The 1-Step is FTMO's faster path to funding, but the rules are tighter than the 2-Step. 3% daily loss, 10% trailing drawdown, and the Best Day Rule make it the strictest mainstream challenge in prop trading. One bad day can end it. One oversized winning day can fail it even when the profit target is met.
Here is every rule with real dollar examples so you know exactly what the numbers look like on the account size you are considering.
Key Takeaways
- The 1-Step has a 3% daily loss limit. On a $100K account, that is $3,000. On a $10K account, $300. The daily loss resets at midnight CET, not midnight your local time.
- The max drawdown is 10% trailing, not static. As your balance grows, the floor rises. On a $100K account at $110K balance, your floor is $99K, not $90K. You always have 10% of room from the peak.
- The Best Day Rule is the consistency trap. Your single best day cannot exceed 50% of total positive days' profit. Catch one big move and the rule can fail the challenge even when the 10% target is met.
- The profit target is 10% in a single phase. No Phase 2. Pass once and you are funded at 90% profit split.
- The 1-Step is built for consistent scalpers and compounders. Swing traders and one-big-move traders should use the 2-Step instead.
On This Page
FTMO 1-Step at a Glance
All key metrics in one place. Every number here is from FTMO's published 2026 rules.
| Challenge type | 1-Step Evaluation |
|---|---|
| Phases | 1 |
| Profit target | 10% |
| Daily loss limit | 3% of initial balance |
| Maximum drawdown | 10% trailing (high-water mark) |
| Best Day Rule | Single best day cannot exceed 50% of total positive days' profit |
| Profit split | 90% from day one |
| Time limit | None (as of 2026) |
| Minimum trading days | 4 days |
| Fee refund | 100% with first funded payout |
| Daily loss reset | Midnight CET |
| News restriction | Standard: no trading 2 min before/after high-impact news |
| Account sizes | $10K, $25K, $50K, $100K, $200K |
| Challenge fee | €79 / €199 / €319 / €499 / €999 |
Sources: ftmo.com how-it-works, ftmo.com trading objectives, ftmo.com FAQ.
The 1-Step has a 3% daily loss, a 10% trailing drawdown, and the Best Day Rule where your single best day cannot exceed 50% of total positive days’ profit. It pays 90% from day one. Fees start at €79.
Profit Target: 10%
The profit target on the 1-Step is 10% of the initial account balance. One phase, one target. No Phase 2 verification.
Here is what 10% looks like in dollars across every account size:
| Account Size | 10% Target | Challenge Fee | Fee as % of Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $1,000 | €79 | ~8% |
| $25,000 | $2,500 | €199 | ~8% |
| $50,000 | $5,000 | €319 | ~6% |
| $100,000 | $10,000 | €499 | ~5% |
| $200,000 | $20,000 | €999 | ~5% |
The fee-to-target ratio is useful for understanding the cost efficiency. On the $10K account, the €79 fee is about 8% of the profit target. On the $200K account, the €999 fee is about 5%. Larger accounts are proportionally cheaper relative to the target.
The target is calculated on the initial balance, not on the current equity. This means that if you have a drawdown, the target does not change. A $100K account always needs $110,000 in equity to pass, regardless of where the balance is.
At a 1% daily pace, the target clears in about 10 trading days. At 0.5% per day, it takes about 20 trading days. There is no time limit, so the pace is entirely up to you.
Daily Loss Limit: 3%
The daily loss limit on the 1-Step is 3% of the initial account balance. This is the rule that kills more 1-Step challenges than any other. About 60% of failed FTMO challenges are ended by the daily loss limit, not by the max drawdown or by running out of time.
| Account Size | 3% Daily Loss Limit | At 1% Risk/Trade | Losing Trades Before Breach |
|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $300 | $100 risk per trade | 3 full losses |
| $25,000 | $750 | $250 risk per trade | 3 full losses |
| $50,000 | $1,500 | $500 risk per trade | 3 full losses |
| $100,000 | $3,000 | $1,000 risk per trade | 3 full losses |
| $200,000 | $6,000 | $2,000 risk per trade | 3 full losses |
The 1% risk-per-trade column is the practical guideline. If you risk 1% per trade, you can take 3 consecutive full losses in a single day and still be inside the 3% limit. A fourth full loss breaches it.
If you risk 1.5% per trade, two full losses put you at 3% and the challenge is done. If you risk 2%, one full loss plus a partial loss on a second trade breaches the limit.
The daily loss includes both closed losses and floating (unrealized) losses. If you have a $1,000 floating loss on an open position, that $1,000 counts against the daily limit even though the trade is not closed.
On a $100K account with a $3,000 daily limit, a $1,500 closed loss plus a $1,600 floating loss = $3,100 daily loss. The challenge is breached even though only one trade is closed.
Check Account MetriX before opening new positions. The dashboard shows the floating daily loss in real time.
