Prop Firm ManagementHalt Trading

Scheduled Trading Halts

Scheduled trading halts are planned in advance. You temporarily adjust your organization’s RiskTimePeriod values to close the trading window early or extend the closure for upcoming holidays.

Adjust Your RiskTimePeriod

Your organization’s RiskTimePeriod defines your daily trading halt:

  • Start Time is when the trading halt starts. Positions are flattened and new orders are rejected.
  • Stop Time is when the trading halt stops. Trading resumes normally.

We recommend setting your Start Time five minutes before the actual market close. This gives the system enough time to flatten all positions before the exchange stops accepting orders.

For example, if your organization follows standard CME trading hours where the market closes at 4 PM CT and reopens at 5 PM CT, your normal Start Time is 3:55 PM and your Stop Time is 5:00 PM.

When a holiday is coming up, you temporarily adjust these values to match the CME schedule. After the holiday, you restore your normal values.

RiskTimePeriod settings can only be updated from the Live environment in Admin Dashboards. There are currently no API endpoints for modifying RiskTimePeriod values programmatically.

  • If you set Start Time to a time that has already passed, liquidation happens immediately.
  • Times display in your local time zone and are converted to UTC internally.
  • You must manually reset the times after the holiday. The system does not automatically revert to your normal values. If you forget to reset, the holiday schedule will continue on all future trading days.

Before You Start

  • Know your normal RiskTimePeriod (RTP) values. Record your current Start Time and Stop Time so you can restore them after the holiday. Typical RTP values are 3:55 PM (start) and 5:00 PM CT (stop).
  • Understand the 24-hour clock. RiskTimePeriod operates on a 24-hour cycle. Setting Start Time to 12:00 PM and Stop Time to 5:00 PM covers noon to 5:00 PM on the same day, not across multiple days. For closures longer than 24 hours, you’ll need multiple updates.

Different Products, Different Closing Times

Not all products close at the same time on holidays. For example, during Christmas 2025:

  • Equities closed at 12:15 PM CT
  • Metals closed at 12:45 PM CT
  • Grains had a 45-minute halt at 7:45 AM CT, reopened at 8:30 AM CT, then closed at 12:05 PM CT

Check which products your traders are allowed to trade, then find the earliest closing time among those products. Set your RTP Start Time to that time (or a few minutes before) to ensure all positions are flattened before any market closes.

Update Your RiskTimePeriod

To update your RiskTimePeriod:

  1. Review the CME Holiday and Trading Hours page and the NinjaTrader Holiday Trading Hours page. Identify when markets close and reopen for the upcoming holiday.
  2. From the Admin Dashboards (Live environment), open the Query Builder.
  3. Select riskTimePeriods from the Repository dropdown and run the query. Most organizations have one RiskTimePeriod.
  4. Click the eyeball icon to view the current values, then enter new values for Start Time and Stop Time. Save your changes.
  5. After the holiday, repeat these steps and restore your normal Start Time and Stop Time values before the next trading session begins.

RiskTimePeriod changes take effect immediately, even if a halt is already active. If you update the Stop Time during an active halt, the halt lifts right away. The “when to update” windows in the examples below are recommendations to avoid accidentally lifting a halt early. They aren’t strict technical requirements.

Holiday RTP Examples

The following examples assume your organization follows standard CME trading hours in Central Time, with a normal Start Time of 3:55 PM and a normal Stop Time of 5:00 PM.

Example: Good Friday (Less Than 24-Hour Closure)

Trading stops: Friday, April 3 at 8:15 AM CT
Trading resumes: Sunday, April 5 at 5:00 PM CT

Recommended update windowStart TimeStop Time
Update 1On April 3 before 8:15 AM8:15 AM5:00 PM
Update 2On April 3 between 3:55 PM and 5:00 PM3:55 PM (normal)5:00 PM (normal)
  • Even though trading doesn’t resume until Sunday at 5:00 PM, you can safely restore your normal trading hours between 3:55 PM and 5:00 PM on Friday because markets are closed for the weekend.

Example: New Year’s Day (24-Hour Closure)

Trading stops: December 31 at 4:00 PM CT
Trading resumes: January 1 at 5:00 PM CT

You can cover the full closure with a single 24-hour RTP update by setting Start Time and Stop Time to the same value.

Recommended update windowStart TimeStop Time
Update 1Between Dec 30 at 4:01 PM and Dec 31 at 3:59 PM4:00 PM4:00 PM
ResetBetween Dec 31 at 5:01 PM and Jan 1 at 4:59 PM3:55 PM (normal)5:00 PM (normal)
  • Since setting Start Time and Stop Time to the same value creates a full 24-hour halt, Update 1 runs from 4:00 PM on December 31 to 4:00 PM on January 1. Restoring normal values after that covers the remaining hour until the market reopens at 5:00 PM.

Example: Christmas (More Than 24-Hour Closure)

Trading stops: December 24 at 12:15 PM CT
Trading resumes: December 25 at 5:00 PM CT

Since the closure spans more than 24 hours, you need two updates and a reset.

Recommended update windowStart TimeStop Time
Update 1Between Dec 23 at 12:16 PM and Dec 24 at 12:14 PM12:15 PM12:15 PM
Update 2Between Dec 24 at 12:16 PM and Dec 24 at 4:59 PM5:00 PM4:00 PM
ResetBetween Dec 24 at 5:01 PM and Dec 25 at 3:54 PM3:55 PM (normal)5:00 PM (normal)
  • Update 1 creates a 24-hour halt from 12:15 PM on December 24 to 12:15 PM on December 25.
  • Update 2 extends the halt from 5:00 PM on December 24 to 4:00 PM on December 25.
  • Reset restores normal trading hours before the market reopens at 5:00 PM on December 25.