TradeDay Prohibited Practices: Complete 2026 List

Written by Paul

Published on

January 9, 2026

You passed your TradeDay evaluation, you're making money, and then your account gets terminated without warning. No refund, no appeal, no explanation beyond "rule violation." What did you do wrong?

Most TradeDay bans happen because traders violate rules they didn't know existed. They're not trying to cheat — they just never read the full prohibited practices list. Or they assumed something was allowed because other prop firms allow it.

Quick heads-up: This article is based on my real experience with TradeDay and the info available when I published/updated this. Things change in prop trading — rules, payouts, promos, all of it.

For the absolute latest, check TradeDay´s website or their faq page.

TradeDay has specific trading practices that will get you permanently banned even if you're profitable. Some are obvious (don't hack the system). Others are surprisingly subtle (trading during certain news events, using specific VPN configurations, or running particular software).

This is the complete list of prohibited practices at TradeDay in 2026. If you violate any of these, your account gets terminated and you lose everything — evaluation progress, funded accounts, pending payouts, all of it.

Why TradeDay Has Prohibited Practices

Before we get into the list, understand why these rules exist.

TradeDay operates on a simulated trading environment during evaluations and funded phases (until you upgrade to Funded Live). This simulation needs to mirror real market conditions, but it's not a direct market connection.

The problem: Traders can potentially exploit the simulation's limitations — finding tiny execution delays, gaming order fills, or using strategies that work in sim but would never work with real broker fills.

The solution: Strict rules against anything that looks like exploitation, even if you weren't intentionally cheating.

Most prohibited practices fall into three categories:

Market timing exploits (news trading, latency arbitrage)
System gaming (hedging, algorithmic manipulation)
Unauthorized tools (certain bots, copy trading software, VPNs)

If you stick to normal trading with standard platforms and don't try to game the system, you'll be fine. But let's go through the specifics.

Tier 1 News Trading: The Automatic Killer

This is the most common violation that gets traders banned.

What's Prohibited

You cannot trade within 2 minutes before or after major economic news releases classified as "Tier 1" events.

Tier 1 Events Include:

Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) — first Friday of each month
FOMC Rate Decisions — 8 times per year
Consumer Price Index (CPI) — monthly
Producer Price Index (PPI) — monthly
GDP releases — quarterly
Unemployment Rate — monthly
Retail Sales — monthly
Other high-impact economic data

The full calendar is available in TradeDay's dashboard, but the big ones are NFP and FOMC.

The 2-Minute Buffer

You cannot have open positions 2 minutes before the news release OR 2 minutes after.

Example - NFP releases at 8:30 AM ET:

You must close all positions by 8:28 AM ET
You cannot open new positions until 8:32 AM ET
If you have a position open at 8:28:01 AM, you're in violation

Auto-Liquidation System

TradeDay's system will automatically close your positions if you're in a trade during a restricted news window. They'll liquidate at market price, which might be a terrible fill if you're holding during NFP volatility.

After auto-liquidation, your account gets flagged for review. First violation might be a warning. Second violation usually results in account termination.

Why This Rule Exists

News trading creates extreme volatility and unpredictable fills. In a simulated environment, TradeDay's system might fill your orders at prices that wouldn't be possible with a real broker during NFP chaos. They ban news trading to prevent traders from exploiting simulation fills during high-volatility events.

Real World: Many prop firms ban news trading for the same reason. This isn't unique to TradeDay.

For the complete list of restricted news events and exact times, see the news trading rules guide.

Hedging Across Multiple Accounts

This one trips up traders who run multiple TradeDay accounts.

What's Prohibited

You cannot be long on one TradeDay account and short on another TradeDay account at the same time on the same instrument.

Example of Violation:

Account A: Long 2 NQ contracts at 16,000
Account B: Short 2 NQ contracts at 16,000
This is prohibited hedging

Why It's Prohibited

Perfect hedging across accounts eliminates risk on one side. If NQ rallies, Account A makes money and Account B loses money. If NQ dumps, the opposite. You've eliminated directional risk and you're just collecting on whichever account wins while the other fails.

TradeDay views this as gaming the evaluation system — you're not actually taking directional risk, you're just playing both sides to guarantee one account passes.

What's Allowed

You CAN hold different positions across accounts as long as they're not direct hedges:

Allowed Example 1:

Account A: Long 2 ES
Account B: Long 2 NQ
Different instruments, both long, not hedging

Allowed Example 2:

Account A: Long 2 NQ in the morning
Account B: Short 2 NQ in the afternoon (different times, not simultaneous)

Allowed Example 3:

Account A: Long 2 NQ
Account B: No position
You're not hedging if one account is flat

The key word is simultaneous. Don't hold opposing positions at the same time.

