Why The 5%ers Bans Bracket Strategies — and What to Trade Instead (2026)

A bracket strategy at The 5%ers is a specific prohibited order structure: a buy-stop order placed above current price and a sell-stop order placed below current price simultaneously, entered ahead of a scheduled high-impact news release with the intent of being filled on whichever direction breaks first. As of May 2026, The 5%ers bans this structure across every program in the lineup, Hyper Growth, Pro Growth, High Stakes, Bootcamp, Futures Basecamp, and Futures Rebate, without exception.

The ban sits alongside the broader prohibition on news trading only at the order-type level. News trading itself is fully allowed. Holding an existing position through a release, placing a single directional pending order on one side of price, and entering after the release prints are all legal on every program. The 5%ers draws the line specifically at the paired structure, both sides covered simultaneously, and treats that configuration as a volatility-exploitation technique rather than a directional trade.

Most documentation on The 5%ers' rules reduces the bracket ban to a one-line note after confirming that news trading is allowed. This article unpacks what the ban covers precisely, where the line is between a banned bracket and a permitted directional pending order, how OCO orders fit into the picture, what the risk management logic behind the ban is, and which compliant news-trading alternatives work on each program.

For the broader news trading framework across all programs, see the The 5%ers news trading rules guide. For the complete list of prohibited strategy types, see the The 5%ers banned strategies guide.

What is a bracket strategy in the context of The 5%ers?

A bracket strategy is an order structure, not a market view. The trader places a buy-stop order some distance above the current price and a sell-stop order some distance below the current price at the same time. Neither order has filled yet. Both are pending. The goal is for one leg to fill when a scheduled news event produces a directional price break, while the unfilled leg either gets cancelled manually or expires.

The mechanics make the directional outcome irrelevant. If NFP prints better than expected and EUR/USD rips higher, the buy-stop fills and the trade is long. If NFP misses and EUR/USD drops, the sell-stop fills and the trade is short. The trader profits from the size of the initial move regardless of direction, without forming a view on whether the data will be positive or negative.

At The 5%ers, this order structure is banned universally across all six programs. The firm's program pages state the rule in consistent language: news trading is allowed; bracket strategies around high-impact news events are not. The language is the same whether you are reading the Hyper Growth page, the Bootcamp page, or the Futures page. The bracket ban is not a High Stakes-specific or Pro Growth-specific rule. It applies to the entire lineup.

The specific instruments and programs involved do not change the analysis. EUR/USD, Gold, Nasdaq, or any other instrument available across the CFD or Futures programs: if the order structure places pending stops on both sides of price simultaneously ahead of a news event, it is a bracket and it is banned.

What counts as a bracket order versus a directional pending order?

The distinction between a banned bracket and a permitted directional pending order is whether one or both sides of price are covered simultaneously with pending stop orders.

A buy-stop alone, placed above current price with the expectation that a breakout will fill the order, is a directional pending order. It takes a view that price will move up, and the pending order executes on confirmation of that move. No paired sell-stop sits below price. This is not a bracket. It is allowed on every The 5%ers program.

A sell-stop alone, placed below current price with the expectation that a breakdown will fill the order, is the same logic in the opposite direction. One pending order, one directional view, no opposing leg. Not a bracket. Allowed on every program.

A buy-stop above price AND a sell-stop below price, placed at the same time, covering both directional outcomes: that is the banned structure. The presence of both legs simultaneously is what defines the bracket. Remove one leg and the structure becomes directional. Keep both legs and it is a bracket.

This single-leg rule has a practical implication for breakout traders. If you trade a breakout-entry strategy ahead of a news event and want a pending order to enter on a directional break, place only the pending order in the direction you believe the break will occur. If you change your view after placing the buy-stop and want to replace it with a sell-stop, cancel the buy-stop before placing the sell-stop. Do not run both simultaneously.

The time element also matters. Placing a buy-stop, then later placing a sell-stop after the buy-stop is already filled and you have a position, is not a bracket. At that point you have an open position and you are adding a second order, which may have a different analysis. The bracket ban specifically targets pending orders on both sides before any fill occurs.

How OCO orders interact with the bracket ban

OCO stands for one-cancels-the-other. In standard usage, an OCO is a linked pair of orders where executing one automatically cancels the other. This functionality exists across MT5, cTrader, and Black Arrow. Whether an OCO is permitted or prohibited at The 5%ers depends entirely on what the two linked orders are.

