Topstep

Monthly futures evaluation in two price paths, and a simulated funded stage before live capital

FuturesSince 2010Chicago, United States2 programmes listed on PropScoutingNo daily loss limit

Topstep is a Chicago futures prop firm, founded in 2010, whose funding programme dates to 2012. Its Trading Combine is a one-phase evaluation on $50,000, $100,000 or $150,000, billed monthly until you pass or cancel, in two price paths with the same rules. Passing earns an Express Funded Account, which is simulated but pays a 90% split in real money, and Topstep may later move a trader to a Live Funded Account traded with the firm's own capital.

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Data checked 28 Sept 2026

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From / month: $49; + $149 activation, $50K account
Account sizes: $50K–$150K; 3 sizes
Highest included split: 90%
Max loss: 3%; end-of-day trailing
Daily loss: None
Payouts: Weekly; min $125

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Overview

Key advantages

Operating since 2010, the earliest founding year we have on record
No time limit to pass, and the loss limit trails the end-of-day balance, not intraday equity, until it locks at the starting balance
A best day above 55% raises the profit target instead of failing the Combine
Two pricing paths with the same rules: a lower monthly price, or no fee when you pass
A published route to a live account traded with the firm's capital, with no payout cap there and daily payouts after 30 winning days
A $125 minimum payout, with instant Aeropay payouts to US banks that support real-time payments

Key disadvantages

The Combine bills every month until you pass or cancel, and a reset costs another month's price
Day trading only: every position must be closed by 3:10pm CT, so nothing is held between sessions or over the weekend
The Express Funded Account is simulated, and each payout is capped at 50% of the balance and at $2,000 to $6,000 depending on size and payout path
Live capital depends on a discretionary call-up, and a live account starts with only 20% of its balance tradable
Live traders pay professional market data fees beyond the one exchange Topstep covers, and their own platform licence
Traders in 25 countries, including Germany and Hong Kong, can never move to a live account, and their total payouts are capped at $200,000

Our assessment

Topstep's Combine has one hard rule, an end-of-day trailing loss limit that locks at the starting balance, no time limit, and a 55% best-day rule that raises the target rather than failing the account. The costs are the monthly billing, the day-trading-only schedule and the stages after passing: the Express Funded Account pays real money but is simulated and capped per payout, and live capital comes only if the Risk Team calls you up, which Topstep's own figures show happened to 0.71% of Express Funded traders in 2025. Choose the path by how many payments you expect to need: No Activation Fee is cheaper in total only if you pass quickly.

Suitable for

Intraday futures traders who want no time limit and an end-of-day loss limit
Traders who can pass within a few payments, where the No Activation Fee Path is the cheaper route
Traders who want a defined path from simulated funding to live capital
Traders running several accounts from one trade copier

Less suitable if

You hold positions overnight or over the weekend
You trade spot forex or CFDs: Topstep is futures only
You live in one of the Express-only countries, such as Germany, and want live capital
You want a one-time fee rather than a monthly subscription

Instruments

Forex

Futures

Indices

Commodities

Metals

Crypto

Stocks

Instrument lists change and individual symbols within a class can be excluded. Confirm the exact symbol you intend to trade on Topstep's own instrument page before buying.

Leverage

Futures programmes do not quote leverage. Position size is bounded by the contract limit per account size instead, which is listed with each programme below.

Trading Combine - Standard Path

Contract limits

Trading Combine - No Activation Fee Path

Contract limits

Contract limits scale with account size and are enforced by the platform rather than by margin.

Consistency

Caps how much of total profit one trading day may represent. Checked at the payout stage at most firms.

55% best-day capBreach raises the target

In the Trading Combine your best day may be at most 55% of your total profit when you reach the target. A bigger day does not fail the account: the target rises to the best day divided by 0.55, and the extra profit has to come on other days. After passing, the Express Funded Account's Consistency payout path requires no day above 40% of the profit before each payout; the Standard path has no consistency rule.

In plain terms. With a 55% cap, no single day may be worth more than 55% of your total profit, so you need at least 2 evenly sized winning days before a payout clears. On $10,000 of profit that means your best day cannot exceed $5,500. Breaching it raises your profit target rather than failing you, so nothing is lost - the bar simply moves.

Consistency cap by programme

Set per programme, not per firm. Read the row for the plan you intend to buy.

