What is profit target?

How does a prop firm profit target work?

The target is a percentage of the starting balance, and the phase ends when you reach it. FTMO puts it plainly: "The Profit Target for the FTMO Challenge is calculated as 10% of the Initial Simulated Capital". Two-step evaluations add a second, smaller target; FTMO's is 10% "for the FTMO Challenge" and 5% "for the Verification". At FundedNext the target is "Calculated on closed trades only", so an open winner does not count until it is closed. Some firms also require a minimum number of trading days, such as FTMO's "at least 4 Trading Days" on its two-step account, while some, FTMO included, set no time limit.

Why is the profit target harder than it looks?

Because the loss limits are closer than the target. A 10% target against a 10% maximum loss means you must gain as much as you are allowed to lose, and a daily limit of 3% to 5% means one bad day can end the attempt before a good week finishes it. The target itself is rarely what fails an evaluation; the path to it is.

Do funded accounts have a profit target?

At most firms, no. FTMO says "There is no Profit Target on the subsequent FTMO Account", and FundedNext's instant accounts have no target even at the start. The loss limits stay, and payouts come with their own conditions instead: a waiting period, a minimum profit or a consistency rule.

Profit targets by firm

From each firm's own rules pages, read in September 2026, as a percentage of the starting balance. The last column divides the first-phase target by the maximum loss: how far you must climb for each unit of room you have to fall.

Some firms also limit how much of the target one day may supply. At Topstep's Trading Combine, "Your single best day of profit must stay at or below 55% of your Profit Target. If it exceeds that, your Profit Target increases." On the 100K Combine, that caps a single day at $3,300 of the $6,000. See consistency rule.

What is a good profit target to drawdown ratio?

A lower one. At 0.8, as on FundedNext's two-step, you need to gain 8% while you have 10% of room; at 2.0, as on Topstep's 100K Combine, you need $6,000 while you have $3,000 of room, and that room trails your gains. The ratio ignores two things that matter as much: whether the maximum loss is static or trailing, and how tight the daily limit is. Read it alongside those, not instead of them.

How many trades does it take to hit a 10% target?

It depends on your win rate far more than on the target. Risking 1% of the account per trade with a 2:1 reward, each win adds 2% and each loss takes 1%, so the average gain per trade is three times the win rate minus one. Dividing 10% by that gives the average number of trades a 10% target takes, before costs:

These are averages; real paths wander around them, and the wandering is what meets the loss limits first. Spreads and commissions lower every row, and near a 35% win rate they can remove the edge altogether. Raising the risk per trade reaches the target in fewer trades but puts the daily limit fewer losses away: at 2% a trade, three losses in a day cost 6%. See expectancy and the prop firm drawdown calculator.