Alpha Capital Group rules & hidden risks
United KingdomEnglish CFD prop firm since 2021 with 1-step, 2-step and instant accounts on four platforms
Our grade
Weak
5.3 / 10 · ranked #7 of 10
Alpha Capital Group hidden rules
The fine print, highlighted
Hidden Risk score
7.3/10
Very high risk
Average: 6.3
Alpha Capital's evaluation rules are simple; the funded stage is not. A funded account can be closed by a 2-3% open loss on one instrument, or lose profit to the 2-minute rule, a lot cap checked only at payout, a news blackout that also blocks exits, or a weekend hold on Alpha Pro, and the firm can move you into a 1% risk group at its discretion. In August and September 2026 the most common route to a lost payout in reviews was a device or IP overlap with another customer, sometimes dating back months.
- highdrawdown
Max Risk Rule closes funded accounts on a single-asset loss
On funded accounts bought after 21 July 2026, floating loss on any one instrument may not reach 3% ($5K-$25K), 2% ($50K and above) or 1% (Alpha Direct, from the first trade). Same-direction re-entries within 10 minutes are added together, and a breach closes the account even if daily and max drawdown are intact.
Source - highdiscretion
Discretionary 'Focused Trader Group' after you pass
The risk team can move a funded account into a group with 1:30 leverage (1:15 on Swing), halved lot caps, a 1% cap on total open risk, a next-day cooling-off on any symbol that loses 1%, and no EAs. Triggers include scalping, 'all or nothing' risk and heavy margin use; leaving it takes one or two payouts at the starting balance and a discretionary review.
Source - highstrategy
2-minute rule can wipe funded profits
Average trade duration must exceed 2 minutes and at least 50% of profit must come from trades held longer than 2 minutes, counting trades taken while below the starting balance. A breach after passing sends you back to Phase 1; on a funded account all profit is removed and the balance reset.
Source - highnews
News blackout also blocks exits
On funded Pro, One and Direct accounts you may not open or close trades on affected instruments from 5 minutes before to 5 minutes after a long list of releases (all USD high-impact news, central-bank speeches for their full length, PMI, CPI, GDP and more). A stop-loss or take-profit filling in that window is a soft breach that voids the profit, and an event counts if either Forex Factory or Myfxbook marks it high impact.
Source - highaccount
Device and IP links to other customers
Shared IPs (including household members) and any VPN or VPS must be declared to support in advance, or the account can be closed and the trader banned. In August and September 2026 about 30% of the 1-2 star reviews we read describe payouts denied and accounts terminated over device-ID or IP matches, some dating back months or to old accounts.
Source - highaccount
Same asset may not be traded on two large accounts
Funded allocation is capped at $400K per household and $300K per asset. With two $200K accounts, an asset traded on the first may never be traded on the second while the first is active, correlated pairs can count, and a breach closes all accounts with no withdrawals.
Source - highdiscretion
Broad discretion, non-disparagement and legal-cost clauses
The terms let the firm decide at its own discretion which trades or practices are not allowed (clause 9.1.7) and refuse performance fees where it decides in its sole discretion that rules were broken (Schedule 2). Clause 27 bars any public statement that could be read as negative, with the firm as final judge, and makes the customer liable for the firm's legal costs regardless of the outcome.
Source - mediumstrategy
Position spamming and gambling definitions
Three or more positions on one idea, each opened within 60 seconds of the previous one, count as prohibited spamming. Sudden lot-size increases versus your average, unusually short holds and trades placed just outside news windows can be classed as gambling, with profits removed and possible termination.
Source - mediumlot-size
Lot caps are enforced at payout, per position
Funded accounts are limited to 2.5 lots per $5K of balance (half that on Swing). Breaches are found at the payout review: the first removes the profit made on the excess, the second forfeits the payout and deactivates the account, and every open position over the cap counts separately.