The daily loss resets at midnight Central European Time. For US-based traders, that is 6:00 PM EST. The reset fires one hour after the New York close. Do not assume the reset happens at midnight your local time.
Maximum Drawdown: 10% Trailing
The max drawdown on the 1-Step is 10% trailing. This is the biggest structural difference between the 1-Step and the 2-Step, and it is the rule most traders misunderstand.
Trailing means the floor moves up with your highest balance. You always have 10% of room from the peak, not from the starting balance.
| Account Size | Starting Floor | Floor at +5% Balance | Floor at +10% Balance |
|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $9,000 | $9,450 | $9,900 |
| $25,000 | $22,500 | $23,625 | $24,750 |
| $50,000 | $45,000 | $47,250 | $49,500 |
| $100,000 | $90,000 | $94,500 | $99,000 |
| $200,000 | $180,000 | $189,000 | $198,000 |
Day 1: Balance $100,000. Peak = $100,000. Floor = $90,000 (peak minus 10%). Room = $10,000.
Day 5: Balance $105,000. Peak = $105,000. Floor = $94,500. Room = $10,500.
Day 8: Balance $108,000. Peak = $108,000. Floor = $97,200. Room = $10,800.
Day 9: Balance drops to $102,000. Peak stays at $108,000. Floor stays at $97,200. Room = $4,800.
The trap: A trader at $102,000 might think they have $12,000 of room because the starting balance was $100,000. They do not. The floor is $97,200, so the actual room is $4,800. A $5,000 loss from $102,000 breaches the trailing floor.
The trailing drawdown is why the 1-Step is harder than it looks on paper. On the 2-Step, the floor is static at $90,000 regardless of how high the balance goes. A trader who grows to $120,000 on the 2-Step has $30,000 of room. The same trader on the 1-Step has $18,000 of room because the floor has trailed up to $108,000.
The practical impact: you cannot afford large pullbacks on the 1-Step the way you can on the 2-Step. Every dollar of profit you make tightens the drawdown floor by 10 cents. This is by design. The 1-Step rewards consistency and punishes volatility.
Best Day Rule Explained
The Best Day Rule is the consistency rule on the 1-Step. It says: your single best trading day cannot exceed 50% of your total positive days' profit.
This is not a suggestion. It is enforced. If you breach it, the challenge is failed even if you have met the 10% profit target.
Scenario A: Compound consistently.
Five positive days of $200 each = $1,000. Best day = $200. Ratio = 200/1000 = 20%. Passes easily. But you have not hit the $10,000 target yet, so keep going.
Extend to ten positive days of $1,000 each = $10,000 total. Best day = $1,000. Ratio = 1,000/10,000 = 10%. Passes easily.
Scenario B: One big day, then grind.
Day 1: $6,000 profit. Days 2-5: $1,000 each. Total = $10,000. Best day = $6,000. Ratio = 6,000/10,000 = 60%. Fails the rule.
Scenario C: One huge day.
Day 1: $10,000 profit (full target hit). No other positive days. Ratio = 10,000/10,000 = 100%. Fails badly.
The fix: Keep every single day under $5,000 on a $100K account (50% of the $10,000 target). Better yet, keep every day under $2,000 and let the compounding reach the target over 7-10 days.
The rule only counts positive days. Losing days do not offset the calculation. If you have three positive days ($2,000, $3,000, $5,000) and two losing days (-$1,000 each), the rule looks at $2,000 + $3,000 + $5,000 = $10,000 total positive, best day $5,000, ratio = 50%. That is exactly on the threshold. One dollar more on the best day and you fail.
The Best Day Rule is the reason the 1-Step is not suitable for swing traders who catch one or two big moves per challenge. If your edge is waiting for a fat pitch and riding it for 3-5%, the 1-Step will fail you on the Best Day Rule even when the profit target is met. Use the 2-Step instead. It has no consistency rule.
Minimum Trading Days
The 1-Step requires a minimum of 4 trading days. A trading day is any day where at least one position is opened or closed. Days where you hold positions but do not open or close anything do not count as trading days.
Four days is the floor. You cannot pass the challenge in fewer than 4 trading days, regardless of how fast you hit the profit target. If you hit 10% on day 2, you still need to trade 2 more days before the challenge registers as passed.
There is no time limit on the 1-Step as of 2026. You can take as many calendar days as you need to reach the target, provided you stay inside the daily loss and max drawdown rules.
If you have read this far, you know enough to make an informed decision. Check the current FTMO challenge pricing and see if the fee-to-capital ratio works for your budget. The fee is 100% refunded on your first payout.
News Trading Rules
On the 1-Step Standard account, FTMO restricts trading around high-impact news events. You cannot open or close trades within 2 minutes before and 2 minutes after the scheduled release time of high-impact events.
High-impact events include: Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP), Consumer Price Index (CPI), Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) rate decisions, and other events flagged as high-impact on the economic calendar.
