FTMO review

Key facts

Indicative list figures — fees, splits and funding change often (promotions, multiple plans). Confirm current terms on FTMO’s website. Last reviewed: July 2026.

Our verdict on FTMO

FTMO is the established CFD-side option here, running a two-phase evaluation from $99 on MT4, MT5, cTrader and DXtrade with an 80% base split that scales towards 90%. The two-phase structure takes longer to reach funding, and the instruments are CFDs — so index exposure here is not the ES or NQ contract itself.

Watch out:Both phases are simulated with a non-refundable fee, and the majority of attempts do not reach a funded payout. The 80% base split only rises towards 90% through the scaling plan, so the headline scaling figure is not what you start on.

Evaluation structure and true cost

FTMO uses a two-step evaluation from $99, where most futures firms in this group run a single phase. Two phases mean two consecutive sets of targets and rules to satisfy before any funded account exists, which lengthens the time between paying and any possibility of a payout, and adds another point at which an attempt can end. Neither structure is easier; the two-phase model simply front-loads more of the filtering. What it does mean is that the fee sits at risk for longer before you learn the outcome.

The fee is non-refundable and the evaluation is simulated throughout, so the realistic budget is not $99 but $99 multiplied by the number of attempts you might make. Compared with FundedNext, which offers one-step, two-step, Lite and instant models from a similar $99, FTMO is the more focused proposition. Compared with the futures firms here, the structural difference is larger than price: you are being assessed on CFD instruments through MetaTrader rather than on listed futures through Tradovate or Rithmic.

Payout terms and instrument access

Payouts run on roughly a 14-day cycle, slower than the five-day cadence at Topstep, Tradeify and MyFundedFutures and much slower than the daily access at Take Profit Trader and Lucid Trading. The split starts at 80% and rises to 90% through the scaling plan, so the 90% figure describes a destination rather than a starting point. When comparing firms, use the base split and the base cycle — the terms that apply from your first approved payout — rather than the best case quoted in marketing.

The instrument range covers forex, indices, metals, commodities, crypto and stocks as CFDs on MT4, MT5, cTrader and DXtrade. For a reader trading ES, NQ, YM and GC, the practical translation is that you would be trading index and metal CFDs referencing those markets, not the exchange contracts, with a different cost structure and no order-book access. If listed futures are specifically what you want to trade, the futures-only firms in this list are the closer match regardless of FTMO's longer record since 2015.