Strategy styles · Grid and martingale
Can a grid or martingale strategy pass FTMO?
Only by luck. On FTMO 2-Step Challenge, our sample grid trader passed 33% of attempts and went on to a first payout in 29%. That ranks FTMO 15th of 46 firms with a challenge for this style; the middle challenge across all firms is 31%. This sample has no edge at all, so every pass here is luck: read it as how much room FTMO's rules leave for luck, not as a reason to trade this way.
FTMO accounts with a grid or martingale strategy
| Account | Type | Pass chance | Pass and get paid | Best risk a trade | Days | Most common way it failed | Target | Daily loss | Max loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2-Step Challenge | 2-step | 33% | 29% | 0.75% | 134 | Hit the maximum loss | 10% / 5% | 5% | 10% static |
| 1-Step Challenge | 1-step | 30% | 21% | 0.75% | 56 | Hit the daily loss limit | 10% | 3% | 10% trailing |
| Instant Account | Instant funding | No challenge | 79% | 0.38% | 16 | No payout within 120 days | None | 3% | 10% trailing |
"Pass and get paid" is the share of attempts that passed every phase and then reached a first payout without breaking a rule. Days are trading days. Rules checked 8 Nov 2026; full rules on the FTMO page.
FTMO's rules are about average for this style. When the sample failed on FTMO 2-Step Challenge, it was most often because it hit the maximum loss.
The sample grid trader
Our sample closes 90.9% of its baskets for a win of 0.3 times the risk unit, loses 3 times the risk unit on the rest, and takes about two baskets of trades a day: no profit on average, because the wins and the losses cancel out. Nine baskets in ten close for a small win, and the tenth loses ten times that. We gave this sample no edge at all, because changing the size of your trades cannot create an edge that the entries do not have. More on the sample and how it does across all firms.
FTMO rules to watch with a grid or martingale strategy
We have not recorded FTMO's rules on open losses yet, and they are not in the pass figures above. Check FTMO's own rules before you buy.
- Any pass is luck
- With no edge, passing means the run of small wins reached the target before the big loss arrived. Trade it for long enough and the losses catch up, which shows in how many attempts pass but never reach a payout.
- Open-loss rules and bans
- Many firms ban grid and martingale trading outright or limit the loss on open trades. Our runs do not test this, and the loss while a basket is still open is deeper than the closed result we count.
- The real thing is worse than the sample
- Our sample loses a fixed amount when a basket fails. A real grid without a hard stop has no fixed amount: one trending day can take the account.
- Why instant accounts look good here
- An instant account needs only a small profit to pay out, and a grid produces small profits quickly. That is why firms that offer instant accounts tend to have the strictest open-loss rules.
Other styles at FTMO
| Style | Best account | Pass chance | Pass and get paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breakout | 1-Step Challenge | 66% | 56% |
| Trend following | 1-Step Challenge | 76% | 65% |
| Mean reversion | 2-Step Challenge | 69% | 65% |
| Scalping | 1-Step Challenge | 57% | 44% |
| Swing trading | 2-Step Challenge | 88% | 85% |
| Opening range breakout | 1-Step Challenge | 80% | 75% |
| Day trading | 1-Step Challenge | 54% | 39% |
| High win rate | 2-Step Challenge | 86% | 83% |
| Low win rate | 1-Step Challenge | 62% | 44% |
| Position trading | 1-Step Challenge | 87% | 67% |
| Grid and martingale (this one) | 2-Step Challenge | 33% | 29% |
How this was worked out
Each style is a made-up sample trader, not a real track record. We set the figures so that every sample makes the same average profit: 0.1 times its risk per trading day, about 2R a month. They differ only in shape: how often they win, how big the winners are and how many trades they take. That way a difference between two styles comes from how the rules treat the shape, not from one sample simply being better. The exception is the grid and martingale sample, which has no edge at all: adding to losing trades changes the shape of the results but cannot create an edge.
Each sample was run 1,000 times against each account's published rules, at nine trade sizes from 0.13% to 1% of the account, and we show the size that did best. It is the same engine as the test centre. How the simulation works.
What this leaves out. Every sample but that one has a real edge and never breaks its own rules, which is why these figures are far higher than the share of real traders who pass. There are no spreads, commissions, swaps or slippage. Every winner and loser is the same size. And it only tests the rules in the table: profit targets, loss limits, trading days, time limits, consistency and payout terms, not rules on news, weekends or hold times. A strategy with no edge fails everywhere, whatever its style.
Questions
Can a grid or martingale strategy pass FTMO?
Only by luck. On FTMO 2-Step Challenge, our sample grid trader passed 33% of attempts and went on to a first payout in 29%. That ranks FTMO 15th of 46 firms with a challenge for this style; the middle challenge across all firms is 31%. This sample has no edge at all, so every pass is luck.
Test your own trades
These are samples. Your strategy has its own win rate, its own losing runs and its own costs. Upload a backtest or trade history and PropPassCheck replays it 2,000 times against each FTMO account and every other firm, and shows your own chance of passing and of a first payout. It runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.