FTMO strategy splits clean: 1-Step suits scalpers and short-cycle traders (90% split from day 1, but 10% trailing max-loss demands tight risk discipline); 2-Step Swing fits position traders who hold over news and weekends (80% base scaling to 90%). Full framework in my FTMO strategy guide or the complete review. Sign up at FTMO.
Passing the FTMO 1-Step Challenge in the minimum 4 trading days is mathematically possible. Whether it's tactically smart is a different question, and the answer depends on three numbers you need to nail before you place your first trade: your daily profit target, the Best Day Rule headroom, and your trailing max-loss floor at any point during the eval.
Paul has traded FTMO for approximately 4 years, one of his first prop firms as a European trader, and has withdrawn $15K+ across multiple 1-Step accounts on Standard $50K and $100K. He scalps. He knows the feel of the trailing floor climbing behind him on a strong week, and he knows exactly how fast a clean eval can unravel if you size up on day 3 trying to finish early.
This guide is the math behind the 1-Step, broken into actionable daily targets, survival rules, and worked pass examples across all five account sizes.
How fast can you pass the FTMO 1-Step?
The regulatory floor is 4 trading days. Any calendar day where you have at least one open position at any point counts as a trading day. You do not need to hold until end-of-day for it to count. Four days is the minimum; the question is whether chasing a 4-day pass is actually worth the mechanical risk it creates.
A 4-day pass on a $100K account means $2,500 average daily profit. That is 2.5% per day. It is possible with high-frequency scalping or concentrated momentum, but it compresses the trailing max-loss floor aggressively. By end of day 3 on that trajectory, your trailing floor has moved up roughly $7,000–$7,500 from starting balance, leaving you with a narrower cushion than day 1.
The FTMO minimum trading days rule is binary: you either hit 4 days or you don't. But the trailing loss rule has compounding nuance, and that's where most fast-pass attempts fail.
For most traders, the optimal window is 7–14 trading days. Spread the target across more days, keep daily risk proportional, and give the Best Day Rule enough denominator (total profit) so no single session blows past 50%.
What is the per-size profit target math?
The 1-Step profit target is always 10% of starting balance. There are five account sizes. Here is the full dollar breakdown with a 10-day target slice:
| Account Size | Profit Target | 7-Day Daily Avg | 10-Day Daily Avg | 14-Day Daily Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $1,000 | $143 | $100 | $71 |
| $25,000 | $2,500 | $357 | $250 | $179 |
| $50,000 | $5,000 | $714 | $500 | $357 |
| $100,000 | $10,000 | $1,429 | $1,000 | $714 |
| $200,000 | $20,000 | $2,857 | $2,000 | $1,429 |
Paul primarily trades the $50K and $100K Standard sizes. On a 10-day plan, that means $500 and $1,000 per day respectively. Both are achievable with a scalp approach without overexposing any single session to the 3% daily loss limit.
Note that these are averages, not minimums. You will have days with $0 (flat or no edge) and days above average when the market cooperates. The table gives you a planning baseline, not a daily quota.
How do you size positions to clear 4 days?
On a $100K account targeting $2,500/day for a 4-day pass, a typical EUR/USD scalp setup at 1 standard lot ($10/pip) hitting 25-pip targets generates $250 per trade. You need roughly 10 winning trades per day with that setup, with no losing days allowed.
The math tightens further when you account for spread, slippage, and the occasional stop-out. With a realistic 70% win rate and 1:1.5 R:R, you need 12–15 trade attempts per day to generate net $2,500.
That is executable for a systematic scalper with an intraday edge, but it requires both mechanical precision and zero breach days. One session where you hit your daily loss limit of 3% ($3,000 on $100K) resets the daily P&L to zero and leaves you with a gap to make up the next morning.
A more conservative position-sizing framework for a 10-day pass:
- Risk per trade: 0.3–0.5% of account balance
- $100K account: $300–$500 risk per trade
- With 1:2 R:R: $600–$1,000 per winning trade
- Target 2 winners per day: $1,200–$2,000 net
- Gives buffer below $1,000 daily average target
This is roughly aligned with how Paul scalps on the $100K: low per-trade risk, multiple entries, no heroic single trade trying to punch above its weight.
What is the trailing max-loss survival framework?
