Institutional Funding

Institutional Funding showed up with a T&C document that reads like it was written by a team of lawyers who also happen to trade. Thorough, precise, and in some places stricter than anything else we've reviewed. That's not necessarily bad. At least you know exactly where you stand.

Let's go through it.

Prohibited Strategies

The standard list applies — with a few additions worth noting:

Latency arbitrage, price feed exploitation, coordinated group trading, multi-accounting, account sharing, external signal copying, challenge-passing services.

Also on the list: "Abuse Trading" — defined as any trading activity that, in the Company's sole judgment, attempts to manipulate the Program. The key phrase there is "sole judgment." They decide what counts. Not you, not an external rulebook. Them.

That's not unusual in this industry. But it's broader than most firms write it.

You can also check out our blogpost in more detail about Institutional Funding HERE

Expert Advisors (EAs)

Not allowed — unless the Program Rules for your specific account type explicitly say otherwise.

The default position is no automation. Trading bots, automated scripts, algorithmic execution systems, and EAs are all prohibited unless you're on a product where it's been explicitly enabled. External signal services and challenge-passing services are banned outright regardless of account type.

Check your specific program rules before you set anything up.

Mandatory Stop-Loss

This one is unusual enough to get its own section.

Every trade must include a defined stop-loss order placed immediately upon opening the position. No exceptions, no grace period. Trading without a stop-loss is a rule violation from trade one.

Most firms recommend stop-losses. Institutional Funding requires them. If your strategy involves wide discretionary stops that you place later, or if you manage risk through position sizing rather than fixed stops — you need to adapt before your first trade here.

Minimum Trade Duration

60 seconds. Any trade closed in under 60 seconds is considered a tick scalping violation.

Most firms set this at 30 seconds. Institutional Funding doubles it. One violation won't necessarily close your account — repeated or intentional breaches will.

If your strategy occasionally closes trades quickly on momentum, start tracking your hold times before you apply. One minute sounds short until you're watching a fast move and your finger is on the close button.

News Trading

Allowed. But with conditions that change the math significantly.

During high-impact news events and periods of heightened volatility:

▪ Maximum risk per trade drops from 1.5% to 0.5% of Account Equity

▪ Maximum reward-to-risk ratio is capped at 1:3

News straddling, oversized pre-release positions, and trades designed to capture volatility spikes are flagged as potential Prohibited Trading Practices. The firm can reject or adjust reward eligibility for trades it determines were designed to exploit market conditions rather than demonstrate sustainable discipline.

So yes, you can trade the news. Just not the way most news traders trade the news.

Consistency Rule

20% cap. No single Trading Day's profit can exceed 20% of total simulated profit during the Performance Reward Cycle.

If you hit it, you don't lose the account — you just need more trading days to bring the percentage back under threshold before reward eligibility kicks in. NFP week followed by three quiet weeks is the classic scenario where this catches traders by surprise.

Risk Per Trade

Maximum 1.5% of Account Equity per trade — calculated from entry price to stop-loss at the time of execution. Since stop-losses are mandatory, this calculation happens automatically. You can't open a trade without a stop, and the stop has to keep you under 1.5% exposure.

One position per instrument at a time. Opening multiple positions in the same pair to work around drawdown calculations is prohibited and monitored.

Inactivity & Duration

30 consecutive calendar days without a trade — account review or closure.

Program duration maximum is 12 months from account activation. If you haven't completed or advanced within 12 months, the account expires.

VPN Policy

VPNs used to bypass geographic restrictions are prohibited. VPNs used for general privacy while trading from your actual location are in a grey area — suspicious IP activity may still trigger review regardless of intent.

If you travel frequently, flag IP changes with support before they flag them for you.

Final Take

Institutional Funding has written one of the most legally thorough T&Cs we've reviewed. That's either reassuring (clear rules, no surprises) or concerning (extensive disclaimers, wide discretion clauses), depending on how you read it.

The mandatory stop-loss, the 60-second minimum, and the news trading 0.5% risk cap are the three conditions most likely to affect traders who are used to other firms. None of them are hidden — they're documented clearly. They're just stricter than the industry standard, and they require real strategy adaptation before your first trade.

Read the Program Rules for your specific account type. The T&C establishes the framework; the Program Rules fill in the specifics that actually determine your daily experience.