FTMO vs FXIFY
Which of these two is likelier to end your account, and why — compared rule by rule from what each firm publishes.
Short answer
- The drawdown works differently, and that is the difference that matters. FTMO's loss limit is fixed to your starting balance and never moves; FXIFY's follows your highest closed balance, ignoring open profit. FXIFY: Only closed profit moves it, so a winning trade you have not banked yet gives you no extra room and costs you none.
- Daily loss cap: FTMO 5%, FXIFY 4%.
- Minimum trading days: FTMO 4 days, FXIFY no minimum — this sets the earliest you can finish, however fast you hit the target.
- Entry cost: FXIFY from $99, FTMO from $155.
Figures below are what each firm publishes. Confirm them on the firm's own site before paying for an evaluation — these rules change without notice.
FTMO
FXIFY
Side-by-Side Specifications Matrix
Every figure below is taken from the firm's own published rules. Check the source and date under the table before you size a position on it — prop firm rules change without notice.
| Evaluation Parameter | FTMO | FXIFY |
|---|---|---|
| Asset Class / Market | CFD | MULTI-ASSET |
| Drawdown Calculation Type | Static Equity-Based Measured on equity — balance plus open trade P/L, swaps and commissions — so an open losing position can breach the limit before you ever close it. On the 2-Step the loss limit is fixed for the life of the account and never moves; FTMO's other programme uses a limit that trails your end-of-day balance upward at 00:00 CE(S)T and never moves back down. |
Trailing Closed-Balance HWM (locks at start balance) FXIFY's own FAQs label the 'Two Phase' drawdown 10% Trailing on the assessment-rules page and 10% Static on the static-drawdown page, so check which 2-Phase variant you bought. The 2-Step limit trails your highest closed balance (floating profit does not move it) and stops trailing once you are 10% up or take your first payout; Three Phase is static from day one. |
| Max Daily Loss | 5.0% 5% of your starting capital on the 2-Step, measured on equity, with the limit reset at 00:00 CE(S)T; FTMO's other programme uses a different percentage that we could not independently confirm. |
4% 4% on the 2-Step, measured against the balance recorded at 5PM EST the previous day; One Phase is 3%, Three Phase 5%, Instant Funding 8%, Lightning 3%. |
| Max Overall Loss | 10.0% 10% of your starting capital, measured on equity, and the same figure on both of FTMO's programmes. |
10.0% 10% on the 2-Step; One Phase is 6%, Three Phase 5%, Instant Funding 8%, Lightning 4%. |
| Profit Split | 80% - 90% | 80% - 90% |
| Minimum Trading Days | 4 Days 4 trading days on each phase of the 2-Step Challenge and Verification; whether it applies on FTMO's other programmes was not independently confirmed. |
0 Days |
| News Trading Policy | ✓ On a funded Standard account you cannot open or close a trade within 2 minutes before or after selected news releases; Swing accounts are exempt, and the restriction does not apply during the Challenge or Verification for either account type | ✓ News trading allowed with zero time restriction windows |
| Weekend & Overnight Holding | ✓ Permitted (Swing accounts may hold over the weekend at any stage; Standard accounts are unrestricted during the Challenge and Verification but must be flat before the weekend close once funded) | ✓ Permitted (Weekend and overnight holding permitted across all account types) |
| Supported Platforms | MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView | MT4, MT5, DXtrade, TradingView |
| Payout Schedule | Bi-weekly (Every 14 days) or on-demand Payouts are on demand from the 14-day mark onward, not a forced fortnightly cycle. |
On-demand Day 1 payouts (bi-weekly thereafter) |
| First Payout Eligibility | 14 days from first placed trade You can claim on the 14th day after your first placed trade or any day after it, with roughly 1-2 business days to review and 1-2 more to pay. |
Day 1 (immediate upon passing and trading) |
| Consistency Rule | No restrictive consistency rule True for the 2-Step; FTMO's newer programme carries a different rule that our checker could not confirm, so do not read this as covering every FTMO account. |
No consistency rule published for the 2-Step; other FXIFY programmes carry 20-30% best-day rules Lightning caps your best day at 30% of total profit, Instant Funding Lite at 20%, Crypto funded accounts at 25%, and Two Phase Pro stops you for the day at $4,000 profit. |
| Islamic / Swap-Free Option | ✓ Available on Request Swap-Free option available on request via support for eligible regions (no overnight interest fees charged) |
✓ Swap-Free Checkout Add-on Swap-Free add-on available at checkout; eliminates overnight swap charges permanently on live simulated accounts |
| US Residents Accepted | ✓ Accepted | ✗ Restricted |
| Maximum Capital Allocation | $2,000,000 | $4,000,000 |
Where these figures come from. Read from FTMO's own published rules on : Maximum Loss and Maximum Daily Loss mechanics · 2-minute news blackout · Overnight and weekend holding · Forbidden practices · Current platform list · Eligibility · Payout mechanics · Scaling Plan. Prop firm rules change without notice — confirm on the firm's own site before you pay for an evaluation.
