Trading Objectives & Rules

Critical Execution Rules Overview

While FTMO is regarded as an industry benchmark for payout solvency and execution reliability, several operational rules—specifically around daily equity tracking, macroeconomic news windows, and weekend holding—cause high failure rates among unprepared traders.

Rule / Constraint	Standard Evaluation	Standard Funded	Swing Account	FTMO Instant
Daily Loss Reset Time	00:00 CE(S)T	00:00 CE(S)T	00:00 CE(S)T	00:00 CE(S)T
Daily Loss Benchmark	Midnight Balance	Midnight Balance	Midnight Balance	Midnight Balance
News Trading (±2 min)	Allowed	Prohibited (High-Impact)	Allowed (Exempt)	Prohibited
Weekend Holding	Allowed	Prohibited (Flat Friday)	Allowed (Exempt)	Prohibited
Inactivity Limit	30 Calendar Days	30 Calendar Days	30 Calendar Days	30 Calendar Days
Account Freeze Option	7 Days – 6 Months	7 Days – 6 Months	7 Days – 6 Months	7 Days – 6 Months
Prohibited Strategies	Latency arbitrage, commercial grid/Martingale EAs, account rolling

---

1. The 00:00 CE(S)T Midnight Rollover Trap & Exact Formula

The most frequent source of unexpected account disqualification at FTMO is misunderstanding how the Maximum Daily Loss (MDL) floor recalculates across the server midnight boundary.

The Mathematical Formula

At exactly 00:00 CE(S)T (Central European Summer/Standard Time, matching the broker platform clock):

Daily Equity Floor = Balance at 00:00 CE(S)T - (Initial Capital × Daily Loss Percentage)

Throughout the subsequent 24-hour cycle, your live floating equity (Balance + Unrealized P/L + Swaps - Commissions) cannot breach this floor at any millisecond:

Breach Trigger <=> Current Floating Equity <= Daily Equity Floor

The Midnight Rollover Trap Scenario

Consider a $100,000 Standard Account with a 5% ($5,000) daily loss limit:

1. 23:30 CE(S)T: You hold an open long EURUSD position. The account balance is $100,000, but floating P/L is -$3,500. Live equity is $96,500. You still have $1,500 of allowable room above the $95,000 floor.
2. 23:59 CE(S)T: You panic and close the trade. Your realized balance is now $96,500.
3. 00:00 CE(S)T (Reset): The server clock strikes midnight. The system recalculates the daily loss floor:

   New Daily Equity Floor = $96,500 - ($100,000 × 5%) = $96,500 - $5,000 = $91,500
   

   Result: Because the $3,500 loss was realized before midnight, your new day begins with a fresh $5,000 daily loss allowance ($96,500 down to $91,500).
4. The Trap Alternative (Holding Open Through Midnight): If you do not close the trade before 00:00 CE(S)T:
   • Balance at 00:00 CE(S)T remains registered as $100,000.
   • Floor updates to $95,000.
   • Live Equity at 00:01 CE(S)T is $96,500.
   • You only have $1,500 of room before breaching the daily loss limit for the entire new day! A mere 15-pip adverse tick in EURUSD after midnight triggers an instant automated liquidation and account failure.

---

2. The 2-Minute High-Impact News Trading Rule

FTMO enforces strict restrictions around scheduled macroeconomic releases on Standard Funded Accounts:

Execution Restrictions Window

Traders are prohibited from:

• Opening a new market order.
• Closing an existing position.
• Executing pending orders (Buy Limit, Sell Limit, Buy Stop, Sell Stop).
• Triggering Take Profit (TP) or Stop Loss (SL) executions.

within the window starting 2 minutes before the scheduled release time and ending 2 minutes after the release time (4-minute restricted window total).

Applicable Events & Scope

• Target Releases: High-impact economic calendar events flagged in the FTMO Economic Calendar (e.g., Non-Farm Payrolls, Consumer Price Index, FOMC Interest Rate decisions, GDP releases, Central Bank rate decisions).
• Asset Scope: Restrictions apply only to instruments directly tied to the currency of the release. For example, during US CPI:
  • EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, XAU/USD, US30, and NAS100 are strictly prohibited.
  • EUR/GBP, EUR/AUD, or GER40 remain fully permitted.
• Exemptions: Evaluation accounts (Phase 1 and Phase 2) and all FTMO Swing Accounts are completely exempt from news restrictions.

---

3. Weekend & Market Closure Mandates

On Standard funded accounts, all open trades must be completely flattened prior to:

1. Friday Market Close: Positions must be closed at least 2 hours before the weekend market close (Friday afternoon/evening depending on asset class).
2. Extended Holiday Halts: Any market break exceeding 2 consecutive hours requires flattening.
3. Crypto CFDs: Although crypto markets trade continuously over weekends, FTMO server maintenance breaks require closing crypto CFD positions on Standard accounts.

The Swing Solution: Traders who run multi-day swing systems must select the FTMO Swing Account at checkout. While leverage is adjusted from 1:100 to 1:30, Swing accounts allow holding trades through weekends, holidays, and news releases without penalty.

---

4. Inactivity Rules & Account Freezes

• 30-Day Rule: At least one trade must be opened and closed every 30 consecutive calendar days. Zero activity across 30 days results in permanent account termination.
• Account Freeze Option: If you are traveling, taking extended leave, or step away from markets, you can request an Account Freeze through FTMO support. Freezes can be scheduled for durations between 7 days and 6 months, pausing the 30-day inactivity timer until reactivated.

---

5. Prohibited Algorithmic Strategies

FTMO allows Expert Advisors (EAs), but strictly bans the following exploitative trading behaviors:

• Latency Arbitrage: Exploiting latency lags between FTMO's liquidity feeds and external institutional price feeds.
• Tick Scalping / High-Frequency Trading: Software that opens and closes trades within sub-second intervals to exploit pricing misquotes.
• Opposite Account Hedging: Hedging correlated positions across two separate FTMO accounts (e.g., buying 50 lots of EURUSD on Account A and selling 50 lots on Account B) to pass evaluations.
• Third-Party Commercial EAs: Off-the-shelf public EAs sold online that generate identical trades across hundreds of accounts violate copy-trading rules. Custom, proprietary trading algorithms are fully compliant.