What actually gates an FTMO 1-Step payout — the Best Day Rule or the split?
FTMO 1-Step pays up to a 90% profit split and refunds the initial fee at first withdrawal. First-payout day count and cycle are not recorded. The 50% Best Day Rule gates both the pass and reward eligibility — see the consistency rule. The rule above is fixed; what it means for your account is not — run your own win rate and average R against FTMO 1-Step's full published rule set in the free calculator at run your own book against FTMO 1-Step — free, or size the challenge in the challenge calculator.
Numbers first: up to 90% split · 100% fee refund at first withdrawal · 50% Best Day Rule · 10% trailing Maximum Loss. Answer first: On FTMO 1-Step the headline split is generous, but the 50% Best Day Rule gates both the pass and reward eligibility, and the trailing Maximum Loss can end the account before a first withdrawal. First-payout day and cycle are not recorded.
The payout terms
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Profit split | up to 90% to the trader |
| Initial fee refund | 100% at first withdrawal |
| Profit Target to reach funded | 10% of initial |
| Minimum trading days to pass | 0 — none on the 1-Step |
| Time limit to pass | none |
| First-payout schedule | not fixed in the verified rules — see below |
FTMO's documentation states you "can earn up to 90%" of your simulated profits and that you "receive a 100% refund of your initial fee with your first reward withdrawal." The 90% is a ceiling — FTMO lists the Scaling Plan and Premium Program as its growth mechanisms — so read it as the upper figure, not necessarily your split on day one. We do not publish a first-payout day count or a payout cycle for the 1-Step: the verified rule set records neither, and FTMO's public pages describe withdrawing rewards on request rather than on a fixed calendar, so quoting a schedule would be inventing precision the source does not support. What the source is explicit about is the two things that gate the reward — the Best Day Rule and the trailing Maximum Loss — so those are where this page spends its attention.
The Best Day Rule: the 50% cap that also gates your reward
This is the rule most FTMO 1-Step traders underestimate, because it is the one that can leave you at your Profit Target and still not paid. FTMO's own words: "To pass the FTMO Challenge: 1-Step or to be eligible for a Reward on an FTMO Account, the Best Day Rule requires that your Best Day does not represent more than 50% of your Positive Days' Profit." Your Positive Days' Profit is the sum of closed results across all profitable trading days; your Best Day is the single most profitable one.
Exceeding the cap is not a rule breach — nothing gets closed. But FTMO holds the pass, and reward eligibility, open until you have "generate[d] additional profit" so that your best day dilutes to 50% or less. In practice: one outsized day can put you above your 10% target and still leave you unable to pass or withdraw until you have traded enough smaller profitable days to bring that best day back under half of the total.
Worked example — FTMO's own figures (steps 1–3); step 4 is the arithmetic to clear the cap
- Day 1 closes a loss of $2,000; Day 2 a profit of $10,000; Days 3 and 4 losses of $2,000 each; Day 5 a profit of $6,000.
- Positive Days' Profit is the two winning days: $10,000 + $6,000 = $16,000. The Best Day is Day 2's $10,000.
- $10,000 is 62.5% of $16,000 — above the 50% cap. Not a breach, but the pass and the reward stay blocked.
- To clear it, the best day must fall to 50% of Positive Days' Profit — which needs that total to reach $20,000 ($10,000 ÷ $20,000 = 50%). So roughly $4,000 more of profit on other days unlocks it.
Derived from FTMO's own worked example. With a $10,000 best day, the pass and reward stay blocked until your Positive Days' Profit grows past $20,000 — the point where the best day is exactly half. Banking more profit on other days is what unlocks the reward, not one bigger day.
Because this rule decides eligibility rather than pass/fail, it is easy to miss until it is standing between you and a withdrawal. The full mechanic — how the cap is computed day by day and how to trade around it — lives on the dedicated page: FTMO 1-Step consistency rule.
The numbers, by account size
Before any payout question arises you first have to reach the funded FTMO Account, which means clearing the 10% Profit Target without tripping either loss limit. The 1-Step shares one shape across sizes — a 10% target, a 3% daily loss limit, and a 10% Maximum Loss — with every figure scaling off the initial balance.
| Account | Profit Target (10%) | Max Daily Loss (3%) | Maximum Loss (10%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50k | $5,000 | $1,500 | $5,000 |
| 100k | $10,000 | $3,000 | $10,000 |
| 200k | $20,000 | $6,000 | $20,000 |
FTMO offers the 1-Step Challenge from $10,000 up to $200,000; the three sizes above are the ones in our verified corpus. The Max Daily Loss is tested on equity, including open positions; the Maximum Loss is an end-of-day trailing limit — the distinction that matters for payouts is below.