Trading Combine - Standard Path: 55% best-day cap
Trading Combine - No Activation Fee Path: 55% best-day cap

Trading rules

Limit	Trading Combine - Standard Path	Trading Combine - No Activation Fee Path
Daily loss limit	None	None
Maximum loss	3%	3%
Drawdown model	End-of-day trailing	End-of-day trailing
Minimum trading days	2	2
Maximum trading days	Unlimited	Unlimited

News trading

Restricted

Restricted in one respect. News trading is allowed on every account and you do not have to be flat for economic releases, but deliberately trading your full maximum position size into a scheduled major news event is a prohibited strategy. Losses from slippage around releases are not adjusted.

EAs and algorithmic trading

Restricted

Allowed with conditions on the Trading Combine and Express Funded Accounts. Topstep does not help set up automated strategies or make exceptions for their errors, orders must come from your own device (VPS, VPN and remote servers are prohibited), and ultra-high-speed systems or algorithms that exploit simulated fills are banned. API access is a separate monthly subscription. Automation is not possible on a Live Funded Account.

Weekend holding

Not allowed

Positions cannot be held over the weekend. Every position must be closed by 3:10pm CT each weekday, Friday included, and the market reopens at 5:00pm CT on Sunday.

Overnight holding

Not allowed

Positions cannot be carried from one trading day into the next. Everything must be flat by 3:10pm CT, when open positions and orders are closed automatically, and risk managers start flattening at 3:08pm. The trading day runs from 5:00pm to 3:10pm CT, so a position may run through the night within one session.

Copy trading

Restricted

Allowed between your own accounts. TopstepX's Trade Copier mirrors a lead account onto your other Trading Combine and Express Funded accounts, up to $750,000 of buying power across Express accounts. It cannot be used on a Live Funded Account, and trading in concert with other traders, or for someone else, is prohibited.

Hedging

Not allowed

Not allowed. Holding opposite positions in the same or correlated contracts across your accounts, such as long ES in one and short MES in another, is prohibited on every account type, even briefly or by accident. A first instance brings a warning and a short window to close one side before the positions are liquidated; repeated hedging can close the accounts permanently, with no payout.

Other restrictions worth knowing

Contract limits in the Trading Combine are 5 standard or 50 micro contracts on the $50K, 10 or 100 on the $100K and 15 or 150 on the $150K; Express Funded limits follow the Scaling Plan.
Besides equity index, energy, metal and agricultural futures, the permitted list includes CME currency and interest-rate futures and Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether contracts. Spot forex is not offered.
The pricing path cannot be changed after purchase. A reset costs the path's monthly price, with at most two resets per account per day, and each monthly rebill adds a reset credit.
A daily loss limit is optional. Added at purchase it is fixed at $1,000, $2,000 or $3,000 by size, carries into the Express Funded Account, and takes $10, $20 or $30 a month off the No Activation Fee price.
Level 1 market data is included; Level 2 depth of market costs $38 a month.
Commissions and exchange fees are deducted on every trade: $3.78 a round turn on ES and $1.22 on MES.
An Express Funded Account lost before its first payout can be reactivated up to twice within 30 days through Back2Funded, for $599, $699 or $829 by size.
Topstep's help centre documents two platforms: its own browser-based TopstepX, and Quantower connected through it on Trading Combine and Express Funded accounts.
Express Funded and Live Funded accounts with no trading for more than 30 days may be closed.

Challenges

Trading Combine - Standard Path

SubscriptionNo daily loss limit

The Trading Combine at its lowest monthly price, plus a one-time $149 activation fee for each Express Funded Account you earn. It is the cheaper path in total if passing takes four or more payments on the $50K, three or more on the $100K or five or more on the $150K, counting monthly fees and resets.

Account	Per month	Profit target	Max loss
$50K	$49+ $149 activation	$3,000	$2,000	Buy
$100K	$99+ $149 activation	$6,000	$3,000	Buy
$150K	$199+ $149 activation	$9,000	$4,500	Buy

Challenge type

Subscription · 1 phase

Profit target

Daily loss limit

None

Maximum loss

Drawdown model

The loss line moves up with your closed balance, recalculated once at the daily close.

End-of-day trailing

Max leverage

Contract limits

Profit split

90%

Payout frequency

Weekly, first payout after 5 winning days, or 3 trading days on the Consistency path

Consistency cap

55%

Minimum trading days

Maximum trading days

Unlimited

Fee refunded

Not returned with a payout. A first-ever Trading Combine can be refunded within 14 days if it has not been passed, and a monthly rebill within 28 days if the account was not traded.

