Tradeovate
TradingView
NinjaTrader
Is This Firm For You? (The Persona Match)
Stop the user from guessing. Tell them immediately if they fit.
Yes, join if:
You are an intraday futures scalper or day trader
all positions are closed at the end of the day.
Your are a news trader
and want no news window at all (FTMO Futures applies no news restrictions in any phase).
You want mainstream futures platforms
NinjaTrader, Tradovate and TradingView, all on one login.
You want a route to genuine live capital
this is a big one as it is one of only a small number of firms who clearly state when you move to live capital.
No, avoid if:
You swing trade or hold overnight
every position and resting order must be closed or cancelled by 4:10 p.m. ET, every day.
Your edge is concentrated on a handful of scheduled releases
"News-Event Concentration" is listed under Risk Management Standards and can be challenged. Most news traders will be fine but think if you are likely to be impacted.
You want a one-off fee
This is a monthly subscription that keeps billing until you pass, cancel, or breach.
Live funded isn't available to everyone
its invite only and restricted in some countries
The Propify Reality Check Audit
We don't just list features; we interpret the risks.
⚠️ The "Hidden Rule" Detector
Hidden rule #1: No overnight positions!
The rule:
All positions must be closed and all resting orders — stop-losses, limits and brackets — cancelled before 4:10 p.m. ET or the relevant market close, whichever is sooner.
The reality:
Any strategy that carries risk through the settlement break, or that leans on resting orders sitting overnight, is structurally incompatible — and holding past the close is listed as a Forbidden Trading Practice, not just a bad idea.
The rule:
You must not open new positions in any contract when price is within 2% of the CME-defined daily price limit for that contract and trading day. Limits are recalculated daily from the prior settlement and vary by product and time of day.
The reality:
On genuine limit-move days — exactly the volatility most futures strategies are built for — the instrument becomes untradeable before it locks. You are expected to track CME’s published limits yourself.
💸 Payout Speed Test
FTMO stated:
Every 4 days (Growth) or every 5 days (Pro), once qualifying-day conditions are met.
Payout rails:
Wise, Revolut, bank wire, Visa Direct, Mastercard Send (Mastercard Send not available to US clients). Paid in USD, minimum $20.
⚡ The News Trading Scenario
On Evaluation:
✅ No restrictions
On Sim-Funded:
✅ No restrictions, sort of.
Pro tip:
If news is your entire edge, trade it consistently across all your accounts rather than switching profile only around releases — the standard is measured against your own broader activity.
Editor's Verdict: The No-Hype Review
Our View: Is FTMO Futures the Right Choice?
FTMO Futures is a genuinely different product from the FTMO CFD challenge, not a futures skin on the same rules. The evaluation is single-phase with no time limit and no minimum trading days, news is unrestricted, and once you reach Sim-Funded there is no profit target and no consistency rule. On paper that is one of the cleaner rule-sets in futures prop.
The trade-offs are the cost model and the drawdown mechanics. You are on a monthly subscription that keeps charging until you pass, cancel or stop — so a slow evaluation is an open-ended bill, and a $169/month $100K Growth account that takes four months has cost $676. The Max Drawdown is end-of-day trailing, which follows your closing balances up until it locks at your starting capital and never loosens after that, so late-stage give-back is punished harder than a static drawdown would punish it.
The single biggest gotcha is not a rule most traders will read about in the pricing table: nothing can be held over the close. That removes an entire category of strategy before the drawdown maths even matters.
Unlike their CFD rules which are amongst some of the cleanest in the industry the caveat around news strategy concentration does leave some question marks
Rules Deconstructed
A detailed breakdown of the specific trading rules found in the database.
The “Hidden” Rules (Most traders miss these)
No overnight positions:
All positions closed and all resting orders cancelled by 4:10 p.m. ET
A trading day runs 6:00 p.m. ET to 4:10 p.m. ET the following day.
No new positions within 2% of the daily price limit for that contract and day
It's your responsibility to monitor this!
Evaluation:
best single day must be ≤ 40% of total profit on Growth, ≤ 50% on Pro. Breaching it is not a violation — it simply blocks the pass until you trade more profit to dilute the best day.
Sim-Funded
none
Real-Funded
TBC
Subscription continues after a breach
if you breach, billing does not stop; you receive a new account on the next billing date, or you pay a reset fee to start again immediately.
Sim-Funded
no subscription fee applies
Daily Loss Limit — Evaluation:
Growth: None Pro: $1,500 (hard — breach ends the evaluation)
Daily Loss Limit — Sim-Funded:
Growth: $2,000 (soft — positions closed, trading resumes next day) Pro: $1,500 (hard)
Maximum Loss:
Growth$3,500, Pro $4,500
Prohibited / risky practices
- FTMO publishes a dedicated Futures Forbidden Trading Practices page covering: exploiting simulated-environment characteristics or pricing errors; relying on platform drawdown protection as the sole exit; hedging or offsetting across accounts (including accounts at other firms); copy trading from a third party; manipulative or latency-arbitrage automation (ordinary automated trading is permitted); trading within 2% of a CME price limit; holding positions or resting orders past the end of the trading day; and trading inconsistently with live-market standards (overleveraging, one-sided bets, account rolling). CME conduct rules — spoofing, layering, wash trading — apply throughout.
