Topstep Rules Overview: Every Rule Explained (2026 Complete Guide)

Topstep's rule framework runs across three distinct stages, the Trading Combine (1-step simulated evaluation), the Express Funded Account (sim-funded intermediate stage), and the Live Funded Account (real-money tier), with rules that change meaningfully between stages. The Maximum Loss Limit works the same way in the Combine and the XFA, and that is the part most guides get backwards: the floor trails your end-of-day closing balance, never the intraday high, but it is monitored in real time and a touch on unrealized P&L liquidates the account on the spot. What actually differs between the stages is position sizing (fixed caps in the Combine, a balance-driven Scaling Plan in the XFA) and consistency (a Combine target that raises your Profit Target, no requirement at all on the XFA Standard path, a 40% target on the XFA Consistency path). Layered across all three stages are the $150 winning-day threshold, the strict VPN ban, copy-trading constraints, and a 90/10 profit split structure that changed for sign-ups on or after January 12, 2026.

This article is the complete Topstep rules reference. Every rule is explained with the verified 2026 specifics. Topstep is one of the oldest futures prop firms in the market, headquartered in Chicago, and on April 1, 2026 announced the acquisition of The Futures Desk. That acquisition matters because TFD's technology is being integrated into TopstepX, the same platform most traders use day to day. Rules do not change because of acquisitions, but the platform layer evolves underneath them, and the comparison section at the end of this article puts the framework into the right 2026 lens.

I have traded Topstep for three-plus years on the $50K Trading Combine, passed multiple Combines, and pulled recurring payouts. First-person voice in this article reflects that $50K Combine experience. Larger account sizes ($100K, $150K) and the Live Funded Account itself are described in third-person from the documentation, my tested ground is the $50K Combine and the XFA progression on it.

How do Topstep rules work at a glance?

When can you trade at Topstep?

Topstep is a day-trading program, and this is the rule sitting underneath every other rule in this article. All positions must be closed by 3:10 PM CT every weekday, trading resumes at 5:00 PM CT, and there is no swing trading and no carrying a position from one session into the next. Open positions and working orders begin cancelling automatically at 3:10 PM CT and risk managers start flattening at 3:08 PM CT, but being flat in time is your responsibility, not the platform's. Products with an earlier daily close, the CBOT grains and the CME agricultural contracts among them, have to be exited before their own close rather than at 3:10 PM CT.

The clocks that decide what counts:

• The trading day runs from 5:00 PM CT to 3:10 PM CT the following calendar day. A trade placed at 6:30 PM CT on Tuesday counts toward Wednesday's activity, not Tuesday's
• Your best day in the Combine updates through the session and locks at 3:10 PM CT, after which it cannot change. Losing days never reset it
• A winning day locks in at 4:00 PM CT
• The trading day on which you request a payout does not count toward the next winning-day cycle. Request at 5:59 PM CT on a Monday and the request belongs to the Tuesday session, so Tuesday is the excluded day and the new cycle starts Wednesday
• On shortened holiday sessions every account type has to be flat 15 minutes before the early close, and positions still open at the cutoff are auto-liquidated
• The Live Funded Account follows the CME blended trade date around holidays, so a single Daily Loss Limit covers the whole blended session and a DLL hit on the Monday can lock you out of what feels like Tuesday. The Trading Combine and the Express Funded Account do not use blended trade dates

The practical read: the 3:10 PM CT flatten is a planning constraint, not an emergency exit. Build the close into the trade, because an auto-liquidation at 3:10 PM CT fills at whatever the market is offering. Around holidays, check the close time before you size, because the deadline moves with the session and the auto-liquidation does not care that you missed the email.

How does the Topstep Maximum Loss Limit trail and breach?

The MLL is the defining rule of Topstep, and it is also the rule most likely to end an account. The trick is not that the mechanic flips between stages, because it does not. In both the Combine and the Express Funded Account the floor trails the end-of-day closing balance and only ever moves up, while the breach test runs continuously through the session on realized and unrealized P&L alike. What changes between stages is where the floor starts and where it locks.

Combine MLL: end-of-day trail, real-time breach

• Trails your end-of-day closing balance, never the intraday high, and moves only upward
• Sits a fixed dollar distance below that closing balance ($2,000 on the $50K, $3,000 on the $100K, $4,500 on the $150K), and locks permanently once it reaches your starting balance
• Breach occurs the moment your balance touches the floor at any point during the session, including on unrealized open-position drawdown, and the account is liquidated immediately via market orders

The practical consequence runs the opposite way to the common myth: a midday spike of unrealized profit does not pull the floor up, so giving that profit back inside the same session costs you nothing. What ends accounts is the real-time breach test, not the trail