Scaling. Express Funded contract limits start at the Scaling Plan's lowest level and rise with the balance; a Live Funded Account unlocks its reserve in 25% steps at each profit target.

Visit Topstep

Trading Combine - No Activation Fee Path

SubscriptionNo daily loss limit

The same Trading Combine and rules for a higher monthly price, with no fee when you pass. It is the cheaper path in total if you pass within three payments on the $50K, two on the $100K or four on the $150K, counting monthly fees and resets.

Account	Per month	Profit target	Max loss
$50K	$95	$3,000	$2,000	Buy
$100K	$149	$6,000	$3,000	Buy
$150K	$229	$9,000	$4,500	Buy

Challenge type

Subscription · 1 phase

Profit target

Daily loss limit

None

Maximum loss

Drawdown model

The loss line moves up with your closed balance, recalculated once at the daily close.

End-of-day trailing

Max leverage

Contract limits

Profit split

90%

Payout frequency

Weekly, first payout after 5 winning days, or 3 trading days on the Consistency path

Consistency cap

55%

Minimum trading days

Maximum trading days

Unlimited

Fee refunded

Not returned with a payout. A first-ever Trading Combine can be refunded within 14 days if it has not been passed, and a monthly rebill within 28 days if the account was not traded.

Scaling. Express Funded contract limits start at the Scaling Plan's lowest level and rise with the balance; a Live Funded Account unlocks its reserve in 25% steps at each profit target.

Visit Topstep

Payouts

Payouts start in the Express Funded Account, at a 90% split. You pick its payout path at activation: Standard needs five winning days of $150 or more before each request, and Consistency needs three trading days with no day above 40% of the profit. Each request can take up to 50% of the balance, capped at $2,000, $3,000 or $5,000 on Standard and $3,000, $4,000 or $6,000 on Consistency for the $50K, $100K and $150K. A Live Funded Account has no dollar cap and allows daily payouts after 30 winning days.

Highest included split

90%

Fastest payout frequency

Weekly

First payout after

5 winning days, or 3 trading days on the Consistency path

Minimum payout

$125

Payout methods

Aeropay (US banks), ACH (US banks), Wise (China, Canada, UK), Wire transfer, Topstep Brokerage account (US)

Payment methods

How you pay for the evaluation

Credit/debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay

Processing time

Topstep's approval can take one to three business days. After that, Aeropay pays eligible US bank accounts in seconds, transfers to a Topstep Brokerage account (US) arrive the same day if requested by 12pm CT, Wise and ACH take one to three business days, and international wires five to ten.

Published payout proof

Yes

Payout restrictions

The minimum payout is $125.
ACH and international wire payouts cost $30 each; Aeropay, Wise and transfers to a Topstep Brokerage account carry no Topstep fee.
After each Express Funded payout the Maximum Loss Limit moves to $0, so the remaining balance becomes the loss floor.
On the Standard path, every payout after the first needs net profit since the previous one.
A Live Funded Account pays at most 50% of the trader's share of profits per request until it has 30 winning days, and the account closes if its balance falls below $1,000.
Traders in countries eligible for Express Funded Accounts only can take up to $200,000 in total payouts.

Split and cadence by programme

Trading Combine - Standard Path: 90% · Weekly first payout after 5 winning days, or 3 trading days on the Consistency path
Trading Combine - No Activation Fee Path: 90% · Weekly first payout after 5 winning days, or 3 trading days on the Consistency path

Topstep publishes aggregate payout figures on its own site, including its total paid to traders and a payout approval rate. Its risk disclosures give 2025 statistics: 16.8% of Trading Combines were passed, 33.3% of funded-level traders received a payout, and 0.71% of Express Funded traders were called up to a Live Funded Account.

