FTMO Review (2026): Rules, Fees, Payouts and Who It Suits

FTMO has operated since 2015, and its rules are strict but clearly written. It is a good fit for a disciplined trader who stops at a daily limit and wants one-time fees and on-demand payouts. It is a poor fit if your results depend on a few oversized days or on trading through news. It scores 84/100 (Healthy) on its PropVitals firm page, last scored 6 October 2026. Every rule, fee and payout figure below was re-checked on FTMO's own pages on 5 October 2026.

FTMO is also one of the firms we earn a commission from, which is why the facts here stay close to FTMO's own wording. The score is computed separately under our methodology. Who pays us and how much.

What FTMO sells

Two separate products, which people often mix up.

• CFD challenges. A 1-Step and a 2-Step evaluation, with accounts up to $200,000 of simulated capital, on MT4, MT5 or cTrader. FTMO states there is no time limit on the Challenge.
• Futures. A program with two plans, Growth and Pro, on 50K, 100K and 150K accounts with live CME data. Futures is billed monthly, not as a one-time fee.

FTMO describes the capital as simulated, with a share of the profit paid to you. Your fee buys an evaluation, not a deposit. FTMO also runs a separate offering for US residents (FTMO US). We could not retrieve its official pages when we checked. Our FTMO links send US visitors to FTMO via OANDA; confirm you are eligible before you pay.

The rules, side by side

Two details that decide outcomes. First, the Best Day rule on 1-Step: exceeding it is not a breach of your account. Our consistency rules guide shows the arithmetic. Second, the 1-Step max loss trails your balance at the end of each day, so a good week raises the floor you must stay above.

CFD prices. FTMO's static pages do not list the challenge fee per account size; the price appears in its checkout and changes with promotions (the challenge page showed a 20% deal on the $100K 1-Step on 5 October). We have not copied a figure we could not verify. Check the checkout before you decide.

News, weekends and account type

For CFD accounts, FTMO offers Standard and Swing. On a funded Standard account, trading is restricted within 2 minutes before and after selected news releases, and positions must be closed before the weekend or before a rollover break longer than 2 hours. Swing accounts and the evaluation phase have neither restriction. Futures allows news trading.

How payouts work

• Timing: your first withdrawal request can be made on the 14th day after your first trade or any day after. After that it is on demand, with no fixed cycle.
• Speed: FTMO says approval takes 1 to 2 business days, then funds arrive 1 to 2 business days after the invoice is approved.
• Methods: bank wire, Visa Direct or Mastercard Send (up to $20,000), Skrill (up to $3,000), or crypto. Minimums are $20 by bank wire and $50 by crypto.
• Scaling: after 4 months with at least 10% net profit and 2 processed rewards, account size grows by 25% every 4 months, up to $2 million.
• Futures: Growth lets you withdraw 50% of profit above the starting balance, capped at $2,500 to $3,000; Pro lets you withdraw 100%, capped at $4,000 to $8,000, with qualifying-day requirements.

The company and its payout claims

FTMO s.r.o. is headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, and has operated since 2015. FTMO says it has paid out "$650M+" in rewards. Its own challenge page shows both $650M+ and $500M+ in different places, and the figures are self-reported and unaudited. We did not re-run independent payout checks for this review, so treat the number as a claim, not a receipt. Not sure how to weigh a figure like that? See how we tier payout evidence. FTMO does not publish a pass rate on the pages we read, so assume that most buyers fail the evaluation, as at most evaluation firms.

What could go wrong

• Strict loss limits. Hitting the daily or max loss limit is a breach. The pages we read do not mention a reset or retry fee, so assume a failed attempt means buying again.
• Best Day and consistency rules can hold back a payout after one outsized day.
• Standard account restrictions on news and weekends catch traders who forget to close a position.
• Futures is a subscription. A slow evaluation costs more each month.
• Pages and promotions change. If a number here disagrees with FTMO's checkout, the checkout wins.

Who it suits, who should skip

Suits you if you trade CFDs with a stop on every trade, keep daily losses well inside the limit, and want on-demand payouts with a long operating history behind them. Skip it if your edge is a few large days, you trade news spikes on Standard accounts, or you want to hold positions over the weekend without choosing a Swing account. If you want to compare before paying, see FTMO vs Apex, FTMO vs The5ers, or our 5-question quiz.

Our position

If you buy through our FTMO links, we may earn a commission. FTMO's 84 comes from our published rubric; its firm page shows every criterion with its source and date, including where we could not verify a fact. FTMO's Futures checkout also accepts our affiliate code; it credits our referral and does not lower your price. Details are in our methodology.

FAQ

Is FTMO legit? It is a long-running firm that publishes its rules in full and says it has paid out hundreds of millions. We have not independently audited that total, so read the section above.

Do you get the fee back? On the 2-Step, it may be refunded with your first reward withdrawal. On the 1-Step it is not refundable.

Can you trade news on FTMO? In the evaluation, yes. On a funded Standard account, not within 2 minutes of selected releases. Swing accounts have no such limit.

How fast does FTMO pay? On demand after your first request. FTMO quotes 1 to 2 business days for approval and 1 to 2 more for the funds to arrive.

Does FTMO have a time limit? FTMO states there is no time limit on the CFD Challenge.

Sources

All checked 5 October 2026: FTMO Challenge, Trading Objectives, Trading Rules, Futures, its futures objectives and rules, Reward growth and scaling plan, About; FTMO FAQs on fees, fee refunds, withdrawals, news trading and weekend holding. PropVitals: FTMO page, methodology.

Not financial advice. Prop challenges are paid evaluations on simulated accounts and most buyers do not pass.