The FTMO trailing max loss on the 1-Step is 10% of your peak balance, calculated end-of-day. It is the most technically complex rule on the challenge, and misunderstanding it is the primary reason traders fail after a strong start.
Here is how it works in practice:
- You start at $100K. Your floor is $90,000.
- Day 1 closes at $101,500. Your floor locks at $91,350 (10% below $101,500 peak).
- Day 2 closes at $103,000. Your floor locks at $92,700.
- Day 3 closes flat at $103,000. Floor stays at $92,700 (it does not move down).
- Day 4 you have a bad session, equity drops to $99,000 intraday. Still above $92,700. You survive. But you've used 6.3% of your peak in drawdown.
The survival rule: After any day with above-average profit, treat the following day as a defensive session. Your effective drawdown budget the next day is not 3% (daily limit) but rather the gap between current equity and the trailing floor. That number shrinks with every winning day.
By day 7 of a strong eval, some traders find their trailing floor is only $4,000–$5,000 below equity. That sounds fine until a gap open or a stop-hunt wipes $2,000 in two minutes. The disciplined response is to size down after strong days, not up.
This is what Paul means when he describes scalping the 1-Step as a floor-protection exercise as much as a profit exercise. The goal is not to maximize day 8. It's to not give back days 1–7.
How does the Best Day Rule constrain speed?
The FTMO Best Day Rule states that no single profitable day can account for more than 50% of your total accumulated profit at the time of evaluation completion.
This is not an automatic breach. If you exceed 50% in the ratio, FTMO excludes those excess profits from your qualifying total. You continue trading and accumulating until the ratio drops back under 50%.
The tactical constraint: if you open a $100K account and rip $6,000 on day 1, your Best Day is 100% of total profit. You cannot submit that as a passing eval. You need at least $6,001 more from other days before the 50% threshold is met. That's $12,001 total minimum, which already exceeds the $10,000 target, meaning your effective target becomes $12,001 with day-1 capped at contribution.
Best Day Rule math for 4-day scenarios:
To keep Best Day under 50% on a 4-day pass with $10,000 target, no single day can exceed $5,000. Spread across four days, that means a maximum cap of $5,000 on any one day, with the remaining $5,000 spread across the other three. A balanced 4-day plan ($2,500/$2,500/$2,500/$2,500) keeps Best Day at exactly 25%, comfortably inside the limit.
The problem with a 4-day pass is not the Best Day math (that's manageable). It's the trailing floor compression from hitting $2,500/day on a $100K account.
What is the 4-day pass plan example?
Worked examples by account size, using a balanced distribution that satisfies both the 10% target and the Best Day Rule:
| Account | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Total | Best Day % | Trailing Floor EOD4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $280 | $260 | $250 | $210 | $1,000 | 28% | $9,252 |
| $25,000 | $700 | $650 | $625 | $525 | $2,500 | 28% | $23,130 |
| $50,000 | $1,400 | $1,200 | $1,400 | $1,000 | $5,000 | 28% | $46,260 |
| $100,000 | $2,800 | $2,400 | $2,800 | $2,000 | $10,000 | 28% | $92,520 |
| $200,000 | $5,600 | $4,800 | $5,600 | $4,000 | $20,000 | 28% | $185,040 |
Note the trailing floor on the $100K account by end of day 4: $92,520. That is $7,480 below equity of $110,000. A 3% daily session drawdown ($3,000) on day 5 (if you were still trading) would eat nearly half that buffer. On a $50K account the floor by day 4 sits at $46,260, leaving only $3,740 cushion against a $45,000 equity level. These numbers illustrate why a 4-day pass is structurally fragile, even when the P&L math works.
For context, a 10-day pass plan on the same $100K keeps the trailing floor closer to $93,000–$96,000 at the midpoint, preserving more cushion per session.
When does sizing-down on day 3 make sense?
When you reach 70–80% of your profit target and the trailing floor has climbed to within 3–4% of your current equity, sizing-down on day 3 is the rational play. This situation typically appears after two above-average days.
Concrete example on $100K: You've made $7,500 in two days ($3,500 + $4,000). Target is $10,000. You need $2,500 more. Your trailing floor is now at $94,500, giving you a $10,500 drawdown cushion against $107,500 equity. Normal daily loss limit is $3,000. But a bad news spike could eat $3,000 in minutes.
The protocol:
- Cut position size to 50% of your normal entry.
