Hi guys, unfortunately I have failed the FTMO challenge. I finished last week at -4.5%. And my deadline was coming up this week so either needed to get +ve for a retry or would fail. Please note, their dashboard does not refresh after every trade and it said I had a higher permitted loss than i actually did. When it caught up in the evening I found out I had failed. My final balance is $100,934. so im still positive but i hit my max drawdown on my open positions so I failed! Overall its not surprising that 92% of people fail and I’m sure it’s just as high for people who trade the funded account. 10% within a month is no easy task especially with a time limit and restrictions on it. On my personal account I normally go for 1% a week. In this case I was having to let it run if it could.
The things I found difficult were:
Feeling pressure to trade due to time limit
Taking trades that didnt meet my criteria because of the above
Making mistakes because I wasnt used to mt4 eg proper risk management
Running out of time because I didnt focus the first week on this account
Having restrictions which count in open equity
Having to allow positions to get more than a 1:1 risk reward
Too much screen time
Couldnt enjoy the good weather!
Frustration
The good thing is you can start with the lower capital of 10k which costs €155 and when you make a profit you can use that profit to open another account of a higher amount eg 50k or100k and try and complete the whole challenge again essentially for free. Takes a bit longer but works out much cheaper and in the end you’ll have large capital to trade.
I found having restrictions quite difficult as I dont normally have them. It meant I was looking at their dashboard after every trade and it doesnt refresh after every trade so you can’t be sure. I was not prepared for going for 10% in a month when my monthly target is much less. Having said this, it is possible to pass but you need to be aware of the finer details.
If you’re thinking of trying this challenge my advice would be:
- Do the demo trial twice to get used to the restrictions and what it feels like.
- Start with the account you are used to trading with and if required start with the 10k account. If you think you can do it then try it wih a lower account as it costs less and you can always pay the higher ones with profits.
- If you cant afford to pay, go for the free version with traderseed. If you are profitable, then eventually you’ll pass and you can always fund yourself with the profits
- Make sure you have a profitable strategy and you can follow the rules
- Make sure your strategy can make 10% in a month
- Do NOT follow the dashboard. You need to keep an eye on your own trades and balance.
Well there you go. It’s pretty safe to say ftmo are legit and do pay out if you pass because there are people who have done it. However to pass and trade with these limits is a different story. To pass you may have to risk a higher % per trade than normal. Or the markets need to give you the moves at the time of the challenge. With all strategies there are weeks or months where you can be negative or make less than normal and it could just be a normal variant so you may have passed in january but june might have been a choppy month anyway.
If anyone is thinking of trying it, please get in touch if you’re not sure of anything.
It’s worth giving it a go but dont just waste money just because you think can pass. Make sure you prove it yourself under those objectives. I’ve been trading my personal account again and I closed at 1% today lol so I’m done for the week. Maybe I’ll give ftmo another go with the profits. But I need to evaluate the risk management on mt4 first. Best of luck to anyone doing the challenge/verification at present! 