An OCO that links a take-profit order and a stop-loss order on an existing open position is permitted. This is a risk management structure on a position that has already filled. You are long EUR/USD, you set a take-profit target above your entry and a stop-loss below your entry linked as an OCO: if price hits the take-profit, the stop-loss is cancelled automatically. If price hits the stop-loss, the take-profit is cancelled automatically. This is how most traders use OCO functionality, and it is not a bracket strategy. No rule at The 5%ers prohibits this use of OCO.

An OCO that links a buy-stop order above price and a sell-stop order below price, placed together before a news event as a straddling mechanism, is a bracket strategy regardless of the OCO label. The OCO branding does not change the underlying order structure. Two pending orders covering both directional outcomes simultaneously before a fill is a bracket. The 5%ers' banned-strategies documentation acknowledges this explicitly: OCO structures used as bracket mechanisms around news events are covered by the bracket ban.

The test is not what the order type is called. It is what the orders are. Two linked pending stop orders covering both sides of price before a news release: banned. A linked take-profit and stop-loss on an existing open position: allowed.

If you use a trading platform feature that combines a market order entry with an automatic OCO bracket placed on both sides of the entry price at the same moment, that also creates a bracket structure on the pending-order layer before the market order fills. Verify that your platform's "bracket order" or "order with TP/SL" feature places the TP and SL only after the position is opened, not as pending orders before the fill.

Why The 5%ers bans bracket strategies: the risk management framing

The 5%ers allows news trading. It allows holding through high-impact releases. It allows directional pending orders, directional pre-news entries on most programs, and directional post-news entries on all programs. The bracket ban is not a general risk-aversion rule about news volatility. It is a specific stance on what constitutes a legitimate trading approach.

The firm's position is that a bracket strategy has no directional thesis. The trader who places a buy-stop and sell-stop ahead of NFP has not analyzed whether the Non-Farm Payrolls number will be above or below consensus, has not assessed the dollar's likely reaction, and has not formed a view about which instrument and direction to trade. They have instead assessed that the release will produce a sufficiently large initial spike in some direction that one leg will be filled before price reverses back through the unfilled leg's level.

From the firm's perspective, this tests whether the news-event price mechanism can be exploited mechanically, not whether the trader can analyze markets and take a directional position. The 5%ers is a funded-trader evaluation program, and its rules are designed around testing directional trading competence. Strategies that produce consistent results in simulation by exploiting order-fill mechanics rather than market analysis do not fulfill that evaluation function.

There is also a liquidity argument. In a live-market environment, bracket strategies around high-impact news events often produce results that are significantly worse than in simulation: slippage on fill, spread widening at the moment of release, gaps that skip both pending orders' price levels, and the possibility that both legs fill in a market that spikes and reverses within seconds. A trader who passes an evaluation using a bracket strategy on a simulation account may be demonstrating an approach that would not generate the same results in a live-funded environment, which undermines the evaluation's purpose of identifying traders who can manage live capital.

The practical effect of the ban is that traders who have historically used bracket orders as a primary news-event tool will need to adopt a different approach on The 5%ers evaluations. The alternatives are available and within the rules; the bracket mechanic specifically is not.

Does the bracket ban apply the same way across all programs?

Yes. The bracket ban applies universally across every The 5%ers program. The program-level rules state it consistently and do not create any carve-out for specific account types.

The variation in news trading rules across programs relates to the 2-minute new-order window, not to the bracket ban. High Stakes and Pro Growth impose a restriction on placing any new orders within two minutes before or after a high-impact news event. Hyper Growth, Bootcamp, Futures Basecamp, and Futures Rebate do not state a 2-minute new-order window. But the bracket ban applies to all six programs regardless.

A Hyper Growth trader can place a single directional pending order ahead of CPI with no timing restriction. They cannot place a bracket. A High Stakes trader cannot place any new orders within two minutes of a high-impact event, and also cannot place a bracket at any point. The bracket ban is the more restrictive constraint because it applies regardless of timing, regardless of program, and regardless of whether the 2-minute window rule also applies.

