FTMO drawdown calculator
Preloaded with FTMO's real Challenge rules. See your exact Maximum Loss floor and the cushion you have left.
- Cushion left
- --
- Buffer used
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Why FTMO's Maximum Loss is simpler than a trailing floor
FTMO calls its drawdown rule the Maximum Loss, and unlike Topstep or Apex it is static: a fixed 10% of your starting balance, set the day the account opens, and it stays there for the life of the account. A $100,000 account has a Maximum Loss floor at $90,000 on day one, and it is still at $90,000 whether you are down $500 or up $50,000.
That simplicity cuts both ways. It means profit never buys you extra safety the way it does on a trailing account — the floor will not follow you upward and lock in a cushion. But it also means the floor cannot creep up on you after a good week, which is the mistake that catches traders on end-of-day and real-time trailing accounts.
FTMO pairs the Maximum Loss with a separate Daily Loss Limit, a fixed 5% of the starting balance reset every trading day. It is possible to be nowhere near the Maximum Loss and still fail a session by breaching the tighter daily limit, so both numbers are worth tracking, not just the headline drawdown.
How to use this calculator
- 01
Confirm your account size
The calculator opens on the $10,000 account. Switch it to match the size you actually trade — the Maximum Loss is a percentage of the starting balance, so it scales with the account.
- 02
Enter your current balance
What the account is worth right now with all trades closed. Because FTMO’s floor is fixed, this is the only number the breach level depends on.
- 03
Press Calculate
You get the Maximum Loss level in dollars and exactly how much cushion sits between your balance and it.
Understanding your results
- Breach level
- Your Maximum Loss floor in dollars. Touch it and the Challenge, Verification, or funded account ends immediately. On a fresh $100,000 account it sits at $90,000.
- Cushion left
- Balance minus the floor: what you can lose before it is over. Divide by your per-trade risk to get the number of consecutive losers you can survive.
- Buffer used
- How much of the 10% allowance is already gone. It only moves when your balance falls, since the floor itself never moves.
A worked example
You trade a $100,000 FTMO account. The Maximum Loss floor is fixed at $90,000 from the moment the account opens.
You grow the account to $115,000 over the following month. On a trailing account that growth would have dragged the floor up with it. Here it has not moved at all — it is still $90,000, so your real cushion has grown to $25,000, not shrunk.
The trade-off shows up on the way down instead: a rough week that pulls the balance back to $95,000 leaves you with only $5,000 of room, the same $10,000 allowance you started with minus what you have already given back — because unlike a trailing floor, nothing here ever locked in a safer breakeven line for you.
FTMO Challenge rules by account size
| Account | Profit target | Maximum Loss | Daily Loss Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $1,000 | $1,000 (static, 10%) | $500 (5%) |
| $25,000 | $2,500 | $2,500 (static, 10%) | $1,250 (5%) |
| $50,000 | $5,000 | $5,000 (static, 10%) | $2,500 (5%) |
| $100,000 | $10,000 | $10,000 (static, 10%) | $5,000 (5%) |
| $200,000 | $20,000 | $20,000 (static, 10%) | $10,000 (5%) |
Account sizes, targets, and loss limits owner-verified against ftmo.com July 2026. Firms adjust parameters without much notice, so confirm against FTMO's official rules before trading.
From the trading desk
This site is built by a trader running these exact Challenges, and the static floor is the one people underestimate: because it never trails, a strong start does not buy you a wider margin later, and it is easy to keep sizing as though the cushion has grown when it has not. The journal tracks each attempt against the real floor. If you want the bigger picture first, the pass probability calculator models the whole Challenge, this rule included.
Frequently asked questions
Is FTMO’s drawdown static or trailing?
Static. The Maximum Loss is a fixed dollar amount below your starting balance and it never moves, no matter how much profit the account makes. This is the opposite of Topstep or Apex, whose floors trail your balance upward as you bank new highs.
What is FTMO’s Maximum Loss?
A fixed 10% of the account’s starting balance. A $100,000 account has a $10,000 Maximum Loss, so the floor sits at $90,000 for the life of the account and never rises even after you are up six figures in profit.
What is FTMO’s Daily Loss Limit?
A fixed 5% of the starting balance, measured on your equity for the day and reset every day. On a $100,000 account that is $5,000. It is a separate rule from the Maximum Loss and can end a session on its own even while the overall floor is nowhere close.
Does FTMO’s Best Day Rule affect the drawdown floor?
No — the Best Day Rule is a payout-eligibility check, not a drawdown rule, and it only applies to the 1-Step Challenge. It caps how much of your profit can come from a single day before you can withdraw; it has no effect on where the Maximum Loss floor sits. Use the consistency rule calculator to check it separately.
Where this calculator stops
It works from FTMO's published Maximum Loss and your account balance. It does not see open positions, so a live floating loss can push you closer to the floor than a closed-trade balance shows. It also does not model the separate Daily Loss Limit, which resets each day and can end a session before the Maximum Loss ever comes into play, or the Best Day Rule, which gates payouts rather than the drawdown floor.
FTMO adjusts its parameters from time to time: the figures here were verified against ftmo.com in July 2026, so confirm them against FTMO's own rules before you trade against them. If you want the broader question of whether the Challenge is worth attempting at all, the pass probability calculator models the whole thing, this rule included.
Related calculators
Drawdown calculator, all firms
The same engine with every firm's rules, so you can see how FTMO's static floor compares to Topstep's end-of-day trailing or Apex's real-time version.
FTMO payout calculator
Your Maximum Loss floor is only half the picture — see what your profit actually pays out once FTMO's split and reward rules are applied.
Consistency rule calculator
Check FTMO's Best Day Rule separately — it gates your payout, not your drawdown floor, and only applies to the 1-Step Challenge.
Djosa
Founder, QuantPropTraderI've been trading CFDs for about 18 months, and most of that was losing. What turned it around wasn't a better setup — it was measuring one simple strategy until the numbers stopped being an opinion: 20,000+ trades back-tested by script, ~2,000 by hand, and 500-1,000 forward-tested live. That's what makes a calculator like this useful instead of decorative, because it only works if the win rate and R:R you type in are numbers you've actually measured. I built these tools because the odds of passing a challenge are the one number nobody hands you before you pay for it.