Restricted countries

33 restrictedTopstep states it does not serve traders from:

Afghanistan
Algeria
Angola
Belarus
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Côte d'Ivoire
Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia (Ukraine)
Cuba
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Haiti
Iran
Iraq
Kenya
Kosovo
Lebanon
Libya
Mali
Morocco
Myanmar
Nicaragua
Nigeria
North Korea
Pakistan
Russia
Somalia
South Sudan
Sudan
Syria
Turkey
Ukraine
Venezuela
Yemen

Eligibility goes by citizenship and permanent residency: residents of the countries above cannot trade or receive payouts whatever their citizenship, and citizens of them living in an eligible country are accepted only after Topstep reviews proof of permanent residency there. A second group can trade the Trading Combine and Express Funded Accounts and take up to $200,000 in total payouts, but cannot move to a Live Funded Account: Albania, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the British Virgin Islands, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, Iceland, Kuwait, Laos, Liberia, North Macedonia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Namibia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Serbia, Trinidad and Tobago, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. Strong traders there may be offered a simulated Pro Account instead. Canada is fully eligible.

Reviews

No reviews yet

No trader has reviewed Topstep on PropScouting yet, and we do not seed reviews or import star ratings from other sites. Until real submissions arrive, the rules and prices above are what we can stand behind.

New reviews are temporarily paused while we introduce evidence verification.

Questions about Topstep

Does Topstep allow news trading?

With restrictions. Restricted in one respect. News trading is allowed on every account and you do not have to be flat for economic releases, but deliberately trading your full maximum position size into a scheduled major news event is a prohibited strategy. Losses from slippage around releases are not adjusted.

Does Topstep allow EAs and automated trading?

With conditions. Allowed with conditions on the Trading Combine and Express Funded Accounts. Topstep does not help set up automated strategies or make exceptions for their errors, orders must come from your own device (VPS, VPN and remote servers are prohibited), and ultra-high-speed systems or algorithms that exploit simulated fills are banned. API access is a separate monthly subscription. Automation is not possible on a Live Funded Account.

Does Topstep have a consistency rule?

What is the Topstep drawdown rule?

On the Trading Combine - Standard Path, the maximum loss is 3% of the starting balance and the daily loss limit is not applied. The drawdown model is end-of-day trailing: The loss line moves up with your closed balance, recalculated once at the daily close.

How much does Topstep cost?

The cheapest published ticket we verified is $49 a month on the Trading Combine - Standard Path, plus an activation fee of $149 on the $50K account, and accounts run from $50K to $150K. Activation fees on the other sizes and programmes are $149, and programmes sold without an activation fee charge none. Prices in this sector change without notice, so treat this as the last verified reading rather than a live quote.

What is the Topstep profit split?

Up to 90%. Payouts start in the Express Funded Account, at a 90% split. You pick its payout path at activation: Standard needs five winning days of $150 or more before each request, and Consistency needs three trading days with no day above 40% of the profit. Each request can take up to 50% of the balance, capped at $2,000, $3,000 or $5,000 on Standard and $3,000, $4,000 or $6,000 on Consistency for the $50K, $100K and $150K. A Live Funded Account has no dollar cap and allows daily payouts after 30 winning days.

How often does Topstep pay out?

The fastest cadence on any Topstep programme is weekly. The minimum withdrawal is $125. Payout methods: Aeropay (US banks), ACH (US banks), Wise (China, Canada, UK), Wire transfer, Topstep Brokerage account (US).

Can I hold Topstep positions over the weekend?

No. Positions cannot be held over the weekend. Every position must be closed by 3:10pm CT each weekday, Friday included, and the market reopens at 5:00pm CT on Sunday.

Which countries can trade with Topstep?

Topstep states it does not serve traders from 33 countries or regions, listed in full in the restricted countries section above. Eligibility goes by citizenship and permanent residency: residents of the countries above cannot trade or receive payouts whatever their citizenship, and citizens of them living in an eligible country are accepted only after Topstep reviews proof of permanent residency there. A second group can trade the Trading Combine and Express Funded Accounts and take up to $200,000 in total payouts, but cannot move to a Live Funded Account: Albania, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the British Virgin Islands, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, Iceland, Kuwait, Laos, Liberia, North Macedonia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Namibia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Serbia, Trinidad and Tobago, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. Strong traders there may be offered a simulated Pro Account instead. Canada is fully eligible.

How many Topstep programmes does PropScouting list?

PropScouting currently lists two Topstep programmes: Trading Combine - Standard Path and Trading Combine - No Activation Fee Path, in account sizes from $50K to $150K.

Which platforms does Topstep offer?

Topstep offers Proprietary web and Quantower.

What is the maximum allocation at Topstep?

Topstep allocates up to $750,000 per trader: up to 5 Express Funded Accounts at a time, of up to $150K buying power each. A Live Funded Account closes them all and is limited to one. Trading Combines are unlimited.