🌐#FTMO
19 articles
FTMO vs. FundedElite: Which Should You Buy? | A 1-Year Simulation of 5 Plans Under the Same Assumptions Puts FTMO 1-Step on Top, With FundedElite's Lite Putting Up a Good Fight [September 2026]
A 1-year Monte Carlo comparison of FTMO (2-Step / 1-Step) and FundedElite (2-Step / 2-Step Lite / 1-Step), run strictly to the official rules of each. Covers expected value at 0.5%/1%/1.5% risk per trade and 50–58% win rates, plus the differences in EA rules, refunds, free retries, and coupons.
What's FTMO's Expected Value? A One-Year Simulation of 2-Step vs. 1-Step Shows 1-Step Wins at Every Lot Size [September 2026]
We ran FTMO's 2-Step and 1-Step ($100K) through a one-year Monte Carlo simulation using the official rules. Covers the annual take-home at 0.5%/1%/1.5% risk per trade and 50–58% win rates, how 2-Step's 100% fee refund and 1-Step's "the account resets on every payout" mechanism play out.
FTMO vs. The5ers vs. Fintokei vs. Hantec: Expected Value Compared | Cap Daily Loss at 2.5% and Run 7 Plans for a Year — FTMO 1-Step Comes Out on Top [September 2026]
I compared 7 plans — FTMO (2-Step / 1-Step), The5ers High Stakes (Classic / New), the Fintokei challenge, and Hantec (Enhanced / Endurance) — with a year-long Monte Carlo simulation that follows each firm's official rules exactly. Capping daily loss at 2.5% across every plan puts FTMO 1-Step in first place at every lot size, followed by Fintokei and FTMO 2-Step.
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]
We compare FTMO (2-Step / 1-Step) and Hantec Trader (Enhanced / EnhancedX / Endurance) on official rules and calculate expected value with a one-year Monte Carlo simulation. Hantec Enhanced's max loss line rises to the starting balance on your first payout. Includes a survey of post-payout drawdown behavior across 8 two-step firms.
What's FundedHive's Expected Value? Simulating 2-Step Classic Over 1 Year: It Falls Short of FTMO Due to a 70% Split and a $1,000 Daily Payout Cap [September 2026]
A 1-year Monte Carlo of FundedHive's 2-Step Classic ($499 for $100K), run to the official rules. Covers annual take-home at 0.5%/1%/1.5% risk per trade and 50–58% win rates, and explains the impact of the 70% profit split, the $1,000-a-day payout cap, and a static max loss that doesn't move on a payout, lined up against FTMO 2-Step.
[September 2026] Calculating FTMO Futures Challenge Expected Value: Pro $50K Maxing Out the Daily Limit Is Best, and Skill Only Changes How You Withdraw
For all 6 FTMO Futures plans (Growth and Pro × $50K, $100K, $150K), I ran a 1-year Monte Carlo covering evaluation, resets, Sim-Funded, and payouts to calculate expected value. Prices, reset fees, and payout conditions for every plan were re-verified against the official rules page on September 23, 2026. Covers why Pro $50K comes out at +$4,836/year even at zero edge, why it stays positive even with a negative edge, the mechanism by which Pro can kill your account if you withdraw too aggressively, and why changing lot size between evaluation and funded is a rule violation.
FTMO Futures Complete Guide: Automated Trading and VPS Both Officially Allowed as FX Giant Launches Futures in September 2026
A hands-on check of FTMO's official pages for FTMO Futures, the futures prop program FTMO launched on September 1, 2026. Its forbidden-practices page explicitly states "Automated trading is permitted," making it one of the few firms that also explicitly permits VPS and VPN use. Covers full pricing for every size of Growth and Pro, how EOD trailing drawdown works, the consistency rule that only applies during evaluation, the JST close-out deadline, the three platforms (NinjaTrader, Tradovate, TradingView), and whether it's usable from Japan.
