Minimum hold time clauses are the quiet killer
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2026 9:23 pm
Minimum hold time clauses are the quiet killer
Some brokers forbid trades shorter than a set number of seconds. The number sits in a document nobody reads, enforcement is almost never real time, and the penalty arrives weeks later as a "profit adjustment."
That is the worst way to find out. No warning, no rejection, just a missing chunk of money and a reference to clause 14.
Anything scalping near that line should search the client agreement for terms like "abusive trading," "latency arbitrage," "scalping," or "short duration." Then ask support to confirm the policy in writing. A chat window answer is worth nothing later. An email is worth quite a lot.
Wording varies, and the vagueness is part of the problem. Some contracts say five seconds, some say one minute, some only mention "trades opened and closed in quick succession." A few apply the rule only to profitable trades, which tells its own story about the intent.
Another trap: the clock often runs from the server timestamp of the fill to the server timestamp of the close, so a trade that felt like ten seconds can be logged as four after a slow confirmation.
A quick habit helps. Keep a column in the trade log for the exact duration, and sort by the shortest. If a handful sit near the stated limit, the risk is real, and it is better to find out before the broker does.
Is there a broker that has stated a minimum hold time in writing, and how short was it?
Some brokers forbid trades shorter than a set number of seconds. The number sits in a document nobody reads, enforcement is almost never real time, and the penalty arrives weeks later as a "profit adjustment."
That is the worst way to find out. No warning, no rejection, just a missing chunk of money and a reference to clause 14.
Anything scalping near that line should search the client agreement for terms like "abusive trading," "latency arbitrage," "scalping," or "short duration." Then ask support to confirm the policy in writing. A chat window answer is worth nothing later. An email is worth quite a lot.
Wording varies, and the vagueness is part of the problem. Some contracts say five seconds, some say one minute, some only mention "trades opened and closed in quick succession." A few apply the rule only to profitable trades, which tells its own story about the intent.
Another trap: the clock often runs from the server timestamp of the fill to the server timestamp of the close, so a trade that felt like ten seconds can be logged as four after a slow confirmation.
A quick habit helps. Keep a column in the trade log for the exact duration, and sort by the shortest. If a handful sit near the stated limit, the risk is real, and it is better to find out before the broker does.
Is there a broker that has stated a minimum hold time in writing, and how short was it?