You may hold or open positions across high-impact releases such as FOMC, NFP and CPI. This does not create an exception to the prohibited-strategies policy, including hedging restrictions. News-related execution losses still count toward your account limits.

A high-impact release (rate decisions, jobs reports, inflation prints) can reprice a market in a fraction of a second. The practical effects you need to plan for:

Slippage. In the seconds around a release the book thins out. A market order, or a stop that has just triggered, can fill several ticks (sometimes many ticks) away from the price you saw. Your fill, not the screen price, is what hits your account.

Wider spreads. The gap between bid and ask blows out as liquidity providers pull quotes. Getting in and out costs more, and the mid-price can jump around before it settles.

Gaps. Price can leap over a range of levels with no trades in between. If your stop sits inside that gap, it does not fill at your level. It fills at the next available price on the other side.

Whipsaw. The first move after a release is often reversed within seconds. A position that looked right can be deep in the red before the market picks a direction.

This is the single most important point. A stop order is not a price guarantee. When it triggers it becomes a market order, and it fills at the best price available at that instant. In a fast, thin, news-driven market that price can be far from your stop level.

So a stop you placed to cap a loss at, say, 10 ticks can fill at 25 or 40 ticks in a violent release. On a funded account that gap can be the difference between a normal trade and a breach.

In extreme releases the exchange itself can pause or cap trading. Two things can happen on CME products:

A halt (pause). Matching pauses, so you may be unable to enter or exit until trading resumes. Price-limit and halt mechanisms differ by product; check the exchange schedule and applicable limits.

A limit or locked state. The market stays open but cannot trade past a price band. If price is pinned at limit-down the bids at the limit can be exhausted, so your sell order may not fill even though the market is technically open. Any order priced beyond the band is rejected.

In both cases the protection you assumed you had may not execute. For the full mechanics see the article on price limits and circuit breakers.

Slippage can push losses beyond a trade or account limit. News trading does not create an exception to your rules. Leave room for a fill worse than your planned stop. For the current percentages and calculations, see daily drawdown, trailing drawdown and Max Trade Loss. Use the rules assigned to your program, phase and account size.

Placing orders on both sides of a release can lead to both being filled during a whipsaw. Permission to trade news does not override the prohibited-strategies policy, including its hedging restrictions.

If you choose to trade near a release, protect the account first:

Know the calendar. Check an economic calendar before your session so no major release surprises you while you are in a position. Upcomers X includes an economic-calendar and news widget, so you can see upcoming high-impact releases without leaving the platform.

Size down or step aside. Smaller size, or flat through the release, is the simplest way to keep a bad fill from breaching your account. The micro contracts (MES, MNQ, MGC and the rest) let you take a fraction of the risk of the full-size contract.

Do not lean on a tight stop. Assume your stop can slip. Size the position so that even a slipped fill stays inside your single-trade cap and your daily budget.

Watch the 4:50 PM ET close and the Sunday reopen. Weekend and overnight news shows up as a gap when the market reopens. You cannot hold a position into that gap: every open position is closed automatically at 4:50 PM ET (3:50 PM CT), before the daily break and the weekend close.

Allowed? Yes. News trading is permitted, it is not on the prohibited-strategies list, and there is no flat window before or after a release.

News orders: all prohibited-strategy and hedging rules still apply.

Main risks: slippage, wider spreads, gaps, and possible halts or locked markets.

Why it matters: a slipped fill can breach a trade-loss or drawdown limit. Use your account’s assigned rules.

Safest play: know the calendar, size down or stay flat, and never assume your stop fills at its level.

Not sure how a release affects your specific account? Start a chat from the help center or email us at [email protected] and we will walk through it with you.