FundingTicks Prohibited Trading Strategies: Avoid these

FundingTicks gives traders real CME access, clean execution, and flexible account structures — but zero tolerance for toxic orderflow, platform manipulation, or strategy exploitation.
This guide breaks down every prohibited strategy, why it’s banned, and what traders must do to stay compliant across Pro+, Zero, and One accounts.

This article is written for active futures traders who want clarity, not guesswork — and formatted cleanly for Webflow.

Why FundingTicks Enforces Strategy Restrictions

Futures prop firms route all trader flow through shared infrastructure.
Anything that stresses the system, manipulates fills, or replicates toxic flow patterns (HFT, arbitrage, server spamming) jeopardizes:

• liquidity allocation
• server integrity
• compliance with exchange partners
• fairness across accounts

FundingTicks does not use vague language — they explicitly ban strategies that either distort fills or create artificial performance.

Tick Scalping Rules (10-Second Requirement)

FundingTicks allows fast execution — but not latency arbitrage or sub-second micro scalping.

The firm requires:

• At least 50% of all trades AND 50% of total profits must come from trades held for 10 seconds or longer
• Applies to:
  • Pro+ evaluation
  • Master accounts (Pro+, Zero, One)
  • All payout requests

What violates the rule?

• 2–4 second in/out rotations
• Micro “ping trades” for leaderboard gaming
• Aggressive scalping with dozens of sub-10-second entries
• Bot-driven tick harvesting

What is allowed?

• Normal scalping where trades often last 10–60 seconds
• Entries that occasionally close early due to volatility (as long as <50%)
• Manual trade management with stops and trailing adjustments

If your trading style is built around micro-precision execution, FundingTicks is not the right match.

Arbitrage Strategies (All Forms Banned)

FundingTicks is extremely clear:
All arbitrage is prohibited — 100%, no exceptions.

Why?

Arbitrage generates flow patterns that:

• distort execution quality
• create unfair PnL advantages
• break the risk model
• violate exchange intent for futures retail allocation

The most common prohibited type:

Hedge Arbitrage

Opening opposite positions across multiple prop firms:

• Long ES at Firm A
• Short ES at Firm B
• Collecting payout from the winning side

FundingTicks bans this instantly.

Other arbitrage variants also banned:

• Latency arbitrage
• Cross-platform arbitrage
• Correlation arbitrage with offsetting exposure
• Multi-account arbitrage (“offset hedging”)

If the strategy exists solely to exploit price discrepancies — it’s prohibited.

Martingale & Grid Strategies

Two of the strictest prohibitions:

Martingale

Increasing position size after losses until a single winner fixes everything.
This creates exponential risk and artificial drawdown patterns.

Grid Trading

Placing dozens of incremental orders above/below price with no directional bias.

These are banned because they:

• can blow accounts instantly
• distort risk profiles
• break the 2% max-loss-per-trade rule
• behave unpredictably in high volatility

FundingTicks’ risk model is designed for real strategies, not exposure pyramids.

Hedging & Opposite Account Trading

Hedging in FundingTicks’ environment refers to simultaneous opposing positions in the same or correlated instruments, especially across:

• multiple accounts
• multiple prop firms
• different platform infrastructures

Examples of prohibited behavior:

• Long ES in a Pro+ account / Short ES in a Zero account
• Running correlated pairs long/short (ES vs MES, NQ vs MNQ)
• Hedging entries in separate accounts to smooth PnL
• Trying to “neutralize risk” by offsetting across multiple funded accounts
• Running risk-divergent baskets with no directional bias

FundingTicks views hedging as intentional risk displacement, not strategy.

High-Frequency Trading (HFT)

HFT is banned for three reasons:

1. Violates the 10-second rule

HFT rarely holds a trade for more than a few milliseconds.

2. Overloads servers

Prop environments are not designed for microburst orderflow.

3. Creates toxic execution flow

HFT patterns distort fills for all traders.

Any system generating dozens of orders per second = account closed.

Allowed: fast discretionary scalping
Not allowed: execution bots, tick harvesters, volume-swarm strategies.

EA (Expert Advisor) Rules

FundingTicks does not ban EAs entirely — this is a misconception.

✔️ Allowed

EAs used for:

• risk management
• trailing stop systems
• alerts
• automation of entries within normal discretionary logic

❌ Banned EA usage

Any EA that performs:

• server spamming
• tick manipulation
• sub-10-second micro scalping
• hedging across accounts
• arbitrage behaviors
• reverse-engineering latency
• execution flooding patterns

FundingTicks monitors algorithmic flow — if an EA resembles toxic activity, the account is closed regardless of trader intent.

Third-Party Account Management

Also strictly prohibited:

• Managing another trader’s account
• Copy-trading someone else's strategy across two accounts
• Letting someone else trade your login
• Running “trade rooms” with replicated signals

Why?
It breaks risk attribution and creates massive correlated exposure across accounts — a direct problem for prop risk desks.

Opposite Account Manipulation

Examples of prohibited manipulation:

• Using Account A to intentionally push Account B into profit
• Running offsetting trades to game consistency rules
• Using low-size accounts as “probes” to feed data to larger accounts

FundingTicks calls these toxic patterns and terminates accounts immediately.

Summary: What FundingTicks Allows vs Bans

✔️ Allowed

• Discretionary intraday trading
• Standard scalping (10+ second holds)
• Swing trading within risk limits
• Trend continuation, breakout, VWAP strategies
• EAs for risk & execution support
• Systematic setups with real statistical edges

❌ Banned

• Arbitrage (all forms)
• Hedging long/short simultaneously
• Martingale
• Grid trading
• HFT
• Sub-10-second micro scalping
• Server spamming
• Opposite account trading
• Third-party trading or management

FundingTicks wants structured, rule-based futures trading — not flow manipulation.

Final Take

FundingTicks is one of the cleanest, most trader-friendly futures prop firms today — but they run a tight ship when it comes to risk and execution behavior.

Follow these guidelines and you’ll have:

• stable account performance
• smooth evaluation progression
• zero issues during payout reviews
• trust from the FundingTicks risk team

Trade with structure, respect the rules, and FundingTicks becomes one of the best prop environments for serious futures traders in 2025.

Your Next Steps

• Start Trading at FundingTicks →
• Read the Full FundingTicks Review →
• Deep-Dive: FundingTicks Rules →