FTMO is one of the fastest growing proprietary trading firms with funded trading accounts. Funded traders receive up to 90% of profits. Tradeable assets include Forex, cryptos, commodities, indices and stocks.
This FTMO review guides you through the FTMO Challenge, including the signup process, member dashboard and trading platforms. We also take a closer look at the evaluation process, trading objective details and pricing.
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About FTMO
FTMO started its business operations in 2020 and has seen immense growth since its inception. Today, FTMO has registered traders in 180+ countries. Over 6 million trades are opened every month, and $23 million have been paid out so far in 2021, with an average payout processing time of only 8 hours.
FTMO has been featured on Forbes and won the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 award 3 years in a row. Their evaluation process consists of the FTMO Challenge and the Verification. Traders who succeed evaluation process are offered a position in the FTMO Proprietary Trading firm where they can manage an account balance of up to $400,000.
An extensive trading journal for account analysis and excellent educational resources make the offer complete and attractive for beginner traders and experts.
FTMO Challenge Review
This section of the FTMO review explains the evaluation process, trading objectives, and tradeable assets.
Evaluation Process
The FTMO evaluation process consists of two steps. The first step is the so-called FTMO Challenge. During the challenge, you have to prove your trading discipline, skills and profitability by archiving the goals determined in the trading objectives.
The next section of the FTMO review explains the details of the FTMO Challenge, the Verification process and the specific trading objectives.
FTMO Challenge: Step 1
The FTMO Challenge duration for all accounts is 30 calendar days. That means 30 days is the defined maximum of days available to reach the defined goals. If you reach the profit target faster in compliance with all rules, you will directly advance to the Verification step. However, the minimum trading days required are defined with 10 days. So, for example, if you archive your target within 5 trading days, you have to place trades on 5 more days. Anyway, you can make small-risk trades to comply with the rules by maintaining the profit target archived in the first 5 days.
You pay only once to start the challenge. The prices vary depending on the chosen funded trading account amount. There are no additional fees for the Verification (step 2) and FTMO Trader program (step 3).
One more important aspect about the FTMO Challenge fee is that FTMO pays you the fee back with the first profit split once you become a funded trader.
Verification: Step 2
The FTMO Verification is the second step on your way to becoming a funded trader at FTMO. You have double the amount of time available to reach the profit target in compliance with all rules. That means that you have 60 calendar days to pass the Verification process.
There is no extra fee to participate in the Verification process once you have successfully completed the FTMO Challenge. The minimum number of trading days is similar to the requirements in the FTMO Challenge and defined with 10 trading days.
Therefore you have to trade on a minimum of 10 trading days over the time span of 60 calendar days and archive the profit target goal. Once you make it through the Verification step, you get an offer to become a funded trader at FTMO.
FTMO Trader: Step 3
During the FTMO Challenge and Verification, you have proven that you deserve to get funded by a prop trading firm. You archive this goal with proper risk management, excellent trading skills and discipline in the demo account environment during Step 1 and Step 2.
Getting to step 3 equals archiving your goals in becoming a funded trader. From here on, your FTMO account is connected to the company’s live account. The default profit split ratio to all FTMO traders is typically set to 80:20. That means you keep 80% of profits generated ready to be withdrawn to your bank account.
However, FTMO also has a scaling plan, and the chances are that you can archive a payout ratio of up to 90:10, which is unique in this industry.
Free Repetition of the FTMO Challange
If the trader finishes the FTMO Challenge or Verification without meeting the Profit Target but manages to stay within the Loss limits (not exceeding the Max Daily Loss and Max Loss) and finishes with any profit (even $0.01) with all positions closed, the trader always receives a new FTMO Challenge free of charge. This is a huge benefit and not a matter of course in this industry.
Trading Objectives
The trading objectives for the FTMO Challenge depend on the chosen currency, risk level, and account balance.
First, you should decide which type of risk level you want to choose.
If you chose the risk level Normal, your maximum daily loss is defined by 5% of the initial account balance. The Maximum Loss and overall Profit Target is 10% of the initial account balance.
Suppose you chose the risk level Aggressive, all values double. That means that you have a maximum daily loss limit of 10%, while the Maximum Loss and overall Profit Target are at 20% of the initial account balance. Therefore, with the aggressive risk level, you have more room for the downside and have to achieve a higher profit target.
The available currencies are: USD, GBP, EUR, CZK, CAD, AUD, CHF
The account balances are $10,000, $25,000, $50,000, and $100,000 for both risk levels, while the normal risk level also comes with an $200,000 balance.
To sum it up, the selected trading objectives define maximum daily loss, maximum overall loss, profit target, and the challenge fee.
Tradeable Assets
FTMO focuses on forex trading with a leverage of up to 1:100, so a $10,000 account can be traded with $1,000,000. There are all major currencies like EUR/USD and USD/JPY available for trading plus some less popular ones like USD/HKD or EUR/NOK for a total of 44 currencies tradeable via FTMO.
However, traders can also trade 8 metals, 14 cash indices, 4 futures contracts, 10 cryptocurrencies and 23 equities via contracts for difference (CFDs).
FTMO Proprietary Trading Firm
Traders who make it through the evaluation get a funded account from FTMO. Global traders from the United States sign their contract with FTMO Trader US s.r.o. and traders outside the United States sign the contract with FTMO Trading Global s.r.o.
That’s a straightforward solution since traders directly work with one brand from the start of the FTMO Challenge over the Verification process up to the funded trading account.