Source - mediumconsistency
Best-day consistency on on-demand payouts
On-demand requests need at least 2% profit and no single day above 40% of the window's profit (Alpha Direct: a 3% buffer plus 1%, and a 15% best-day cap). A partial withdrawal starts a new window, and leftover profit stays locked until the rule is met again.
Source - mediumother
Weekend holds banned on funded Alpha Pro and Direct
Weekend holding is allowed in evaluations, on Alpha One and on Swing, but on a funded Alpha Pro account it is a soft breach that removes the profit from those trades, and Alpha Direct does not allow it at all.
Source - mediumdrawdown
Trailing floor and full withdrawals on One and Direct
Alpha One and Alpha Direct use a trailing drawdown that locks at the starting balance once you are up by the drawdown percentage. If you then withdraw all profit, the account is closed, so a buffer has to stay in the account.
Source - lowcosts
30-day inactivity and no refunds
Any account with no trading for 30 consecutive days is deactivated permanently. The refund policy says all sales are final; the KYC article mentions refunds only where a trader is 'eligible', and reviewers whose KYC was rejected over IP or VPN flags report being refused one.
Source
Alpha Capital Group rulebook
Grouped from the terms, FAQ and help center
Drawdown
- Alpha Pro: 6%, 8% or 10% static max loss with 3%, 4% or 5% daily loss (Pro 6% uses the higher of balance or equity; Pro 8% and 10% are balance-based).
- Alpha One: 4%, 6% or 8% trailing max loss (6%, 10% and 12% targets) that locks at the starting balance once you are up by that amount; daily loss 3-5% from the higher of balance or equity.
- Alpha Swing: 10% static max loss and 5% balance-based daily loss.
- Alpha Direct: 5% trailing max loss and 3% daily loss; daily limits reset at 00:00 server time (GMT+2/+3).
- Max Risk Rule on funded accounts bought after 21 July 2026: open loss per asset capped at 3% ($5K-$25K), 2% ($50K-$200K) or 1% (Direct); a breach closes the account.
Consistency & payouts
- On-demand: minimum 2% profit and best day no more than 40% of window profit (Direct: 3% buffer plus 1%, 15% best day).
- Bi-weekly (Alpha Pro only): every 14 days from the first funded trade, $100 minimum, 5 valid trading days before the first request; a day counts only if a trade opens and closes that day.
- All trades must be closed to request a payout, and trading is paused until it is processed.
- Funded lot caps: 2.5 lots per $5K (1.25 on Swing); violations are checked at the payout review.
News & timing
- Evaluations: news trading is unrestricted.
- Funded Pro, One and Direct: no opening or closing on affected instruments from 5 minutes before to 5 minutes after listed high-impact releases; SL or TP fills inside the window are a soft breach.
- Swing: trades opened within 2 minutes of a release must stay open more than 2 minutes.
- Weekend holds: allowed in evaluations and on One and Swing; banned on funded Pro (soft breach) and on Direct.
- 30 consecutive days without trading deactivates any account permanently.
Prohibited strategies
- Latency and arbitrage trading, high-frequency trading, exploiting mispricing, reverse trading or group hedging, and hedging across Alpha accounts (correlated instruments count).
- Group trading, signal following, copying other traders and third-party account management.
- Position spamming: three or more positions on one idea, each within 60 seconds of the last.
- Fully automated EAs; only pre-approved trade-management EAs on MT5 are allowed.
Gambling & risk
- 2-minute rule: average hold above 2 minutes and at least 50% of profit from trades over 2 minutes.
- 'All or nothing' trading, large lot-size jumps versus your average and short speculative trades around news can be classed as gambling.
- The Focused Trader Group can impose 1:30 leverage (1:15 on Swing), halved lot caps, a 1% open-risk cap and a next-day cooling-off after a 1% loss on a symbol.
- Account rolling (maximum-risk pass-or-fail attempts across many accounts) can trigger a 30-day pause of services.