One nuance worth noting for Bootcamp traders: the Bootcamp mandatory stop-loss rule requires every open position to carry a visible stop-loss with risk no greater than 2% of account balance. This rule applies to open positions, not to pending orders. The bracket ban applies to pending orders before any position opens. The two rules do not conflict. A Bootcamp trader can comply with the stop-loss requirement by attaching a proper stop-loss when a position opens, and separately comply with the bracket ban by not placing pending stop orders on both sides of price simultaneously before a fill.

EAs and automated bracket logic: what to check before running

Expert advisors and automated trading systems are permitted at The 5%ers. Standard directional EAs that read market data and place orders based on signal logic are allowed across all CFD programs and the Futures track on Black Arrow. The bracket ban applies to the strategy type, not the execution method.

If an EA's order logic places a buy-stop and a sell-stop simultaneously ahead of a news event, that is a bracket structure and is banned regardless of the fact that it runs automatically. The execution mechanism does not change whether the underlying order pattern is a bracket. A manual bracket is banned; an EA-generated bracket is also banned.

Before running any EA on a The 5%ers evaluation, confirm that the EA's logic does not include news-straddling mechanics. Common EA features to check include:

News-straddle entry modes: Many commercial EAs include optional "news mode" or "straddle" settings designed to trade around scheduled events. These typically place both a buy-stop and a sell-stop at a fixed distance from price when a news event is detected on the economic calendar. This is a bracket structure and must be disabled on The 5%ers evaluations.

Breakout EAs with dual pending orders: Some breakout EAs automatically place pending orders on both sides of a recent range when volatility-expansion criteria are met. If this logic is triggered around a news event, the resulting paired pending orders may constitute a bracket. Whether the EA was designed specifically for news events or simply triggers around high-volatility conditions does not change the order structure analysis.

Grid and hedging EAs: Grid systems that place multiple pending orders on both sides of price as part of a grid strategy create a structure where both buy-stops and sell-stops exist simultaneously above and below price. If this overlaps with a news event, the grid pending orders present as a bracket structure. Grid EAs running through news releases on The 5%ers evaluations carry bracket-ban risk unless the grid is closed or suspended before the news event window.

For EAs that trade on non-news signals and are not designed around news-event straddles: the bracket ban is unlikely to apply. A trend-following EA that places a single buy-stop above a swing high as part of a breakout signal is a directional pending order, not a bracket, even if a news event happens to occur around the same time.

What to use instead: compliant news trading approaches at The 5%ers

The bracket ban does not prevent news-event trading. It prevents one specific order structure. The following approaches are fully compliant across The 5%ers programs and provide workable alternatives for traders whose edge is tied to high-impact releases.

Pre-event directional entry with a single pending order (Hyper Growth, Bootcamp, Futures): On programs without the 2-minute window, a trader who has formed a view on the likely direction of a news release can place a single directional pending order before the event. A buy-stop above the pre-release range anticipates upside; a sell-stop below it anticipates a breakdown. Only one leg is placed. If the release goes against the pending order's direction, the order can be cancelled manually or expired. The failed trade is the cost of a directional bet that did not pay off, which is a legitimate trading outcome. On Hyper Growth, Bootcamp, and Futures, there is no restriction on when this pending order can be placed relative to the release.

Hold-through with pre-positioned stop-loss (all programs): A position opened before the news event with a stop-loss already in place can be held through the release on every program. The stop-loss manages the downside scenario; the position rides the move if the release aligns with the thesis. On Bootcamp, the stop-loss must be visible in the platform and must cap risk at no more than 2% of account balance before the event. On High Stakes and Pro Growth, modifying a stop-loss on an existing position during the 2-minute window is not the same as opening a new order and is generally permitted. This approach requires forming a directional view before the release and entering with that view, which is exactly what The 5%ers' evaluation framework is designed around.

Post-event entry on a confirmed move (all programs): After the release prints and the initial spike produces a readable direction, entering on a confirmed breakout structure is allowed on every program. On Hyper Growth, Bootcamp, and Futures, the post-event entry can follow the release immediately. On High Stakes and Pro Growth, the 2-minute window requires waiting until two minutes after the event before placing a new order. Post-event entries avoid the spread risk at the moment of release and typically produce better fills than pre-event positioning on major news events. The directional view is formed on the price structure that follows the data, not on a prediction of the data itself.

