FTMO Futures Review

The good:

• EOD drawdown that locks at your starting balance — and on top of that it already applies in the evaluation, something almost no firm offers.
• 90/10 from the first withdrawal, no scaling and no conditions.
• $20 minimum withdrawal, one of the lowest in the sector.
• Only 3 minimum days (2 on Pro) and no time limit to pass the evaluation.
• No activation fee: once you pass, the subscription cancels and you pay nothing more.
• Growth has no daily loss limit in the evaluation.
• A company with more track record than any other in the catalogue (2015) and serious platforms: NinjaTrader, Tradovate and TradingView with data included.
• Unlimited evaluations in parallel (each with its own fee).

The bad:

• Forced close at 16:10 ET: zero overnight, zero weekend. It kills swing trading.
• Monthly subscription that is NOT refunded with the first payout (unlike on their CFD product).
• Low withdrawal caps: $2,500–$4,000 per payout on Growth, $5,000–$8,000 on Pro.
• Growth only lets you withdraw 50% of the profit per cycle.
• Pro has a hard daily loss: touch it and the account's gone.
• Brand-new product with no futures payout history.
• Only 3 sizes (50K, 100K, 150K) and a maximum of 3 funded accounts.
• Huge restricted countries list (around 100), with Australia, China, Indonesia and Vietnam out. Spain and LATAM are in.

The three of them are playing for different things, so I'll lay it out on what actually decides it.

How you pay. Apex is a one-off payment with aggressive discounts almost all year round: if you take a while to pass, it doesn't cost you more. FTMO charges you every month until you pass, and with no discount. MFF is in the middle. If you're one of those who takes a while —and most of us do— this only has one winner, and it isn't FTMO.

The drawdown. Here the tables turn. Apex uses intraday trailing, the harshest there is: any spike you don't close raises your limit forever. FTMO and MFF use EOD, far more manageable. And FTMO adds the lock at the starting balance right from the evaluation. For anyone who gets eaten alive by intraday trailing over and over, that difference is worth more than the price.

The schedule. Apex and MFF let you trade the full session. FTMO closes everything on you at 16:10 ET. If you trade the Asian session or the early European one, or you like to let trades run, you've already got your answer.

The withdrawals. MFF and Apex have more generous caps and a long history of documented payouts. FTMO pays 90% with a $20 minimum —very good— but with lower ceilings and no history to show yet.

My conclusion: if you're after price and schedule flexibility, Apex. If you want the proven balance between rules and payouts, MFF. FTMO comes in if what's killing you is the trailing and you want a drawdown that stops moving as soon as possible — and you accept paying by the month and closing everything every afternoon.

It fits you if:

• You trade pure intraday and you always close before the US close. If you already do this, their biggest drawback doesn't affect you.
• You blow accounts because of intraday trailing and you want a drawdown that freezes as soon as possible.
• You're fast at passing evaluations: the less time you take, the fewer fees you pay.
• You value trading with a company with ten years of track record over squeezing the price.
• You want to cash out small amounts: with a $20 minimum you can withdraw almost from the first valid day.

It doesn't fit you if:

• You do swing trading or you leave positions open from one day to the next. You simply can't.
• You take months to pass an evaluation: the subscription eats up the saving.
• You're after big payouts per withdrawal: the caps are among the lowest in the catalogue.
• You want 250K accounts or bigger: here the ceiling is 150K.
• You'd rather wait and see how they pay before putting money into a brand-new product. Fair enough, and right now that's what I'd do.

If after all this it fits you, here's how I'd go about it:

Start with the Growth 50K ($119/month). It's the cheapest entry and, above all, the one that punishes you least while you learn their rules: it has no daily loss limit in the evaluation, so a bad day doesn't knock you out. The Pro is more demanding —hard daily loss— and it only pays off once you know you pass evaluations comfortably and you want the higher withdrawal caps and the 100% withdrawable.

Before buying, run two checks. One: look at your real trading schedule and make sure you close comfortably before 16:10 ET. Two: be honest about how long you take to pass an evaluation, because every extra month is another $119. If you have doubts about both, go with another firm.

And a personal recommendation: with a product this new and no payout history, I wouldn't put more than one account in here until I'd seen a couple of my own withdrawals actually paid. The company is serious, but the product still has to prove it.

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