7 trading techniques prop firms see – and why you won’t get away with them

At Fintokei, we’re looking for traders who know how to manage risk, understand the markets, and can make money consistently over the long term. Not those who just try to game the system or turn the challenge into a casino.

Below you’ll find 7 techniques our systems can spot. If you use them, best-case scenario: you’ll have some explaining to do. Worst case: we’ll apply consistency rules, or even terminate your account.

But we ALWAYS warn you first and ask for details. We never ban on the first strike. 😉 That’s one of the key differences between us and a lot of our competitors.

1) Latency arbitrage ⚡

Having faster data than Fintokei? As a retail trader, that’s practically sci-fi. But if you somehow get access to a faster data feed that shows market moves a bit earlier… don’t use it with us.

It’s banned here and almost everywhere else. Why? Because it’s not a skill – it’s exploiting how the prop trading model is technically set up. It’s like using cheats in a video game.
You’re not playing better, you’re just cheating. And nobody likes cheaters. 🎮🚫

2) Tick scalping ⏱️

Spamming the market with one trade after another every few seconds – manually or via a bot – can easily put you over the line at Fintokei. We want to use the trading data of successful traders in real market conditions. Tick scalping ruins that – mainly because of slippage and other technical limitations.

How do we define tick scalping?

• Tick scalping = any trade that lasts less than 10 seconds.
• If such trades make up more than 10% of your total traded lot volume, it’s time to have a talk.

Don’t worry, your account won’t get instantly terminated just for crossing that line once. We always start with a conversation, explanation, and a chance to fix things. Even with tick scalping. 😉

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3) Copy trading 🧲

Here’s really not much to debate. At Fintokei, we’re looking for talented, coachable traders – not people whose only skill is Ctrl+C + Ctrl+V.

We want traders who want to improve, understand their trades, and are able to grow.
Those traders get capital, tools, and generous payouts. 💰

Those who just copy someone else’s work? They get a warning first. If they keep going, their account gets terminated.

We consider the following as copy trading:

• Copying signals from Discord, Telegram, etc.
• Using the same / very similar strategy as someone close to you
  (“Hey, can I copy your homework?” – “Sure, just make it look different so that it’s not obvious…” Trust us, it’s always obvious 👁️).
• Mirroring a “master” account via copy tools.

4) A bot bought just to pass the challenge 🤖

Not all algotrading is the same.

OK approach:
A trader develops, tests, and deploys their own bot. They know how it works, understand the logic, and use it long-term – even after passing the challenge. That’s the future of trading, and we support it. (Check out AlgoTrader Vašek’s story, for example.)

Not-OK approach:
Someone buys a bot from a Telegram finfluencer that “guarantees” to pass the challenge.
(Spoiler: it usually doesn’t. 😉) Our system can detect these types of bots without batting an eye.

The difference between these two types of traders is huge:

• The first one understands trading, knows what their bot is doing, and can configure & test it.
• The second one usually just installs and presses “start”.

And when we send that second type, a warning, and ask a few basic questions about how their bot works? Silence. Most of the time. Those traders don’t have a bright future with us… 😬

5) Hedging across multiple accounts 🔗

Hedging itself is totally fine.

If you use it within a single account to diversify risk – great. That’s a normal, sensible practice, and it doesn’t bother us at all. (Though some prop firms don’t like even that.)

The problem starts when:

• You open a long on one account and a short on another on the same instrument (whether at Fintokei or elsewhere).
• You’re hoping that profit on one account will “patch up” the loss on the other.
  

That’s exactly the kind of behavior we don’t want. It’s not a skill. It’s just trying to outsmart our risk management.

In the past, cross-account hedging was even used by organized groups and became one of the biggest scam tactics in prop trading. Back then, systems couldn’t reliably detect it.

Things are different today. This “technique” simply doesn’t pay off anymore – and can easily end with your account being taken away. 🚫

6) Overleveraging – maxed-out positions with no strategy 🎢

This one is a classic, especially among beginners. Dream of getting rich quickly + leverage = trouble.

The usual scenario:

1. A beginner finds out there’s a way to multiply their profits.
2. They max out the leverage.
3. They send the position into the market and hope for the best.
   

But guess what, that’s not trading. That’s pure gambling. No plan B, no risk management, no real strategy → just going all-in. 🎰

When our system detects this type of trading, we send you a warning. Not because we want to punish you – but because we want you to learn from it.

Good news:

One overleveraged trade doesn’t make you a sinner. 😊
What matters is whether there was thought and a plan behind it – or just hope / a quick prayer and max leverage.

If you’re able to explain and justify your approach, you don’t have to be afraid.

7) One-sided betting during news 📰

News trading is allowed at Fintokei (unlike with many competitors). But there’s one big BUT.

If you place a huge (multi-lot) position:

• right before a major news event
• with zero prior analysis

…that doesn’t look like thoughtful trading. It looks like roulette. 🎰

Relying on the market to explode after the news and randomly go your way so your oversized position makes an enormous profit – that’s gambling, not trading.

And that’s exactly what we don’t want to encourage.

How do you know if you’re doing something we don’t like? 🤔

Easy test, ask yourself:

“Can I repeat the results from this technique thanks to skill, or am I just relying on luck / a technical loophole / some exploit in the Fintokei model?”

If the answer is closer to the second option, chances are you’re already over the line.

And why would you do any of this, when Fintokei rewards you for the exact opposite? 💸

Take our StartTrader program, for example (which is great for beginners, btw). It uses DPR (Dynamic Performance Reward) – a metric that tracks how consistent your trading is.

The higher your DPR, the higher the percentage of profit you get on payouts.
It can go all the way up to 100%. 🔥

What helps you achieve a high DPR?

• no insane leverage,
• no extreme swings between profits and losses,
• trading on one account over a longer period of time,
• repeatable, sensible strategies instead of one-off “hit or miss” attempts.

With every payout, your DPR goes up, because we can see you actually know what you’re doing. So why risk a ban for one “clever” trick… when we can reward you much more for honest, consistent trading? 🚀

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