Topstep

What is Topstep?

Topstep is a futures prop firm: you pay a monthly subscription for a Trading Combine, trade a simulated account to a profit target without breaking its loss limits, and then trade a simulated Express Funded Account for 90% of its profits, with a move to a Live Funded Account later on. The Topstep Trading Combine comes in three sizes, $50K, $100K and $150K, and every account trades on Topstep’s own platform, TopstepX.

Topstep is based in Chicago. It launched its funded programme in 2012 as Topstep Trader and became Topstep in 2020. It is futures only: you trade CME Group contracts such as NQ, ES, YM and RTY and their micros, not spot forex or crypto.

Is Topstep legit?

Topstep is a legitimate futures prop firm: it has run its funded programme from Chicago since 2012, publishes its rules in detail, and pays traders real money. It is one of the best-known names in futures prop trading, and it was the first prop firm I traded with, in 2023. Its Combine and Express Funded Account are simulated, and Topstep pays you real money based on the results; only the Live Funded Account trades Topstep’s own capital. Its rules change often, so check its help centre before you buy.

How many Topstep traders pass and get paid?

Topstep publishes its own pass and payout rates. In 2025:

• 16.8% of the Trading Combines traders started were passed.
• 51.8% of traders who took a Combine reached a funded account in at least one of them.
• 33.3% of traders with a funded account received a payout.
• 0.71% of traders in an Express Funded Account were called up to Live.

Those rates reflect how hard it is to reach a profit target without touching a loss limit, not a catch in Topstep’s rules. Plan for more than one attempt, and size your first Combine as a cost you can afford.

How does Topstep work?

Topstep works in three stages, each with its own rules: the Trading Combine, which you pay for each month until you pass, the Express Funded Account (XFA), where you earn payouts, and the Live Funded Account, which Topstep’s risk team invites you to.

The Combine rebills every 30 days until you pass, with no time limit, and each rebill adds a Reset credit you can use to start the account again. Profit made in the Combine doesn’t carry over: an Express Funded Account starts at a $0 balance, and its size label, $50K to $150K, sets your buying power and limits.

What are the Topstep Trading Combine rules?

The Topstep Trading Combine rules are set by account size: a profit target to reach, a Maximum Loss Limit you must never touch, a maximum position size, and the 55% consistency rule.

Topstep publishes no minimum number of trading days, but the consistency rule means you can’t pass in one: two days is the fewest. Micros count at ten to one against minis, so on a $50K Combine 5 NQ, 50 MNQ, or 3 NQ and 20 MNQ are all the maximum. You can run as many Combines as you like, all under one Topstep profile.

How does the Topstep Maximum Loss Limit work?

The Topstep Maximum Loss Limit is an end-of-day trailing drawdown: it rises with your closing balance, never moves down, and locks for good once it reaches your starting balance. On a $50K Combine it starts at $48,000, $2,000 below the start.

The limit only follows the close, but it is watched in real time: open losses count, so if a trade takes your balance down to the limit during the day, the account is liquidated there and then. In the Combine that ends the attempt until you Reset. In an Express Funded Account the limit works the same way from a $0 start, from -$2,000 on a $50K, and locks at $0; after your first payout it sits at $0 for good. Breaking it there closes the account.

The Trailing Drawdown Calculator works this out day by day: choose end-of-day, type in each day’s result, and it shows where your limit sits and how much room you have left.

Does Topstep have a daily loss limit?

Topstep’s Daily Loss Limit is optional in the Trading Combine and the Express Funded Account: you add it when you buy the Combine, and it carries into the funded account. It is $1,000 on a $50K, $2,000 on a $100K and $3,000 on a $150K.

Hitting the Daily Loss Limit is not a rule break. Topstep flattens your positions and blocks trading until the next session opens at 18:00 New York time (17:00 Chicago), and the account carries on. Adding one at checkout also lowers the monthly price on the No Activation Fee path. Without one, you can set your own Personal Daily Loss Limit in TopstepX’s risk settings. A Live Funded Account always has a daily loss limit.

What is the Topstep consistency rule?

The Topstep consistency rule in the Trading Combine says your best single day must stay at or below 55% of your profit target. Go over it and the account doesn’t fail, but your target rises to your best day divided by 0.55, so you have more to make before you pass.

The 55% is exact, with no buffer and no rounding, and each day’s profit for the rule is fixed at 16:10 New York time. A $2,000 day on a $50K Combine, for example, raises the target from $3,000 to about $3,636. Express Funded Accounts on the Standard payout path have no consistency rule; on the Consistency path, your largest winning day must stay at or below 40% of your net profit before each payout.

