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FTMO rules, and what actually triggers a breach
Most accounts don't end because a trader disagreed with a rule — they end at a boundary condition: what exactly the day starts from, whether an open position's floating loss counts, and what the floor is measured against. Figures and quotes below were checked against FTMO's own trading objectives page and its support documentation on 6 September 2026.
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The master table
Rules verified: 6 September 2026. 2-Step Challenge figures shown; the separate 1-Step product differs, see below.
| Rule | What it says | What actually triggers it | How to check it yourself |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit target | 10% (Challenge) then 5% (Verification) of initial simulated capital | Closed profit reaching the target — floating, unrealised profit does not count until a position closes | Sum the Profit column of your closed trades against the target amount |
| Maximum daily loss | 5% of initial simulated capital, recalculated daily at 00:00 CE(S)T | Equity — closed results plus floating P/L on anything open, minus commission, plus or minus swap — dropping below the prior midnight's balance minus that 5% amount | Mark each server day's start balance, find the worst equity point reached that day, compare to the floor |
| Maximum overall loss | 10% of initial simulated capital, static on the 2-Step Challenge | Equity falling below the fixed floor at any point, closed or floating, any day of the evaluation | Track the account's lowest-ever equity point against the fixed floor from day one |
| Minimum trading days | At least 4 trading days | Not reaching 4 separate calendar days, in server time, on which a position was opened, before attempting to finish the phase | Count distinct server-calendar dates with at least one opened position |
| Prohibited strategies / behavioural rules | Varies by account type and changes — covers things like certain automated or latency-sensitive approaches and trading around specific news windows | Depends on current wording; ambiguous cases should be confirmed with FTMO support in writing | Read the current rules page for your specific account type before relying on any summary, including this one |
| News / weekend restrictions | Varies by account type and changes | Depends on current wording | Same as above — confirm directly, keep the reply |
| Consistency-type requirement | Present on some account types (e.g. a "best day" cap on the 1-Step Challenge); not present in the same form on every product | One day's profit exceeding the permitted share of total profit | Check whether your specific account type has this rule at all before assuming it applies |
Where the exact current wording is ambiguous for your account type — the behavioural and news/weekend rows above are the ones most likely to have changed since this table was last checked — read FTMO's own current page and, if still unclear, ask support directly and keep the written reply rather than relying on a rule interpreted secondhand.
Daily loss — measured from what, and when does the day start?
The day starts at 00:00 CE(S)T, not your own local midnight, and the limit for that new day is calculated from the account balance recorded at that exact instant. This is a server clock, and it is one of the 22 sessions and timezones already covered on the market-hours hub — check broker server time if you're not certain how your own local timezone maps onto it. Daylight saving moves the boundary by an hour twice a year in whichever direction Europe's own clocks move, which is easy to miss if you're not the one observing the change locally.
Does a floating loss breach the limit?
Yes — this is the single most-asked version of this question, and the answer hinges on balance vs equity. FTMO's own documentation is explicit that the daily loss calculation includes the floating profit or loss on open positions, not closed results alone. A position sitting well underwater when the day's low point is measured can breach the limit on its own, even if the same position goes on to close in profit later that same day. Confirm this against the current wording on your own account type's page rather than trusting a blanket answer, since the exact mechanics are the kind of detail firms do sometimes refine.
Maximum loss — static floor vs trailing floor
On the 2-Step Challenge, the maximum overall loss is a static floor: fixed once, from the initial simulated capital, and unmoving for the rest of the evaluation. FTMO's separate 1-Step Challenge instead trails the floor upward as equity rises, never moving back down even if the account later gives some of that profit back — a materially different rule with a different failure shape, covered in full in a companion piece on trailing drawdown, with the maths.
Minimum trading days and what counts as a trading day
At least 4 separate trading days are required on the 2-Step Challenge, where a day counts once a position is opened within that server-calendar date. Four large positions opened and closed within a single session do not satisfy this rule four times over — it is the number of distinct calendar days with activity that counts, not the number of trades.
The behavioural rules
Restrictions covering things like certain automated or latency-sensitive trading approaches, and rules around trading through specific news windows, exist and vary by account type — the exact current wording was not something this page could pin down with full confidence at the time of writing, and firms do revise this category of rule more often than the headline percentages. Say plainly what that means in practice: read the current rules page for your specific account type directly, and if anything reads as ambiguous for a trade you're planning, ask support before you place it rather than after.
