FTMO Review

Key Facts

• Account Sizes: $10,000 to $200,000
• Profit Split: 80% (up to 90% with scaling)
• Challenge Fee: From €155 (refunded with first payout)
• Challenge Types: 2-Step (10% + 5%) and 1-Step evaluation
• Time Limit: Unlimited on all phases
• Max Daily Loss: 5% (static)
• Max Total Loss: 10% (static)
• Payout Frequency: Bi-weekly (1-2 business days)
• Platforms: MT4, MT5, cTrader, DXTrade
• Instruments: Forex, Indices, Commodities, Crypto, Stocks
• Total Paid Out: $200M+
• Free Retry: Yes, if profit target missed but rules respected

Best For

• Traders who value trust and track record above all else
• Swing traders who need unlimited time and static drawdown
• Multi-platform traders who want MT4, MT5, cTrader, or DXTrade options
• Anyone who wants challenge fees refunded with their first payout

Not Ideal For

• Split chasers wanting 90%+ from day one (Funded Next starts at 80% and scales to 95%)
• Budget traders (challenge fees start at €155 while Funded Next starts at $32 and The5ers Bootcamp starts at $95)
• Traders who want instant funding without an evaluation phase
• News traders on funded Standard/Aggressive accounts (Swing account required)

Pros

• Operating since 2015. $200M+ paid to traders. Most prop firms weren't alive two years ago.
• Static drawdown (5% daily, 10% total). Your stop-out doesn't chase your equity up.
• Challenge fee refunded with your first profit split. You're essentially trading for free if you pass.
• Free retry if you miss the profit target but respect all rules. Second chances are rare in this industry.
• Four platforms: MT4, MT5, cTrader, DXTrade. More choice than any competitor.
• Unlimited time on all challenge phases. No 30-day countdown breathing down your neck.
• Account Metrix performance dashboard. Data on your trading that most firms charge extra for.
• Scaling plan to $2M with 90% profit split for consistent traders.

Cons

• 80% base profit split. Funded Next offers 95%. FunderPro offers 90%. FTMO starts lower than both.
• Challenge fees from €155 to €1,090. The5ers Bootcamp starts at $95. Funded Next 2-Step starts at $32. FTMO is not the budget option.
• News trading restricted on funded Standard and Aggressive accounts. You need the Swing account for full freedom.
• No instant funding path. Every dollar of funded capital requires passing an evaluation first.
• Scaling to 90% split takes months of consistent performance. Patience is not optional.

The FTMO Challenge: How the Industry Standard Works

Every prop firm challenge on the market is, at some level, a photocopy of FTMO's original. They invented the format. Everyone else adapted it.

The 2-Step Challenge is the classic path. Phase 1: hit an 8% profit target within 14 calendar days. Phase 2: hit 5% within 30 days, with the option to extend. Both phases enforce a 5% maximum daily loss and 10% maximum total loss. These are static limits, calculated from your starting balance, not trailing. That distinction matters more than most traders realize. We break down exactly why in our trailing vs static drawdown guide.

The 1-Step Challenge condenses both phases into a single evaluation with adjusted targets. Faster path to funding. Same drawdown rules. Same fee refund policy.

Here's the detail that separates FTMO from the pack: if you miss the profit target but respect every drawdown and trading rule, you get a free retry. No repurchase. No new fee. Just another shot. FunderPro doesn't offer this. Funded Next doesn't offer this. The5ers doesn't offer this. In an industry where one bad week means reaching for your wallet again, the free retry is quietly one of FTMO's strongest features.

Once you pass, the challenge fee is refunded with your first profit split payout. You paid €155 to €1,090 upfront, but if you're profitable, you get it back. Our prop firm challenges guide walks through the full mechanics of how these evaluations work across the industry.

Static Drawdown: The Rule That Saves Accounts

FTMO uses static drawdown. 5% daily. 10% total. Both calculated from your initial balance.

This sounds like a minor technical detail. It is the single most important structural difference between prop firms that protect traders and prop firms that quietly stack the odds against them.

Trailing drawdown means your maximum loss level rises with your equity. Make $5,000 in profit on a $100K account, and your stop-out level climbs from $90,000 to $95,000. One bad day wipes out your cushion and your account. You did everything right until you didn't, and the trailing math punished you for having been profitable.

Static drawdown means your $100K account stops out at $90,000. Period. Whether you're up $20,000 or flat. The floor doesn't move. Your risk is defined from day one and stays defined.

FTMO, The5ers, and FunderPro all use static drawdown. Funded Next uses trailing on some models. If you're choosing between firms and the drawdown type isn't on your checklist, put it there. Our trailing vs static drawdown comparison lays out the math with real scenarios.

