Most traders don’t fail an FTMO Challenge because their strategy is bad. They fail because they breach a hard rule — usually the max daily loss or the overall drawdown — by a few dollars, on a day their strategy had nothing to do with. Passing is, first and foremost, a risk-management problem.
Here’s how to approach it deliberately.
Know the three numbers that can end your account
Before you place a single trade, write down your account’s exact limits and keep them in front of you:
- Profit target — how much you need to make to pass the phase.
- Max daily loss — the most you can lose in one day (measured from the day’s starting balance/equity, depending on the firm).
- Overall max drawdown — the floor your account can never fall below.
Confirm each in your own account’s rulebook — they differ by program and change over time.
Size every trade to a fixed % of the account
The single most reliable way to avoid a breach is to risk the same small percentage on every trade — typically 0.5–1% during an evaluation. That way, a losing streak can’t wipe out a phase in an afternoon.
Work backwards from your stop-loss:
- Risk amount = Account × Risk %
- Position size = Risk amount ÷ (distance from entry to stop)
Our position size calculator does this instantly.
Respect the daily loss limit like a hard stop
The daily loss limit fails more challenges than the profit target ever does. Two rules that help:
- Set a personal daily stop below the firm’s limit — if the firm allows a 5% daily loss, stop yourself at 3%.
- After two losing trades in a row, walk away for the day. Revenge trading is what turns a −1% day into a breach.
Understand your drawdown type
A 10% max drawdown behaves very differently depending on whether it’s static or trailing:
| Static | Trailing | |
|---|---|---|
| Floor is based on | Starting balance | Your highest equity |
| Moves when you profit | No | Yes — it rises with you |
| Can breach while up on the day | No | Yes |
If yours is trailing, banking profit tightens the noose — a normal pullback can breach you even while you’re green. See the prop-firm drawdown calculator to see your exact floor.
Pace the profit target — don’t force it
Divide the profit target by the number of days you plan to trade to get a realistic daily pace. Forcing the target by oversizing is the fastest route to a daily-loss breach. The challenge calculator turns your target into a daily number.
The hard part isn’t the math — it’s holding the line
Every number above is easy to calculate once. Holding it on every trade, on your worst day, is the real job — and it’s exactly why traders use a tool that enforces these limits at the broker instead of relying on willpower. Set your FTMO rules once and let them hold.
Related: Shibiki for FTMO · what is a trailing drawdown · the consistency rule.