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Before you decide to start an FTMO Challenge, we want to make sure that you understand how the process works and what is expected from you.
After you sign up, you can either start the FTMO Challenge: 1-Step or the FTMO Challenge: 2-Step right away, or — as we usually recommend — begin with our Free Trial. The Free Trial is a free, simplified version of the FTMO Challenge experience designed for practice purposes.
Within the Free Trial, you can test some of our Trading Applications and receive a shortened analysis of your trading performance. You may repeat the Free Trial multiple times to make sure you are fully prepared before starting either the FTMO Challenge: 1-Step or the FTMO Challenge: 2-Step.
Once you are ready to start an FTMO Challenge, you can configure your account here.
Please note that it is not possible to obtain an FTMO Account based on your performance in the Free Trial or on any external trading track record. To become an FTMO Trader, you must successfully meet the conditions of the selected product — FTMO Challenge: 1-Step or FTMO Challenge: 2-Step.
To become an FTMO Trader, you must successfully meet the conditions of one of our two products: FTMO Challenge: 1-Step or FTMO Challenge: 2-Step. Each product follows a different structure, which is outlined below.
The FTMO Challenge: 2-Step consists of a two-step process.
A demo account with fictitious capital where you trade according to our Trading Objectives. You will benefit from our proprietary FTMO trading solution with very low commissions and spreads. If you successfully meet all requirements, you will proceed to the second and final step.
A demo account with fictitious capital where you verify your performance and consistency one last time. The rules in the Verification stage are simpler. For a detailed explanation of the rules, please visit the Trading Objectives page.
After you successfully pass the Verification stage, your trading results will be reviewed. Upon successful review, you may get the opportunity to become an FTMO Trader.
The FTMO Challenge: 1-Step follows a different structure and does not include a second step.
In this product, you trade on a single demo account with fictitious capital and must meet all applicable Trading Objectives. Once your trading results are reviewed and approved, you may get the opportunity to become an FTMO Trader.
To conclude a contract for your FTMO Account, we will ask you to provide an ID document (passport or national ID card) and complete the identification process. The conclusion of the contract is dependent on the finalisation of identification procedures in accordance with FTMO’s internal policies.
FTMO does not provide services to persons in/from selected countries specified here, persons listed on sanctions lists, persons with criminal records related to financial crime or terrorism, persons below 18 years of age, company trusts, or persons previously banned due to breaches of FTMO contractual requirements. If any of these circumstances are detected after an FTMO Account Agreement has been concluded, FTMO reserves the right to terminate the contract.
Please note that an FTMO Account is not granted based on any past trading track record.
After you pass all the Trading Objectives in your FTMO Challenge, you will see a notification in your Account MetriX informing you about your success, and you won’t need to trade the account anymore as your Trading Objectives are marked as passed. We will be automatically alerted that you have passed your FTMO Challenge and we will proceed to evaluate your trading results accordingly.
After approximately 1-2 business days, we will then send you the new account login credentials for the Verification stage.
FTMO Challenge: 1-Step is a simplified evaluation product that consists of a single evaluation phase. Unlike FTMO Challenge: 2-Step, it does not include a separate Verification phase.
From the perspective of Trading Objectives, the two products are structured differently. More detailed information about the specific Trading Objectives is available on the Trading Objectives page.
The evaluation is completed once all applicable Trading Objectives are met (Trading Objectives) and the results are reviewed. Afterwards, the trader may proceed directly to the FTMO Identity (KYC) process and, if approved, gain access to an FTMO Account.
Rules for trading during macroeconomic news releases differ depending on whether you are participating in the Evaluation Process or already trading on an FTMO Account.
Within the FTMO Challenge: 1-Step, you may trade freely during all macroeconomic news releases without any restrictions. After successfully meeting the conditions of the FTMO Challenge: 1-Step and transitioning to an FTMO Account, the standard rules for trading during selected macroeconomic news releases apply, as described below.
