Prop firm re-entry rules
Closing a losing trade and opening the same one again straight away can be treated as one position. Firms with a re-entry rule add the trades together, which can turn a small loss into a breach of the risk limit. Every rule below is quoted from the firm’s own pages, with a link to where we read it.
What can this rule do to you?
Kind of rule
Re-entry
Rules that join separate trades together if you go back in too soon.
Re-entering within 10 minutes counts as the same trade
Close a losing trade and open another in the same direction on the same instrument within 10 minutes, and both count as ONE trade idea. The losses add up against your risk limit. Lose $700 on XAUUSD Buy, re-enter five minutes later and lose $500, and the firm assesses that as a single $1,200 loss. The window starts when the losing trade closes; open after 10 minutes and it is a separate idea. You cannot split a large risk into several small trades and argue each one was under the limit.
Same direction trades on one pair count as one trade idea
On the EA Challenge several trades in the same direction on the same pair within a short time are grouped as one trade idea. The grouped result is what the profit and lot consistency checks use.
Doubling up after a loss triggers a risk review
Closing a position on an instrument at a realised loss and then opening a new position on the same instrument in the same direction with at least twice the volume of the losing trade is flagged as Realised-Loss Recovery Over-Sizing, behaviour Finotive describes as gambling-style recovery, which may trigger an internal Risk Review. The ordinary act of sizing up to win a loss back is what the rule is aimed at.
Reopening a position within five minutes is tick scalping
Closing a position and opening it again within five minutes counts as tick scalping, as do trades opened and closed inside 120 seconds. More than 10% of such trades on funded or instant accounts sends the account to risk review.
This list is only as complete as our reading. 33 of the 83 firms we track have been through a rulebook pass; the rest are still to do, and a firm missing from here has not been cleared. It has not been checked. See which firms are next.