Best suited for: FTMO are often regarded as the best in the industry; They designed the standard 2 phase challenge model. This prop firm would suit those who want a tried and tested company with a great reputation.
Overall Ratings
- Models on offer: 7/10
- Cost: 8/10
- Rule Fairness: 8/10
- Support: 8/10
- Profitability: 9/10
- Scaling System: 7/10
- Overall: 8.0/10
Overview
FTMO is often the number one prop firm in peoples list. Its easy to understand why; the easy to follow design, the great reputation, the years of experience and the massive $400k option. The one thing FTMO lacks in is a direct funding model which many other firms are offering traders.
Prop Firm - Pros
- Many Base Currencies – FTMO offer accounts in a number of different currencies while most other firms offer only US dollars.
- Been around a long time – FTMO lead the way for the prop firm industry. Their 2 phase challenge model has been replicated by dozens of firms. This experience and reputation is certainly a reason why so many people sign up to FTMO as their prop firm of choice.
- Great Payout Split – As soon as you receive your funded account you will benefit from an 80/20 payout split (In your favor). After 4 months if you have been consistently profitable, not only will your account increase, you will receive a 90% profit split also!
- CTrader! – FTMO is one of the few prop firms that allow you to use CTrader. CTrader is an excellent platform for manual trading, packed filled with features and has a great UI.
Prop Firm - Cons
- News Trading – FTMO does not allow trading around the news (2 minutes either side). This will inevitably catch out less experienced traders or those who don’t follow the fundamentals as closely.
- Slow Scaling – Accounts are only able to scale every 4 months, based on performance. Some other firms offer scaling at every 10% profit intervals or such. This can be countered by purchases more accounts, however the maximum capital allocation is set at $400k.
Key Details
Standard 2 Phase challenge model. There are a few variants however, such as agressive and swing trading options, designed to tailor your challenge to your trading style.
Phase 1 – Hit 10% profit target to proceed. Max drawdown is either 10% or 20% dependent on option chosen.
Phase 2 – Same rules as phase 1, however this phase has a profit target of just 5%. After this you will receive a live funded account.
FTMO do not allow traders to trade within 2 minutes of any major news event. They also do not allow holding over the weekend unless you have chosen the swing option.
- Max daily loss – Either 5% for normal challenge or 10% for the aggressive challenge.
- Max total loss – 10% for normal Challenge or 20% for aggressive challenge
- Minimum trading days – 10 days for both phases of the challenge.
- Max time allotted – 30 days for phase 1, 60 days for phase 2. Re-sit possible if in profit and end of challenge.
FTMO Allows expert advisors, copiers, bots and any other type of trading style.
FTMO offers a 80/20 profit split to start of with. They increase this to 90% after you have scaled your account.
FTMO has great support, many traders testify to this on sites like Trustpilot. They’re systems are also extremely well designed and automated, so there is often little need for support.
The prices start at 155 Euros for a $/£10k challenge. The $200k challenge costs 1080 Euros.
Leverage is 1:100 for standard accounts and 1:30 for swing accounts
Conclusion
Overall, FTMO is a great choice and a perfect starting point for those looking for the standard challenge model. Just be aware of the news trading rule and take your time.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does my FTMO challenge start?
After making payment for your FTMO challenge you will receive an email within a couple of hours.
The email will confirm the details of your challenge and will include login credentials for the chosen platform.
Where is FTMO based?
FTMO is based in Prague, Czech Republic. The full address is:
Prague 1,
Purkynova str. 2121/3,
110 00,
Czech Republic
Can anyone join FTMO?
The only requirements for joining FTMO are that:
- You are over 18 years old
- You are not from/located in Iran, Syria or North Korea
Other than that FTMO welcomes anyone with any level of experience. It must be noted however that in order to be successful traders should have a good understanding of:
- Position sizing
- Fundemental and Technical analysis
- Risk Management (Most important)
- Understand leverage
- Basic understanding of the Forex/Commodity markets
- Have a developed and tested strategy
- Have some experience trading, even in a demo account
- An intermediate level of Math
All the above can be learned online from various sources for example, YouTube, Google, Trading Websites and EBooks.
If I fail the challenge do I get a second chance?
If you breach any of the trading rules such as:
- Balance or Equity falls below daily/max drawdown levels
- You traded within 2 minutes of a news event
- Try to cheat the system in any way
Then your account will be disabled. Under these circumstances you will not get another chance unless you purchase another challenge. The only exception is if all trading rules have been followed but you haven’t reached your profit target, FTMO will allow one 14 day extension of the challenge.
How do I get my share of the profits?
By default, 14 days after making your first live trade you will have the option to withdraw your profits. You are given the choice if you would like to change this payment date. From then on payments will be made every month.
The options to withdraw your profits are: Wire transfer, Skrill or crypto.
