Breakout vs FTMO

FTMO is the better all-round prop firm for most traders in 2026, while Breakout is the better choice for crypto-focused traders who prioritise simple rules, 24/7 trading and on-demand payouts.

FTMO wins on operating history, market coverage, platform choice, maximum loss allowance and scaling potential. Breakout wins on crypto-native trading, payout speed, lack of consistency rules and the ability to qualify through a single evaluation without minimum trading days.

For a trader primarily trading forex, indices, metals or equities, FTMO is the stronger choice. For a trader primarily trading Bitcoin, Ethereum and other crypto markets, Breakout is usually the better fit.

Last updated: 11 September 2026.

Breakout vs FTMO at a glance

Breakout's current rules specify a 9% to 12% target depending on the 1-Step product, a 3% daily loss limit and a static maximum drawdown of between 3% and 6%. Breakout also states that there are no consistency rules, minimum trading days or evaluation time limits.

FTMO currently offers a 1-Step Challenge with a 10% target, 3% daily loss, 10% end-of-day trailing maximum loss and a 50% Best Day Rule. Its classic 2-Step Challenge uses 10% and 5% targets, a 5% daily loss limit and a 10% static maximum loss.

Which is better, Breakout or FTMO?

The key distinction is not the headline profit split. Both firms can get a trader to a 90% share.

The real difference is the trading environment.

Breakout is built around crypto. It was acquired by Kraken in September 2025 and offers a crypto-led trading environment with exchange-style liquidity, 24/7 trading and on-demand USDC withdrawals. Breakout currently advertises more than 60 markets and up to 10x leverage on some instruments.

FTMO is built for broader multi-asset trading. Its current platform stack includes MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader and TradingView, while its instruments span forex, indices, metals, energy, stocks and cryptocurrencies. FTMO therefore makes substantially more sense for a trader whose strategy is not crypto-specific.

The biggest difference is the drawdown, not the profit split

The maximum loss rules change how much room your strategy actually has to survive.

Consider a nominal $100,000 account.

Breakout Classic gives you a $6,000 static loss budget

Breakout's 1-Step Classic requires a 10% profit target while allowing a 6% static maximum drawdown.

That means a $100,000 Classic evaluation has:

• $10,000 required profit
• $6,000 maximum total loss
• 3% maximum daily loss

The maximum drawdown floor remains static. If the account grows, the total loss threshold does not follow the new equity high.

Breakout Pro makes the evaluation cheaper but harder mathematically. Its target is 12% against a 5% maximum drawdown.

Breakout Turbo is cheaper again, but requires a 9% target against only 3% maximum drawdown.

The target-to-loss-budget ratios make the trade-off obvious:

That is why the cheapest Breakout evaluation is not necessarily the cheapest evaluation to pass. A strategy that regularly experiences 4% drawdowns simply does not belong in the Turbo product, regardless of how attractive the purchase price looks.

FTMO 1-Step starts with more loss room, but the limit trails

FTMO's 1-Step Challenge has a 10% profit target and begins with a 10% maximum loss allowance.

On a $100,000 account, the initial maximum-loss floor is therefore $90,000.

However, FTMO's 1-Step maximum loss is end-of-day trailing. If the account closes a trading day at $104,000, the maximum-loss floor increases from $90,000 to $94,000. If the balance later falls, that floor does not move back down.

The 10% headline number therefore gives FTMO 1-Step more initial room than any Breakout product, but it is not equivalent to a permanent 10% static drawdown.

FTMO 2-Step gives the widest straightforward risk budget

FTMO's 2-Step Challenge uses a 10% static maximum loss and 5% maximum daily loss. Its trade-off is that the trader must complete two phases, with profit targets of 10% and 5%, rather than one.

For a profitable trader whose equity curve naturally experiences deeper pullbacks, FTMO 2-Step is arguably the strongest rule set in this comparison.

For a trader with shallow drawdowns who wants to qualify quickly, Breakout can be more attractive.

Which is easier to pass: Breakout or FTMO?

