Is scalping allowed at prop firms?

At the firms that address it, not below a published length: 60 seconds, 120 seconds, 150 seconds. What happens to a shorter trade differs completely — Maven do not count it toward progress, DNA do not allow it in the funded stage, and Blue Guardian say it may be flagged as tick scalping. Those are three different products described with the same phrase.

What is a minimum holding time?

The shortest a position may stay open and still be treated as an ordinary trade. 5 programmes here publish one and 103 programmes publish nothing about it either way.

Can you use expert advisors at a prop firm?

It depends on the programme rather than the firm. City Traders Imperium permit third-party EAs and Martingale on one of four programmes and personal EAs only on the rest. DNA Funded allow them on three programmes and ban them on the fourth. OneFunded allow them only as assistants — "EAs that execute trades automatically on behalf of the client are not allowed". Blueberry publish two different answers for the same product.

Why does the consequence matter more than the number?

Because a trade that does not count is not a trade you were punished for. A trader hitting the target with quick trades at Maven finds the target still unmet; the same trader at DNA has broken a rule; at Blue Guardian they have done something that may be reviewed. Only one of those three ends anything, and none of the three pages selling them says which.

9 rules · 6 firms · 103 programmes silent

Erased, forbidden, or looked at

Three firms publish a minimum holding time — 60 seconds, 120 seconds, 150 seconds — and all three describe it with the same phrase. What happens to a shorter trade is not the same thing at any of them.

DNA Funded, 60 seconds — not allowed
Blue Guardian, 120 seconds — may be flagged
Maven Trading, 150 seconds — the trade does not count

A trade that does not count is not a trade you were punished for. Only one of those three ends anything, and the difference is invisible on a pricing page.

How long a trade must stay open (5)

Three firms, three lengths, and — the part that decides what kind of product you bought — three different things that happen when a trade is shorter.

Maven Trading · Two Step Omo · 150 seconds · the trade does not count

A 150-second minimum hold applies to every trade, and trades closed sooner do not count toward progress.

DNA Funded · 1 Phase · 60 seconds · not allowed

Minimum 60 seconds per trade. Scalping, defined as opening and closing within 30 seconds, is not allowed in the funded stage.

DNA Funded · 2 Phase · 60 seconds · not allowed

Weekend holding allowed, expert advisors allowed, minimum 60 seconds per trade.

DNA Funded · Rapid (10 Days) · 60 seconds · not allowed

The same 5% payout profit cap, 30% daily distribution cap, 60-second minimum hold and 5-minute news window as the rest of the range.

Blue Guardian · Buy Now Pay Later · 2 minutes · may be flagged

Minimum holding time of 2 minutes; a trade closed sooner may be flagged as tick scalping. News trading is allowed during the challenge and not on the funded account. Overnight and weekend holding, expert advisors and trade copiers between your own accounts are all allowed.

Whether software may place the trade (4)

Not a yes or a no at any of these firms. It changes by programme, by what the software does, or by which document you read.

City Traders Imperium · 1-Step Challenge · one of four · differs between products

The only CTI programme that permits third-party expert advisors and Martingale; the other three allow personal EAs only and forbid Martingale.

OneFunded · Core Challenge · assistants only · allowed with conditions

Expert advisors are allowed only with prior approval and only as assistants: "EAs that execute trades automatically on behalf of the client are not allowed."

DNA Funded · Instant Funding · banned on one of four · differs between products

EXPERT ADVISORS ARE PROHIBITED on this programme alone; the 1 Phase, 2 Phase and Rapid all allow them. Weekend trading is prohibited too, and no Demo Reset add-on is offered.

Blueberry Funded · Synthetic 2-Step · two published answers · published two ways

EA CONTRADICTION: the plan overview says "EA Trading | No" while the firm’s own Trading Evaluation Outline says otherwise for the same product.

Why a trade that does not count is the strangest of the three

Maven’s rule is the one worth sitting with. A trade closed inside 150 seconds is not a breach and not a warning — it simply does not advance you toward the target. Profit made that way is in the balance and not in the progress, so an account can be up by the target and not have passed.

That is a harder thing to notice than a breach. A breach tells you. An erasure leaves you looking at a number that says you are finished and a firm that says you are not.

The software rules have the same shape at a different scale. “Expert advisors allowed” means one thing where a third-party robot may place trades and another where the software may only assist a person, and one firm here draws that exact line in a sentence while three others draw it between their own products.

What this does not measure

· The 103 programmes that publish nothing. Most of the field. Absence here means absent from the rules read for this site, not that anything goes.
· How a flag is resolved. Blue Guardian say a short trade may be flagged as tick scalping. What follows a flag is not published.
· What counts as a trade idea for copiers. Blue Guardian permit trade copiers between your own accounts; whether the resulting positions are one idea or several is a separate rule, covered on its own page.
· Any probability. Nothing here is modelled. The model counts losing trades and has no notion of how long one was open.

Where these rules were read

City Traders Imperium — 2-Step Challenge — read 2026-08-06

Maven Trading — FAQ — read 2026-08-23

OneFunded — Terms and Conditions, clauses 13 and 14 — read 2026-08-23

DNA Funded — Rules and Conditions V2.1 — read 2026-08-23

Blueberry Funded — help centre — read 2026-08-23

Blue Guardian — account model rules — read 2026-08-18

Questions

Is scalping allowed at prop firms?: At the firms that address it, not below a published length: 60 seconds, 120 seconds, 150 seconds. What happens to a shorter trade differs completely — Maven do not count it toward progress, DNA do not allow it in the funded stage, and Blue Guardian say it may be flagged as tick scalping. Those are three different products described with the same phrase.
What is a minimum holding time?: The shortest a position may stay open and still be treated as an ordinary trade. 5 programmes here publish one and 103 programmes publish nothing about it either way.
Can you use expert advisors at a prop firm?: It depends on the programme rather than the firm. City Traders Imperium permit third-party EAs and Martingale on one of four programmes and personal EAs only on the rest. DNA Funded allow them on three programmes and ban them on the fourth. OneFunded allow them only as assistants — "EAs that execute trades automatically on behalf of the client are not allowed". Blueberry publish two different answers for the same product.
Why does the consequence matter more than the number?: Because a trade that does not count is not a trade you were punished for. A trader hitting the target with quick trades at Maven finds the target still unmet; the same trader at DNA has broken a rule; at Blue Guardian they have done something that may be reviewed. Only one of those three ends anything, and none of the three pages selling them says which.