The Prop Firm Consistency Calculator works out what today needs from the days you have traded; set its rule to 55% for a Combine. Our glossary explains the consistency rule in general.

Does Topstep charge an activation fee?

Topstep charges a $149 activation fee for each Express Funded Account you earn, unless you bought the Combine on the No Activation Fee path. You choose between the two when you buy, and you can’t change it afterwards:

• Standard path: a lower monthly price for the Combine, then $149 once for each funded account you activate.
• No Activation Fee path: a higher monthly price for the Combine, then $0 to activate.

The No Activation Fee path usually costs less if you pass within the first few months, and the Standard path the longer the Combine keeps rebilling, so add up both for the months you expect before you choose. Prices change with Topstep’s promotions, so check them at checkout. A Reset costs the same as a month, and Level 2 market data on TopstepX is an extra monthly charge. Our Prop Firm Expense Tracker keeps the running total.

Can you trade the news at Topstep?

You can trade the news at Topstep, with one limit around the biggest releases. For CPI, NFP, PPI, the FOMC rate decision and the FOMC press conference, you can’t open a new position in mini contracts, NQ, ES, YM and RTY among them, for 10 minutes: from 5 minutes before to 5 minutes after the release. For an 08:30 New York release, that window runs from 08:25 to 08:35.

Micros stay open in that window but are capped in size, positions you already hold can stay on, and pending orders won’t fill in it. Topstep also bans deliberately trading your full maximum position size into a scheduled major release. The week’s high-impact releases, with their New York times, are on our Red Folders page.

What are the Topstep trading hours?

Topstep’s trading day runs from 18:00 New York time (17:00 Chicago) to 16:10 New York time (15:10 Chicago) the next afternoon, and every position must be closed by 16:10 each weekday. Topstep is day trading only: you can’t hold a position overnight or over the weekend, and Topstep advises opening nothing new after 16:08.

On market holidays with an early close, Topstep asks you to be flat 15 minutes before the early close, and it publishes each year’s holiday schedule in its help centre.

How do Topstep payouts work?

Topstep payouts come from your Express Funded Account at a 90/10 split in your favour, from a $125 minimum, and you choose one of two payout paths when you activate it. The path can’t be changed afterwards.

The winning days don’t need to be in a row, and the count starts again after every payout. You request a payout from the dashboard between Sunday 18:00 and Friday 18:00 New York time; Topstep approves it in one to three business days, then pays by Aeropay or brokerage transfer in the US, Wise in the UK, Canada and China, or bank transfer. Since 2 June 2026, a limited-time offer doubles the caps if you added a Daily Loss Limit when you bought the Combine.

A Live Funded Account has no payout cap: 5 winning days still unlock each payout, of up to 50% of the balance, and after 30 winning days in Live you can take a payout every day. Topstep calls traders up to Live from the Express Funded Account; all your Express Funded Accounts close when it does, and you trade one Live account.

Which platform and markets does Topstep use?

Topstep accounts trade on TopstepX, Topstep’s own platform, which has TradingView charts built in. TopstepX is the only platform Topstep lists; Quantower can connect with your TopstepX login on the Combine and the Express Funded Account. Your own TradingView account and its indicators can’t be connected to it.

Topstep lists CME Group futures: the NQ, ES, YM and RTY index futures and their micros, plus currencies, energies, metals, interest rates and agricultural contracts. Silver, copper and platinum can’t be traded for now, and gold and crude oil have smaller position limits than the account’s maximum. Commissions come off your balance on every trade.

Can you use a trade copier at Topstep?

You can use a trade copier at Topstep across your own accounts, and TopstepX has one built in: with five $150K Express Funded Accounts, that is up to $750K of buying power from one set of trades. Coordinated trading with other people and hedging across accounts are both banned, and copying pauses on an account while a payout is processed.

Who can sign up for Topstep?

Traders from most countries can sign up for Topstep, from the age of 18, and you don’t need to be a US citizen. Topstep publishes a list of countries it can’t accept, and a second list of countries whose traders can reach an Express Funded Account but not Live. Both your residence and your citizenship count, so check the list in its help centre before you buy, and expect an identity check before you are paid.

How I use Topstep

Topstep was the first prop firm I traded with, in 2023, and it is still one of the firms I trade with: I take its $50K and $150K Combines, and trade NQ, ES, YM and RTY.

Topstep pros and cons