XFA MLL: same mechanic, different starting point, locks at $0

• Trails only at session close, never intraday, but the breach test still runs in real time on unrealized P&L
• The XFA balance starts at $0, and the MLL starts at minus $2,000 ($50K), minus $3,000 ($100K) or minus $4,500 ($150K). Once your balance reaches $2,000, $3,000 or $4,500 respectively, the MLL locks at $0 permanently
• The lock is a one-way door, and a payout gets you there faster than trading does: after your first payout the MLL is set to $0 regardless of where it stood, and the remaining balance becomes your effective floor

Live Funded MLL: its own regime, and a $1,000 line Topstep names separately

• The program overview words the floor as "do not let your account balance reach or go below $0", while the Live Funded Account parameters say a balance below $1,000 may trigger immediate liquidation and closure at the end of the trading day. Topstep carries both statements; the $1,000 threshold is the one with the concrete consequence attached
• The Live Funded Account also runs Dynamic Live Risk Expansion instead of the XFA Scaling Plan, and it carries a mandatory Daily Loss Limit rather than an optional one

Worked example, $50K Combine, end-of-day trail with real-time breach:

• Day 1 starts: balance $50,000, MLL $48,000, a $2,000 trail distance
• Mid-session: live equity touches $52,000 on an open position. The MLL does not move. It stays at $48,000, because it trails the closing balance, not the intraday peak
• Day 1 closes at $50,800. Now the MLL trails up to $48,800 and stays there. Give the $800 back on day 2 and the floor still sits at $48,800; it never moves down
• Day 2 intraday: equity dips to $49,000. No breach, you are $200 clear. Day 3 equity prints $48,700 at any moment, realized or unrealized. That is a breach, the account is liquidated immediately, and closing the trade afterwards does not undo it

Worked example, $50K XFA, balance starts at $0:

• Activation: balance $0, MLL minus $2,000. The 50K label is buying power, not a starting balance
• Day 1 closes plus $900: balance $900, MLL trails up to minus $1,100. You still have $2,000 of room, and $1,100 of it sits below zero
• Once the balance closes at $2,000 the MLL locks at $0 permanently and the account can no longer go negative. After your first payout the MLL is set to $0 regardless of where it stood

I've traded this dynamic across multiple Combine cycles, and the practical implication is simple: the trail is gentler than its reputation, because intraday give-back does not move the floor, while the breach test is harsher than its reputation, because it counts unrealized P&L in real time. The structure rewards traders who reach the XFA, push the balance past the lock threshold and only then take the first payout.

The Daily Loss Limit (DLL), session brake, not account-ender

The DLL is the second risk mechanism. It exists alongside the MLL and triggers more often, but it is structurally different: it ends the session, not the account.

DLL caps by account size:

DLL mechanics:

• Trigger: realized + unrealized day P&L touches the negative DLL threshold
• Firing: open positions auto-flatten, pending orders cancel
• Lockout: account locked for the remainder of that trading session
• Reset: 5 PM CT, start of the new CME trading day
• The DLL trigger is NOT a rule violation, the account stays open

Why this matters: Hitting the DLL stings, but it doesn't end the account. The MLL ends the account. Knowing this distinction stops traders from panic-revenge-trading after a DLL hit, there's nothing to save, the day is over, and the next session resets clean.

The Daily Loss Limit is optional in the Trading Combine and in the Express Funded Account: you pick it at checkout, it is fixed afterwards, and it stays with the account for its full lifetime, including into a Back2Funded reactivation. In the Live Funded Account it is automatic and mandatory, at $2,000 on a $50K, $3,000 on a $100K and $4,500 on a $150K, and it moves with Dynamic Live Risk Expansion. Do not confuse the checkout DLL with the personal daily loss limit you can set yourself in Risk Settings; that one is free to change, the checkout DLL is not.

The 50% consistency rule

The 50% consistency target belongs to the Trading Combine, and it is not a pass/fail gate. Your single best day of profit should stay at or below 50% of your Profit Target. Exceed it and nothing fails and nothing is blocked: the Profit Target itself rises to best day divided by 0.50, so you simply need more profit to pass. On the $50K that ceiling is a fixed $1,500, on the $100K $3,000, on the $150K $4,500. The Express Funded Account is a different story: the Standard path has no consistency requirement at all, and the Consistency path uses a 40% target measured as largest winning day divided by total net profit.

How it works:

• Rule: best day at or below 50% of the Profit Target in the Combine, so $1,500 on the $50K, $3,000 on the $100K, $4,500 on the $150K
• Applies in the Trading Combine. On the Express Funded Account the Standard path has no consistency rule at all, and the Consistency path uses a 40% target that resets after every payout
• Does NOT apply on the Live Funded Account

Worked example, $50K Combine, $3,000 profit target:

• Day 4: cumulative profit $3,200, above the $3,000 Profit Target
• Best single day: $1,800 (Day 2 NFP trade)
• That best day is more than 50% of the $3,000 Profit Target, so the Profit Target rises: $1,800 divided by 0.50 equals $3,600
• Result: nothing fails and nothing is blocked. You now need $3,600 instead of $3,000, so you are $400 short. Losing days do not reset the best day, and further winning days close the gap to the raised target rather than moving the ratio

Who gets caught: Traders whose edge depends on one or two big news days each month, CPI, FOMC, NFP. Concentrating profit on event days commonly puts the best day above 50% of the Profit Target.

