FTMO

FTMO Origin and Foundation #

FTMO was established in 2017 and is headquartered in the Czech Republic. This provides a geographical and historical context for the firm's operations within the financial industry.

Regulatory Status #

It's important to note that FTMO operates differently from traditional brokerage firms. Since FTMO's business model does not involve brokerage services, they are not subject to the typical financial regulatory oversight. This aspect is crucial for understanding how they function within the industry.

Checking the Reputation #

To gauge the credibility and user satisfaction with FTMO, we explored independent reviews on platforms like Trust Pilot and Reddit. By reviewing user discussions and feedback, such as the thread here. We found that the general sentiment towards FTMO is overwhelmingly positive. These platforms provide real-world insights from users who have interacted with FTMO, offering a more comprehensive view of the firm's reputation.

FTMO Model #

FTMO operates as a proprietary trading firm that utilizes a unique two-step evaluation process designed to identify and nurture trading talent. This process involves an FTMO Challenge followed by a Verification stage, each crafted to test traders’ skills under real market conditions.

Evaluation Process Details #

Step 1: FTMO Challenge – This initial phase is where aspiring traders must prove their ability to meet specific trading objectives. Success in the FTMO Challenge leads to the next phase.

Step 2: Verification – As the concluding step of the evaluation, this stage requires traders to reaffirm their trading proficiency and discipline. Passing this verification allows traders to advance to a professional level.

Step 3: Becoming an FTMO Trader – Upon successful verification, traders are given the opportunity to manage an FTMO Account. These accounts can have balances of up to $400,000, enabling traders to apply their skills in a significant trading capacity.

Fee Structure #

FTMO charges the one-time fee which is reimbursed to you when you pass the challenge and Verification with the first Profit Split. The table below clearly displays the fees to the account balance type.

Trading Conditions #

Markets and Instruments

FTMO supports a broad range of trading instruments across various markets including Forex, Indices, Commodities, Stocks, and Cryptocurrencies. This ensures that traders have a plethora of options to diversify their trading strategies.

Order Volume and Risk Management

• Forex Trading Limits: The maximum order volume for Forex trades is set at 50 lots per order.

• Stop Loss Usage: Implementing stop loss orders is optional but recommended as a risk management practice to safeguard investments.

• Expert Advisors (EAs): Traders are permitted to use trading robots. However, when using EAs developed by third parties, it is crucial to consider the saturation of trading strategies, as many traders might be using the same EAs. This commonality can potentially lead to strategy overuse, affecting the uniqueness of your trading approach, and could influence eligibility for an FTMO Account due to the maximum capital allocation rule. Always review the terms and conditions thoroughly when using third-party EAs.

Trading Platforms

FTMO offers a choice of industry-leading platforms including MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, DXtrade, and cTrader. Traders can enhance their trading environment using VPN or VPS services, which are fully permitted under FTMO’s trading conditions.

Leverage Options

• Standard Leverage: The standard leverage offered is 1:100, which can be adjusted upon a trader's request if they prefer a different leverage ratio.

• Swing Account Leverage: For traders opting for a Swing account type, the leverage is fixed at a lower rate of 1:30 for Forex trades.

Support and Resources Offered #

FTMO provides traders with a collection of online tools, apps and services, tailored to assist traders in enhancing their performance, refining risk management strategies, and fostering mental preparedness.

Statistical Application – The Statistical Application will show you meaningful and number-based probabilities of market behaviour that you can use to your advantage.

Mentor Application – The Mentor Application is a unique application that helps you to achieve better results through strengthening your discipline.

Trading Journal – Archiving trading results usually is not one of the favourite activities of most traders, but it is a piece of cake with our Trading Journal.

Account MetriX – The Account MetriX is an innovative and unique web application where you can monitor your progress towards becoming the FTMO Trader.

Account Analysis – A comprehensive assessment of your trading period that includes a wide selection of data and statistics.

Trader’s Analysis – All your trading history including all Free trials, FTMO Challenges, Verifications, and FTMO Accounts is summarized in a comprehensive analytical tool to unlock deep trading data collected since the beginning of your FTMO trading career.

