FTMO Review

How FTMO works

FTMO sells access to a simulated trading account for forex, indices, commodities, stocks and crypto CFDs. You pay a one-time fee, prove yourself under its Trading Objectives, and then trade an FTMO Account where you earn real-money rewards from your simulated profit. There is no time limit on any route and no monthly subscription. FTMO also runs a separate futures program, covered in our FTMO Futures review.

There are three routes to an FTMO Account:

All accounts are in US dollars (other base currencies are available), but fees are charged in euros:

On October 26, 2026 FTMO offered the 100K 2-Step for €439 (Standard account type) and the 100K 1-Step for €399, both only if you don't already have one active. At the ECB rate of 1.1193 that day, €540 is about $604 and €399 about $447. Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Revolut Pay payments are free; PayPal, Skrill and crypto add 3%.

FTMO rules

FTMO 2-Step Challenge rules

The 2-Step is FTMO's original product. In the FTMO Challenge you need a 10% profit, and in the Verification a 5% profit, each over at least 4 trading days (any day you open a position counts). Both phases have a 5% maximum daily loss and a 10% maximum loss, and the target only counts with all positions closed. On a $100,000 account that means $10,000 and then $5,000, without your equity falling below $95,000 on day one or ever below $90,000. The fastest possible path is 8 trading days, and FTMO reviews each passed phase within 1–4 business days.

FTMO 1-Step Challenge rules

The 1-Step needs a single 10% profit with a 3% maximum daily loss and a 10% end-of-day trailing maximum loss. There is no minimum number of trading days, but the 50% consistency rule means at least two profitable days: FTMO's own fastest pass is 2 trading days. The same daily loss, trailing loss and consistency rule continue on the FTMO Account.

FTMO Instant Account rules

The Instant Account skips the evaluation: it is active as soon as you pay, and profits count toward your reward from day one. In exchange it is the strictest route: a 3% daily loss, a 10% maximum loss that trails your highest closed balance in real time, and a 30% consistency rule before every reward. You can hold only one active Instant Account, and it is not part of the Scaling Plan.

FTMO daily loss and maximum loss explained

Both limits are measured on equity, so open losses, swaps and commissions count. A breach ends the account.

• Maximum daily loss resets at midnight Prague time (CE(S)T). It equals that midnight's balance minus 5% (2-Step) or 3% (1-Step and Instant) of the starting balance. On a 2-Step $100,000 account that closes a day at $102,000, the next day's floor is $97,000.
• Maximum loss on the 2-Step is static: your equity must never fall below $90,000 on a $100,000 account, however much profit you make.
• Maximum loss on the 1-Step trails at the end of the day. Each midnight, the floor becomes your highest midnight balance so far minus 10%. If a $100,000 account closes a day at $104,000, the floor rises to $94,000 and stays there even if the balance later drops. It never locks at the starting balance, but it resets to 90% of the starting balance on the fresh account you get after each reward.
• Maximum loss on the Instant Account trails intraday on closed trades: the floor moves up the moment a trade closes at a new balance high. It does not reset after a reward, so once your balance is above 110% of the starting balance, withdrawing all of the profit would breach it.

Our trailing drawdown guide shows how static, end-of-day and intraday drawdowns compare.

FTMO consistency rule

The 2-Step has no consistency rule. On the 1-Step, your best day may be at most 50% of total profit, both to pass and before each reward; on the Instant Account the limit is 30%. Total profit is the net sum of all days, so a losing day raises your best day's share. Going over is not a breach: you keep trading until the share falls. With a $6,000 best day on the 1-Step, you need $12,000 in total profit. On the FTMO Account, total profit restarts from zero after each reward.

FTMO replaced its old "Best Day Rule", which counted only profitable days, with this rule for 1-Step accounts ordered from October 12, 2026; older accounts keep the old rule. Splitting one trade idea across days, or hedging, to get around the rule is a forbidden practice. Read our prop firm consistency rule guide for how other firms handle it.

News trading, weekend holding and the Swing account

During the challenge you can trade news and hold positions over weekends freely. On a Standard FTMO Account and the Instant Account:

• No order execution from 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after selected releases (for example US Non-Farm Payrolls, CPI and FOMC rate decisions) on the instruments they affect. Stop losses and take profits count too. Positions opened earlier can stay open.
• No positions through market breaks longer than 2 hours, which includes weekends.

The Swing account type, available only on the 2-Step, removes both restrictions but cuts leverage from 1:100 to 1:30. You can switch from Swing to Standard on an unused account, but not the other way.

Other FTMO rules

• EAs and algorithmic trading are allowed, within server limits (200 open orders at a time and 2,000 positions per day) and as long as the strategy could work on a live account.
• Forbidden practices include exploiting price errors or delays, opposite positions across accounts, gap trading around major events and before long market closures, and trades sized far outside your usual risk.
• Maximum allocation: your total capital across all FTMO products is capped at $400,000 per trader or strategy, before scaling. Copying the same signals or third-party EA as other traders counts toward that cap.
• Leverage is up to 1:100 on Standard accounts and 1:30 on Swing.
• Travel and VPNs are allowed, but don't log in to MetaTrader or cTrader from the United States.

FTMO payout rules

On the FTMO Account there is no profit target. You can request a reward on the 14th day after your first trade or any day after, with all positions closed. FTMO reviews the request within 1–2 business days and usually pays within 1–2 business days after the invoice is approved. Each reward comes with a fresh FTMO Account, so the next request is possible 14 days after its first trade.

Rewards are paid by bank wire, Visa Direct or Mastercard Send (up to $20,000), Skrill (up to $3,000) or crypto, with no FTMO withdrawal fee. The minimum is $20 ($50 for crypto). You can also take a reward as FTMO Points (1 point = €1) for FTMO products, or, on the 2-Step, roll it into your next FTMO Account. You are responsible for your own taxes.

The Scaling Plan applies to accounts from both challenges: after 4 months with at least 10% net profit and 2 processed rewards, your account grows by 25%, up to $2,000,000, and 2-Step accounts move to a 90% split.

Is FTMO legit?

FTMO was founded in 2015 by Prague classmates Otakar Šuffner and Marek Vašíček and has its office at Purkyňova 2121/3 in Prague, Czech Republic. It says it has served more than 4.5 million customers in 140+ countries and paid more than $650 million in rewards. Its group bought the proprietary trading firm Quantlane in 2023 and the regulated broker OANDA in 2025, and US clients are served through an affiliated entity at ftmo.oanda.com.

FTMO is open about how it works: every account, including the FTMO Account, uses fictitious funds with real market quotes, and FTMO says it trades its own real money in a separate process, where it may use data from traders' FTMO Accounts. Its servers add an execution delay of up to 200 ms to imitate real markets, and it states that it adds no hidden markups or slippage. We took every rule in this review from FTMO's own website and FAQ; see the sources below.

Who FTMO is for

Choose the 2-Step if you want the classic FTMO experience: a static maximum loss, no consistency rule, no minimum days on the funded account and your fee back with the first reward, at the cost of a second phase and an 80% split until you scale. Choose Swing if you hold trades through news or weekends. The 1-Step suits traders who want one phase and a 90% split and can live with a 3% daily loss, a trailing maximum loss and a 50% consistency rule. The Instant Account costs several times more and has the tightest rules, so it only makes sense if skipping the evaluation is worth that to you.