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The FTMO Challenge, explained
A two-step evaluation — Challenge, then Verification — measured against published trading objectives. Pass both and you trade an FTMO account for a profit share. Rules and figures on this page were verified directly against FTMO's own trading objectives page on 6 September 2026 — check that page yourself before relying on any number here, since rules and pricing both change.
FTMO is a trademark of FTMO s.r.o. TapeSheet is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or partnered with FTMO.
The two phases
FTMO's 2-Step Challenge is the model most people mean by "the FTMO Challenge": Phase 1 (the Challenge itself) asks for a larger profit target under a set of loss limits, and Phase 2 (Verification) asks for a smaller target under the same limits. Passing both, in order, leads to a funded FTMO account. FTMO also runs a separate 1-Step Challenge with a single phase and different rules — most notably a trailing rather than static overall loss limit and a "best day" consistency cap — which this page does not cover in depth; if that is the product you're looking at, confirm every figure against its own page rather than this one.
Why two phases at all, rather than one: a single profitable run can happen by chance, and part of what a second phase is structured to test is whether a trader can repeat a result under the same constraints rather than produce it once. The smaller profit target in Verification reflects that this phase weighs consistency more than raw upside, and the minimum-trading-days rule works alongside it for the same reason — it stops either phase being cleared inside a single session by one outsized trade, lucky or otherwise.
The trading objectives
Rules and figures verified against FTMO's own trading objectives page: 6 September 2026.
| Objective (2-Step Challenge) | Phase 1: Challenge | Phase 2: Verification |
|---|---|---|
| Profit target | 10% of initial simulated capital | 5% of initial simulated capital |
| Maximum daily loss | 5% of initial simulated capital, recalculated daily at 00:00 CE(S)T | |
| Maximum overall loss | 10% of initial simulated capital — static, does not trail | |
| Minimum trading days | At least 4 trading days (a day counts once a position opens between 00:00:00 and 23:59:59 CE(S)T) | |
| Account sizes | $10,000 / $25,000 / $50,000 / $100,000 / $200,000 | |
Read every figure above against FTMO's own page before acting on it — this table is a snapshot at the date stamped above, not a live feed.
What each objective means when you're sizing a trade
A clearly hypothetical worked example, not a recommendation: a $100,000 account, a 5% daily loss limit ($5,000), and a trader risking 1% per trade ($1,000). Five full losing trades in a single day would use the entire daily limit — but that is five full stop-outs, not five trades in general, since a partial loss or a winner in between doesn't consume the same $1,000 each time. The daily limit is a ceiling on the day's total loss, not a trade counter, which is exactly why a string of small losses can breach it just as fast as one large one if position sizing isn't held consistent as losses accumulate.
Daily loss vs maximum loss
These are the two rules people confuse most. Maximum daily loss is a day-boundary rule: it resets every day at 00:00 CE(S)T and only measures that single day's result. Maximum overall loss is a floor under the entire account, accumulated across every day of the evaluation, and on the 2-Step Challenge it is static — set once from the starting capital and unmoving, unlike a trailing limit that would rise as the account grows. An account can breach the daily limit on one bad day while sitting nowhere near its overall limit, and it can also drift into the overall limit slowly across many small daily losses that individually never touched the daily ceiling. They are measuring two different things, not two views of the same number.
What the fee buys and when it comes back
The fee is priced by account size and changes with FTMO's own pricing and promotions — check the current pricelist rather than a number quoted here or anywhere else that might be stale. On the 2-Step Challenge, the fee is refunded with your first Reward once you pass both phases and receive a payout on a funded account. The fee is sunk the moment you start either way: failing, on day one or the day before a deadline, does not return it.
The three things that end most accounts
Breaching the daily limit with an open position. A position still open when the day's loss is calculated can push a day that looked fine into a breach if it moves against you right at the boundary — this is risk management to plan around, not a prediction about which direction price will move.
Over-sizing after a losing run. Increasing position size to recover a losing streak faster shrinks the number of further losses the remaining daily or overall limit can absorb, at exactly the moment a losing run has already shown the current sizing isn't working.
Misreading the reset time. The daily loss limit resets at 00:00 CE(S)T, not your own local midnight — a trade placed late in your own evening can fall on the wrong side of the boundary from what you expected if the two clocks aren't the same. A trader in a timezone many hours away from Central European time is the one most likely to get caught out here, since CE(S)T midnight can land in the middle of a normal local trading session rather than at the end of one.
Model it before you pay
Put the objectives from the table above into the prop firm challenge calculator: your own win rate and average result tell you roughly how many trades a profit target like these should take, and how many consecutive losses at your usual risk per trade would actually breach a 5% daily or 10% overall limit. That second number is usually smaller than people expect before they run it. Size the position itself with the position size calculator so a single trade's risk matches the number you just worked out, rather than a round figure chosen without reference to the rule set. Run the numbers for both the profit target and the loss limits before paying, not after: however many trades the calculator estimates your own win rate would need to clear a given profit target, checked against a rule set with a minimum trading-day count but no maximum time limit, tells you something concrete about whether the challenge suits how you actually trade, days and all, rather than how you'd like to trade in an idealised version of your own history.
Then check your own history against it
If you already have closed trading history, replay your own MT5 history against a rule set like this one before paying an evaluation fee to find out live: would your last six months of trading have breached a 5% daily or 10% overall limit, and on which specific day? That answer is available from a statement you likely already have, without spending anything to get it.
Put these objectives into the calculator
Model the 2-Step Challenge against your own win rate, free.
Prop firm challenge calculatorOr replay your own history: the (in-progress) prop firm challenge tracker.
Questions
How much does the FTMO Challenge cost?
Fees scale with account size and change with pricing and promotions, so check the current figure on FTMO's own pricelist rather than trusting a number quoted anywhere else, including this page. The fee for the 2-Step Challenge is refunded with your first Reward once you pass and receive a payout on a funded account; a fee paid for the 1-Step Challenge is not refunded.
Is there a time limit on the FTMO Challenge?
No overall time limit on the Challenge phase itself as of the rules verified above — there is a minimum of 4 trading days required, but no maximum deadline forcing you to finish by a set date. Confirm this against the current rules page, since time-limit policy is one of the terms that has changed across firms and across FTMO's own history.
What's the difference between the Challenge and Verification?
The Challenge (Phase 1) asks for a larger profit target, 10% of the initial simulated capital on the 2-Step programme. Verification (Phase 2) asks for a smaller one, 5%, under the same daily and overall loss limits. Passing both, in order, is what leads to a funded account.
Does FTMO use trailing drawdown?
On the 2-Step Challenge, no — the Maximum Overall Loss is static, set once from the initial simulated capital and does not move. FTMO's 1-Step Challenge is different: its overall loss limit trails upward as the account's equity rises, never moving back down. Confirm which product you're looking at before assuming either behaviour.
What happens if I breach a rule?
The evaluation or funded account is closed. Which specific rule was breached, and whether it was the daily loss limit, the overall loss limit, or a behavioural condition, is recorded and visible in your own account dashboard — read the exact breach reason there rather than guessing from the account simply closing.
Prop firm challenge calculator ·Prop firm challenge glossary ·Maximum drawdown ·Risk per trade calculator ·Position size calculator ·MT5 report analyzer
No pass-rate statistic is claimed anywhere on this page, and TapeSheet's tools do not improve the odds of passing an evaluation — they help you read your own numbers before you pay for one. This is educational information about measuring your own trading, not financial advice. Trading carries risk of loss. Full risk disclaimer.