Toxic trading isn’t the same as cheating, but some trading habits are undesirable. We call these toxic trading behaviours. These include high-risk, aggressive, or short-sighted strategies that may pass a challenge or produce payouts, but are ultimately unsustainable and only work in the short term.

We’re not looking for perfection. But we expect traders to respect some boundaries when it comes to trading simulated accounts.

We assess this based on behaviour, not results. Traders may pass a challenge or receive a payout, but if the underlying behaviour shows repeated signs of poor risk management, the account will be flagged for review and may be placed under probation.

These are signs we look for that indicate an account is being managed in an aggressive or unsustainable way. These behaviours often lead to short-lived success but are not viable in the long term.

Account churning

Systematically taking multiple challenges at the same time or in a short period of time to increase the chances of a random pass based on a high number of attempts rather than demonstrating any skill or edge.

Getting stopped out due to insufficient margin

Repeatedly being forced out of trades because the margin level drops too low.

Regularly using the entire daily loss allowance on a single trade idea

Risking your entire daily loss allowance (or more) to one trading idea or trading ideas in correlated instruments.

Maxing out free margin and scaling in as equity increases

Opening large positions, then adding more size as the trade moves in your favour, using the increased margin from floating equity. This creates a one-sided bet and offers no buffer for a pullback.

Regularly opening large positions before news events

News trading is allowed, but repeatedly placing maximum-size trades just before major economic events is a sign of speculative or lottery-style trading, rather than a strategic approach.