FTMO rules: daily loss, maximum loss, targets, payouts, and the cTrader details
The two-step evaluation most of this category is measured against: 10% then 5%, inside 5% a day and 10% overall.
The rules, programme by programme
| Rule | FTMO Challenge, 2-step | FTMO Challenge, 1-step |
|---|---|---|
| Profit target | Phase 1: 10%Phase 2: 5% | 10% |
| Maximum daily loss | 5% | 3% |
| Maximum loss | 10% static | 10% trailing |
| Daily reset | 00:00 CE(S)T | 00:00 CE(S)T |
| Daily loss measured on | Equity ("Balance + Open Positions P/L ± Swaps – Commissions") against the balance recorded at 00:00 CE(S)T, less a fixed 5% of the initial capital - not 5% of that day's balance. On the first day the balance used is the initial capital itself. The maximum is static: the initial capital less 10% of it, and it never moves. | Equity against the balance recorded at 00:00 CE(S)T, less a fixed 3% of the initial capital - not 3% of that day's balance. On the first day the balance used is the initial capital itself. The maximum is "an end-of-day trailing limit": the highest 00:00 balance of any preceding day, or the initial capital if higher, less 10% of the initial capital; it only ever rises |
| Minimum trading days | 4 trading days in each of the two phases | Not stated on the firm's page |
| Time limit | "No time limit" | "No time limit" |
| Other objectives | None beside the rules above | The Best Day Rule: the single most profitable day may not be more than 50% of the sum of every profitable day's closed profit. Exceeding it is not a breach, but the phase cannot be passed until further trading brings the share down, and the same rule decides when a Reward can be requested on the FTMO Account. Check yours. |
| Source | Firm’s page | Firm’s page |
Checked . A firm changes its terms without telling anybody here; its page is the one that counts, and this one is corrected when it is found to differ.
What a daily breach does at FTMO
| At a breach | "If the equity drops below this limit, the rule is considered violated." What follows a violation is in the firm's terms, not on the objectives page. |
|---|---|
| Account reset after a breach | Not stated on the firm's page |
| Source | Firm’s page Checked |
Trading around news at FTMO
| The window | On Standard FTMO Accounts only, no trade may be opened or closed from 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after selected high-impact releases, on the instruments each release targets. The Evaluation and Swing accounts are not restricted, and a position opened more than 2 minutes before may be held. |
|---|---|
| Stops and take-profits | Counts: "if a Stop Loss or Take Profit is triggered within the restricted time window, this will also be considered a breach". |
| What it costs | "Violating this rule may result in termination of an FTMO Account." |
| Source | Firm’s page Checked |
Payouts and consistency at FTMO
| First reward | Requested "on the 14th or any following day after the first placed trade" Firm’s page |
|---|---|
| Smallest request | "at least $20 for bank wire withdrawals and $50 for cryptocurrency" Firm’s page |
| Split | 1-step 90%; 2-step 80%, rising to 90% under the Scaling Plan or the Premium Programme Firm’s page |
| Consistency at the payout | On the 1-step FTMO Account the Best Day Rule (50% of the profitable days' profit) also decides when a Reward can be requested Firm’s page |
| Payout cap | Not stated on the firm's page Firm’s page |
Checked . The firm’s own help centre is the one that counts.
The rule that ends most evaluations
It is the daily one, and the rules table at the top shows why: in every programme here the daily line is the tighter of the two, usually half the maximum. A loss taken in one sitting reaches it first. Only a drawdown spread patiently across several days arrives at the maximum without tripping it, and patience is not what a losing day is made of.
The published figures point the same way, with the caveat they deserve - this is one firm’s tracking of its own evaluations, not an audited measurement of the market, and no audited one exists: 78.7% of failed evaluations at OneFunded ended on a daily loss limit breach - OneFunded's own data on its own challenges, with neither sample size nor period stated (Checked ).
What ends the day is rarely one bad trade. It is a run of ordinary ones taken after the first loss, sized against the account label rather than against the few thousand that actually end it.
The questions that follow from it, answered with this firm’s rule:
- Does floating loss count toward FTMO's daily loss limit?
- When does FTMO's daily loss limit reset?
- Why did my prop-firm account breach when I closed the day in profit?
- I hit my prop firm's daily loss limit. What happens now?
- How do I stop breaching FTMO's daily loss limit on cTrader?
- Can trades close automatically at the daily loss limit on cTrader?
Two things follow. The number to hold in your head is not the limit but what is left of it right now, floating positions included; the drawdown calculator shows that from the numbers on your platform. And the risk per trade that survives a normal losing run is smaller than most people’s first guess; the challenge calculator counts how many losses in a row a given size leaves before the line.
cTrader at FTMO
Named on the firm's platforms page beside MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and TradingView. Source. Checked
What Propcockpit does beside these rules
Propcockpit ships a one-click FTMO preset that mirrors the FTMO Challenge, 2-step: 5% daily loss and 10% maximum drawdown, anchored to the Initial capital - the size the firm issued. It is carried as a Firm rule: a trader’s own Risk rules clamp to it and can never be stored above it. The day is measured from the higher of balance and equity at the Daily reset, which is at least as strict as the firm’s own convention and is not the firm’s own measurement.
An order placed through Propcockpit is sized from a risk per trade and checked against those limits before it is sent, and carries its stop to the broker. A position opened directly in cTrader is read and counted rather than intercepted. None of that makes an evaluation impossible to fail; it makes the order that would fail it something you have to place somewhere else.