Who doesn't get caught: Traders with distributed winning patterns, many $200-$500 winning days rather than one or two $2,000 days.

The $150 winning-day threshold

A winning day at Topstep is any trading day that closes at least $150 net profit. The threshold is $150 net, not the $200 that older guides quote.

Where the $150 threshold matters:

• Trading Combine: not a requirement. The Combine has a Profit Target and a consistency target, not a winning-day count
• Express Funded Account Standard path: 5 winning days of $150+ net, non-consecutive (no cumulative profit requirement since April 28, 2026)
• Express Funded Account Consistency path: 3 trading days at or below a 40% consistency target (since Feb 5, 2026)
• Live Funded Account: 30 non-consecutive winning days of $150+ unlock daily payouts, not extra balance

What doesn't count:

• A day that closes green but under $150 is a "no progress" day, not a winning day
• A day that closes flat or red is, of course, not a winning day
• The threshold is calculated on session-close net P&L, not on intraday peak

For traders sizing strategies, the $150 threshold is mechanical and predictable. Three ES minis moving one point is $150 gross at the CME contract value of $50 per index point, so a winning day needs a little more than that once commissions come out. On micros, the threshold requires correspondingly more activity.

Maximum contracts per account size

Topstep enforces a hard cap on simultaneous contracts at any moment, and the cap works differently in each stage. In the Trading Combine it is fixed by account size. In the Express Funded Account there is no fixed cap: the Scaling Plan sets your maximum position size from your current account balance, and because the XFA starts at $0 the first sessions are the tightest ones. The Live Funded Account returns to fixed start limits (5, 10 or 15 lots by size) with a low-balance safeguard on top, and expands only through Dynamic Live Risk Expansion.

Trading Combine: fixed caps by account size

Express Funded Account: Scaling Plan by current balance

Live Funded Account: low-balance safeguard

How the cap is enforced:

• The platform blocks orders that would breach the cap
• The cap is on simultaneous open contracts, not on cumulative trades per day
• Minis and micros draw on one shared pool at a 10:1 ratio, not on two separate caps. On a $50K Combine the pool is 50 micro-equivalents, so 5 minis, or 3 minis plus 20 micros, or 50 micros all sit exactly at the cap; holding 5 minis and 50 micros at once would be double the limit. Three products break the 10:1 rule: Micro Silver counts as 2 of any other micro, and Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether are capped at mini-equivalent lot sizes rather than standard micro scaling

Scaling logic:

• The $50K Combine's 5-mini cap is the most common starting point
• Most strategies that work on $50K work on $100K with the higher cap, but the Daily Loss Limit also doubles, so position sizing should not auto-scale linearly with the cap

Maxing the contract limit on a $50K Combine means a 5-mini ES position, about $250 per point at the CME contract value of $50 per index point. A 4-point reversal hits the $1,000 DLL.

Profit split, 90/10 from $1 (and who is grandfathered)

Two structures exist, and which one applies depends on when you joined the new Topstep dashboard. If you are not sure, your dashboard shows which split your account is on.

Current: joined on or after January 12, 2026

• 90% trader / 10% Topstep
• Flat from $1 of profits
• No first-X-thousand-dollar tier

Grandfathered: joined before January 12, 2026

• 100% of the first $10,000 in lifetime profits, counted per trader rather than per account
• 90/10 split on profits beyond $10,000

What older reviews still get wrong:

• "50/50 on first $5K then 90/10", incorrect, never the current structure
• "100% on first $10K applies to everyone", incorrect, grandfathered only

For payout cadence, since April 28, 2026 each XFA payout request is capped at 50% of the account balance, up to $2,000/$3,000/$5,000 by account size under Standard eligibility and $3,000/$4,000/$6,000 under Consistency eligibility.

Express Funded Account, the dual-path mechanic since Feb 5, 2026

The XFA is the bridge between the Combine pass and the Live Funded Account. Since February 5, 2026, the XFA offers two paths:

Both paths share:

• Trailing EOD MLL that locks at $0
• Same XFA pricing
• No shared consistency rule: the Standard path has none, the Consistency path uses a 40% target
• Same $150 winning-day threshold

The Consistency path is faster in days (3 instead of 5) but it carries the only consistency gate the XFA has: your largest winning day must stay at or below 40% of total net profit, and the calculation resets after every payout. The Standard path has no consistency requirement at all, just 5 winning days of $150+ and positive net profit since your last payout. Neither path carries the Combine's 50% target.