The traders who survive long-term at FTMO understand this: the drawdown rule isn't a restriction. It's the thing standing between you and a blown account on a Thursday afternoon when the market gaps against you.

The 80% Split Problem (And Why It Might Not Matter)

FTMO pays 80% profit split at base. That's the number everyone quotes. That's the number everyone complains about.

Funded Next offers up to 95%. FunderPro starts at 80% and goes to 90%. The5ers scales from an 80% base to a 100% ceiling through milestones, now beating FTMO's maximum at the top tier. FTMO gives you 80% with a road to 90% through their scaling plan.

So why would anyone accept 80% when 95% exists?

Because the split percentage is the last thing that matters if the firm doesn't pay. Over $200 million has left FTMO's accounts and landed in traders' bank accounts since 2015. That's not a marketing number. That's the number of times FTMO actually sent money. When you're scrolling Reddit at 2am wondering whether your payout will process, the firm with the decade-long payment history suddenly looks different than the firm offering 95% that launched 18 months ago.

The scaling plan is how you get to 90%. Demonstrate consistent profitability over four months, and FTMO increases your split and doubles your account size. Keep performing and your capital scales to $2,000,000. At that level, 80% of profits on $2M dwarfs 95% on a $100K account. It's not even close.

Our prop firm payouts comparison breaks down the real-world numbers across FTMO, FunderPro, Funded Next, and The5ers. The split percentage is the headline. The total dollar amount you actually receive is the story.

Four Platforms: More Choice Than Anyone Else

MT4. MT5. cTrader. DXTrade. Pick one when you register.

No other prop firm offers all four. The5ers is MT5 only. FunderPro runs MT5 and TradeLocker. Funded Next is MT4 and MT5. FTMO gives you the widest platform menu in the funded trading space.

This matters because platform loyalty is real. Your indicators, your templates, your muscle memory. The position of the buy button. The way the order ticket feels. Traders who've spent three years on cTrader don't want to relearn MT5 just to trade someone else's capital. With FTMO, you don't have to.

MT4 is the workhorse that refuses to retire. Millions of custom indicators and Expert Advisors built over two decades. If your strategy runs on an MT4 EA, FTMO supports it.

MT5 is the modern standard. More timeframes, more order types, built-in economic calendar. Most prop firms default here.

cTrader is the scalper's platform. Level II pricing, advanced order types, cAlgo for automated strategies. If execution speed and order depth matter to your style, cTrader is the answer.

DXTrade is the web-based option. Clean interface, no download required, accessible from any browser.

On top of the platforms, FTMO provides Account Metrix, their proprietary performance tracking dashboard. It breaks down your trading data in ways the platforms themselves don't: consistency scores, risk metrics, drawdown visualization, journal entries. Our prop firm strategies guide covers how to use this kind of data to refine your approach before it costs you real money.

Trust: The Thing Money Can't Buy

In 2023, MyForexFunds collapsed. The CFTC shut them down. Traders lost access to funds overnight. The prop firm industry had its first real crisis, and every firm's true character surfaced.

FTMO didn't skip a payout. Didn't change its rules. Didn't post a panicked press release. Just kept processing withdrawals like it was a Tuesday. Because for them, it was.

Founded in Prague in 2015, FTMO has survived every cycle the prop firm industry has thrown at it. The early skepticism. The copycat explosion of 2021-2022. The regulatory crackdown. The MyForexFunds shockwave. Through all of it, the same team, the same rules, the same payout schedule.

The Trustpilot profile sits at 4.8 out of 5 with over 25,000 reviews. Not manufactured reviews from a bot farm. Twenty-five thousand individual experiences, overwhelmingly positive. You can read them yourself.

In 2025, FTMO returned to the US market through a partnership with OANDA. This isn't a random offshore firm hoping nobody asks questions. This is a company that actively chose to operate under the hardest regulatory scrutiny in the world.

Check our Boneyard page. The list of prop firms that vanished, froze accounts, or rewrote their terms overnight is longer than most traders expect. FTMO has never appeared on that list. Ten years running. That's not marketing. That's math.

The Scaling Plan: From $10K to $2M

FTMO's scaling plan is how patient traders turn a small challenge into serious capital.

The mechanics are straightforward. Hit a 10% profit target on your funded account over a four-month period while following all rules. FTMO doubles your account size and bumps your profit split. Keep performing and the account grows. The ceiling is $2,000,000 in funded capital with a 90% profit split.

Let's run the math. Start with a $100K challenge. Pass. Get funded at 80% split. Hit your scaling targets consistently. After several scaling milestones: $200K at 84%, $400K at 88%, and eventually $2M at 90%. Your monthly profit potential goes from a few thousand dollars to life-changing income.

