General Guidelines for Being Compliant

At all levels of the Trade4U program, there are certain behaviors that traders are strictly prohibited from engaging in, and others that require immediate notification to Trade4U. These policies exist to maintain the integrity of our educational evaluation program and ensure realistic market conditions in our simulated environment.

Why Does Trade4U Have Prohibited Conduct Policies?

Prohibited Conduct policies exist to:

• Deter behaviors incompatible with long-term, sustainable success in real markets

• Promote responsible and professional trading practices

• Prevent circumvention of our trading rules and evaluation parameters

• Ensure realistic order execution that mirrors actual market conditions

The Trade4U Challenge and Funded accounts are designed to evaluate real trading skills. We would be doing a disservice to our traders if we allowed them to pass evaluations using methods that would fail in live market conditions.

Categories of Prohibited Conduct

There are two main categories of Prohibited Conduct:

1. Strictly Prohibited Behaviors - Actions that are absolutely forbidden in Trade4U accounts

2. Notification Required Behaviors - Actions that require immediate notification to Trade4U

How Is Prohibited Conduct Different from Trading Rules?

While both Trading Rules and Prohibited Conduct refer to actions that may not be taken in your Trade4U account, they are handled differently:

• Trading Rules have predetermined outcomes when violated (e.g., account termination, reset option at $39)

• Prohibited Conduct is handled on a case-by-case basis depending on severity and intent

Potential Consequences of Prohibited Conduct

Depending on the severity of the infraction and the trader's history, consequences may include:

• Warning notification

• Deletion of affected trading days

• Permanent account closure

• Delay or denial of withdrawal requests

• Forfeiture of all profits

• Permanent ban from Trade4U services

Note: Prohibited Conduct violations may or may not result in reset fees, depending on the specific circumstances and severity of the violation.

What Trade4U Considers Prohibited Conduct

1. Unprofessional and Manipulative Behaviors

• Exhibiting unprofessional conduct or attempting to manipulate the evaluation process

• Excessive purchases of Challenge accounts or resets beyond reasonable trading development needs

• Creating multiple accounts to circumvent the 20-account maximum limit

2. Exploitative Trading Strategies

• Using any strategy intended to exploit errors in price displays or data feed delays

• Implementing disruptive market practices, including spoofing or layering strategies

• Trading outside the best bid/offer to achieve unrealistic fills

• Using external or delayed data feeds to gain unfair advantages

3. Automated and High-Frequency Trading

• Using Expert Advisors (EAs), trading robots, or any automated trading systems

• Employing artificial intelligence, ultra-high speed, or mass data entry systems

• Implementing algorithmic or high-frequency trading strategies

• Using any software that manipulates or provides unfair advantages

4. Coordinated Trading and Hedging

• Coordinating trades between multiple accounts (owned by same or different individuals)

• Implementing opposite positions across accounts to hedge risk

• Copy trading or signal sharing between accounts

• Pooling risk across unconnected accounts

• Performing the same trading strategy across multiple accounts simultaneously

5. Market Manipulation and Gaming

• Tick scalping without genuine market analysis (opening and closing within seconds)

• Account flipping (minimal trades just to meet day requirements)

• Patterns indicating gambling behavior or martingale strategies

• Trading strategies that cannot be replicated in real market conditions

• One-sided directional betting (80%+ positions in single direction without analysis)

6. Position and Risk Violations

• Holding positions overnight or during weekends (all positions must close before daily market close)

• Trading within 5 minute before/after high-impact news events (FOMC, CPI, NFP)

• Holding positions within 2% of a product's price limit

• Account stacking (aggressive trading to hit drawdown, then switching accounts)

7. Technical Exploitation

• Attempting to circumvent geographical or technical restrictions

• Using instruments that adversely affect platform operations

• Exploiting platform bugs, errors, or system deficiencies

• Manipulating the Intraday Trailing Drawdown calculation

8. Third-Party Trading

• Trading on behalf of others or managing accounts for third parties

• Sharing profits or incentives as part of business arrangements

• Allowing others to access or trade your account

• Providing account credentials to third parties

9. Uncommercial Activities

• Engaging in trading that doesn't represent viable commercial strategies

• Activities solely intended to game the evaluation system

• Trading patterns inconsistent with professional market participation

• Any conduct that Trade4U determines, in its sole discretion, represents irresponsible trading

