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FTMO Review 2026: Rules, Prices, Payouts and Traps to Avoid

Updated on October 31, 2026 · rules verified on the official website

FTMO is the best-known prop firm in the world. Founded in 2014 in Prague, it acquired the broker OANDA, in a deal completed in late 2025. Here is what its challenges are really worth, rule by rule.

Our take: the safest choice for a first challenge, and the best for trading with a bot on cTrader. It is not the cheapest, but it is the most established firm in the industry.

See FTMO challenges

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Pros

  • The oldest and most established firm in the industry
  • No time limit on the 2-step challenge
  • Fee refunded with your first profit split (2-Step)
  • MT4, MT5 and cTrader, bots allowed
  • Profit split up to 90%

Cons

  • Higher prices than some competitors
  • Demanding 1-Step: 3% daily loss, trailing total loss
  • Consistency rule on the 1-Step since October 2026
  • Limit of 2,000 server requests per day for bots

FTMO offers

Profit targetMax daily lossMax total loss
2-Stepphase 1 (phase 2: 5%)
10%
5%
10%
1-Steptrailing total loss
10%
3%
10%
Instantno target
none
3%
10%

Verified on October 31, 2026 on ftmo.com.

2-Step Challenge

The classic format: 10% profit in phase 1, then 5% in phase 2, without ever losing more than 5% in a single day or 10% in total. The total loss limit is fixed, calculated from the starting balance. You need at least 4 trading days per phase, with no time limit. This is the format we recommend for beginners.

1-Step Challenge

A single phase with a 10% target, but tighter rules: a 3% daily loss limit and a 10% total loss limit that follows your highest end-of-day balance. For accounts ordered since October 12, 2026, your best day must not account for more than 50% of your total profit.

Instant Account

A funded account with no evaluation, more expensive, with a 3% daily loss limit, a 10% trailing total loss limit and a 30% consistency rule.

Prices

Challenges start at €89 for the 2-Step, €79 for the 1-Step and €169 for the Instant Account, on the smallest accounts. Prices go up with account size, up to 200,000. The exact price is shown at checkout.

Bots and cTrader

FTMO allows bots on MT4, MT5 and cTrader. Prohibited: exploiting latency or pricing errors, coordinated opposite positions across multiple accounts, third-party trading, and more than 2,000 server requests per day. A bot that modifies its orders on every tick can hit that limit. See our guide to cTrader-compatible prop firms.

The traps that make traders fail

  • Confusing daily loss and total loss: the daily limit includes positions that are still open.
  • Picking the 1-Step to go faster: only one phase, but a much smaller margin for error.
  • Hitting the entire target in one day on the 1-Step: the consistency rule now prohibits it.

To go further: how to pass a prop firm challenge, our FTMO or FundedNext comparison and the list of prop firms that accept bots.

See FTMO challenges

Challenges are paid evaluations, and most participants fail. Only buy a challenge with money you can afford to lose. Read the risk warning