Where these figures come from. Read from FXIFY's own published rules on : Daily loss limit by programme (3/4/5%) and the · Instant Funding 8% daily drawdown, same 5PM ES · Lightning 3% daily drawdown, 4% trailing max d · Per-phase table · Trailing mechanism · Static drawdown definition, and the page that · Instant Funding 8% trailing max drawdown and i · Platform list including TradingView · Identical platform sentence, confirming the li · Instant Funding Lite 20% best-day rule and 10- · 25% best-day rule on Crypto funded accounts, w · Two Phase Pro $4,000/day profit cap and same-d · 60-day inactivity breach · Profit forfeiture on hard breach and the Perfo · Prohibited strategies and the termination-plus · Programme-specific copy-trading ban · One profile per person, no second account unde. Prop firm rules change without notice — confirm on the firm's own site before you pay for an evaluation.
What can end the account even if you are profitable
These are the rules people usually find out about after a payout is refused.
- FTMO: Once you are funded on a Standard account, you cannot open or close a trade within 2 minutes either side of a selected news release — a stop-loss or take-profit that fires inside that window counts too — and FTMO can terminate the account for it. source
- FTMO: On a funded Standard account you must close your positions shortly before the market closes for the weekend, and before any rollover or market break lasting more than 2 hours, or you break the account's rules. source
- FTMO: You cannot spread one position across correlated instruments or hold opposing trades just to make your daily profits look evenly spread — FTMO calls that artificially distributing profit without distributing risk, and it can delete the trades, fail you, cancel your payout or close your account. source
- FTMO: You cannot trade off price-feed glitches, display errors or delayed quotes, and FTMO says this counts against you even if you did it without realising, with the same penalties up to termination. source
- FTMO: You cannot let anyone else access or trade your account, trade someone else's account, or coordinate trades between your connected accounts or with other traders in your Program Group for manipulative purposes — FTMO can terminate every agreement you hold with them. source
- FTMO: If FTMO decides you broke any of these rules it can forfeit a payout you have already earned, not just close the account — so being profitable does not protect the money until it is paid. source
- FTMO: You cannot request your first payout until the 14th day after your first placed trade, however fast you hit the target. source
- FXIFY: If you go 60 days without placing a single trade, FXIFY breaches your account and it is over, evaluation or funded. source
- FXIFY: If you hard-breach a funded account you lose every dollar of profit you have not already been paid, unless you bought the Performance Protect add-on at the original checkout, which is the only way to keep it. source
- FXIFY: FXIFY terminates your account and wipes your profits to zero if you use latency arbitrage, high-frequency trading, hedging positions across accounts, order-book spamming, trading the same setups as a group, exploiting platform bugs, or let anyone else trade for you, including a paid pass-your-challenge service. source
- FXIFY: On Instant Funding, Instant Funding Lite, 2 Phase Pro and the Lightning Plan you may not copy trades in from anyone else, such as a signal service or a copier bot, and doing so breaks FXIFY's terms; copying between your own FXIFY accounts is allowed on the other programmes. source
- FXIFY: You may register only one profile with FXIFY, and opening a second one under a different email address is a rule violation. source
- FXIFY: On the Lightning Plan your single best trading day cannot be worth more than 30% of your total profit, or you do not meet FXIFY's payout requirement. source
- FXIFY: On Instant Funding Lite your best trading day cannot be worth more than a fifth of your total profit, and you must also have traded on 10 separate days since your first trade before you can be paid. source
- FXIFY: On the Crypto Instant Funded and Crypto 1-Phase funded accounts no single trading day's profit may exceed 25% of your profit for that payout period, though this does not apply during the crypto challenge step. source
- FXIFY: On Two Phase Pro you are closed out of the market for the rest of the day the moment you make $4,000 of profit, and you can only trade again the next day. source
Drawdown Architecture: FTMO vs FXIFY
The fundamental differentiator between FTMO and FXIFY lies in how risk and liquidation thresholds are tracked:
FTMO: Static Equity-Based
FTMO applies a Static Equity-Based approach. Under this structure, your stop loss floor is anchored to balance intervals. This ensures that temporary floating open profits do not pull your stop loss floor higher in real-time.
FXIFY: Trailing Closed-Balance HWM (locks at start balance)
FXIFY implements a Trailing Closed-Balance HWM (locks at start balance) model. Open equity peaks will instantly adjust your maximum loss threshold tick-by-tick.
The Trader's Verdict: Which Firm Should You Choose?
Depending on your trading style, asset preference, and capital requirements, here is how our research team segments the two providers:
Choose FTMO if you:
- Want Static Equity-Based risk management.
- Trade primarily CFD instruments with MT4, MT5, cTrader.
- Value Discretionary swing & algorithmic traders who value institutional payout credibility and the 2-Step's static equity drawdown cushion.
- Want the ability to hold swing positions over weekends and economic news releases.
- Seek up to $2,000,000 in maximum scaling capital.
Choose FXIFY if you:
- Prefer Trailing Closed-Balance HWM (locks at start balance) execution terms.
- Trade MULTI-ASSET via MT4, MT5, DXtrade.
- Value Traders demanding on-demand Day 1 payouts with a trailing drawdown that locks to the starting balance after the first payout and no minimum trading days.
- Want flexible swing trading terms without time limits.
- Want access to starting entry fees at $99.