Live Funded Account, the real-money tier

The Live Funded Account is where simulated trading ends and real-capital execution begins. Your account size is the average of your active, eligible Express Funded Accounts rounded up to the nearest tier ($50K, $100K or $150K), and only part of that balance is tradable at the start.

Live Funded structure:

• Account size set by the average of your eligible XFAs, rounded up to $50K, $100K or $150K
• 20% of your combined XFA balances tradable immediately, with a $10,000 minimum that Topstep supplements from Reserve, and the remaining 80% held in Reserve. Anything above your account size is forfeited
• Reserve unlocks in 25% increments at profit milestones equal to your size's Combine profit target ($3,000/$6,000/$9,000), reviewed every Monday morning, and a single oversized win cannot unlock more than one tier
• 30 non-consecutive winning Live days of $150+ unlock daily payouts of your unlocked balance, once per day, minimum $125. XFA winning days do not count toward that total
• Selection rate from XFA: 0.71% of 2025 XFA cohort advanced to Live Funded

Real-money execution mechanics:

• FCM-backed execution (Topstep Brokerage / Plus500US partnership infrastructure)
• 90/10 profit split from $1; 100% of the first $10K in lifetime profits grandfathered for traders who joined the new dashboard before Jan 12, 2026
• Payout requests uncapped in dollars (the XFA per-request caps do not apply on Live), but each request is still limited to 50% of the account balance until 30 winning days unlock daily payouts of the full unlocked balance
• Prop-to-Brokerage / Aeropay / Wise / ACH / Wire payout methods

The 0.71% XFA-to-Live advance rate (2025 stat) is the headline statistic that defines the Live Funded tier, it's the smallest cohort in Topstep's pipeline. For most traders the practical framing is "the XFA payouts are where the cash is, the Live Funded tier is where the prestige is."

VPN policy, strict ban, no grey zone

Topstep prohibits VPN use outright. The Prohibited Conduct article is unambiguous: "Do not use a VPN. VPNs, proxy services, TOR, geo-location obfuscation, and other identity-masking services are not permitted at Topstep. If you see an Error 403 Forbidden message, disable your VPN or proxy and try again." The TopstepX API rules go further: all trading activity must originate from your personal device, and VPS, VPNs and remote servers are prohibited by the Terms of Use.

How this affects your account:

• Active VPN connection commonly triggers an Error 403 Forbidden response
• KYC and identity verification require VPN disabled (timezone + location verification)
• General platform troubleshooting steps recommend disabling VPN alongside ad blockers and browser extensions
• There is no monitored grey zone, no "we tolerate it but watch you" framing
• No whitelisting workflow for legitimate-use cases like travel

This is a bright-line rule with no exception path.

Copy trading, allowed, with the payout-window gotcha

Copy trading is permitted on the Trading Combine and the Express Funded Account when set up through TopstepX → Settings → Copy Trading. The Trade Copier is not available on the Live Funded Account. The TopstepX API also supports cross-account copy for advanced automation, but API automation is prohibited in the Live Funded Account.

Allowed:

• Native TopstepX copy across your own accounts
• API-driven copy across your own accounts
• Native or API copy must originate from your personal device

Restricted:

• Cross-account hedging (long ES on account A + short ES on account B), prohibited under "Prohibited Trading Strategies"
• Remote VPS-based copy, prohibited under the no-VPS rule (same logic as the VPN ban)
• At payout submission: TopstepX automatically unlinks Follower accounts; reconnect them manually after the deduction completes and the balance updates

Three copier states matter. A payout submission automatically unlinks Follower accounts, so reconnect them after processing. If the Lead hits its Daily Loss Limit or is auto-liquidated, Followers flatten but stay linked and copying resumes when the Lead can trade again. If the Lead hits its Maximum Loss Limit, that account is permanently violated and its Followers must be unlinked manually. A Scaling Plan mismatch can also remove a Follower at the start of a trading day.

News trading

Topstep does not enforce a published high-impact-news blackout window in the way some prop firms do. The Help Center does not publish a "no orders within X minutes of FOMC/CPI/NFP" rule for the Combine, XFA, or Live Funded, and it says plainly that Topstep does not require you to flatten positions during economic releases, in SIM or Funded Accounts. One thing is prohibited, and it is about size rather than timing: purposefully trading your full Maximum Position Size directly into a scheduled major news event.

How this affects your account:

• News trading is allowed across stages, and positions may be held through a scheduled release
• Prohibited: purposefully trading your full Maximum Position Size directly into a scheduled major news event. That is a named Prohibited Trading Strategy, so the constraint is on size, not on the calendar, and it is checked before payouts
• Trades hit by an economic release are not eligible for exceptions or Reset credits, and Topstep makes no account adjustments for slippage losses. Topstep's own guidance is to cut position size, use limit orders, or step aside entirely when a release affecting your product is scheduled
• Standard prohibited-strategy rules still apply, and the full list of seven, plus the five named SIM behaviors, is in the prohibited-strategies section below
• The 50% consistency rule is the indirect news-trading constraint, outsized news-day profits push the best day above 50% of the Profit Target

Practical caveat: Topstep can update prohibited-strategies policy without rewriting the rule overview, so always cross-check the Help Center before building a strategy entirely around event trades. The current 2026 reading: news trading is permitted; consistency is the discipline that bounds it.

