FTMO vs Hantec: Which Should You Buy? Hantec Is the Only One Whose Max Loss Line Rises to the Starting Balance on Payout. FTMO Wins on Expected Value, and 1-Step Is Best If You Cap Daily Loss at 2.5% [September 2026]

※ Rules were checked against FTMO's official site (Trading Objectives, comparison table, pricing table) and Hantec Trader's official help center on September 27, 2026. FTMO's prices are in euros, converted at €1 = $1.146.

Conclusion

• FTMO wins on expected value. Comparing with daily loss capped at 2.5% across all plans, FTMO 1-Step ranks first at every lot size, with FTMO 2-Step second (+$29,498 / +$20,306 at 1% risk per trade, "decent" edge).
• FTMO 1-Step is one-step with a 90% split, and every payout starts a fresh account, resetting your max-loss buffer back to 10%. FTMO 2-Step's max loss never moves on a payout, and the entry fee is fully refunded with your first payout. Neither has anything like Hantec's "instant fail at 3% floating loss."
• If you're buying Hantec, buy Endurance. At $100K it's a cheap $299, and its line doesn't move on payout. It does have the 3% floating-loss rule, though, so any single stop loss needs to stay under 2.9%.
• Hantec Enhanced's max loss line rises to the starting balance on your first payout. Withdraw all your profit and your buffer drops to zero — the next loss fails the account. Among the two-step firms we surveyed here, Hantec was the only one to spell this out this clearly.
• FTMO 1-Step's daily loss cap is a tight 3%, so it assumes you have some mechanism (like an EA's daily guard) to stop yourself well before that.

Spec comparison ($100K)

FTMO's daily loss is "today's opening balance minus 5% of the starting balance (3% for 1-Step)." Hantec calculates it from "whichever is higher: the opening balance or equity."

As of September 27, 2026, FTMO's official site is running sale prices of €439 (2-Step) and €399 (1-Step). Hantec has a standing official coupon NEW35 (35% off).

What happens to max loss after a payout (8 two-step firms)

We checked each firm's official pages for "after withdrawing profit, does the fail line stay fixed at X% below the starting balance, or does it move?"

Even at firms where the line "doesn't move," your buffer to that line still shrinks by the amount withdrawn, since the balance itself decreases. Still, that's a different thing from Hantec Enhanced, where the line itself rises by 10%, from $90,000 to $100,000.

Within Hantec's own lineup, Express, Instant Funding, and Instant Lite all lock the line to the starting balance on the first payout, just like Enhanced. Among one-step plans, E8 Pro works the same way.

Simulating expected value

Assumptions

Fixed

• $100K, 1 year (250 trading days), max 3 trades/day, 1:1 take-profit to stop-loss
• Daily loss capped at 2.5% of starting balance across all plans (once a loss would push a day past 2.5%, no more trades that day)
• Lot size fixed at r% of starting balance, one position at a time (never held simultaneously, so the 3% floating-loss rule never triggers)
• Cost is 5% of risk per trade (win = +0.95R, loss = −1.05R)
• Re-buy the same plan on failure, no scaling, profit left in the account at year-end doesn't count
• 20,000 runs per condition

Varied

• Plan
• Edge: win rate 50% (zero) / 52% (small) / 55% (decent) / 58% (strong)
• Per-trade risk r (0.5% / 1.0% / 1.5%)
• Amount of profit kept in the account at payout time (the best amount was chosen per plan; for EnhancedX and FTMO 1-Step, which require withdrawing all profit, this is 0)

The expected-value formula and a worked example of lot sizes and costs in USD/JPY (¥150.000/$1) are laid out in our 4-firm expected-value comparison article.

A. 1% per trade: average of (1-year payout − fee) at list price

B. 1.5% per trade (list price)

At 1.5% per trade, one loss puts you within range of exceeding 2.5% on the next loss, so trading stops there for the day.

C. 0.5% per trade (list price)

FTMO 1-Step ranks first, FTMO 2-Step second, at every lot size. With 1-Step, requesting a payout every 14 days starts a fresh account, resetting the max-loss line back to 90% of the starting balance. Payouts can't be left in the account — you must withdraw everything — but that means you restart with a full, untouched 10% buffer every time. The weakness of a tight 3% daily loss never gets triggered as long as you cap yourself at 2.5%.

Within Hantec's lineup, Endurance came out best at every lot size. EnhancedX gets hit by its 35% consistency rule the harder you push size, which holds up payouts and drags its numbers down.

Recalculating with discounted prices (FTMO's sale price, Hantec's NEW35) barely changed the rankings in any of the tables.

Hantec Enhanced recovers if you "accumulate profit before withdrawing"

Enhanced's results vary a lot depending on how much profit you leave in the account at payout time. The table numbers reflect the best amount chosen, and in most conditions, "don't withdraw until profit reaches 10–16%, then withdraw only the excess" was best. This offsets the line rising to $100,000 on the first payout by using accumulated profit to fill the gap. Withdrawing all profit every time drags the numbers down even further than the table shows.

Which should you choose

FTMO has a track record going back to 2015, and 2-Step refunds your fee. Hantec bans running the same EA strategy on multiple accounts, so it's better thought of as a cheap container for a single strategy.

FAQ

Q. Does Hantec Enhanced's buffer really drop to zero after a payout?

It drops to zero if you withdraw all of your profit. In the official help example, on a $50K account with $3,000 profit, withdrawing $2,000 leaves a balance of $51,000 with a fail line of $50,000 — a buffer of $1,000. Before the withdrawal, the account could drop to $45,000, so the line effectively rose $5,000.

Q. Does FTMO's buffer also shrink after a withdrawal?

For 2-Step, the balance drops by exactly the amount withdrawn. The line stays fixed at 90% of the starting balance. You can also choose to "roll over" a payout back into the account. For 1-Step, requesting a payout starts a new funded account, and the line resets back to 90% of the starting balance.

Q. When does FTMO refund the entry fee?

For 2-Step, the fee is refunded 100% with your first payout. 1-Step has no refund. Hantec has no refund on any plan.

Q. Why did you assume a 2.5% daily loss cap?

Because the daily loss limit varies by plan (3–5%), letting each plan trade up to its own limit would turn this into a comparison of "whichever plan has the wider daily limit gets to bet bigger." Capping every plan at 2.5% keeps even the strictest one (FTMO 1-Step at 3%) from ever hitting its daily limit, so every plan is compared under the same risk style.

Q. Why are some plans positive even at zero edge?

Because losses are capped at the entry fee, while payouts from a passing account can grow without bound. FTMO 1-Step resets your buffer to 10% with every payout, and FTMO 2-Step refunds the fee for a passing account. That said, these are all thin positives that flip negative with even a small cost increase.

Q. I want to run this simulation with my own assumptions

We've published the simulation script. You can adjust win rate, lot size, cost, and the daily loss cap (requires Python and numba).

Related

• 🏢 FTMO complete guide / Hantec Trader complete guide
• 📊 Comparing Hantec's 4 plans: Enhanced's max loss rises to the starting balance on payout
• 🔍 Plan comparison and search

Sources: FTMO "Trading Objectives," "Comparison Table," "How do I withdraw my profits?"; Hantec Trader help "Enhanced (2 Step)," "EnhancedX," "Endurance"; post-payout DD behavior for each firm as shown in the table above (all confirmed September 27, 2026)