.

Worked example: why slippage matters in the window

Example (hypothetical): two Micro E-mini S&P 500 contracts with a 10-point stop. The expected loss is 2 x 10 x $5 = $100. During a release the market gaps 25 points through the stop, so the loss is 2 x 25 x $5 = $250, 2.5 times what was planned. On a $2,500 drawdown, that is 10% of the room in one trade; on a trailing drawdown it comes on top of whatever floor has already risen.

This is the reason many firms restrict the window in the first place, and the reason the safest choice is to be flat, with no pending orders, before it starts.

Worked example: profit removed for a window trade

Example (hypothetical): a firm that does not block window trades but removes profit from them at the payout review. A day shows $700 of profit, of which $400 came from a trade opened at 8:29. The review removes $400, leaving $300. If the payout required $500 of profit from that day, the request fails, and the trader may also be warned or flagged. The account balance looks fine until the review, which is why the rule is easy to overlook.

Common mistakes

Frequent news-rule mistakes:

• Reading the window as the release time only, not the minutes before it.
• Leaving stop and limit orders in the market through the window.
• Using a calendar in the wrong time zone.
• Assuming the evaluation rule applies on the funded account.
• Trading the first minutes after the window, when spreads are still wide.

Checklist

A short routine for each trading week:

• List the restricted releases for the week in your local time.
• Check the firm’s window length for your account type and phase.
• Plan to be flat and cancel orders at least a minute before the window.
• Write down the first time you will trade again after the release.

Step by step: planning around a release

On the morning of a release, work backwards from the time. Find the release time in the firm’s time zone, subtract the window length, and subtract one more minute as a safety margin. That is the time to be flat. Then add the window length and a few extra minutes for spreads to settle; that is the earliest time to trade again.

Example (hypothetical): release at 8:30 a.m. ET, window of five minutes each side. Restricted period 8:25 to 8:35. Be flat and have orders cancelled by 8:24. Trade again from about 8:40, after the first spread widening has passed. A scalper who normally trades the first hour of the session therefore loses roughly sixteen minutes on those days, which is a small price compared with a breach.

Another useful habit is to note the restricted releases for the whole month on a calendar at the start of the month, then check again the evening before each one, because release dates can be moved.

Time zones

Releases are scheduled in U.S. Eastern time for U.S. data, while firm rules may be written in their server time or U.S. Central time. Convert once, at the start of each week, and check the dates when daylight saving changes in the U.S. and Europe, which happen on different weekends.

Unscheduled news

Windows only cover scheduled releases. Unscheduled events, such as a central bank statement between meetings or a geopolitical headline, are not restricted at most firms, but they move markets just as hard. A firm may still review trades with unusual fills during such events. The practical defence is the same as for scheduled news: size so that a fast move cannot take more than a small part of the drawdown.

FAQ

Sources

• Federal Reserve: FOMC meeting calendar
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Employment Situation release schedule

Related lists and tools

News trading allowedScalping prop firms

Keep reading

• News trading and weekend holding rules
• How to pass a prop firm evaluation
• Prop firm red flags to watch for

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