The 2-minute Standard window versus Swing's open calendar
On Standard funded, the restricted list is high-impact red-folder events. Two minutes before and two minutes after, opening or closing can be restricted. A stop that happens to fill in that window still spends daily loss. Swing funded removes that cage. Holding through CPI is then a volatility decision, not a compliance decision. Challenge traders who straddle every print are practicing a habit Standard will later confiscate.
Venasri's default news blackout is 30 minutes either side of Forex Factory red folders, which is stricter than 2 minutes on purpose. Survive Standard by skipping the spread explosion, not by filling inside it and hoping the desk agrees.
Friday flatten, Sunday gaps, and 1:30 Swing leverage
Standard funded: close before the weekend. A Monday gap on XAUUSD is not a Swing feature you accidentally own. Swing funded: hold is allowed, leverage 1:30, so a 100-ounce equivalent gold position that was fine at 1:100 is no longer sized. Recalculate lots when you switch products. The static 10 percent max ($10,000 on $100K) is shared. The gap that jumps $6,000 on an oversized Standard leftover is not.
Reset remains 00:00 CE(S)T. A weekend hold on Swing still receives a Sunday or Monday Prague snapshot. Floating profit into that snapshot is the same rollover trap as a weekday gold runner. Bank partials if you cannot watch the gap.
Which symbols actually pay for the Swing ticket
Swing is for traders who need to hold XAUUSD, index CFDs, or USD majors through events and Fridays. Scalpers who are flat by 21:00 CE(S)T should buy Standard and keep 1:100-class intraday leverage (subject to FTMO's live leverage table) instead of paying for holding rights they will never use. Mixing a Standard login with a Swing mental model is the error, not the calendar itself.
1-Step is a different daily (3 percent) and an end-of-day trailing max. Do not assume Swing's holding rights if you bought 1-Step. Read the contract on that SKU.
Encode Standard versus Swing in the bot, not in memory
On Standard funded, 24/7 MT5 Bot Control should halt new entries 30 minutes before red-folder timestamps and flatten into Friday. On Swing, keep the hold profile and cut lots for 1:30. Venasri Equity Guard still sits near $4,250 daily loss on $100,000 2-Step either way, because news permission is not extra daily budget.
start free on Venasri on the Challenge login so the blackout is already sampled before you are funded. A bot that only learns the 2-minute rule after payout one is late.