Breakout has no minimum trading days and no consistency requirement. A trader can theoretically pass a Breakout evaluation as soon as the relevant profit target is reached. Breakout specifically states that an evaluation can be passed in a single trade.

FTMO 1-Step also has no formal minimum trading-day requirement, but its 50% Best Day Rule changes the practical calculation.

Under the FTMO Best Day Rule, the trader's most profitable day cannot represent more than 50% of total profits from positive days when passing the evaluation or requesting a reward. Exceeding 50% does not breach the account, but the trader must continue generating profit until the ratio falls within the limit.

That creates a clear decision:

Your trading style	Better fit
Occasional large winning days	Breakout
Crypto swing or event-driven trading	Breakout
Very low historical drawdown	Breakout
Higher natural strategy drawdown	FTMO
Gradual, consistent daily profits	FTMO
Prefer two easier stages rather than one concentrated target	FTMO 2-Step

A trader should therefore choose the evaluation based on historical strategy drawdown and profit distribution, not the advertised account size.

Breakout is better for serious crypto traders

Breakout is crypto-native and was acquired by Kraken in September 2025. Kraken says Breakout provides access to funded trading after an evaluation, with its trading environment backed by Kraken infrastructure.

Breakout's current product also allows positions to be held overnight, over weekends and through news events. Crypto markets can therefore be traded without forcing a strategy into forex-style session restrictions.

FTMO does offer cryptocurrency CFDs, but crypto is one part of a substantially broader CFD product.

For someone who trades BTC, ETH and altcoins every day, Breakout's specialisation is meaningful. For someone who trades EUR/USD, gold, US indices and occasional Bitcoin setups, FTMO's broader infrastructure is more useful.

FTMO is better for forex, indices and multi-asset strategies

FTMO offers forex, commodities, metals, indices, equities and cryptocurrencies through established retail trading interfaces. Current FTMO platforms include MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView. DXtrade stopped being available to new FTMO users in March 2026.

This matters especially for systematic traders.

A trader with existing MetaTrader Expert Advisors, cTrader automation, indicators or an established MT5 workflow can move to FTMO with significantly less operational friction than moving the strategy into Breakout's proprietary environment.

Breakout pays faster

Once a Breakout trader is funded and has eligible profit, payouts can be requested 24/7. Breakout states that there is no payout cycle and that the minimum withdrawal is $50 after the profit split. Payouts are made in USDC on Ethereum.

FTMO requires the trader to wait until the 14th day after the first trade before requesting a reward. FTMO then says account review normally takes one to two business days, followed by another one to two business days for payment after the invoice is approved.

FTMO does, however, offer substantially more payout methods, including bank transfer, card-based transfers, Skrill and cryptocurrency.

So the decision is simple:

Breakout wins on payout speed and flexibility. FTMO wins on payout-method flexibility.

FTMO has the stronger default profit split

Breakout starts funded traders on an 80% profit share. A permanent 90% share can be purchased as an upgrade with the evaluation.

FTMO's 1-Step Challenge provides a 90% reward ratio by default.

FTMO's 2-Step product begins at 80%, with the possibility of moving to 90% through FTMO's Scaling Plan or Premium Programme.

For a trader specifically comparing one-step evaluations, FTMO therefore wins on the default profit split.

Breakout's advantage is that its 90% split can be locked in from checkout without needing to satisfy a later scaling milestone.

How do Breakout and FTMO fees compare?

For a $100,000 Breakout evaluation, pricing published by Breakout in July 2026 was:

FTMO currently lists its 1-Step product from €79 and its 2-Step product from €89. A $100,000 FTMO 1-Step has recently been listed at €499 before promotional reductions, while FTMO regularly runs temporary pricing offers.

There is another important distinction.

Breakout evaluation fees are non-refundable once trading starts. FTMO's 1-Step fee is also non-refundable, but FTMO's 2-Step fee is refunded with the first reward after successfully completing the evaluation.

Do not compare prop-firm fees without comparing the amount of drawdown you are buying. Paying $330 for a $100,000 Turbo account sounds dramatically cheaper than an $800 Classic until you notice that Turbo gives you only half the total loss budget.

