Weekend Holding and Automated Trading Rules

Weekend and overnight holding

Firms measure drawdown on the simulated account, and a weekend gap can carry equity through a limit before any stop fills. Some forbid weekend positions outright, closing them automatically on Friday. Some allow them on a swing account with a wider drawdown and a higher fee. Some allow them freely. Overnight holding is almost always allowed, but check, because a few futures-focused firms require a flat close every day.

Automated trading

• Your own expert advisor or script: allowed at most forex firms, with a requirement that you understand and control it.
• Commercial bots and signal services: often banned, because many traders running the same trades create concentrated risk the firm cannot hedge.
• Copy trading between your own accounts at the same firm: usually allowed; between accounts at different firms: usually banned; between traders: banned.
• High-frequency, latency-arbitrage and tick-scalping strategies: banned everywhere, because they exploit the simulation rather than the market.

Why account sharing is policed

A firm that finds the same trades on many accounts assumes a group is passing challenges collectively or hedging one account against another to guarantee a pass. Both defeat the evaluation. Firms compare trade timestamps and IP addresses, and they void payouts and close accounts when they find matches, sometimes weeks later.

Reading the rule

These rules live in the terms of service rather than the marketing page. Read the definitions: what the firm calls an EA, what counts as copy trading, and what the penalty is. If a rule is ambiguous, ask support in writing before you trade and keep the answer.

Key takeaways

• Weekend holding is often forbidden or confined to swing accounts because of gap risk.
• Your own automation is usually fine; shared, commercial and simulation-exploiting automation is not.
• Account sharing and cross-firm hedging are detected and punished after the fact.
• Read the terms and get ambiguities answered in writing.