Restricted countries

Topstep publishes two complete country lists in its Help Center eligibility article, not a vague reference. Thirty-four entries cannot trade at all, among them Kenya, Nigeria, Morocco, Turkey, Pakistan, Kosovo and Ukraine alongside the familiar Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Russia, Venezuela and Belarus. A second list of 25 countries is limited to the Express Funded Account: those traders can pass the Combine, hold XFAs and take up to $200,000 in total payouts, with no Live Funded Account access. Germany is on that second list. Eligibility is judged on citizenship and residency together, and Topstep notes the lists can change at any time based on updates from brokerages.

Practical guidance:

• Check both tables against your country of citizenship and your country of residence before purchasing a Combine
• KYC failure due to restricted-country residency or citizenship is a hard breach (no refund typically)
• VPN cannot be used to circumvent restricted-country detection, the VPN ban itself blocks that path

Platforms, TopstepX

As of August 2026, Topstep runs on a single trading platform:

ProjectX did not shut down; it moved behind the API layer. TopstepX API access is powered by ProjectX and billed separately from your Topstep subscription, and automated trading through the ProjectX API is prohibited in the Live Funded Account. Industry reporting from November 2025 says ProjectX ended its offering for third-party firms as of 28 February 2026 and now works exclusively with Topstep. I used ProjectX during the 2024-2025 era and it was a competent execution layer for the time, and Topstep has since consolidated the trading surface around TopstepX.

The Topstep × The Futures Desk acquisition (April 1, 2026) is the next chapter of the platform layer. TFD's technology is being integrated into TopstepX, with the marketing tagline "Welcome to the next era." Specific feature roadmaps for which TFD components land first are TBA. The acquisition does not change rules, but it accelerates TopstepX's evolution.

Connection guide: Quantower connects with your TopstepX credentials, and it is available for the Trading Combine and Express Funded Account only, not for the Live Funded Account.

Reset Credit Bank, how monthly subscribers handle resets

Topstep's reset mechanism shifted from auto-reset on subscription renewal to a Reset Credit Bank model:

• Each monthly rebill adds 1 Reset Credit to your Reset Bank
• Reset Credits are tied to the account size and type of the subscription, cannot be combined or transferred, and stay on your profile even if you cancel; credits issued from 11 December 2025 onward expire one year after they are added
• Redeeming a banked credit is free. Buying a Reset without one costs the monthly rate of your path ($49/$99/$199 Standard, $95/$149/$229 No Activation Fee), and Topstep limits you to 2 Resets per account per day
• Combines no longer auto-reset on simple renewal, you choose when to spend a credit, and applying one pushes your rebill date out 30 days

Cluster framing: Topstep's Reset Credit Bank is structurally different from YRM (flat-price resets per account size, listed on YRM's homepage as of August 4, 2026, while YRM's own help center is contradictory on whether resets are available at all) and from Apex (per-reset fee paid each time). The Bank is friendlier to traders who fail evaluations sporadically and want to bank credits for later use.

Cross-account hedging, explicitly prohibited

Hedging across accounts is one of the explicitly named prohibited strategies. Long ES on account A + short ES on account B is a hedging violation. Same instrument, opposite direction, multiple accounts.

What's allowed:

• Long ES + short NQ across accounts, different instruments, independent directional bets
• Multiple accounts trading the same direction on the same instrument, same-direction alignment, not hedging
• Copy-trading the same direction across own accounts, same-direction by definition

What's not allowed:

• Same-instrument opposite directions across multiple accounts
• Same-instrument opposite directions across Topstep accounts and outside-Topstep accounts using copy infrastructure to mirror

This is enforced and not a guideline. Detection is straightforward when both accounts execute on Topstep's infrastructure.

How hedging enforcement escalates:

• First detection: a real-time modal notification and a brief window to un-hedge. Un-hedge in time and you carry on trading. If you do not, the hedged positions are liquidated automatically and the account is flagged, but you may keep trading
• A repeat on the same trading day: the same brief window, this time with no timer shown, and automatic liquidation if you do not un-hedge in time
• The next trading day: a required acknowledgement. A modal appears at login and you have to type "I agree" to the hedging terms before you can trade at all
• After the acknowledgement: any further hedging attempt triggers immediate liquidation, with no window to un-hedge
• Excessive attempts: immediate liquidation plus a Temporary Hedging Violation that stops trading for the rest of the day, applied across every account involved

Two details decide how expensive this gets. Hedging attempts are tracked at trader level rather than account level, so an acknowledged warning follows you into every account you buy afterwards, and violations apply across all accounts involved in the hedge. And after repeated warnings an account can be closed permanently without further notice: accounts closed for hedging violations are not eligible for payouts, the associated profits cannot be withdrawn, and confirmed hedging violations are final and not eligible for appeal. The counterweight is worth knowing too, because traders panic about it unnecessarily: in Topstep's own words, "warnings alone do not impact your payouts." Copy-trading software and technical glitches can create temporary opposite positions and the system accounts for that, but you stay responsible for whatever your automation does, and manual errors such as reversing direction without closing the prior position count as hedging as well. Practice accounts are excluded from hedging detection.