What ends the account before you withdraw: the trailing Maximum Loss
The 10% Maximum Loss on the 1-Step is not a static line at 90% of your starting balance — it is an end-of-day trailing limit. It sits 10% of the initial balance below your highest end-of-day balance, it rises every time you close a day at a new high, and it never comes back down. This is why the payout terms are the easy part: the profit you bank at the close is exactly what tightens the floor beneath you, and a later give-back can breach it and end the account before you have taken a single withdrawal.
Worked example — 100k account (FTMO's own figure)
- You start at $100,000. The Maximum Loss sits 10% below, at $90,000.
- You close Day 1 at $105,000. The floor trails up to $95,000 and stays there.
- Day 2 closes lower, at $103,000 — the floor holds at $95,000; it only moves up.
- Day 3 closes at $112,000. The floor trails to $102,000 — now above your starting balance, and it never resets back down.
By Day 3 you are $12,000 in profit but only $10,000 of room remains to a floor that started $10,000 wide — the gap never widens again. On the 1-Step, banking profit and protecting profit are the same problem, and a pass won in one large day leaves the floor jammed right under you. The trailing mechanic in full, with more sizes, is on the FTMO 1-Step trailing drawdown page; the separate daily limit — a fixed 3% allowance that resets each day — is covered on the FTMO 1-Step daily loss limit page and, in dollar-cost terms, in our daily loss limit study.
What the documentation does not settle
The Best Day denominator. FTMO's wording is "50% of your Positive Days' Profit" — the sum of profitable days only. Our model reads the best day against total profit to date rather than positive-days-only profit. The two coincide when you have had no losing days and diverge as soon as a losing day enters the account, so we flag this rather than assert it is settled. FTMO displays your live Best Day figure in the Account MetriX, which is the authoritative number to trade against.
The payout calendar. The verified rule set fixes no first-payout day count and no payout cycle for the 1-Step, and FTMO's public pages describe requesting withdrawals rather than a fixed schedule. We deliberately publish no number here. If FTMO states a specific first-payout window in your account agreement, that document is the authority.
Working backwards: free path before the Best Day Rule postpones a 1-Step reward.
Numbers first: up to 90% · 50% Best Day · 10% trailing max loss. Answer first: run your own win rate and average R against FTMO 1-Step's full published rule set in the free calculator before you treat the split as usable.
Run FTMO 1-Step in the simulator — freeWhat is FTMO's profit split on the 1-Step Challenge?
FTMO's own documentation states you can earn up to 90% of your simulated profits as a reward, and that your initial fee is refunded in full with your first reward withdrawal. The 90% is a ceiling; FTMO lists the Scaling Plan and Premium Program as its growth mechanisms, and it is not necessarily your split from day one, so treat it as the upper figure rather than a flat rate that applies from your first payout.
How soon can you take your first FTMO 1-Step payout?
The 1-Step has no minimum number of trading days and no maximum time limit to pass, so the funded FTMO Account can be reached quickly. FTMO describes withdrawing rewards on request using approved payment methods. The verified rule set we hold does not fix a specific first-payout day count or cycle for the 1-Step, so we do not publish one — quoting a schedule the source does not state would be inventing precision.
Can you pass the FTMO 1-Step and still be blocked from a reward?
Yes. The Best Day Rule requires your single best day to be no more than 50% of your Positive Days' Profit, and FTMO applies it both to passing the 1-Step Challenge and to reward eligibility on the FTMO Account. Exceeding it is not treated as a breach, but you must keep trading until your best day dilutes to 50% or less before you pass or become reward-eligible.
What ends an FTMO 1-Step account before you can withdraw?
Two loss limits. The Maximum Daily Loss is 3% of the initial balance, tested on equity including open positions. The Maximum Loss is 10% of the initial balance — an end-of-day trailing limit that rises with every new end-of-day high and never falls. Because the trailing floor ratchets up with the profit you bank, a later give-back can breach it and end the account before your first withdrawal.
Is there a minimum number of trading days on the FTMO 1-Step?
No. FTMO's minimum-trading-days requirement applies to the 2-Step Challenge only; the 1-Step has none, and there is no maximum time limit either. You still have to satisfy the 10% Profit Target and the Best Day Rule before you pass.
Rules change without notice; the firm's own documentation is always the final authority. This page is independent research, not investment or trading advice, and PropSurvival is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by FTMO.