Introduction
Founded in 2015 in Prague, FTMO began as a two‑person side project and is now the best‑known brand in retail proprietary trading. Its publicly shared statistics show both meteoric revenue growth and an ever‑expanding trader base. This article traces that trajectory—anchored in verifiable numbers rather than marketing hype—and explains what those numbers tell us about the broader prop‑firm economy.
Timeline Highlights (2015 → 2025)
- 2015: Launch of the first two‑step challenge.
- 2018: €10 million total payouts milestone.
- 2020: Average 305 monthly payouts. (ftmo.com)
- 2023: Average 1,713 monthly payouts; €5.78 million paid per month. (ftmo.com)
- January 2024: 2,753 payouts worth $9.64 million—the firm’s single‑month record. (ftmo.com)
- 2025: Roll‑out of Prime status and Premium Programme; maximum allocation lifted to $600 k per trader. (ftmo.com)
Money on the Move
The acceleration is clearest in the raw cash figures. Monthly payouts grew from $0.85 m in 2020 to $5.78 m in 2023, a 580 % jump in just three years. (ftmo.com) Daily averages now exceed $300 k, meaning FTMO reliably wires out more in a weekday than it paid in an entire week five years ago.
Why the surge? Two levers stand out:
- Higher pass‑through of profit splits—FTMO lifted its top tier from 80 % to 90 % for traders who meet the Scaling Plan. (ftmo.com)
- No time‑limit challenges introduced in late 2023, encouraging a broader audience of swing and position traders.
Volume, Not Just Pass‑Rates
Critics often zoom in on the <10 % pass rate typical of challenge models, yet FTMO’s data suggests that absolute trader throughput matters more than percentage success. With ~140 k active accounts created (cumulative) by 2024, even a 5 % success rate can sustain thousands of funded accounts—and hence a seven‑figure monthly payroll to traders.
2025 Feature Set at a Glance
| New Offering | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Premium Programme (Prime status) | Free repeat challenges, 90 % split, dedicated support |
| DXtrade & cTrader rollout | Adds two non‑MetaTrader options for traders blocked by MT restrictions |
| Instant withdrawals pilot | Limited group: crypto payouts in <4 h |
| Free‑Retry policy | Unlimited retries if all objectives met except profit target |
Community Signal: Leaderboards & Consistency
FTMO’s public Leaderboard refreshes every few minutes and routinely shows single‑account profits north of €90 k for a 30‑day span. (ftmo.com) Equally telling is the “138 payouts in a row” stat the firm highlights—a data point that undercuts the myth that nobody stays funded for long.
Conclusion
FTMO’s journey from start‑up to €75 m in cumulative payouts demonstrates that the prop‑challenge model scales sharply once brand trust, reliable tech, and a global marketing funnel click together. Whether competitors can replicate the 2,700‑payout watermark will depend less on clever pricing than on assembling the infrastructure—and the trader goodwill—that FTMO has spent a decade cultivating.
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