How to audit yourself
A clearly hypothetical five-day example on a $100,000 account, invented to show the method, not a real result: the daily loss amount is a fixed $5,000 (5% of the initial $100,000, not recalculated against a shifting balance), and each day's floor is the previous midnight's balance minus that fixed $5,000.
| Server day | Day-start balance | Worst equity that day | Floor | Dip | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | $100,000 | $96,800 | $95,000 | 3.2% | OK |
| Day 2 | $101,200 | $97,500 | $96,200 | 3.7% | OK |
| Day 3 | $99,800 | $95,900 | $94,800 | 3.9% | OK |
| Day 4 | $103,400 | $99,100 | $98,400 | 4.2% | OK |
| Day 5 | $104,000 | $98,200 | $99,000 | 5.6% | BREACH |
Day 5 is the point worth reading twice: the account had grown from $100,000 to $104,000 by the start of that day, comfortably up overall, and still breached — a dip of $5,800 during the day (5.6%) pushed equity to $98,200, below that day's $99,000 floor, even though the position later recovered enough that the day would have closed at $102,600 had it been allowed to run. Being up on the account overall provides no protection against a single day's floor calculated from that day's own starting balance. To do this on your own history: export your statement (MT4 or an equivalent MT5 export), mark each server-calendar day's boundary, and find the worst equity point your open positions reached within each one.
Why the day-start balance matters more than it looks
Notice that the floor in the table above moves every day, because it is anchored to the previous midnight's balance rather than a single fixed number set on day one. A winning day raises tomorrow's floor along with it, and a losing day lowers it — which means a string of small wins can quietly tighten how much room the account has left on any single future day, even while the overall account balance keeps climbing. This is the opposite of how a trailing maximum-loss floor behaves, which only ever moves in one direction; the daily floor resets fresh, in either direction, every single day.
What to do after a breach
Most firms offer a paid reset, restarting the same evaluation without the full fee again, as an alternative to buying a fresh evaluation from scratch — check current terms for cost and eligibility. Either way, the trading record from the breached attempt still has value as data: reading back through exactly which day and which position crossed the floor is usually more useful for the next attempt than treating the breach as a closed chapter to forget.
Replay your own history against this
See exactly which day, if any, would have breached — free.
Prop firm challenge tracker (in progress)Or model a rule set before you trade it: the prop firm challenge calculator.
Questions
Does floating P&L count toward the FTMO daily loss limit?
Yes, on the accounts checked for this page. FTMO's own documentation states the Maximum Daily Loss is calculated against equity, not closed balance alone — the sum of closed results plus the floating profit or loss on anything still open, minus commissions, plus or minus swap. A position underwater but still open can breach the limit on its own, even if it later recovers into profit.
What time does the FTMO daily loss reset?
Midnight CE(S)T (Central European Time, adjusted for daylight saving). The limit for the new day is set from the account balance recorded at that exact moment, so a position still open when midnight CE(S)T passes carries into a fresh day's limit calculated from wherever the balance stood at that instant.
Is FTMO's max loss trailing or static?
On the 2-Step Challenge, static: set once from the initial simulated capital and unmoving for the life of the evaluation. FTMO's separate 1-Step Challenge uses a trailing limit instead, which rises as the account's equity grows and never moves back down. Confirm which product you actually have before assuming either behaviour — see the full trailing-vs-static breakdown for the underlying maths.
Can I hold trades over the weekend?
This varies by account type and by rule set version, and it is exactly the kind of detail that changes without much notice — read the current wording on FTMO's own rules page for the account you actually have, rather than trusting a general answer here or anywhere else. If the wording is unclear for your specific case, FTMO's own support can confirm it in writing, and that reply is worth keeping.
How do I know if I already breached?
Your account dashboard shows the breach directly if one occurred — it does not require guessing. To understand a near-miss or to check your own trading style against a rule set before it matters, mark each server-calendar day's boundary on an exported statement, work out the worst equity point reached within each day, and compare it to that day's limit, the same walkthrough this page works through below.
Broker server time ·Market hours hub ·Balance vs equity ·Maximum drawdown ·Prop firm challenge calculator ·MT4 statement analyzer
Replaying a statement against a rule set here is the reader's own arithmetic on their own file, not an official compliance check by TapeSheet or by FTMO. No pass-rate or breach-rate statistic is claimed anywhere on this page. This is educational information about measuring your own trading, not financial advice. Trading carries risk of loss. Full risk disclaimer.