Gaming the Algorithm / Exploiting Simulation

This is the vague category that catches traders who try to exploit TradeDay's simulated environment.

What's Prohibited

Any strategy designed to exploit differences between TradeDay's simulation and real market conditions:

Latency arbitrage: Using fast connections to trade on delayed sim prices
Order book manipulation: Placing orders to test how the sim processes fills
Pattern exploitation: Finding and exploiting predictable sim behaviors
Execution testing: Repeatedly entering/exiting to find fill inconsistencies

How TradeDay Detects This

Their system monitors for:

Unusually high win rates (95%+ consistently)
Extremely short hold times (sub-second flips)
Patterns that look like algo testing rather than real trading
Trading that makes no sense from a directional analysis perspective

The Gray Area

This is where it gets tricky. TradeDay doesn't publish exactly what constitutes "gaming" because they don't want to teach traders how to do it.

Safe approach: Trade like you would with a real broker. If your strategy is based on exploiting the simulation rather than predicting market direction, you're in dangerous territory.

Examples of Safe Trading:

Technical analysis, support/resistance
Order flow trading based on DOM reading
News-based directional trades (outside Tier 1 windows)
Swing trading holding overnight

Examples of Risky Territory:

Entering and exiting in under 5 seconds repeatedly
Trading with no stop loss and somehow never getting stopped out
Winning 47 out of 50 trades with no explanation for the edge

For more on what TradeDay considers algorithm gaming, see the gaming algorithm guide.

Prohibited Software and Automation

Not all trading bots and automation are banned, but some specific types are.

Prohibited Software

Commercial copy trading platforms: Software that replicates trades from one account to another, especially if it's copying from an external source or other traders.

Certain EAs and automated systems: Expert Advisors designed to exploit latency or execution speeds in sim environments.

Unauthorized API connections: Using APIs to connect to TradeDay in ways not officially supported.

What's Allowed

Your own manual trading: Obviously fine.

Your own personal automation: If you write a script or algo for your personal use that trades based on legitimate analysis (not exploiting the sim), it's generally okay. But you're at risk if it looks suspicious.

Copy trading yourself: Using software to copy trades from one of YOUR TradeDay accounts to another of YOUR TradeDay accounts is allowed, as long as you're not hedging. You're just scaling your strategy across accounts.

Platform features: Using built-in automation features from NinjaTrader, TradingView, Tradovate, etc. is fine as long as you're not violating other rules.

The Judgment Call

TradeDay evaluates automation on a case-by-case basis. If your bot is just executing a standard trend-following strategy, you're probably fine. If your bot is doing weird sub-second execution testing, you'll get flagged.

For specific rules on algo trading and automation, see the algo trading rules guide.

VPN and IP Masking Restrictions

TradeDay's VPN policy is nuanced — it's not a blanket ban.

When VPNs Are Prohibited

You cannot use a VPN to:

Hide your true geographic location to bypass country restrictions
Mask your identity to run multiple accounts under fake identities
Route through locations that would violate regulations

When VPNs Are Allowed

You CAN use a VPN for:

Privacy and security on public WiFi
Accessing TradeDay from work networks that block trading sites
General internet privacy (as long as you're in an allowed country)

The Key: Don't Hide Your Real Location

TradeDay needs to know where you're actually located for regulatory compliance. If you're in the US and using a VPN that makes you appear to be in the US (or just using a VPN for encryption without location spoofing), you're fine.

If you're in a restricted country and using a VPN to pretend you're in the US, you'll get caught and banned.

For complete VPN guidelines, see the VPN policy guide.

Multiple Accounts Policy

You're allowed to have multiple TradeDay accounts, but there are limits and rules.

What's Allowed

Multiple evaluation accounts at the same time
Multiple funded accounts at the same time
Different account sizes ($50K, $100K, $150K) simultaneously
Different drawdown types across accounts

What's NOT Allowed

Creating accounts under fake names or identities
Using multiple email addresses to hide how many accounts you have
Exceeding unstated account limits (TradeDay doesn't publish a max, but having 20+ accounts might trigger review)
Hedging across your accounts (covered earlier)

Recommended Approach

Be transparent. Use your real information. If you want to run 5 funded accounts, just do it — don't try to hide it. TradeDay supports traders who scale with multiple accounts. They don't support traders who create fake identities.

For details on running multiple accounts properly, see the multiple accounts policy guide.

Other Prohibited Practices

Here are additional violations that can get you banned:

Sharing Account Credentials

Don't let other people trade your TradeDay account. The account is tied to your identity, and if someone else is trading it, that's a violation.