Prohibited trading strategies, the complete list

Topstep publishes one list of prohibited trading strategies and a second list of simulator behaviors it treats the same way. Both get checked before a payout goes out, which is the wrong moment to read them for the first time. Here they are in full, in Topstep's own categories.

The seven prohibited trading strategies:

• Account stacking: repeatedly trading aggressively, hitting the Maximum Loss Limit in one account, switching to the next and repeating until a large win lands
• Intentionally depleting a Live Funded Account, meaning deliberately drawing the balance down to force a failure
• Trading in conflict with Topstep's Terms of Use or the Trading Combine terms and conditions
• Unfair technology: software, AI, ultra-high-speed systems or mass data entry that manipulates or abuses the platform, or that hands you an unfair advantage in the program
• Trading outside real market behavior, meaning execution that contradicts how the applicable futures markets actually work, or that creates justified concern of financial or other harm to Topstep
• Placing orders at prices outside the current best bid or offer
• Purposefully trading your full Maximum Position Size directly into a scheduled major news event

SIM exploitation, the five examples Topstep names:

• Running scalping algorithms designed to exploit unrealistic SIM fills
• Making hundreds of rapid trades to take advantage of preferential queue position in SIM
• Initiating reckless trades in gapped markets to profit from stray fills that would be improbable in live markets
• Repeatedly exploiting the relative lack of slippage in SIM to achieve stop-loss executions that a live market would not have given you
• Using tight brackets or auto-breakeven to take advantage of favorable SIM fills

That last one needs the context Topstep itself puts around the list, because tight brackets and auto-breakeven are ordinary TopstepX features and the bullet on its own would make every bracket order look like a violation. Topstep's framing: "The behaviors above are intentional and systematic, usually hundreds or thousands of trades per day, with average durations measured in seconds, not minutes," and "a few lucky fills won't get your Payout rejected." What the rule describes is a systematic pattern built around the simulator, not a trader who brackets a position and moves a stop to breakeven. Topstep does reserve the right to reject profit claims where it suspects abuse, which is why the distinction is worth understanding rather than waving away.

Rule breach consequences

Hard breach (account ends):

• Maximum Loss Limit hit, in the Combine or the XFA alike, at any moment during the session including on unrealized P&L. In the Combine the account is liquidated and stops being eligible for funding until you reset it, while practice trading stays available; in the XFA the account is closed permanently, with Back2Funded as the conditional route back
• Detected VPN / VPS / remote-access usage
• Repeated cross-account hedging, at the end of the escalation ladder. A first detection is a real-time warning with a window to un-hedge, not a closure; it is continued hedging after the required acknowledgement that can end the account permanently, with payouts forfeited and no appeal
• Detected unfair technology, meaning software, AI, ultra-high speed systems or mass data entry used to gain an unfair advantage, judged case by case rather than by a fixed tariff
• KYC failure on restricted-country residency or citizenship

One qualifier belongs on that list. The Maximum Loss Limit and the KYC case are mechanical, the account ends by rule. The conduct items in between are not: Topstep reviews prohibited conduct case by case on severity and prior history and chooses from a range of responses, so "detected" does not automatically mean "closed". The range is set out further down.

Soft breach (session ends):

• Daily Loss Limit hit, auto-flatten, lock until the 5 PM CT session reset, no rule violation flagged. It does block a payout request until the Temporary Violation lifts at the start of the next session
• Risk Lock-In breached on the Live Funded Account: the account is liquidated, orders are cancelled and the account is locked for the rest of the day, with trading back at 5:00 PM CT the next trading day
• Contract limit exceeded: an overrun corrected inside 10 seconds is ignored, an overrun left standing for 10 seconds or more can put the account under review

Stage-progression delay (not breach):

• Combine consistency target exceeded: nothing is held and nothing is blocked, the Profit Target rises to best day divided by 0.50
• Insufficient winning days at advance/payout request, held until count reached
• Insufficient net profit since the last payout (at least $0.01 required; first payout exempt), held until profit reached

Payout-window operational behavior (not breach):

Payout submission auto-unlinks Follower accounts; reconnect them manually after the deduction completes

Risk Lock-In, the rule that exists only on the Live Funded Account:

After an exceptional day the Risk Team can set a minimum profit level for that day. It is not a cap on your upside, it is a floor under your gains: if net P&L drops below it, the account is liquidated and locked for the rest of the day, and trading resumes at 5:00 PM CT the next trading day. The number that matters is not the floor itself but the room above it. The controlled drawdown from your current profit is typically 1x, 1.5x or 2x your starting Daily Loss Limit intraday and 3x overnight, with the exact multiple depending on net P&L, starting DLL, account balance and recent trading behavior, and the Risk Team may adjust the level upward as profits grow. Topstep's own example: a $50K Live Funded Account with a $15,000 balance, a $2,000 DLL and $10,000 of profit on the day gets a lock-in at $7,000, which is $3,000 of room, or 1.5x the DLL. You are notified immediately by email or phone, and Live Funded traders are required to stay reachable while actively trading.

What Topstep can do about a violation:

There is no published violation-to-punishment table, and building one would be misleading. Topstep reviews prohibited conduct case by case on severity and prior history, and names five possible responses: a warning, deletion of the impacted trading day, an account reset, delay or denial of a payout request, and permanent account closure. Which one lands is Topstep's call in the individual case. Suspected cases go to the Trust Team, which handles Terms of Use violations, fraudulent activity and account manipulation, while platform and technical problems stay with Trader Support. Appeals are not something you open yourself: the Trust Team contacts you if one is available, you reply directly to the assigned reviewer with your documentation, and an accepted appeal comes with terms you have to accept before returning. Hedging is the documented exception, because confirmed hedging violations are final and cannot be appealed.

Responsible Trading Program and Focused Trader Program

Two programs sit above the individual rules, and you do not sign up for either one. Topstep's Risk Team places you in them, and both change the rules your accounts run under. Most Topstep coverage skips them entirely, which is a problem, because the more severe of the two denies pending payouts.

Responsible Trading Program (RTP):

• What triggers it: multiple accounts hitting the Maximum Loss Limit in one day, max-sizing the majority of your trades, letting losers run bigger than winners, trading without stops, going full port or trading on tilt, FOMO or revenge, and disrespecting your own daily limits
• What changes: every new Trading Combine and XFA automatically carries a Daily Loss Limit ($1,000 on the 50K, $2,000 on the 100K, $3,000 on the 150K), and passing a Combine while in RTP puts you on the XFA Consistency path, with the Standard XFA unavailable until RTP is completed
• What stays: up to five Express Funded Accounts at a time, any number and size of Trading Combines, Back2Funded reactivations (on the Consistency path with a DLL), and payouts of up to the Consistency cap for your account size every 3 trading days ($3,000 on a 50K, $4,000 on a 100K, $6,000 on a 150K), never more than 50% of the balance
• Which path you land on after passing depends on when you bought. A Standard Combine started before your RTP placement stays a Standard Combine and, if passed, can be activated as either a Standard or a Consistency XFA. Reset it and the new Combine follows RTP rules and leads into the Consistency path. New XFAs created during RTP are Consistency only, while an existing Standard XFA is unaffected
• How you get out: reach a Live Funded Account and make $10,000 of profit inside it. That profit has to come from the LFA itself, not from a Combine or an XFA, and there is no fixed timeline
• Warnings usually come first, but Topstep reserves the right to place a trader straight into RTP depending on the severity, after a Risk Team review, and notifies by email

Focused Trader Program (FTP), the escalation above RTP:

A trader can be moved from RTP into the FTP for continuing to violate the Trader Pledge or the prohibited trading strategies. It runs two paths, and the gap between them is wide.

• Corrective Path, for traders who have not followed the Terms of Use after multiple warnings. The triggers Topstep names: hedging accounts against each other to gain funding, excessive recycling of Trading Combines or XFAs, losing multiple Live Funded Accounts, and behavior that goes against the Trader Pledge. What happens: all current accounts are closed, no refunds are issued, pending payouts are denied, and pending XFAs and banked resets are removed. You continue with one active $50K account at a time for six months
• Slowdown Path, for traders who follow the Terms of Use but show unsustainable patterns: excessive resets and Combine purchases, activating and losing many XFAs in a short period, overtrading. Existing accounts keep running, but you cannot buy new Trading Combines, resets or Back2Funded reactivations, and if all accounts close or expire you move into the full FTP structure
• Getting out of either path runs through a Risk Team review: six months of consistent trading plus $10,000 of net LFA profit, or good trading behavior, on the Corrective Path, and $10,000 of net LFA profit or good trading behavior on the Slowdown Path. Topstep states outright that a review does not guarantee approval to rejoin the regular program

The practical read for anyone running several accounts: the risk rules are counted per account, the behavior rules are counted per trader. Your MLL, DLL and Scaling Plan each belong to one account. Hedging, account stacking and several same-day MLL breaches are counted across all of them, and on the FTP Corrective Path the consequence lands on all of them at once.