Appeal Process

Traders who believe they have been incorrectly flagged for Prohibited Conduct may:

1. Submit a written appeal to support@trade4u.com

2. Provide detailed explanation of trading strategy

3. Include supporting documentation

Appeals are reviewed within 5 business days. Trade4U's decision on appeals is final.

Copy Trading Between Users

Copy trading involves multiple traders coordinating their trades or one trader copying another's positions across different accounts. This includes sharing trade signals, entry/exit points, or any form of coordinated trading strategy between different Trade4U accounts, whether owned by the same person or different individuals.

All trading decisions must be made independently by each account holder without external influence or coordination. Using Discord groups, Telegram channels, or any communication platform to share live trading signals or coordinate entries/exits between accounts will result in immediate termination of all involved accounts.

Hedging Strategies

Hedging involves taking opposite positions in correlated instruments across multiple accounts to minimize risk or guarantee profits. This includes buying ES on one account while selling NQ on another, or any strategy designed to offset risk between different Trade4U accounts you control. Hedging strategies within the same account are also prohibited.

Even holding opposite positions in the same instrument across multiple accounts (long ES on Account A, short ES on Account B) constitutes hedging and is strictly prohibited. Each account must be traded independently with its own risk profile, regardless of positions in other accounts.

Gambling and One-Sided Betting

Gambling behavior includes dramatically increasing position sizes after losses in attempts to recover quickly, "all-in" strategies inconsistent with your normal trading pattern, or taking maximum position sizes during high volatility periods without proper risk management justification.

One-sided betting refers to consistently taking positions in only one direction (only buying or only selling) without regard to market conditions, technical analysis, or fundamental reasoning. Trading must demonstrate strategic thinking rather than directional bias or hope-based positioning.

It is understood that if the user has 80% of their positions exclusively unidirectional (i.e., only buy positions or only sell positions), this may indicate a lack of objective criteria for position determination, implying a regulatory violation.

Tick Scalping and High-Frequency Abuse

Tick scalping involves opening and closing positions within seconds purely to capture 1-2 tick movements without genuine market analysis or strategy. This includes automated or semi-automated strategies designed to exploit minor price movements through rapid-fire trading without substantial market conviction.

While legitimate scalping strategies are allowed, purely mechanical tick-harvesting without analysis or positions held may be flagged as abusive behavior. Your trading should demonstrate market understanding beyond pure price action exploitation.

Account Flipping

Account flipping means opening and immediately closing positions solely to meet minimum trading day requirements without genuine trading intent. This includes making minimal trades just to satisfy the "4 days traded" rule in Challenge accounts.

Each trade should represent a legitimate market opportunity with proper analysis, entry reasoning, and risk management. Trades made purely to "count" trading days, such as buying and immediately selling with minimal profit/loss, violate the spirit of the evaluation process.

Holding Positions Overnight/Weekends

All positions must be closed before each trading day's official close time - typically 5:00 PM ET for most futures contracts. Holding any position past the daily close time, even by seconds, constitutes an overnight violation and results in immediate account termination.

Weekend holds are also strictly prohibited. If markets close Friday at 5:00 PM ET and reopen Sunday at 6:00 PM ET, no positions can be maintained during this period. This rule applies regardless of market conditions, potential profits, or stop-loss placement.

News Trading Violations

Trading is prohibited 5 minute before, during, and 5 minute after high-impact economic news releases (3-star events on economic calendars). This includes Payroll, FOMC, PMI, PPI, CPI, ADP, PCE, CPI, and any major central bank announcements affecting your trading instruments.

The restriction applies to opening new positions, closing existing positions, or modifying orders during the restricted window. You must plan ahead to close positions before news events and wait the full minute after release before resuming any trading activity.