- Use tighter stops and accept lower win per trade.
- Target $300–$500 per winning trade instead of $600–$1,000.
- Stop for the day after hitting $800–$1,000 profit, regardless of session time.
At that pace, day 3 finishes at $8,300–$8,500 total. Day 4 only needs $1,500–$1,700, achievable in a single solid 30-minute scalp window. You lock the eval rather than gamble it.
This is the more experienced approach and it matters more on larger accounts where the trailing floor compression per dollar of gain is more pronounced. Paul's scalp discipline on the $50K and $100K includes this kind of gear-shifting: no heroics on the final mile.
What is the typical pass time?
FTMO does not publish median evaluation durations. Based on community data, review aggregators, and the structural math of the rules, the realistic distribution looks like this:
- 4–6 days: possible for aggressive high-frequency scalpers, represents a small minority of passes
- 7–14 days: the largest cohort; clean steady profit, Best Day Rule stays comfortable, trailing floor never gets dangerously compressed
- 15–30 days: common for traders who had a rough start and needed to rebuild or for more conservative sizing
- 30+ days: typically traders who went too small per trade and are grinding a slow curve
The 7–14 day window is the sweet spot for most traders. It gives enough days to dilute any single strong session below 50% Best Day, keeps daily targets achievable without overexposure, and preserves enough trailing cushion to survive a bad session without failing.
If you are targeting the FTMO 1-Step Challenge on $100K, plan for 10 days, build a $1,000/day average, and treat any day above $2,500 as a signal to scale back the following session.
How do you handle news days during the 1-Step?
The 1-Step Challenge is Standard only. There is no Swing variant. This matters most on the live FTMO Account (post-pass), where news trading is restricted for Standard accounts. During the evaluation phase itself, you can technically trade through news events. There is no blanket news ban during the challenge.
However, the practical risk is real:
Pre-release: Spreads widen significantly in the minutes before high-impact releases (FOMC, NFP, CPI, ECB decisions). A 5-pip spread on EUR/USD that normally costs 0.5 pips can spike to 20–30 pips. Any tight stop gets taken out.
Release candle: The first 10–30 seconds after a major release produce erratic multi-pip wicks that do not represent real directional price action. They are stop-hunting volatility. A 3% daily loss limit on a $100K account is $3,000, and a poorly timed entry during the initial spike can destroy your daily budget in a single candle.
The practical protocol for news days during a 1-Step eval:
- Know your calendar. Economic news trading rules and what counts as high-impact on a Standard account are worth reviewing.
- Flatten all positions 5 minutes before any high-impact release (NFP, FOMC, CPI, central bank decisions).
- Wait 60–90 seconds post-release for the initial volatility to resolve.
- If a clear directional move is established with a readable structure, scalp the continuation.
- Use a tighter stop than usual, since post-news continuation moves can reverse quickly.
Paul's approach on Standard: skip the news candle itself. The entry after the move is established captures most of the move with a fraction of the risk.
The bottom line
Passing the FTMO 1-Step Challenge is a position-sizing exercise dressed as a profit target. The 10% target is simple math. The trailing max loss, the Best Day Rule, and the 3% daily loss limit are the three constraints that interact and create the actual difficulty.
The fastest sustainable approach: target 10 trading days on mid-tier sizes ($50K, $100K), size for $500–$1,000 net per day, use a defensive gear-shift after any day above 1.5x your daily average, and treat the trailing floor as a live risk metric rather than a safety net you check at the end.
The 90% profit split from day one is the reward. Getting there without blowing up on day 3 of a strong run is the skill. For a broader look at FTMO's account structure and how the 1-Step compares to the 2-Step path, the FTMO accounts overview and 1-Step vs 2-Step comparison are the next reads.
If you want to see how FTMO stacks up against other top firms, The 5%ers and FundedNext both offer single-phase or accelerated evaluation options worth comparing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How fast can you pass the FTMO 1-Step?
The minimum is 4 trading days — any day with at least one open position counts. In practice, a 4-day pass requires hitting roughly 2.5% profit per day on a $100K account, which is aggressive and increases trailing-loss exposure. Most serious traders target 7–14 days to smooth the P&L curve, keep Best Day Rule headroom, and protect the trailing floor.
What is the per-size profit target math?
