FTMO's daily loss limit: how it's measured, and how to protect it

The daily loss limit ends more FTMO accounts than any other rule, often on a day that didn't feel like a disaster. That's because of how FTMO measures it. Here is the measurement in plain words, the situations that catch traders, and how to protect the limit when your strategy trades on its own.

From FTMO's Trading Objectives page, checked on 25 October 2026. FTMO changes its rules from time to time, so check that page before you trade.

How FTMO measures it

At midnight Prague time, FTMO takes your account balance and subtracts the daily loss amount: 5% of your starting capital on a 2-Step account, 3% on 1-Step and Instant. Until the next midnight, your equity must not fall below that level.

On a 10,000 1-Step account that starts the day at 10,200, the level is 10,200 − 300 = 9,900 for the whole day.

Four situations that catch traders

Open trades count. Equity includes the running result of every open trade, so a trade that dips below the level and later recovers has already broken the limit.

Trades add up. Two or three trades that each risk a sensible amount can lose together, on the same news or the same move, and pass the limit between them.

A good morning doesn't widen it. The level is set from the balance at midnight. Profits made earlier in the day don't move it down; giving them back and then some still counts from midnight.

It's a share of your starting capital. After the account grows, the amount allowed per day stays the same, so it's a smaller share of what you now hold.

Protecting it automatically

Many traders set their own daily stop a little inside FTMO's, so a fast move or a delayed close can't carry them over the line. When a strategy trades on its own, that stop has to be automatic too: something must watch the account's equity during the day and act before FTMO's level is reached, not after.

Aphna does this for every account it trades. You set your own daily drawdown limit, measured the same way as FTMO's, from the balance at midnight. While its trades are open, Aphna checks the account's equity against that limit. When the limit is reached, it opens no new trades until the next day and, if you choose, closes its own open trades. A daily profit target can stop the day early in the same way.

FTMO rules explained, with a calculator for today's level · Automating an FTMO Instant account