What Is a Hard Breach on a Prop Firm Account?
A hard breach closes a prop firm account outright. We read Alpha Capital Group's own rules and refund pages for what triggers one and what it costs.
A hard breach on a prop firm account is a rule violation that closes the account outright rather than penalising it. The account is terminated, and continuing means paying for a new evaluation. The usual triggers are the daily loss limit and the maximum drawdown; a soft breach is penalised but leaves the account open.
Where the term comes from, and who does not use it
“Hard breach” is trader vocabulary, not a term of art, and the firm read for this post does not use it. Alpha Capital Group’s rules page, published 20 May 2026 and read by this desk on 14 September 2026, has a section headed “Key rules that close accounts”; its one use of “soft breach” is a weekend-hold clause, the subject of our soft-breach explainer. It defers to the help centre for the live version, which rendered only an index to this desk, so every figure below is per the rules page on the date read.
What triggers a hard breach on a prop firm account at Alpha Capital?
Under “Key rules that close accounts” the page states: “If your balance falls below the drawdown floor, the account closes.” Static drawdown is fixed from the initial balance; the trailing drawdown on Alpha One follows the high-water mark and locks at the initial balance once the account is up 6%. Under common mistakes, 30 days without a trade closes the account. The published limits:
| Programme | Max drawdown | Daily loss | Daily-loss basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha One | 6% trailing (high-water mark) | 4% | Higher of day’s starting balance or equity |
| Alpha Pro 6% | 6% static | 3% | Higher of day’s starting balance or equity |
| Alpha Pro 8% | 8% static | 4% | Balance |
| Alpha Pro 10% | 10% static | 5% | Balance |
| Alpha Three | 6% static | 4% | Higher of day’s starting balance or equity |
| Alpha Swing | 10% static | 5% | Balance |
The daily loss runs from 00:00 GMT+3, and on every programme a breach is judged on live equity, so open unrealised losses count. One footnote is repeated as written: the Alpha Pro 10% Phase 2 target is not listed separately on the plan page, so this post prints “not listed”.
What happens to the evaluation fee after a hard breach?
It is kept. The firm’s return policy, last updated 21 December 2021, says, in full: “All sales are final and no refund will be issued.” Its fee and refund explainer, published 10 June 2026, applies that to a breach: no refund on completed purchases, and a trader who breaches can purchase a new evaluation. No automatic fee refund on a first performance fee is offered.
What the pages read do not settle
Two questions are unanswered on the four firm pages read: what happens to a performance-fee request pending when a Qualified Account is closed, and whether breaking the two-minute consistency rule closes an account or only voids the trades. That absence is scoped to those pages; it is not a claim that no such rule exists. Unreadable payout terms are the subject of our note on payout proof.
The UK reading
A hard breach is a consumer sequence: a fee paid in advance, forfeited on a rule the seller measures, then an invitation to pay again. How that sits against UK financial promotion rules is asked in UK Prop and the Promotions Perimeter. The firm’s footer states that all references to trading mean virtual trading and names Alpha Capital Group Limited, company number 13719951; this desk read neither Companies House nor the FCA register and asserts nothing about the firm’s regulatory status.
Frequently asked questions
What is a soft breach in prop trading?
A soft breach is a rule violation the firm penalises without closing the account. Alpha Capital Group’s rules page gives one example: on Alpha Pro, holding a position over the weekend on a Qualified Account is a soft breach, the profits from those trades are removed, and the account stays active provided it has not fallen below the maximum drawdown. A hard breach, by contrast, ends the account.
What happens if you break prop firm rules?
It depends on which rule. At Alpha Capital Group, per its rules page as read on 14 September 2026, a balance below the drawdown floor closes the account, and so does 30 days without a trade; a weekend hold on an Alpha Pro Qualified Account is penalised by removing the profit but the account stays open. The consequence of breaking the two-minute consistency rule is not stated on that page.
Do you owe money if you breach a prop firm account?
Not on the terms this desk read. Alpha Capital Group’s refund explainer says that on its standard programmes a trader’s direct financial exposure is usually the evaluation fee itself, because the account holds simulated funds rather than a deposit. What a breach costs is that fee, which the return policy says is not refunded. Other firms’ terms were not read for this post and may differ.
Bottom line
Alpha Capital Group states the rules that get a trader there more plainly than most; this post prints only figures read on its own pages on the date given. The standing caution: the fee is at risk from the moment it is paid, prop-firm challenges are paid evaluations run on simulated funds, trading involves a substantial risk of loss, and nothing here is financial advice.