Prohibited Trading Strategies

At NowFunded, all traders are expected to follow disciplined, strategy-based trading with proper risk management. Any activity that exploits system inefficiencies, manipulates execution, or reflects reckless trading behaviour is strictly prohibited.

General Prohibited Strategies

The following strategies and behaviours are not permitted under any circumstances:

• Arbitrage (including latency, reverse, or price feed exploitation)

• High-frequency trading (HFT) or ultra-short-term execution strategies

• Tick scalping

• One-sided betting

• Hedging or coordinated/group hedging

• Toxic or manipulative trading flow

• Gambling-style trading

• Martingale or recovery-based systems

• Excessive risk-taking or drawdown abuse

• Overtrading or order spamming

Engaging in any of the above may result in immediate account action.

Gambling Behaviour

Gambling behaviour refers to trading without a structured strategy, where decisions are driven by emotion, urgency, or the desire for quick profits rather than analysis.

This includes (but is not limited to):

• Risking a large portion of your account on a single trade

• Frequently increasing position sizes after losses

• Trading aggressively during high-impact news without a clear strategy

• Attempting to “recover” losses quickly through oversized trades

• Using the full daily drawdown limit in one or very few trades

• Splitting large risk into multiple positions to bypass detection

This type of trading lacks consistency and proper risk control.

Any account identified as engaging in gambling behaviour may have:

• Profits removed

• Trading activity flagged

• Account terminated

One-Sided Betting

One-sided betting occurs when a trader repeatedly opens positions in the same direction without sufficient market analysis or justification.

For example:

• Continuously placing sell trades on a pair expecting one large move

• Entering multiple positions in the same direction purely based on speculation

This behaviour indicates a lack of strategy and significantly increases risk exposure. It is therefore not permitted.

Impulsive Trading

Impulsive trading refers to frequent and rapid decision-making without proper analysis or planning.

This includes:

• Opening trades in opposite directions within short periods of time

• Entering and exiting trades based on emotion or market noise

• Constantly switching bias without a structured approach

Such behaviour reflects inconsistency and poor risk management and is strictly prohibited.

Martingale Strategy

Martingale is a high-risk strategy where a trader increases their position size after a loss in an attempt to recover previous losses.

For example:

• Losing a trade and doubling the next position size

• Continuously increasing risk after consecutive losses

This strategy can quickly lead to significant drawdowns and account breaches. Due to its inherently risky nature, Martingale is not allowed.

Order Spamming

Order spamming is a manipulative practice involving the placement of multiple trades within seconds of each other to create artificial trading activity or exploit execution conditions.

This includes:

• Rapidly placing multiple small trades instead of a single larger position

• Entering numerous orders within a very short timeframe

Example:
Opening multiple 0.1 lot trades within seconds rather than one 1.0 lot trade.

This behaviour is considered an abuse of the trading environment and is strictly prohibited.

Full Risk / Drawdown Abuse

Drawdown abuse occurs when a trader intentionally uses the majority (or entirety) of their allowed daily loss in one trade or across multiple positions.

This includes:

• Risking near the full daily drawdown on a single trade

• Opening multiple positions that collectively exceed reasonable risk exposure

• Attempting to bypass risk controls by splitting positions

This type of behaviour demonstrates poor risk management and is not permitted.

Hedging & Group Hedging

Hedging refers to opening opposing positions on the same or correlated instruments to offset risk.

Group hedging involves multiple accounts coordinating trades to reduce risk exposure or manipulate outcomes.

Examples include:

• Opening buy and sell positions on the same asset across accounts

• Coordinating trades between multiple users or accounts

These practices are strictly prohibited.

Arbitrage & Latency Exploitation

Arbitrage strategies involve exploiting price differences between platforms, feeds, or execution delays.

This includes:

• Latency arbitrage

• Reverse arbitrage

• Price feed manipulation

These strategies take advantage of technical inefficiencies rather than market skill and are not allowed.

High-Frequency Trading (HFT) & Tick Scalping

High-frequency trading and tick scalping involve executing a large number of trades in extremely short timeframes to capture minimal price movements.

This includes:

• Entering and exiting trades within seconds

• Relying on execution speed rather than market analysis

Such strategies are considered system exploitation and are prohibited.

Expert Advisors (EAs) & Trade Copiers

• The use of Expert Advisors (EAs) is not permitted

• The use of trade copiers is not permitted

All trading must be conducted manually by the account holder.

Important

Any violation of these rules may result in:

• Immediate account suspension

• Removal of profits

• Denial of payouts

• Permanent account termination 

Use of Expert Advisors (EA) 

The use of Expert Advisors is not permitted and will lead to evaluation denial, payout denial, and account closure.​

Use of VPNs and VPS:

The use of VPNs and VPS is allowed, provided traders do not share account credentials. Group trading is strictly prohibited.