Opening or closing a trade within two minutes before or after a high-impact news release (NFP, CPI, PMI, FOMC decisions, central bank rate announcements, and similar) is prohibited. News classifications and release times are based on the FXStreet Economic Calendar (https://www.fxstreet.com/economic-calendar).
How Does the High-Impact News Rule Work?
The rule applies to each individual high-impact news event listed on the FXStreet Economic Calendar.
There is a restricted trading window from 2 minutes before the news release until 2 minutes after the release.
If you have an open position during this period, a violation occurs if:
You open a new trade at any point within the restricted window — 2 minutes before, during, or 2 minutes after the news event.
An existing trade closes for any reason during the restricted window, including hitting Take Profit (TP), Stop Loss (SL), or Break Even (BE).
How Are Violations Counted?
Violations are counted per news event, not per trade.
For example, if there is 1 high-impact news event and you have 3 trades open, and all three trades are affected during the restricted window, this counts as 1 strike, not 3 strikes.
However, if there are 3 separate high-impact news events and you violate the rule during each event, that would count as 3 strikes and result in an immediate account breach.
Simple rule to remember:
1 news event = maximum of 1 strike, regardless of how many trades are affected during that event.