FTMO Futures vs Topstep: FTMO Wins on Expected Value, Topstep Wins on Monthly Cost. If You're Running a Bot, VPS Access Is the Deciding Factor [September 2026]
We re-confirmed the rules on both the futures prop leader Topstep and FTMO Futures, which entered the market in September 2026, on September 23, 2026, and compared them. The monthly fee is less than half at Topstep, but running the same lot size through evaluation to payout for a year gives FTMO Futures Pro the higher expected value ($50K, zero edge: +$4,836 vs. +$2,519). Covers activation fees, the fact that you can only withdraw 50% of the balance, an optional daily loss limit, resets that shift your billing date, VPS eligibility, and running a bot on a live account.
The5ers Futures vs FTMO Futures: Comparing Two FX Giants' Futures Launch by Automated Trading Policy [September 2026]
The5ers and FTMO have both launched futures products. On September 22, 2026 we measured prices and rules for every size on both official sites. The decisive difference is automated trading: The5ers' FAQ states outright, "algorithmic trading is strictly forbidden, and users will be banned from our programs," while FTMO states, "there is no reason to restrict discretionary trading, algorithmic trading, or EAs." FTMO also explicitly allows VPS and VPN, which puts it ahead of the dedicated futures firms if you plan to run an EA around the clock. We line both up against the same 26 US futures props on cost per unit of loss buffer, EOD drawdown, the scope of the consistency rule, and payout caps.
Is Fintokei's SwiftTrader Plan a Trap for the Unwary? Cheap, Fast, and 90% — But It Recovers Its Fee Through a 60-Day, 3% Box, Measured Against the Same Strategy as StartTrader, FTMO, and E8 [September 2026]
Fintokei's SwiftTrader plan was revised on July 15, 2026, to a 6% target, -2% daily loss, -3% overall loss, a 60-day time limit, and a 90% split. ¥20M for ¥93,800 looks cheaper than the challenge plan, but priced per ¥10,000 of loss allowance it's ¥1,563 versus ¥549 — 2.85x — and target ÷ loss allowance is 2.0 versus 0.8. In a Monte Carlo simulation, a high-frequency trader firing 3 times a day has a region where SwiftTrader wins below 0.5% risk per trade, but running the real "once a day" strategy through it shows -¥360K to -¥560K a year at 0.5%, with the 60-day window expiring 5 times a year. Run through the challenge plan, FTMO 2-Step, and E8 One with the same strategy, SwiftTrader comes in at 3-4x worse. It's overpriced for most people, and only makes sense for a narrow slice of high-frequency, high-win-rate traders.
[September 2026] Which Prop Firm Should You Buy Right Now | An "Expected Payout" Ranking Split Between EA Traders and Manual Traders (Updated After the FundedNext EA Ban and Moneta's Debut)
As of September 9, 2026, ranking "which prop firm to buy right now," split between people running EAs on $100K accounts and manual/semi-discretionary Japanese traders. Reflects FundedNext's EA ban on $50K+, the debut of Moneta Funded, The5ers' yellow card (lifted September 25), and FundedElite's Trustpilot suspension. Compares $100K prices, profit splits, and EA conditions side by side for FTMO, Funding Pips, Fintokei, E8 Pro, Funded7, Hantec, Fundora, and Alpha Capital, plus which firms to wait on and which coupons work this month. Updated September 13, 2026 to reflect E8 Markets' full relaunch (all plans now one-step, new E8 Pro) and a re-investigation of Alpha Capital (full ban on fully automated EAs, Trustpilot suspension, price changes).
I Checked 10 Prop Firms on Swapping EAs Mid-Challenge: FundingPips Requires Proof of Ownership for Self-Built EAs, Funded7 Flags You by Statistics If You Change Instruments [September 2026]
Switching from a trend-following EA to a mean-reversion EA is not a rule violation at most prop firms. Only two firms clearly ban it: FundedNext and TradingCult. Funded7, however, judges by the statistics of notional value rather than logic, so changing instruments or lot size can get you flagged. I also confirmed in the official help centers that FundingPips requires proof of ownership for fully automated self-built EAs, and explicitly bans connecting via VPN/VPS — though that ban sits in a single line inside the identity-verification section, in contrast to FundedElite, which allows VPS with prior notice.