Payout Policy
Payout Policy
Payout schedule & speed
Processing time (FTMO stated):
TBC
When you can request:
every 4 days (Growth) / every 5 days (Pro).
Payout cap per request on a $100K account:
$3,000 (Growth) / $6,000 (Pro).
Withdrawable share:
up to 50% of profit above initial capital (Growth) or 100% (Pro). Minimum $20; paid in USD.
Profit split & scaling
Max profit share: 90%
fixed
Max contract scaling:
the Sim-Funded account starts at a reduced contract limit and steps up as end-of-day profit above initial capital passes set thresholds — on a 50K account, 2 contracts at $0–999, 3 at $1,000–1,999 and 5 from $2,000. Micros count towards the limit at 1:10.
Refunds
None
Pros & Cons
The Good
No news restrictions in any phase
rare with futures firms
Single-phase evaluation
with no time limit and no minimum trading days.
NinjaTrader, Tradovate, TradingView
with Level 1 CME data included.
A genuine live-capital tier above Sim-Funded
with daily uncapped pay outs — even if it is discretionary.
The Bad
Recurring monthly cost with no refund
a slow evaluation gets expensive, and billing continues after a breach.
No overnight or weekend holds at all
resting orders must be cancelled too.
Growth caps withdrawals at 50% of profit per cycle
so profits leave the account slowly.
Price & Value Analysis
The Math:
- FTMO Futures cost: $1.69 per $1,000 of simulated buying power, per month (169 / 100).
- Pro equivalent: $1.99 per $1,000 per month ($199 / 100), buying a tighter drawdown ratio, a higher payout cap and 100% withdrawals.
- Because this is a subscription, the honest comparison is cumulative: a three-month evaluation on $100K Growth costs $507, or $5.07 per $1k — more than the one-off €439 FTMO charges for its $100K 2-Step CFD Challenge.
- Trading costs on top: FTMO commission of $0.50 per side on minis and $0.20 per side on micros, plus exchange and NFA fees set by CME, not FTMO.
Verdict: Priced mid-market per month, but the subscription model shifts the risk of a slow evaluation onto the trader. Cheap if you pass quickly; among the more expensive routes if you do not.
Technical Specifications
| Feature | Data Value |
| Trading Platforms | NinjaTrader, Tradovate, TradingView (shared login) |
| Asset Classes | CME futures: equity indices, metals, energies, FX, crypto — 30 instruments (19 E-mini, 11 micro) |
| Commission | $0.50 per side (minis) / $0.20 per side (micros), plus exchange and NFA fees |
| Market Data | Level 1 included in the subscription; Level 2 / DOM not available on FTMO credentials |
| Account Sizes | $50K, $100K, $150K — Growth or Pro |
| Max Simulated Capital | $450,000 (3 concurrent Sim-Funded accounts at $150K) |
| Evaluation Structure | Single phase, no time limit, no minimum trading days |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: Is FTMO Futures a one-off fee?
A: No. It is a recurring monthly subscription — $169/month for a $100K Growth Evaluation. Billing continues until you pass, cancel, or stop paying, and it does not stop automatically if you breach. Once you pass, the subscription is cancelled and you are never charged for the Sim-Funded or Live Funded stage.
Q: Can I hold trades overnight with FTMO Futures?
A: No. Every position must be closed and every resting order cancelled before 4:10 p.m. ET or the relevant market close. Holding past the close is a Forbidden Trading Practice, not just an auto-liquidation.
Q: Can I trade news with FTMO Futures?
A: Yes — there are no news restrictions in any phase. The one caveat is the “News-Event Concentration” clause, which allows FTMO to challenge trading clustered around scheduled events if it is inconsistent with your broader activity.
Q: How does the drawdown work?
A: It is an end-of-day trailing limit on equity. Each day it is set as your highest previous closing balance minus the drawdown amount ($3,500 on $100K Growth, $4,500 on Pro). It only rises, and once it reaches your initial capital it locks there permanently.
Q: Is there a consistency rule?
A: In the Evaluation only — your best day can be at most 40% of total profit on Growth, 50% on Pro. Exceeding it is not a breach; it just delays the pass until further profit dilutes the best day. There is no consistency rule on a Sim-Funded Account.
Q: How often can I get paid?
A: Every 4 days on Growth or every 5 days on Pro, once you have the required qualifying days. On $100K that is 4 days of $250+ (Growth) or 5 days of $300+ (Pro). Growth lets you withdraw up to 50% of profit per cycle, Pro up to 100%.
Q: What is the difference between Sim-Funded and Live Funded?
A: Sim-Funded is still a simulated account but pays real money on a 90/10 split, capped per request. Live Funded is backed by FTMO capital with daily uncapped payouts. It is by invitation only, at FTMO’s discretion, and is not available in every country.
Q: Who is the contract actually with?
A: Outside the US, with FTMO Evaluation Global s.r.o. and then FTMO Trading Global s.r.o., both Czech companies. US clients contract with JV Prop Corporation, a Delaware entity, under New York law with binding AAA arbitration. Neither is CFTC or NFA regulated.