FTMO review: rules, fees and drawdown

What FTMO offers

FTMO sells paid challenges on simulated accounts, with forex, indices, commodities, stocks and crypto available through MT4, MT5 and cTrader. You can choose a 2-Step or 1-Step evaluation. All FTMO accounts use fictitious funds, including the accounts on which you can earn rewards.

The main choice is how your loss floor moves. The 2-Step has a fixed floor and a 5% daily loss limit. The 1-Step has an end-of-day trailing floor and a tighter 3% daily limit. We read FTMO's official pages in October 2026.

Challenge options and listed fees

The 2-Step requires a 10% profit target in the Challenge, followed by a 5% target in Verification under the same risk limits. It requires at least 4 trading days and has no time limit.

The 1-Step has a 10% profit target and no time limit. Available simulated account sizes are 10K, 25K, 50K, 100K and 200K. The firm's pages we read do not state its fees or a minimum trading-day requirement.

• 2-Step fees, as listed in October 2026: 10K costs €89, 25K costs €250 and 50K costs €345. Each is a one-time fee.
• The 100K 2-Step fee is listed as €540 one-time, as listed in October 2026. The source row also shows €439 alongside €540; confirm the price at checkout.
• The 2-Step fee is refundable with your first reward withdrawal after passing. The 1-Step fee is not refunded after passing.

What moves the loss floor

A loss floor is the account level you cannot fall below without violating the maximum-loss rule. The 2-Step maximum loss is 10% of initial simulated capital. Its floor is static: it stays tied to your starting balance rather than rising when you make profits. You also have a separate daily loss limit of 5% of initial simulated capital.

The 1-Step maximum loss is also 10% of initial simulated capital, but its floor trails at the end of the day. Unlike a fixed floor, it can move upward as the account grows, reducing how much profit you can give back. Its separate daily loss limit is 3% of initial simulated capital.

The pages we read do not state the precise trailing reference, whether the floor eventually stops moving, or the daily-loss reset time and treatment of open positions. Confirm those mechanics before trading near either limit.

Rewards, splits and fee refunds

The 2-Step offers up to 90% of simulated profits as a reward. The 1-Step states a 90% reward share. The pages we read do not state the conditions needed to reach the 2-Step's maximum share.

The 2-Step fee refund arrives with your first reward withdrawal after you pass; passing alone does not trigger the refund. The 1-Step fee is not refunded after passing. The firm's pages we read do not state payout timing, the first eligible request date or a minimum withdrawal amount.

For the 1-Step, the Best Day Rule applies both to passing the Challenge and to reward eligibility. Your best day cannot account for more than 50% of the combined profit from your profitable days.

Trading practices that need care

FTMO forbids gap trading by opening trades around scheduled market-moving news, including relevant macroeconomic events and corporate reports or earnings. This is not enough detail to establish a complete news-trading window. Confirm the restrictions for your instruments and account before using an event-driven strategy.

EAs, bots and discretionary strategies must be legitimate, use proper risk management, conform to real market conditions and avoid forbidden practices. Automated trading is not an exemption from those rules. Third parties cannot access your account or trade on your behalf.

FTMO does not require stop-loss orders, but the daily and maximum-loss limits still apply. The firm's pages we read do not state whether weekend holding is allowed. The stated 1-Step consistency rule measures your best day against profitable days' combined profit, not total profit after losing days.

What to confirm before paying

These are paid evaluations, not purchases of live trading capital. Most traders do not pass challenges, and the fee is usually lost when they fail. FTMO also states that all its accounts are simulated.

• Confirm the current fee and selected program at checkout, especially the 100K 2-Step price and the unlisted 1-Step fees.
• Confirm the daily-loss calculation, reset time, open-position treatment and exact end-of-day trailing-floor formula.
• Check news-trading restrictions and weekend holding permission for the account you intend to use.
• Confirm reward request timing, minimum withdrawals and the conditions for the 2-Step's up-to-90% share.
• Check how the Best Day Rule affects your 1-Step passing and reward eligibility before relying on a single large profitable day.