Costs
You need to pay a fee to become a funded trader with FTMO. If you succeed in becoming a funded trader, you can get back the fee paid with your first profit split from your funded trading account.
If you fail to go through the 3-step process, you can start a new challenge, but you have to pay the fee again.
The fee structure depends on two things – first, the chosen risk level, second, the selected trading account balance.
You always pay in your region currency. For example, if you are located in the United States, you pay in USD. If you are from the EU, you pay in Euro, etc.
Risk Level: Normal
- 10,000 account: 139.50 fee
- 25,000 account: 225.00 fee
- 50,000 account: 310.50 fee
- 100,000 account: 486.00 fee
- 200,000 account: 972.00 fee
Risk Level: Aggressive
- 10,000 account: 225.00 fee
- 25,000 account: 310.50 fee
- 50,000 account: 486.00 fee
- 100,000 account: 972.00 fee
As you can see, the aggressive risk level does not have 200,000 accounts available, and the costs are similar to the next higher level in the normal risk level. So, for example, you pay 225.00 for the 25,000 accounts with the normal risk level, but on the aggressive risk level, you only get the 10,000 account challenge for 225.00.
FTMO Platform Insights
Once you signed up to FTMO by starting your preferred trading challenge or by joining the free trial, you can log in to the FTMO dashboard. From here, you can access the FTMO account, risk management tools, the trading academy and more.
Trading Platform Access
To open your trading account platform, click on Client Area and Credentials within your FTMO Challenge section. Now, a popup opens where you can see the link to the trading platform and the login credentials.
In my case, I have chosen the MetaTrader 4 platform, and I can either install MT4 or use the web platform. You have to use the login details for the first login and select the FTMO-Server. If login fails, change the FTMO-Server in the drop-down.
Now you can start trading based on fundamental and technical analysis of your favorite forex markets with your preferred trading strategy. Make it from the Step 1 FTMO Challenge to Step 2, the Verification Process and finally to become an FTMO Trader where you keep between 80% and 90% of profits by trading the prop firm trading capital.
FTMO MetriX
Every Trade made will be tracked in the FTMO MetriX section. Go to your FTMO dashboard, choose your active FTMO Challenge and choose MetriX to open the tracking dashboard. Here you see all the details: the status, challenge start and end date, the account size, the provider, the chosen platform, and your current results.
You also see the Trading Objectives status of your challenge, including the 4 rules:
- Minimum 10 Trading Days
- Maximum Daily Loss
- Maximum Overall Loss
- Profit Target
Once all objectives are passed, you can proceed to the next step. Within the FTMO MetriX view, you also see a trading journal. If you are an active trader, click on the refresh button at the top to see the most recent statistics.
FTMO Mentor
The FTMO Mentor is an app that works with MetaTrader 4. It tracks your trading behavior, helps you to trade with discipline and alerts you if you trade in a way that puts your evaluation process at risk.
Downloads
Within the downloads section, you have access to Expert Advisors and trading indicators for MetaTrader 4, like the Autofibo, the Breakout Zones and SL & TP Values. Here you also find the links to download MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader.
Trading Academy
The FTMO Academy is another helpful resource for traders. Her you find beginner videos, trading platform insights and trading tips.
More
You find some more links in the navigation like the economic calendar, certificates, a leaderboard, language settings, customer support, and billing.
Available Trading Platforms
FTMO supports the three most popular trading solutions:
- MetaTrader 4
- MetaTrader 5
- cTrader
All of them are free to use with no markup to all demo trading account and virtual funds.
FTMO Review Summary
FTMO is an excellent proprietary trading firm for forex traders. The FTMO Challenge rules and Verification process are well-documented and transparent. The pricing is reasonable, and the supported trading tools are popular amongst traders.
FTMO wants to discover trading talents, and they provide a funded account for successful forex traders with a payout of 80%-90% of the profits generated by the funded trader.
Joining the FTMO Challenge is especially helpful for undercapitalized traders who want to trade large accounts without risking their own capital. While it requires talent, skills and discipline to archive the goals – it is also exceptionally beneficial in case of success since the FTMO Challenge participation fees get refunded with the first profit split. That means that successful trading leads to a funded account with zero risk capital.
The clear focus and strength of FTMO is forex with 44 tradeable currency pairs. Also, the ability to trade crypto CFDs like Bitcoin Dash, Etherum and Litecoin makes FTMO unique and a good choice.
Future traders consider Topstep over FTMO since only NGAS, the Dollar Index, Euro Bund and US 10yr T-Note can be traded as futures contracts with FTMO.
Let’s close the FTMO review by looking at the pros and cons.
Pros
- Trading of prop firms capital without the risk of losing your savings
- Profit split where traders receive between 80% and 90% of profits
- The fee is refundable once a trader passes the evaluation process and make money with the funded account
- A high number of fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies available for trading
- High transparency regarding pricing, rules and account types
Cons
- Not suitable for trading futures and stocks
How To Become a Successful FTMO Trader?
Becoming a successful FTMO trader requires an exact understanding of the rules, excellent skills and discipline. The review aims to help you understand the rules, platforms, and cost entirely with insights from a user perspective.
Is FTMO The Right Choice for Forex Traders?
Yes. FTMO is the right choice for forex traders. They are market leading in the segment for funded accounts, have high credibility and a reasonable pricing structure. The review covers all angles of FTMO with insightful perspectives and explains the entire evaluation process in detail.