The profit target is always 10% of starting balance. $10K account: $1,000. $25K account: $2,500. $50K account: $5,000. $100K account: $10,000. $200K account: $20,000. On a 10-day plan that's $100/$250/$500/$1,000/$2,000 needed per day on average.
How do you size positions to clear 4 days?
On a $100K account with a 4-day plan you need $2,500 per day average. With a 10-pip scalp on EUR/USD at 1 standard lot ($10/pip), you need roughly 25 pips per trade and 10 trades per day to hit $2,500. A more conservative frame: 2 trades per day, 1:2 R:R, $500 risk each = $2,000 net on winning days. Size for the number of trading days you can afford, not the fastest possible finish.
What is the trailing max-loss survival framework?
The 10% trailing max loss on the 1-Step tracks your peak balance on an end-of-day basis. Every winning day permanently raises the floor. The survival rule: never give back more than half of any prior day's gains in a single session. If you made $1,500 on Tuesday, Wednesday's max drawdown tolerance should be self-capped at $750 before you flat-close and protect the trailing floor.
How does the Best Day Rule constrain speed?
The Best Day Rule says no single day's profit can represent more than 50% of your total accumulated profit. On a $100K account targeting $10,000 total, no single day can account for more than $5,000. If you rip $6,000 on day 1, only $5,000 counts toward the qualifying total — you need at least $6,001 more from other days. Spread profit across at least 3–4 days to keep the Best Day ratio healthy.
What is the 4-day pass plan example?
On a $50K account ($5,000 target): Day 1 $1,400 / Day 2 $1,200 / Day 3 $1,400 / Day 4 $1,000 = $5,000 total. Best Day is Day 1 at $1,400 = 28% of $5,000. Rule satisfied. Trailing floor after Day 4 sits at roughly $46,260 — just $3,740 below a $50,000 equity level. Very tight. This is why 4-day passes are fragile and better suited to high-frequency scalpers who have near-perfect session consistency.
When does sizing-down on day 3 make sense?
When you are at 70–80% of your target and the trailing floor is within 3–4% of your current equity, sizing down is the rational play. Cut position size to 50%, use tighter stops, and target $300–$500 per trade instead of your normal size. The cost is a slower finish. The benefit is not giving back a near-complete eval on a bad 20-minute session.
What is the typical pass time?
Most 1-Step Challenge passes happen in the 7–21 day range based on community consensus and the structural math of the rules. A 4-day pass is possible but aggressive. A 7–14 day window gives sufficient trading days, keeps Best Day Rule comfortable, and avoids the peak-trailing-floor compression that makes short-window attempts brittle.
How do you handle news days during the 1-Step?
The 1-Step is Standard only — no Swing variant exists. News trading is restricted on the live FTMO Account, not during the evaluation. During the challenge, you can trade through news. The practical rule: flatten positions 5 minutes before high-impact releases, wait 60–90 seconds post-release for the volatility to resolve, then scalp the directional follow-through if a clean structure is visible. Review the FTMO news trading rule before your first session.
What profit split do you get after passing?
The 1-Step FTMO Challenge pays 90% profit split from the very first funded payout. You do not need the Scaling Plan to reach 90% — it is the default from day one. This is a major structural advantage over the 2-Step path, which starts at 80% and scales to 90% via the FTMO Scaling Plan.
Does the 1-Step have a time limit?
As of May 2026, the FTMO 1-Step Challenge has no confirmed time limit. You can pace the evaluation across weeks or months. The only time-related constraint is the 4-day minimum trading day requirement. This makes the 1-Step genuinely flexible for traders who want to proceed carefully and protect their capital.
Is the Best Day Rule an automatic breach?
No. Exceeding 50% on the Best Day does not cause an immediate breach. FTMO excludes those excess profits from your qualifying total. You simply continue trading and accumulating until the ratio drops back under 50%. The rule rewards consistency and distribution of profits, not a single blowout day.
How does FTMO's 1-Step compare to a 2-Step for scalpers?
For tight scalpers, the 1-Step is the better structural fit. You get 90% split immediately on funding, skip the Verification phase, and the Standard-only rules match a scalp discipline that closes positions intraday. The 2-Step Standard offers a 5% daily loss buffer instead of 3%, which is more forgiving for wider stops. The trade-off is the lower immediate split (80%) and extra phase. The full comparison is in the FTMO challenge vs verification guide.