Trading calculators – Before executing a trade, every serious trader should know how much capital he/she will need to open the position and how much will he/she can lose if the trade fails. Our Margin Calculator and Pip Calculator will help you determine these important values for our demo accounts without any complicated calculations.

FTMO Academy – In order to become a serious trader, it is essential to have basic and advanced profound trading knowledge. That is why we have developed the Trading Academy, which will help you in your trading journey.

Quick Trade Manager – The primary objective of this application is to simplify entering new orders, with a specific focus on assisting you in swiftly and effortlessly calculating their position size in MT4 and MT5.

Performance Coach – Often neglected, yet an extremely crucial aspect of trading, is psychology. We offer support here as well.

Equity Simulator – Improve your risk management and calculate your probabilities and chances based on your current trading performance. Available in your Account MetriX.

Technology and Infrastructure #

FTMO strives to provide an environment that closely mirrors real market conditions throughout every stage of the Evaluation Process, Free Trial, and FTMO Account. This commitment includes simulating the natural execution delays that occur in real market trading, which are common across all trading platforms and servers. To ensure this realism, FTMO introduces a deliberate delay of up to 200 milliseconds on their servers.

Customer Support #

FTMO prides itself on offering robust and responsive customer support around the clock. Available 24/7, the support team can be reached via email, live chat, and WhatsApp, ensuring that traders can get assistance whenever needed.

This support is provided in a wide array of languages, accommodating a global clientele. The languages offered include English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Czech, Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Serbian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Russian, Polish, and Arabic. This multilingual support ensures that FTMO's services are accessible to traders around the world, enhancing the trading experience by providing help in the language they are most comfortable with.

Account Types and Requirements. #

FTMO provides traders with Swing Account and Normal account. Swing account has no restrictions on holding positions over the weekend or trading during macroeconomic releases.
FTMO provides the ability to switch between accounts types by simply clicking the ‘Modify Account’ button within the MetriX app before the first trade is executed.

Account Allocation Overview #

When you become an FTMO Trader, your trading account will maintain the same balance as during your FTMO Challenge. For example, if you traded with a $200,000 balance in the Challenge, you will continue with a $200,000 balance in your FTMO Account.

Please be aware that all provided accounts are demo accounts with virtual funds. Upon achieving the status of an FTMO Trader, you will receive login credentials for a demo account, from which you can earn up to 90% of the profits generated.

If you are interested in trading with a higher account balance, you must participate in a new FTMO Challenge for each additional account. Each challenge must be started afresh, even if you have successfully completed previous ones. Maximum capital allocation limit is $400,000 per trader or per strategy at any time. This could be spread across multiple configurations, such as two accounts each with a $200,000 balance, or four accounts each with $100,000.

Be advised that creating multiple registrations to circumvent this limit is not permitted. If such is found traders risk suspension.

The table below provides more detailed information on account allocations and related conditions.

Withdrawal Process Summary #

FTMO Traders, though trading with virtual funds, are entitled to real money rewards based on the profits generated from their FTMO Account. This setup allows traders to demonstrate their trading skills and the effectiveness of the provided data.

Profit Distribution and Timing:

- Default Schedule: Profit splits are typically conducted monthly.

- Flexible Payouts: Traders can request a payout as early as 14 days after their first trade and up to 3 times per withdrawal, with the latest being 60 days from the start of trading.

- Fixed Profit Split Day: If not altered by the trader, the profit split day defaults to the last day of the monthly cycle and cannot be changed for that period.

Payout Details:

- Processing: Payouts are processed within 1-2 business days after invoice confirmation.

- Methods: Profits can be withdrawn via bank wire, Skrill, or cryptocurrencies, without any commission fees.

- Profit Share: Traders receive 80% of the profits, which increases to 90% if the conditions of the Scaling Plan are met, where the FTMO Account balance is also increased by 25%.

Additional Considerations:

- Reinvestment Option: Traders can choose to reinvest their profits to increase their account balance and drawdown buffer. However, FTMO's 20% share (10% under the Scale-up plan) is automatically deducted.

- Minimum Payout Requirement: Due to transfer fees, a minimum profit of $20 is required for bank wire payouts and $50 for crypto payouts.