Not allowed: Giving your login to a friend so they can trade your account while you're on vacation.

Trading from Restricted Countries

TradeDay doesn't accept traders from certain countries due to regulations. If you're in a restricted country and you bypass the restriction (VPN, fake address, etc.), you'll get banned.

For the full list of restricted countries, see the banned countries guide.

Account Farming

Creating dozens of accounts to "farm" for one or two that pass evaluations through sheer statistical luck is prohibited. TradeDay monitors for patterns that look like account farming.

Violating Position Limits

Trading more contracts than allowed for your account size:

$50K: 1 contract (or 10 micros)
$100K: 2 contracts (or 20 micros)
$150K: 3 contracts (or 30 micros)

Accidentally trading 3 contracts on a $100K account is a violation. Your evaluation fails immediately.

For complete position limit rules, see the position limits guide.

Trading Restricted Products

Most futures contracts are allowed, but certain very illiquid or obscure products might be restricted. If you're trading anything beyond the major contracts (ES, NQ, CL, GC, etc.), verify it's allowed first.

What Happens If You Violate a Rule

The consequences depend on the severity and whether it's your first violation.

Minor First Offense

Example: You accidentally held a position 1 minute into a Tier 1 news window.

Result: Warning email, possible auto-liquidation, account flagged. You can continue trading but you're on notice.

Major First Offense

Example: You were hedging across accounts for multiple days.

Result: Account termination. All your evaluation and funded accounts closed. No refunds.

Repeat Violations

Second violation of any rule after a warning typically results in permanent ban — not just account termination, but banned from creating new accounts.

No Appeals

TradeDay's decisions on rule violations are final. They don't debate whether you "meant to" or "didn't know." The rules exist, you violated them, you're done.

This is why it's critical to understand these rules BEFORE you start trading.

How to Stay Compliant

Here's your checklist to avoid violations:

1. Know the News Calendar

Check TradeDay's dashboard every morning for Tier 1 news events that day. Set alarms for 5 minutes before major releases so you remember to close positions.

2. Don't Run Opposing Positions

If you have multiple accounts, keep a simple log of your positions. Never go long one account and short another on the same instrument.

3. Trade Normally

Don't try to game the system. Don't test execution speeds. Don't look for simulation exploits. Just trade like you would with a real broker.

4. Use Standard Software

Stick to TradeDay's supported platforms: Tradovate, NinjaTrader, TradingView, etc. Don't use sketchy third-party bots or copy trading services.

5. Be Honest About Location

Don't use VPNs to hide your country. If you're in a restricted country, TradeDay isn't for you. Don't try to bypass it.

6. Watch Position Limits

Before you enter a trade, verify you're not exceeding your contract limits. This is especially easy to mess up with micros (20 MNQ = 2 full NQ contracts).

7. Read the Full Rules

This article covers the main violations, but TradeDay has additional policies in their terms of service. Read them before trading.

For complete evaluation requirements and how these rules fit in, see the evaluation rules guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if I violate a rule accidentally?

Minor accidental violations might get a warning. But "I didn't know" isn't a defense. You're responsible for knowing the rules.

Can I appeal if my account is terminated?

You can contact support to explain your situation, but TradeDay's decisions are typically final. Don't expect to win an appeal.

How does TradeDay detect violations?

Automated monitoring systems track trading patterns, position timing, IP addresses, and account relationships. They also manually review suspicious activity.

Are these rules the same once I'm funded?

Yes. Prohibited practices apply during evaluation AND funded status. Just because you passed doesn't mean you can start hedging accounts or trading news.

Can I trade NFP if I'm very careful?

No. The 2-minute buffer is non-negotiable. Even if you think you can handle the volatility, TradeDay's system will auto-liquidate you and flag your account.

What if TradeDay's policy changes?

Check your email and dashboard regularly. If they update policies, you're expected to comply with the new rules immediately.

Bottom Line: Just Trade, Don't Game

The prohibited practices list looks long, but it boils down to one simple principle: trade normally, don't try to exploit the system.

If your trading strategy is based on market analysis, technical patterns, or legitimate edge — you're fine. If your strategy is based on finding ways to game TradeDay's simulation or bypass their rules — you'll get caught.

Most traders never have issues with prohibited practices because they're just trading futures normally. The ones who get banned are usually trying to do something clever to beat the system.

Don't be clever. Just trade.

For everything else about TradeDay — account options, evaluation requirements, payouts, and real trader experiences — check the complete TradeDay review.

Follow the rules. Stay funded. Get paid.