Layered directional entries (all programs, with program-specific timing rules): Scaling into a directional position with multiple entries at different price levels is not a bracket structure, provided all entries are in the same direction. A trader who enters a long EUR/USD at market, then places a buy-limit at a pullback level to add to the position, is executing a layered directional entry. Both orders are in the same direction. No pending sell-stop exists below price. This is permitted on every program, subject to the 2-minute new-order window on High Stakes and Pro Growth during news event periods.

Manual post-release entry on price structure (all programs): For traders who prefer to read the tape rather than use pending orders, a manual entry on the first post-release consolidation or retest is a directional approach that carries no bracket risk. Price breaks higher after NFP, retraces into a support level, holds: a manual long entry on that hold is directional, thesis-based, and fully compliant. The entry timing on High Stakes and Pro Growth requires the 2-minute window to have passed.

Red flags to watch in your current setup

If you have traded news events with bracket-style approaches on previous prop firm evaluations, several setup elements are worth reviewing before starting a The 5%ers evaluation.

EA news-mode settings: As noted above, commercial EAs often include bracket-mode options. The setting name varies by EA: "news trading mode," "straddle," "breakout entry both sides," "news filter enabled." If a news-mode setting places orders on both sides of price, disable it or set the EA to manual mode during news events.

Platform bracket templates: Some traders set up saved bracket-order templates in their trading platform. If you have a template that submits a buy-stop and a sell-stop simultaneously, disable or delete it before trading on a The 5%ers evaluation. The template makes it too easy to accidentally submit both legs.

Single-click order modes: MT5 and cTrader both support one-click trading modes that can place predefined order types. Verify that any one-click configuration you use does not place a bracket by default.

Signal services near news: If you use any signal service, verify that the service does not place bracket orders around news events automatically. Even if you do not think of yourself as a news trader, a signal service that runs around high-impact events may place bracket structures on your account without you initiating the trade.

Coordinated bracket entries across multiple accounts: Running the same bracket trade on multiple The 5%ers accounts simultaneously creates both a bracket violation and a coordinated-trading violation. Either one is grounds for termination. Both together is a worse pattern in The 5%ers' trade-history analysis.

The bottom line

The 5%ers bracket strategy ban is precise in scope and universal in application. One order on one side of price is a directional pending order and is allowed. Two orders on both sides simultaneously before a fill is a bracket and is banned, across every program and every instrument, regardless of whether the 2-minute news window also applies to your program.

For traders who build directional news strategies around forming a genuine view before releases, then entering on a single leg or holding an existing position through the event: The 5%ers' news trading framework is permissive and fully accommodating. Holding through releases is allowed on every program. Single directional pending orders are allowed. Post-event entries are allowed on all programs once any applicable 2-minute window has passed.

For traders whose primary news-event edge depends on paired pending orders on both sides of price: The 5%ers is not the right evaluation for that specific technique. The bracket ban is firm-wide, without program-level exceptions, and is enforced as a strategy violation rather than a warning-system offense. Traders who need bracket-order access for their news approach will find the rule an incompatible constraint across the entire The 5%ers lineup.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a bracket strategy and why does The 5%ers ban it?

A bracket strategy is a pending buy-stop order placed above current price and a sell-stop order placed below current price at the same time, typically ahead of a scheduled high-impact news event. The trader does not take a directional view, whichever order is filled first generates the trade. The 5%ers bans this structure on every program because it treats news volatility as a mechanical fill opportunity rather than a directional thesis. The ban covers Hyper Growth, Pro Growth, High Stakes, Bootcamp, and both Futures programs.

Is a single pending buy-stop or sell-stop order banned at The 5%ers?

No. A single directional pending order, either a buy-stop above price or a sell-stop below price, not both at once, is allowed on every The 5%ers program. The bracket ban specifically targets the paired structure where both sides of price are covered simultaneously. Placing a buy-stop above recent resistance ahead of a breakout trade, or a sell-stop below support, is a directional pending order and is not covered by the bracket-strategy prohibition.

Are OCO orders banned at The 5%ers?

It depends on how the OCO is structured. An OCO that sets a take-profit and a stop-loss on an existing open position is not a bracket strategy and is permitted. An OCO that places a buy-stop above and a sell-stop below current price as a news-straddle mechanism before a release functions identically to a bracket order and is covered by the ban. The 5%ers distinguishes between OCO used for position management on an existing trade (allowed) and OCO used as a pending-order entry on both sides of price (banned).