The restriction applies to all instruments, not just the instrument directly affected by the news. If NFP drops at 8:30 AM EST, you cannot trade EUR/JPY at 8:31 AM EST even though the direct impact is on USD pairs.
If your strategy depends on trading news events, the 1-Step Standard is not the right product. The 2-Step Swing variant allows news trading and weekend holds at no extra cost. The fee is the same as the 2-Step Standard.
Prohibited Strategies
FTMO prohibits specific strategies that exploit the platform or create asymmetric risk. Using any of these will result in account closure and forfeiture of the challenge fee:
- Arbitrage: Exploiting price differences between platforms, data feeds, or latency.
- Hedging across accounts: Opening opposite positions on two FTMO accounts to guarantee profit on one side.
- Tick scalping: Strategies that target fractional pip movements using latency advantages.
- Copy trading from signal services: Copying trades from commercial signal services or other traders' accounts. Copy trading from your own EA or your own strategy on another account is permitted.
- Grid and martingale without stop losses: Strategies that add to losing positions without defined risk. Grid strategies with hard stop losses are permitted.
- Account sharing: Anyone other than the registered account holder trading the account.
The practical rule: if your strategy depends on something other than your own market analysis (latency, signal services, or structural platform advantages), it is probably prohibited. If your strategy is a legitimate directional or mean-reversion trade with defined risk, it is almost certainly permitted.
When in doubt, email FTMO support before starting the challenge. They will tell you whether your specific approach is allowed. It is better to ask first than to get funded and have your first payout denied for a strategy violation.
Reading about the trailing drawdown and Best Day Rule is one thing. Watching your own drawdown counter tick in real time on the FTMO dashboard is what actually changes your trading. The 14-day free trial gives you the full dashboard with live tracking — no credit card needed.
1-Step vs 2-Step: Quick Comparison
Side by side, the structural differences that actually matter for your trading:
| Rule | 1-Step | 2-Step |
|---|---|---|
| Phases | 1 | 2 (Phase 1: 10%, Phase 2: 5%) |
| Daily loss limit | 3% | 5% |
| Max drawdown type | 10% trailing | 10% static |
| Best Day Rule | Yes (50% threshold) | No |
| Profit split | 90% from day one | 80% base, 90% at Scaling |
| Min trading days | 4 | 4 per phase |
| News restriction | Standard (2 min) | Standard (2 min), Swing: none |
| Time limit | None | None |
| $100K fee | €499 | €439 |
| Fee refund | 100% with first payout | 100% with first payout |
The trade-off is clear: the 1-Step gives you one phase and 90% from day one, but the daily loss is tighter, the drawdown trails, and the Best Day Rule adds a consistency requirement. The 2-Step gives you more room per phase, a static drawdown, and no consistency rule, but you have to pass two phases at 80% split.
Neither is objectively easier. They are different products for different trading styles.
Who the 1-Step Is For
The 1-Step is built for one specific type of trader: the consistent compounder.
- Scalpers who take 5-15 trades per day at small position sizes, grinding out 0.5-1.5% per day.
- Day traders who compound 1% per day across 7-10 trading days, with no single day dominating the P&L.
- Consistent winners who already have a verified strategy that produces steady, uneventful gains without relying on one or two big moves.
If you can look at your last 20 trading days and see that no single day accounts for more than 20% of your total profit, the 1-Step fits your profile. The 3% daily loss will feel manageable, the trailing drawdown will not surprise you, and the Best Day Rule will never fire.
The 90% profit split from day one is the reward for fitting this profile. The fee refund makes the effective cost zero. The single phase means you pass faster. All of these benefits exist because the rules are tighter, not because FTMO is being generous.
Who Should Avoid the 1-Step
The 1-Step is the wrong product for three specific types of traders:
Swing traders who catch one or two big moves per challenge.
Your edge is patience. You wait for the right setup, ride it for 3-5%, and then wait again. The Best Day Rule will flag your biggest day every time. The 3% daily loss limits your position size on each trade. The trailing drawdown punishes pullbacks after a winning streak. Use the 2-Step instead.
Beginners who have not yet verified their strategy under prop firm rules.
The 3% daily loss is unforgiving for traders who are still learning position sizing. One oversized trade can end the challenge in 20 minutes. Start with the free trial. If you cannot stay inside the 3% daily loss on the trial, the 2-Step's 5% daily loss gives you more room to learn.
Traders who depend on news events or high-volatility sessions.
The Standard account's 2-minute news restriction blocks trading around NFP, CPI, and FOMC. If these events are part of your edge, the 1-Step Standard is not for you. The 2-Step Swing allows news and weekend holds at no extra cost.
Run the free trial first. Test your strategy against both the 1-Step and 2-Step rules for 14 days. The trial is free, unlimited, and runs on actual FTMO rules. The data from those 14 days tells you more than any blog post can.