Account & KYC
- KYC via Veriff with a government photo ID and selfie after passing (Alpha Direct: at the first payout); no VPN or VPS during KYC.
- VPN or VPS only with a static dedicated IP and prior notice to support; shared household IPs must be declared in advance.
- The card name must match the KYC name; third-party payments are refused.
- Funded allocation is capped at $400K per household and $300K per asset; evaluations are unlimited.
Scaling & merging
- Alpha Pro and Swing: add 10% of the starting balance for each 10% gain, up to $2M; One and Direct cannot scale.
- Funded accounts of the same type and platform can be merged up to $300K if both are at their starting balance; merged accounts cannot be scaled.
Drawdown and targets by program
8 programs
| Program | Targets | Daily loss | Max loss | How drawdown works | Min days | Time limit | News | Leverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha Direct (Instant Funding) | None | 3% | 5% trailing | 5% trailing from the highest balance, locking at the starting balance once the account is up 5%; daily loss 3% of the higher of balance or equity at 00:00 server time; 1% max open loss per asset from the first trade | None | Unlimited (30-day inactivity rule) | Restricted | 1:30 FX, 1:9 metals, 1:10 indices and oil |
| Alpha One 10% | 10% | 4% | 6% trailing | 6% trailing from the highest balance, locking at the starting balance once the account is up 6%; daily loss 4% of the higher of balance or equity at 00:00 server time | 1 | Unlimited (30-day inactivity rule) | Restricted | 1:30 FX, 1:9 metals, 1:10 indices and oil |
| Alpha One 6% | 6% | 3% | 4% trailing | 4% trailing from the highest balance, locking at the starting balance once the account is up 4%; daily loss 3% in the evaluation and 4% when funded, from the higher of balance or equity | 1 | Unlimited (30-day inactivity rule) | Restricted | 1:30 FX, 1:9 metals, 1:10 indices and oil |
| Alpha One 12% | 12% | 5% | 8% trailing | 8% trailing from the highest balance, locking at the starting balance once the account is up 8%; daily loss 5% of the higher of balance or equity | 1 | Unlimited (30-day inactivity rule) | Restricted | 1:30 FX, 1:9 metals, 1:10 indices and oil |
| Alpha Pro 6% | 6% / 6% | 3% | 6% static | 6% static from the starting balance; daily loss 3% of the higher of balance or equity at 00:00 server time (GMT+2/+3) | 3 | Unlimited (30-day inactivity rule) | Restricted | 1:100 FX, 1:30 metals, 1:20 indices, 1:10 oil |
| Alpha Pro 8% | 8% / 5% | 4% | 8% static | 8% static from the starting balance; daily loss 4% of the day's starting balance (balance-based, reset at 00:00 server time) | 3 | Unlimited (30-day inactivity rule) | Restricted | 1:100 FX, 1:30 metals, 1:20 indices, 1:10 oil |
| Alpha Pro 10% | 10% / 5% | 5% | 10% static | 10% static from the starting balance; daily loss 5% of the day's starting balance (balance-based, reset at 00:00 server time) | 3 | Unlimited (30-day inactivity rule) | Restricted | 1:100 FX, 1:30 metals, 1:20 indices, 1:10 oil |
| Alpha Swing | 10% / 5% | 5% | 10% static | 10% static from the starting balance; daily loss 5% of the day's starting balance (balance-based) | 3 | Unlimited (30-day inactivity rule) | Restricted | 1:30 FX, 1:9 metals, 1:10 indices and oil |
What Alpha Capital Group allows
Strategies
- Restricted
EAs / bots · Restricted
Only pre-approved trade-management EAs on MT5; fully automated EAs banned; none on cTrader, DXtrade, TradeLocker, Alpha Direct, swap-free or Focused Trader Group accounts
- Restricted
News trading · Restricted
Free in evaluations; funded Pro, One and Direct accounts cannot open or close trades 5 minutes either side of listed high-impact releases; Swing news trades must last over 2 minutes
- Restricted
Weekend holding · Restricted
Allowed in evaluations and on Alpha One and Swing; banned on funded Alpha Pro (soft breach) and on Alpha Direct
- Allowed
Overnight holding · Allowed
Allowed on all plans; swaps apply unless the swap-free add-on is bought
- Restricted
Copy trading · Restricted
Only from your own external or Alpha accounts with prior approval, MT5 only; copying other traders counts as prohibited group trading
- Restricted
Hedging · Restricted
Hedging within one account is allowed; hedging across Alpha accounts or to lock in arbitrage is prohibited, and correlated pairs can count
- Restricted
Scalping · Restricted
Average trade must last over 2 minutes and at least 50% of profit must come from trades over 2 minutes; 3+ positions within 60 seconds can be 'position spamming'
Restricted countries: Afghanistan, Belarus, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine.
