# Prohibited practices: HFT and hedging

> Three practices are prohibited on every StarTrading account: high-frequency trading, hedging including between your own accounts, and micro-scalping, flagged when more than half of your profit comes from trades held five seconds or less. Hedging is a permanent ban. Scalping, bots, trade copiers and news trading are otherwise allowed.

Source: https://startrading.io/rules/prohibited-practices · Updated 2026-09-08

## What is prohibited?

| Practice | Rule | Consequence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| High-frequency trading | Not allowed | Warning, then closure |
| Hedging, in one account or across accounts | Not allowed | Permanent ban |
| Micro-scalping | Flagged above 50% of profit from trades held ≤ 5 seconds | Review, then closure if it continues |

Everything else that a retail futures trader does is allowed: scalping, swing intraday, [bots](https://startrading.io/rules/bots-and-algos), [trade copiers](https://startrading.io/rules/copy-trading), [news trading](https://startrading.io/rules/news-trading) on [eligible accounts](https://startrading.io/accounts/compare).

## Why is hedging a permanent ban?

Because it turns two simulated accounts into a free option: one side is guaranteed to pass or reach a payout while the other fails at the cost of an evaluation fee. That is not trading, and it is paid for by every honest trader through pricing. Hedging across accounts held by different people is treated the same way.

What hedging looks like

-   Long 4 ES on account A, short 4 ES on account B, at the same time.
-   Long NQ on a 100K Cycle and short MNQ in equal notional on a 100K Clear.
-   Holding a long ES on your account while a partner shorts it on theirs, with an agreement to share the payout.

## What is micro-scalping?

Trades held five seconds or less. A few of them are normal; an account whose profit comes mostly from them is exploiting data latency between the simulated feed and the exchange, not trading a market. The flag triggers when more than half of the account’s profit comes from such trades. The review looks at the pattern, not at isolated trades.

## What is high-frequency trading here?

Automated strategies that send orders at a rate no human could sustain, with the aim of capturing the spread or feed latency, are not allowed. An algorithm that trades a handful of times per hour is not HFT; see [bots and algos](https://startrading.io/rules/bots-and-algos) for what is allowed.

## What is reviewed and how?

The rules engine flags patterns automatically: opposite positions across accounts, hold-time distribution, order rates. A human reviews every flag before a decision. You are told what was flagged and why.

## Common mistakes

-   Running the same strategy long on one account and short on another “to test both sides”.
-   Copying a signal service that hedges, without knowing it.
-   Assuming a five-second average hold time is safe: the check is the share of profit, not the average.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is scalping allowed?

Yes. Holding trades for seconds or minutes is fine. The account is flagged only when more than 50% of its profit comes from trades held five seconds or less, which points to latency arbitrage rather than trading.

### What counts as hedging?

Holding opposite positions in the same or correlated products at the same time, in one account or across several, including a friend’s account, to lock in a payout on one side. It is a permanent ban on every account involved.

### What happens when a practice is flagged?

The risk team reviews the trades. Hedging leads to closure of the accounts and a permanent ban. HFT and micro-scalping lead to a warning and, if it continues, closure. Payouts pending on the account are held during the review.