The challenge floor stays put, and the funded floor follows
During the OANDA challenge the maximum is a static 10% from the initial balance, $10,000 on $100,000, with a 5% daily allowance. After promotion to the signal-provider account, that 10% trails. A funded equity high that you do not bank can lift the floor under the account. FTMO's 2-step maximum remains static from the initial balance after you are funded. A green week in Prague does not shrink the remaining $10,000 hole. A green week at OANDA can.
The daily basis during the challenge is described as a fixed allowance from the initial balance, with the day resetting at 17:00 New York, which the firm also maps to 00:00 MT5 server time. FTMO resets at 00:00 CE(S)T and includes floating PnL. If you trade both, 17:00 New York and Prague midnight are not the same bell. One of them will fire while you still think the day is yesterday.
Phase 1 is $2,000 lighter and the firm is the broker
OANDA Phase 1 is 8% and Phase 2 is 5%, so $8,000 then $5,000, with three minimum days and no consistency rule on the Classic 2-step. FTMO is $10,000 then $5,000 with four minimum days and no hard best-day formula. The split is 80% to 90% at both, paid bi-weekly, with OANDA routing through its own treasury. Single challenge size is advertised up to $500,000. The backing is OANDA's own markets business, founded into this prop track in 2024, against FTMO's payout record from 2015.
The $41 discount and the $2,000 easier first target are real. They purchase a funded trail you did not practice during the challenge. Sign up on Venasri and add a funded card that is allowed to trail, so the day after the pass does not reuse the challenge's static mental model.
One platform, a two-minute news block, weekends allowed
OANDA Prop Trader is MT5. Expert Advisors are allowed when they are genuine signal logic and not tick arbitrage, inside the broker's modification limits. You may not open or close market or pending orders within two minutes of a high-impact release. Weekend and overnight holding are allowed. FTMO spreads the same EA idea across MT5, MT4, cTrader, and DXtrade, blocks two minutes of news on Standard funded accounts, and allows the weekend only on Swing at 1:30 leverage.
A Friday hold that is legal at OANDA is a breach on FTMO Standard. Bot controls can sit on both MT5 logins. Point the news block at the account that owns the position. A shared gold EA that flattens for Prague and leaves the OANDA ticket open will do the right thing on only one server.
Flatten the day at $4,250, and respect the new trail
Equity Guard at $4,250 fits the $5,000 day on both $100,000 challenges. After the OANDA pass, add a second watch on the trailing 10%. If funded equity prints a high $4,000 above the old floor, that gift can become a higher breach line. Banking part of it is the trade. Waiting for the bi-weekly payout while the trail ratchets is how a funded account dies in a pullback that would have been legal in the challenge.
FTMO does not need that second watch on the 2-step. It needs the Swing decision before Friday, and it needs the floating PnL respected at Prague midnight. The $499 invoice is the smaller number. The trailing funded floor is the larger behavior change, and it starts on the day the congratulations email arrives.
