The short answer
Usually you can hold a trade through FOMC. What firms restrict is opening, closing or modifying orders (including stop loss and take profit fills) inside a short window around the release, on symbols tied to the affected currency. For a USD event like FOMC, that typically includes USD pairs and gold (XAUUSD). The window, the penalty, and whether it applies in the evaluation or only on the funded account all differ by firm.
The common trap: the evaluation lets you trade news, so you pass trading through CPI or FOMC, then keep the same habit on the funded account and find out at payout time.
How three firms handle it
FTMO
- Order execution is restricted from 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after selected news releases, and that includes stop loss, take profit and pending orders.
- You may keep positions open if they were opened more than 2 minutes before the event.
- It applies only to symbols that include the affected currency. FTMO's list for USD events includes USD forex pairs, Gold (XAUUSD), US indices and DXY, and its USD event list includes the Federal Funds Rate & Statement and FOMC Meeting Minutes.
- It does not apply to Swing accounts or to accounts in the FTMO Challenge or Verification phase.
- Breaking it may result in termination of an FTMO Account.
Source: FTMO, "Can I trade news?" (read 28 Oct 2026)
FundingPips
- 1 Step Flex, 2 Step Standard, 2 Step Flex and 2 Step Pro: in the evaluation there's no restriction on holding trades through news, but FundingPips says purposely trading news is prohibited in both evaluation and master phases.
- On the Master (funded) account, profits from trades opened or closed within 5 minutes before or after restricted high-impact news (or a restricted speech) on the affected currency may be deducted. It's a soft breach, so the account isn't closed, but the firm says you're responsible if the deduction then causes a daily or max loss breach.
- Trades opened 5 hours or more before the event are excluded and their profits count.
- FundingPips Zero: no position may be opened, closed or held from 10 minutes before to 10 minutes after high-impact news on the affected currency, and breaking it closes the account.
- The firm's dashboard Economic Calendar is its official source for which events are restricted. Its USD list includes Federal Funds Rates and Statements / FOMC.
Source: FundingPips, "News Trading & Weekend Holding" (read 28 Oct 2026)
Related change worth knowing: the same page now says overnight and weekend holding is not allowed on those Master accounts unless you bought the Swing add-on, and open trades are auto-closed daily (21:45–22:00 UTC from the first Sunday of November).
The5ers (High Stakes)
- The High Stakes page says taking moves during high-impact and breaking news is allowed, but performing moves 2 minutes before or after high-impact news events is not allowed.
- The page doesn't list which instruments count, so check with The5ers for your symbol.
Source: The5ers, High Stakes (read 28 Oct 2026)
Before a big release, check these four things
- Which phase are you in? Several firms only apply the news rule on the funded account.
- Which symbols are affected? For USD news, gold is usually included even though it isn't a "USD pair" by name.
- Do your SL/TP or pending orders count? At FTMO they do, so a stop that fills inside the window is still an execution.
- Which calendar does the firm use? Firms treat their own calendar as the official one. Times on third-party calendars can differ.
After you've traded, check the history
If you traded around news and plan to request a payout, look at the open and close times of every trade against your firm's window first. PayoutPass's free payout check does that from an MT4 or MT5 history file, and the firm rules page summarizes each supported firm's news window and daily loss.
PayoutPass is an education and checking tool. It doesn't place trades, it isn't affiliated with any firm above, and this isn't financial advice. Your firm's own terms always win.