Within the FTMO Challenge: 2-Step (including FTMO Challenge and Verification), you may trade freely during all macroeconomic news releases without any restrictions. After successfully meeting the conditions of the FTMO Challenge: 2-Step and transitioning to an FTMO Account, the standard rules for trading during selected macroeconomic news releases apply, as described below.
FTMO Traders trading on an FTMO Account must comply with the following restrictions when trading during selected macroeconomic news releases. An exception applies only to Swing accounts, which are available exclusively to traders who qualified through the FTMO Challenge: 2-Step.
On the targeted instruments, it is not permitted to open or close any trades, including pending orders (such as Stop Loss or Take Profit), within a time window starting 2 minutes before and ending 2 minutes after the release of selected macroeconomic news announcements. Activating or closing pending orders is also considered as opening or closing a trade.
You are allowed to hold open positions on the targeted instruments if they were opened more than 2 minutes before the restricted macroeconomic event. Please note that if a Stop Loss or Take Profit is triggered within the restricted time window, this may be considered a breach of the FTMO Account Agreement.
Trading on non-targeted instruments is not restricted. For example, during the US NFP release, you may trade EURGBP or AUDNZD; however, you must not open or close trades on USDJPY or GBPUSD within the time window of 2 minutes before to 2 minutes after the NFP release.
| Affected Instrument | Macroeconomic Announcement |
|---|---|
| USD (related to Forex + Gold + US Indices + DXY) |
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| EUR (related to Forex only) |
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| GBP (related to Forex only) |
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| CAD (related to Forex only) |
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| AUD (related to Forex only) |
|
| NZD (related to Forex only) |
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| CHF (related to Forex only) |
|
| Other Instruments | Announcement |
| Crude Oil (UKOIL.cash, USOIL.cash) |
|
The news releases schedule can also be monitored in our Economic Calendar, where these restricted events are marked by a red background fill:
Please note again that the above restrictions do not apply to FTMO Challenge or Verification accounts. Also, these restrictions don’t apply to FTMO Traders having the account type set to FTMO Account Swing. Unlike the FTMO Account, the FTMO Account Swing does not have restrictions for news trading nor holding trades over the weekend.
For news announcements affecting USD, the restriction applies for Forex pairs with USD currency involved, just as for any of the offered Indices, namely US30.cash, US100.cash, US500.cash, US2000.cash.
In an FTMO Challenge or Verification, you don’t have to. During these stages, you can keep your positions open overnight and over the weekend as well.
However, once you become an FTMO Trader and get an FTMO Account, we require you to close your positions just before the markets close for the weekend or if the rollover (market break) is longer than 2 hours. Our FTMO Traders having the FTMO Account must respect the market timings. Every asset class and its respective instruments might have different trading hours that have to be adhered to.
Standard market hours are visible in the trading platforms and at our Symbols site, however, trading hours are routinely subject to changes based on major holidays or other events. All changes to standard market hours are announced in the Trading Updates section and we highly recommend visiting this page regularly.
In MetaTrader, when you open the Market Watch (Ctrl+M), right-click on the instrument of your interest, and choose ‘Specification’. In the dialogue window, scroll down and you can see the ‘Trade’ hours of the subject instrument. These are the standard market hours applicable most days (unless specified otherwise in the Trading Updates).
In the cTrader platform, open Markets – right-click on the instrument of your interest, and choose ‘Market Symbol’. The trade hours will be displayed in the same dialogue window.
In the DXtrade platform, you can simply go to your "Watchlist," right-click on any instrument and select the "Instrument Info" option to view the Trading Hours in your local time.
If you trade cryptocurrencies, some can be traded during specific hours of the weekend as well.
Also, the above restrictions don’t apply to FTMO Traders having the account type FTMO Account Swing. Unlike the FTMO Account, the FTMO Account Swing does not have restrictions for news trading or holding trades over the weekend.
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