Alpha Capital Group rules FAQ
Questions traders ask
What are Alpha Capital's hidden rules?
The rules that catch most funded traders are the Max Risk Rule (a 2-3% open loss on one asset closes the account, 1% on Direct), lot caps checked at payout, the 2-minute average-duration rule, the 5-minute news blackout that blocks closing trades, the weekend-hold ban on funded Alpha Pro, and the discretionary 1% 'Focused Trader Group'. Undeclared shared IPs or devices are the most common reason for terminations in recent reviews.
Why does Alpha Capital Group have no Trustpilot score?
Trustpilot replaced the score with a warning that the rating is unavailable due to a guidelines breach and says it removed a number of fake reviews; the change happened between 31 July and 21 August 2026. The profile still holds 21,807 reviews, and the latest ones are far more negative (29.5% one-star) than the all-time split (7%).
Can you trade news with Alpha Capital?
During evaluations, yes, without limits. On funded Alpha Pro, One and Direct accounts you cannot open or close trades on affected instruments from 5 minutes before to 5 minutes after listed high-impact releases, and stop or limit fills in that window void the profit. Alpha Swing allows news trades if they stay open longer than 2 minutes.
Are EAs allowed at Alpha Capital?
Only trade-management EAs (lot calculators, stop and target managers, break-even tools) that support pre-approves, on MT5 only, and they must be used during the evaluation to stay enabled when funded. Fully automated EAs are banned, and EAs are disabled on Alpha Direct, swap-free and Focused Trader Group accounts.
Does Alpha Capital accept US traders?
Yes, but not on MetaTrader 5: US residents trade on DXtrade or TradeLocker, and cTrader is closed to new US customers. The firm paused new US sign-ups in February 2024 during the MetaQuotes licensing crackdown and announced a US return at the end of May 2024.
What happens if I breach an Alpha Capital account?
A daily-loss, max-loss or Max Risk Rule breach is a hard breach: open trades are closed and the account ends with no refund. Soft breaches, such as a weekend hold on funded Pro or a news-window fill, remove the profit from those trades. Prohibited strategies, group trading or IP violations can end every account you hold and lead to a ban.
Alpha One vs Alpha Pro: which is easier?
Alpha One needs a single 10% target and 1 minimum day, but its 6% drawdown trails your highest balance until you are up 6%. Alpha Pro 8% needs two phases (8% then 5%) and 3 days each, but its drawdown is static, leverage is 1:100 versus 1:30, and the $100K costs $527 versus $477. Traders who struggle with drawdown usually find Pro's static floor more forgiving.
What is the Alpha Capital Max Risk Rule?
Introduced on 21 July 2026 for newly bought funded accounts, it closes the account if floating loss on any single instrument reaches 3% (accounts up to $25K), 2% ($50K and above) or 1% (all Alpha Direct sizes). Losing positions on the same asset are added together, and closing and re-entering the same direction within 10 minutes also combines the losses.
See how these rules show up in payouts and reviews.
Alpha Capital Group payouts Visit Alpha Capital Group