Does the bracket ban apply to automated EAs at The 5%ers?

Yes. The bracket-strategy ban applies whether the trade is placed manually or through an expert advisor. If an EA places a buy-stop and a sell-stop simultaneously around price ahead of a news event, that is a bracket structure and is prohibited across all The 5%ers programs. Before running any EA on a The 5%ers evaluation, verify that the EA's logic does not include bracket-order or news-straddle mechanics.

Can I trade news events at The 5%ers without bracket orders?

Yes. News trading is allowed on every The 5%ers program. The bracket ban removes one specific technique, not news trading as a category. Permitted alternatives include: holding an existing directional position through the release, placing a single directional entry before the release (on programs with no 2-minute window: Hyper Growth, Bootcamp, Futures), and entering after the release prints once the direction is confirmed. On High Stakes and Pro Growth, new orders must wait until 2 minutes after the event.

What happens if The 5%ers detects a bracket order?

The 5%ers does not operate a violation-counter system for strategy bans the way Bootcamp does for stop-loss breaches. A confirmed bracket-strategy detection is a rule violation subject to account termination without refund of the evaluation fee. The firm does not publish specific mechanics for how bracket orders are detected, but the trade-level pattern, a paired buy-stop and sell-stop straddling price at the same timestamp before a scheduled news event, is identifiable in account trade history.

Does the bracket ban apply on the Futures track?

Yes. The Futures track on Black Arrow (Basecamp and Rebate) follows the same banned-strategy list as the CFD programs. Bracket strategies are prohibited on the Futures track as they are on every other The 5%ers program. The Futures track does not have the 2-minute new-order window that High Stakes and Pro Growth carry, but the universal bracket ban still applies.

How is a bracket strategy different from a straddle or strangle in options?

In CFD and forex trading at prop firms, a bracket strategy refers specifically to pending stop orders (buy-stop above, sell-stop below) placed before a news event. In options trading, a straddle or strangle involves simultaneously buying call and put options. The mechanics are different but the intent is the same: capture directional movement without predicting direction. The 5%ers operates in CFD and Futures markets, so the ban applies to the pending stop-order version of this concept. Traders familiar with options straddles will recognize the bracket order as the order-based equivalent.

Is a breakout pending order different from a bracket order?

Yes. A breakout pending order is a single directional order, for example, a buy-stop above a key resistance level, without a paired sell-stop on the other side. This is a directional trade thesis: the trader believes price will break higher and uses the pending order to enter on confirmation. A bracket order covers both sides simultaneously. The distinction is whether one or both sides of price are covered. One side only is directional and is allowed at The 5%ers. Both sides simultaneously is a bracket and is banned.

Does the Bootcamp mandatory stop-loss rule conflict with the bracket ban?

No. The Bootcamp stop-loss requirement and the universal bracket ban address different things. Bootcamp requires every open position to have a visible stop-loss attached, with no more than 2% of account balance at risk per position. That rule applies to open positions. The bracket ban applies to pending orders that have not yet filled. A Bootcamp trader who enters a directional position with a stop-loss attached is complying with both rules. A bracket structure with a pending buy-stop and sell-stop is banned before either order fills, regardless of whether stop-losses would be attached later.

Can I place a bracket order on Hyper Growth since it has no 2-minute news window?

No. The bracket ban applies to every The 5%ers program regardless of whether a 2-minute news window exists. Hyper Growth has no stated pre-news or post-news new-order restriction, but the bracket-strategy ban is separate from and additional to the 2-minute window rule. A Hyper Growth trader can place a new directional order at any time relative to a news release, but that order must be a single directional pending order, not a paired buy-stop and sell-stop bracket.

What is the risk management logic behind The 5%ers bracket ban?

The 5%ers treats bracket strategies as volatility exploitation rather than directional trading. The bracket order profits from the mechanical post-release spike regardless of direction, without requiring any analysis of what the news means for the underlying instrument. From the firm's perspective, a funded trader who consistently profits from bracket orders is not demonstrating trading skill, they are demonstrating that the simulated environment's price action during a news spike can be exploited for mechanical fills. The firm's evaluation model is built around testing directional trading competence, not infrastructure or order-mechanics advantage.