Our prop firm scaling plans comparison stacks FTMO's path against FunderPro (which scales to $5M) and Funded Next (which scales to $4M). FTMO's $2M cap is lower on paper. But the static drawdown, the free retries, and the decade of proven payouts create a foundation where that $2M is money you can actually plan your life around.

The5ers scales to $4M with a 100% split ceiling at top milestones, now beating FTMO's 90% maximum. Funded Next promises $4M scaling at 95% but has operated for three years. The question isn't which scaling plan looks best on a comparison table. The question is which firm will still be paying traders when you hit the upper tiers 18 months from now.

The best strategy for any prop firm challenge starts before you buy it. Our strategies guide covers risk management, position sizing, and consistency frameworks built specifically for evaluation phases.

FTMO vs the Competition: Honest Positioning

FTMO is the safe choice. That's not a slight. It's the highest compliment you can pay a prop firm. But safe doesn't mean best for everyone.

FTMO vs FunderPro: FunderPro offers 90% profit split from the start, daily payouts, and scaling to $5M. FTMO counters with four platforms, the free retry, and a decade of payment history. FunderPro is Owen Morton's baby, backed by serious infrastructure, but it's been around since 2021. If split percentage and payout speed are your priorities, FunderPro wins on paper. If trust and platform choice matter more, FTMO wins in practice. Our FTMO vs FunderPro vs Funded Next scaling comparison lays it all out.

FTMO vs The5ers: The5ers matches FTMO on track record (since 2016), offers five programs including a $95 Bootcamp entry, and scales to $4M with a 100% split ceiling at top milestones (beating FTMO's 90% cap). But The5ers is MT5 only and has tighter drawdown on smaller accounts (3% daily on Bootcamp). FTMO's platform variety and the free retry give it the edge for most traders. The5ers wins for patient compounders chasing the 100% ceiling.

FTMO vs Funded Next: Funded Next is the value play. Lower fees, 95% max split, $4M scaling, and you earn 15% during the challenge phase. The trade-off is trust. Funded Next launched in 2022 and uses trailing drawdown on some models. FTMO uses static drawdown everywhere and has outlasted dozens of competitors. Choose speed and splits, or choose stability. There's no wrong answer, only different risk appetites.

The honest summary: FTMO is not the cheapest, not the highest-splitting, and not the most innovative prop firm in 2026. It is the one most likely to still be paying traders in 2030. Whether that matters to you depends on whether you're thinking in weeks or years.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is FTMO legit?

FTMO has operated continuously since 2015, paid out over $200 million to traders worldwide, and maintains a 4.8/5 Trustpilot rating with 25,000+ reviews. It survived the 2023 MyForexFunds crisis without interruption and returned to the US market in 2025 via an OANDA partnership. It is widely considered the most trusted prop firm in the industry.

What is the FTMO profit split?

FTMO starts at 80% profit split. Through the scaling plan, consistent traders can reach 90% while growing their account to $2,000,000. Funded Next offers up to 95% and FunderPro starts at 90%, but FTMO compensates with the longest payout track record in the industry.

How does the FTMO challenge work?

The 2-Step Challenge requires 8% profit in Phase 1 (14 days) and 5% in Phase 2 (30 days + extension option). The 1-Step Challenge combines both into a single evaluation. Both enforce 5% daily and 10% total static drawdown. If you miss the target but respect all rules, you get a free retry.

Does FTMO have a time limit?

FTMO offers unlimited time on challenge phases. The initial calendar windows (14 days for Phase 1, 30 days for Phase 2) can be extended, and there is no pressure to trade every day. This makes FTMO particularly suitable for swing traders and position traders.

What platforms does FTMO support?

MT4, MT5, cTrader, and DXTrade. This is the widest platform selection of any prop firm. You choose your platform during registration. FTMO also provides Account Metrix, a proprietary performance tracking dashboard.

Does FTMO offer a free retry?

Yes. If you miss the profit target but follow all drawdown and trading rules, FTMO grants a free retry on the same account size. No new fee required. This is unique among major prop firms. If you breach a drawdown rule, you must repurchase a new challenge.

How fast are FTMO payouts?

Payouts process bi-weekly, typically arriving within 1-2 business days. Withdrawal methods include bank transfer, Skrill, crypto, and Visa/Mastercard Direct. FTMO covers transaction fees on their end.

Is FTMO better than Funded Next?

Different strengths. Funded Next offers higher splits (up to 95%), lower fees (from $32), and earning during the challenge. FTMO offers static drawdown, four platforms, free retries, and a 10-year payment track record. If you prioritize trust and stability, FTMO. If you prioritize value and splits, Funded Next.