What does ThinkCapital consider gambling or reckless trading?

ThinkCapital treats punting, overleveraging, overexposure to correlated assets, all-in trades and martingale as gambling, and prohibits them. The same applies to excessive scalping, account rolling and 'coinflip' trading. Reviews flag margin use above 60% of equity and stop-loss risk above 2.5% of balance, with risk above 4% treated as high risk. A first confirmed violation brings a formal warning. A second brings an account reset or final warning, and a ban follows two resets.

ThinkCapital expects clients to use sound risk management and does not allow high-risk speculative trading that undermines long-term consistency.

What is considered gambling in trading

Gambling in trading covers high-risk actions aimed at quick wins, without proper analysis or long-term planning. These include:

Punting: placing a small number of large, high-risk trades, hoping for a quick profit without any clear strategy.

Overleveraging: using most or all of your margin in a single trade, leaving the account highly exposed to small market movements.

Overexposure: betting heavily on correlated assets in the belief that they are diversified, which increases your risk on a single factor.

All-in strategies: placing a large portion of your account balance on one trade without risk management tools such as stop losses.

Doubling down (martingale): increasing your position size after a loss in an attempt to recover, which compounds risk.

Excessive high-frequency scalping: opening and closing trades within seconds without a sustainable strategy.

These behaviours expose your account to substantial risk and often breach ThinkCapital's rules. Gambling can also take forms not listed here: if a client is clearly using high-risk strategies or exploiting the service in ways that do not align with the Terms and Conditions or the FAQs, ThinkCapital will take appropriate action.

Examples of gambling practices

1. Overleveraging: opening large positions that use most of your margin, so even small market movements cause large losses and rule breaches. Example: a trader uses 80% of their margin on one trade and breaches when the market moves slightly against them.

2. Overexposure: betting on several correlated assets in the belief that they are diversified, when every trade relies on the same market factor. Example: a trader opens long positions on USD/JPY, EUR/USD and GBP/USD; every position depends on the US dollar.

3. Excessive scalping: placing a large number of trades in very short periods, with no strategy beyond chasing quick price movements. Example: a trader places 100 trades and closes more than 50 of them in under 60 seconds.

4. Martingale strategy: opening larger positions after losing trades to recover losses, which compounds risk and often breaches risk limits. Example: a trader opens five consecutive long positions after a loss, increasing exposure without risk management.

5. All-in or betting behaviour: risking a large portion of your balance on a single trade without proper risk management. Example: a trader risks 5% or even 10% of the account balance on one trade, with or without a stop loss, putting the account at risk of the daily and maximum drawdown limits.

6. One-sided bets: holding a large position without diversification or proper risk controls, such as ignoring stop losses. Example: a trader keeps adding to a losing position, hoping the market will reverse.

7. Account rolling: buying several evaluation accounts to use high-risk strategies, expecting to switch accounts if one fails. Example: a trader uses a high-risk strategy on one account and plans to continue on the others if it fails. This is prohibited.

8. Punting: taking a few high-risk trades in the hope that one or two big wins will reach the profit target, without any consistent effort to trade the account professionally.

How ThinkCapital flags reckless trading

Excessive margin utilisation: using more than 60% of your equity in margin, on a single trade or across all open trades.

High exposure: positions on correlated assets that amplify your overall market risk, for example long EUR/USD and short GBP/USD, which both depend on the US dollar. Combined margin above 50% of your equity on positions that share a currency is flagged.

High risk percentage: risking more than 2.5% of your balance on a single trade, or across trades open at the same time, measured from the entry price to the stop loss. Risk above 4% of balance is treated as high risk. Trades without a stop loss are reviewed under the all-in rule instead. The review takes both realised and potential risk into account. Excessively wide or poorly placed stop losses, especially with high leverage, can be treated as reckless even if the trade closes with a small loss.

Short holding times on high-risk trades: rapid trades on volatile pairs or in volatile market conditions without a proper plan.

'Coinflip' trading: an unsustainable pattern of alternating gains and losses, such as making $3,000, losing $3,000 and repeating, with no clear strategy, edge or risk control. It shows no consistent or repeatable method and produces performance figures that do not reflect real skill.

Any form of gambling, punting, one-sided betting or statistical arbitrage designed to exploit ThinkCapital's platform, without providing usable, replicable and sustainable trading data, is strictly prohibited. No professional trader would risk 50% of their account on a single trade hoping for a big win, and consistently risking more than 2.5% of your capital in hopes of quick payouts will not be tolerated.

Consequences

Each finding is reviewed by the Risk team before any action is taken. First confirmed violation: a formal warning. Second: an account reset or a final warning, decided case by case. After two resets: a ban from ThinkCapital programs. A confirmed violation can also lead ThinkCapital to cancel all of the trader's accounts, and the accounts of anyone colluding with them.

Misuse of courtesy warnings: the warning system is a supportive measure to help traders return to responsible trading, not a guaranteed buffer for high-risk strategies. If a review finds a drastic shift in strategy, trade execution, risk exposure or loss management that appears opportunistic or intentionally aggressive, ThinkCapital may skip the warning and reset or breach the account immediately, with no appeal.

This includes, but is not limited to: abruptly switching from conservative to high-risk trades after a safe start; doubling or tripling risk to pass quickly; and treating early risk adherence as a way to manipulate the system or delay enforcement.

ThinkCapital's commitment to responsible trading

ThinkCapital supports traders who use disciplined strategies, effective risk management and consistent, sustainable trading practices. Trading is not gambling: success comes from discipline and long-term strategy, not reckless bets.

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