Which company has the stronger track record?

FTMO has operated since 2015. FTMO currently reports more than 4.5 million customers and over $650 million in rewards paid. FTMO also completed its acquisition of global broker OANDA in December 2025, although OANDA continues to operate as a separate business.

Breakout launched much later, in 2023, but Kraken acquired the company in September 2025. Breakout currently reports more than $60 million paid to traders since launch.

The public review footprint tells a similar story. As of September 2026, Trustpilot showed Breakout at 4.7/5 from roughly 1,000 reviews and FTMO at 4.8/5 from more than 51,000 reviews. Trustpilot scores should not be treated as proof that a prop firm is risk-free, but the difference in review volume illustrates FTMO's much longer and larger public operating history.

If longevity is your main criterion, FTMO wins.

If your concern is whether Breakout is simply another small independent crypto prop firm, Kraken's acquisition materially changes that picture.

What does "funded" actually mean at Breakout and FTMO?

This distinction is easy to miss.

FTMO states that its standard FTMO Accounts use fictitious capital in a demo environment. Traders can receive real monetary rewards based on their simulated trading performance, but they are not directly controlling a live brokerage account.

Breakout's evaluation is also conducted in a demo environment. After qualification, Breakout's disclosures state that Payward Oceanic Ltd may either internally record a trader's trade idea or route a transaction to an exchange or market maker at its own discretion. The trader does not own the underlying trading account or position.

That means neither product should be understood simply as "someone gives you $100,000 to withdraw or trade however you want".

They are performance-based prop trading programmes with defined risk limits and reward agreements.

Breakout vs FTMO: which should you choose?

Breakout is particularly attractive for traders who dislike consistency rules. A strategy capable of producing a substantial share of monthly profit in one or two trades is not forced to smooth those returns simply to satisfy a Best Day calculation.

Choose FTMO if you trade forex, indices, metals, stocks or several markets, or if you need a wider maximum-loss allowance.

FTMO also makes more sense if you want MT4, MT5 or cTrader, prefer traditional payout methods, value the longer operating history or plan to build towards a much larger total allocation.

For most traders, FTMO is the better overall prop firm.

For dedicated crypto traders, Breakout is the better product.

That is the distinction that matters more than either company's headline account size or profit split.

Is Breakout better than FTMO for crypto?

Yes. Breakout is generally better than FTMO for a crypto-first trader because Breakout is designed around crypto markets, permits 24/7 trading and offers on-demand USDC payouts without a consistency rule.

FTMO remains the stronger choice if cryptocurrency is only one part of a strategy that also trades forex, indices, metals or equities.

Is Breakout easier to pass than FTMO?

Breakout can be faster to pass because it has no minimum trading days or Best Day Rule. FTMO provides more maximum-loss room, however, especially through its 2-Step Challenge.

A low-drawdown strategy with concentrated winning days is better suited to Breakout. A strategy requiring more room during normal losing streaks is generally better suited to FTMO.

Does Breakout pay faster than FTMO?

Yes. Breakout offers on-demand payouts once the funded account has eligible profit, while FTMO's standard reward request becomes available from the 14th day after the first trade.

Breakout pays in USDC on Ethereum. FTMO takes longer but supports more withdrawal methods, including bank transfer, cards, Skrill and cryptocurrency.

Final verdict

FTMO wins Breakout vs FTMO overall in 2026. Its broader market access, 10% maximum-loss options, established trading platforms, $400,000 standard allocation ceiling, scaling programme and longer operating history make it the better fit for the largest number of traders.

Breakout wins for crypto specialists. Kraken ownership, static drawdown, unrestricted profit concentration, 24/7 markets and immediate payout availability create a proposition FTMO's broader CFD model does not really replicate.

The deciding question is therefore not "Is Breakout or FTMO better?"

It is: does your edge require a crypto-native environment and unrestricted payout behaviour, or more drawdown room and broader market infrastructure?

If the answer is crypto, choose Breakout.

If it is anything broader, choose FTMO.