Forex and CFD challenge

Practice the FTMO Challenge and Verification with the real rules

The FTMO 2-Step is the most practiced rule set on BacktestingMax: about half of all prop firm sessions here use its 10% target, 10% max loss and 5% daily loss. All three FTMO programs are built in, the Challenge, the Verification and the 1-Step, and everything on this page works on the free plan.

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FTMO rules: Challenge, Verification and 1-Step

FTMO Challenge: Phase 1

Account	Profit target	Max loss	Daily loss
$10,000	$1,000 (10%)	$1,000 (10%)	$500 (5%)
$25,000	$2,500 (10%)	$2,500 (10%)	$1,250 (5%)
$50,000	$5,000 (10%)	$5,000 (10%)	$2,500 (5%)
$100,000	$10,000 (10%)	$10,000 (10%)	$5,000 (5%)
$200,000	$20,000 (10%)	$20,000 (10%)	$10,000 (5%)

Max loss type: Static
Trading day resets: midnight Central European time (the daily loss resets here)
Minimum trading days: 4
Time limit: None
Best day (consistency): No rule

The floor is a fixed distance below your starting balance and never moves.

Rules checked on 20 Sep 2026 against FTMO's own published rules.

Practice FTMO Phase 1 free

FTMO Verification: Phase 2

Account	Profit target	Max loss	Daily loss
$10,000	$500 (5%)	$1,000 (10%)	$500 (5%)
$25,000	$1,250 (5%)	$2,500 (10%)	$1,250 (5%)
$50,000	$2,500 (5%)	$5,000 (10%)	$2,500 (5%)
$100,000	$5,000 (5%)	$10,000 (10%)	$5,000 (5%)
$200,000	$10,000 (5%)	$20,000 (10%)	$10,000 (5%)

Max loss type: Static
Trading day resets: midnight Central European time (the daily loss resets here)
Minimum trading days: 4
Time limit: None
Best day (consistency): No rule

The floor is a fixed distance below your starting balance and never moves.

Rules checked on 20 Sep 2026 against FTMO's own published rules.

Practice FTMO Phase 2 free

FTMO Challenge: 1-Step

Account	Profit target	Max loss	Daily loss
$10,000	$1,000 (10%)	$1,000 (10%)	$300 (3%)
$25,000	$2,500 (10%)	$2,500 (10%)	$750 (3%)
$50,000	$5,000 (10%)	$5,000 (10%)	$1,500 (3%)
$100,000	$10,000 (10%)	$10,000 (10%)	$3,000 (3%)
$200,000	$20,000 (10%)	$20,000 (10%)	$6,000 (3%)

Max loss type: Trailing, end of day
Floor stops moving: Once it reaches your starting balance
Trading day resets: midnight Central European time (the daily loss resets here)
Minimum trading days: None
Time limit: None
Best day (consistency): Under 50% of the profit from your winning days

The floor moves up only at the end of a trading day, off your highest closing balance. During the day it stands still, but your live equity, open trades included, is checked against it all day.

Rules checked on 20 Sep 2026 against FTMO's own published rules.

Practice FTMO 1-Step free

How the FTMO drawdown and daily loss limits work

FTMO has two drawdown rules, the Maximum Loss and the Maximum Daily Loss. In the 2-Step the max loss is static. On a 10K account the floor sits at $9,000 for the whole Challenge and never moves, however much you make. Your equity, open trades included, must never touch it.

The daily loss is the rule that catches people. It is $500 on a 10K account, measured down from where you stood at the previous day's close, and it resets at midnight Central European time. Open trades count. A position that is down on the day at the rollover starts the new day already in the hole.

The Challenge is passed at $11,000 with at least 4 trading days. The Verification repeats the same loss limits with half the target.

The 1-Step is a different animal. Its max loss trails your end-of-day balance instead of standing still, its daily loss is tighter, and it adds a best-day rule. It is built in as its own rule set so you can feel the difference before you choose.

Two phases are harder than either number suggests

A 2-Step account is only yours after you clear the Challenge and then the Verification on a fresh account. If your trading clears each phase half the time, it gets through both about a quarter of the time. That compounding is why people who are sure they can do 10% still run out of attempts.

BacktestingMax chains the phases when it estimates your odds. Once you have 20 or more trading days of your own results, it replays them in many different orders under FTMO's rules and shows how often that trading reaches a funded account, and which rule ends the runs that do not.

Practice the phases separately. A retry keeps the firm, the account size and the instrument, and asks you for new dates, because re-running a stretch of market you have already watched is not practice.

Risk check: at 0.5% a trade ($50) on a 10K FTMO Phase 1, 20 full losses in a row reach the $1,000 max loss, 10 in one day reach the $500 daily loss limit, and 10 winners at 2R reach the $1,000 target. Plain arithmetic from a fresh account. On the page you can change the account size and the risk.

What the simulator covers

The Challenge, the Verification and the 1-Step, for every account size from 10K to 200K
A static max loss for the 2-Step, and the end-of-day trailing max loss for the 1-Step
The daily loss measured from the previous day's close and resetting at midnight Central European time
The minimum of 4 trading days in each 2-Step phase
The 1-Step best-day warning, measured against the profit from your winning days

What it does not cover

News trading restrictions and weekend holding rules are not enforced
FTMO states that the 1-Step max loss trails, but not the exact point where it stops. The simulator stops it at the starting balance, which is the usual reading
Moving from the Challenge to the Verification is not automatic. They are two rule sets, and you start the second one yourself
The funded stage, payouts and the profit split are not simulated

FTMO practice questions

Is this the same as the FTMO Free Trial?

No. The Free Trial is FTMO's own product and runs on live prices in real time. BacktestingMax is an independent simulator that replays historical data, so a four-day minimum takes an evening instead of four days, and you can retry as often as you like on different dates. Plenty of traders use both.

Is the FTMO simulator really free?

Yes. Prop firm mode is free on every plan, and forex and metals, gold included, are free instruments in BacktestingMax. The free plan covers the last 12 months of history. Premium adds the full history and the other markets, indices included.

How is the FTMO daily loss calculated?

It is 5% of your starting balance in the 2-Step, measured down from your position at the previous day's close, with open trades included, and it resets at midnight Central European time. The simulator uses that clock instead of your local midnight, so a trade held across the rollover is counted in the right day.

Do I need 4 trading days in both phases?

Yes, in the rules we carry both the Challenge and the Verification need at least 4 trading days. If you reach the target sooner, the simulator shows it as met and tells you how many days are still owed instead of passing you early.

Are these the current FTMO rules?

They were checked against FTMO's own published trading objectives on the date shown above the tables. Confirm the numbers with FTMO before you buy a Challenge.

Practice another prop firm

BacktestingMax is an independent trading simulator. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by FTMO. The name is used only to describe which published rules a practice session follows, and it belongs to its owner.

Hypothetical or simulated performance results have certain limitations. Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading. Also, since the trades have not been executed, the results may have under- or over-compensated for the impact, if any, of certain market factors, such as lack of liquidity. Simulated trading programs in general are also subject to the fact that they are designed with the benefit of hindsight. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profit or losses similar to those shown.