I Checked Multi-Account Allocation Caps at 14 Firms | The5ers Requires a Different Method Per Account, FTMO Has Unlimited Challenges [September 2026]
Try to run the same strategy across multiple accounts and you hit a total-allocation cap. The range spans 14x, from E8 Markets' $4.25M down to FundedNext and PipFarm's $300K. FTMO $400K, FundedNext $300K, Funding Pips $400K, SuperFunded $900K, Hantec $400K, Fundora ¥60M — the range is wide. Even more important is whether challenge-stage accounts eat into that cap, which runs in opposite directions depending on the firm. The5ers requires a different trading method per account, which rules out running the same EA across multiple accounts there.
Can You Change Strategy Mid-Way? | I Checked 20 Firms' Consistency Rules and Found They Go in Opposite Directions [September 2026]
FundedNext explicitly states you must 'maintain the same strategy through your challenge and Funded account,' banning switching from an EA that passed the challenge to manual trading. Fintokei, meanwhile, states plainly it has no consistency rule and won't add one retroactively. Even within one firm, Hantec's Enhanced has no restriction while EnhancedX caps you at 35% — opposite treatment. Here's what to check before changing your method, across 20 firms.
The Same Strategy Can Take 3x Longer Depending on Where You Run It: Testing 8 Firms' Rules Against a Mechanical Strategy [Analysis]
Profit targets and max DD line up almost identically across firms, yet running the same strategy through their rules stretches the cycle time from 17.2 days to 59.6 days — a 3.5x spread. The cause is the '1% risk per trade' rule. Pass rates barely differ (33.7–38.7%), while firms with a 10% Phase 1 target are 5 points worse off at the first stage, and a 60% profit split cuts expected funded-stage income by 40%. Also checks Hantec's 3-minute rule, which is actually a ratio condition — 'net profit from trades closed under 3 minutes is 30% or more of total' — against 3,826 real trades' holding-time distribution.
What Percentage of Prop Phase 1 Would a Coin Toss Pass? The Exact-Solution Answer Comes Out Above 50% [Analysis]
An exact calculation of the Phase 1 pass rate for a prop challenge using nothing but a ±¥200,000 coin toss. With zero fees, an 8% target / 10% max DD setup passes 55.6% of the time, and FTMO comes out at exactly 50.0%. With a 5% fee it drops to 43.2%, and it sinks into the 8% range for 1-step plans with a 3% daily DD. Compared with real-world pass rates of 5-14%, the average trader is losing to a coin toss.
Is a Challenge "Expected-Value Positive Just by Buying It"? I Built a Coin-Toss EA and Backtested It 16 Times [Analysis]
Placing SL/TP at spread x 40 makes the cost ratio independent of the currency pair. Verified with an exact solution plus 24 real EA runs, a single challenge's expected value comes out to +¥119,000 against a ¥108,800 fee (95% CI +¥18,000 to +¥381,000). Raising the number of daily attempts up to the daily loss limit shrinks the time to resolution from 139 days to 7 days without lowering the pass rate, and across multiple accounts, simply using a different random seed per account shifts the probability of finishing positive from 56% to 98%. The one remaining hole is a stop-loss getting jumped by a gap.
Fintokei vs FTMO Head-to-Head: Which Should Japanese Traders Choose? A 7-Axis Comparison
Comparing Fintokei and FTMO across 7 axes: price, drawdown, profit split, Japanese-language support, news trading, weekends, and EA use. Whether you're chasing profit or peace of mind, this settles which one to pick using actual numbers.
[Up to 50% Off] Every Prop Firm First-Time Coupon Code — 19 Firms, April 2026 Edition
Fintokei, FundedNext's VIBES 30%... We checked every code — including ones from overseas aggregator sites — and kept only the ones that actually work. A full table of first-time discounts across 19 firms, plus why you should use them on a $100K account.