Edge cases and clarifications

"What if my Combine breach is intraday but I close the trade before EOD?" The floor moves only at the end of the day, but it is monitored in real time all session. The moment your balance touches it, including on unrealized P&L, the account is liquidated. Closing the trade after the touch does not undo the breach, and slippage that pushes the final balance back above the limit does not either.

"Does the XFA EOD-trailing MLL ever pull below the locked $0 floor?" No. Once the MLL reaches the starting balance level and locks at $0, it cannot trail back down. The lock is one-way.

"Can I run multiple Combines simultaneously on the same account size?" Yes. Topstep's own wording is that there is no limit to the number of Trading Combines you can have, and many traders run 2-3 Combines on different sizes for diversified pass odds. The line to stay behind is a pattern rather than a number: account stacking, meaning repeatedly trading aggressively, hitting the Maximum Loss Limit in one account, switching to the next and repeating until a big win lands, is a named prohibited strategy. Multiple accounts hitting the MLL on the same day is also a documented trigger for the Responsible Trading Program. Running several Combines is fine, running them as serial lottery tickets is not. All of them have to sit under a single Topstep profile, because a second profile is a Terms of Use violation in its own right.

"Does the Live Funded Account have a consistency rule?" No. Consistency applies during Combine and XFA only. The Live Funded Account drops the consistency mechanic.

"What about Topstep Brokerage, do these rules apply?" No. Topstep Brokerage is a separate retail trade-your-own-money product (FCM partner Plus500US, $0.50/side commissions, instant debit-card funding). It uses the TopstepX platform but is not part of the prop evaluation pipeline and operates under standard retail-brokerage rules, not prop-evaluation rules.

"How does the TFD acquisition change rules?" It doesn't. The April 1, 2026 acquisition affects the platform layer (TopstepX gains TFD technology over time). All rules in this article remain the rules.

How Topstep compares to other firms

Topstep is the industry incumbent, one of the oldest futures prop firms in the market, and the brand most traders recognise first. It also bans VPN use outright, and it is the firm where the 0.71% Live Funded advance rate is the rarest tier of the firms compared here.

Comparable firms and how rules differ:

• Apex Trader Funding, also one of the earliest futures props (alongside Topstep)
• Tradeify, newer, alternative drawdown mechanics
• Lucid Trading, see the multi-way Lucid vs Apex vs Topstep
• FundingPips and FundedNext, non-futures-primary alternatives
• Top One Futures, newer entrant in the futures category

The bottom line

Topstep's rule framework is more demanding than the average futures prop firm on two structural axes, the real-time breach test that counts unrealized P&L and the strict VPN ban, and more forgiving than average on the trail itself, which moves only at end of day and locks permanently once it reaches your starting balance. The 90/10 profit split applies from $1 (the legacy 100%-first-$10K is grandfathered only for traders who joined the new dashboard before January 12, 2026), the $150 winning-day threshold is the mechanic that drives payouts, and the Combine's 50% consistency target raises your Profit Target rather than failing you. A long operating history, a real-money Live Funded tier (rare in futures props), and the April 1, 2026 acquisition of The Futures Desk make Topstep one of the industry's most-evolved infrastructures. Read the rules for your stage before trading, respect the MLL and DLL distinction (account-ender versus session brake), and Topstep's framework rewards traders who can convert a $50K Combine into XFA progression and stack disciplined winning days.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the main Topstep rules?

Topstep is a day-trading program before it is anything else: every position has to be flat by 3:10 PM CT each weekday, trading resumes at 5:00 PM CT, and there is no swing trading and no overnight hold. On top of that the framework rests on six core mechanisms: a trailing Maximum Loss Limit that moves with your end-of-day closing balance but is monitored in real time and breaches on unrealized P&L (Combine and XFA alike, locking at $0 on the XFA), an optional Daily Loss Limit chosen at checkout ($1K/$2K/$3K by size, resetting 5 PM CT, automatic and larger on the Live Funded Account), a Combine consistency target that raises your Profit Target rather than failing you, the $150 winning-day threshold, position size (fixed 5/10/15 minis in the Combine, the balance-driven Scaling Plan in the XFA), and a strict VPN ban with copy trading allowed through TopstepX on the Combine and the XFA. Rules change between the Combine, the XFA and the Live Funded Account, and two Risk Team programs, the Responsible Trading Program and the Focused Trader Program, can change them again for an individual trader.

What is the Topstep Maximum Loss Limit?

The MLL is Topstep's trailing drawdown, and the mechanic is the same in the Trading Combine and the Express Funded Account: the floor trails your end-of-day closing balance, never the intraday high, and only ever moves up. It is monitored in real time, though, so a balance that touches the limit at any moment during the session, including on unrealized P&L, liquidates the account immediately. The Combine starts $2,000, $3,000 or $4,500 below your starting balance by size and locks at that starting balance. The XFA starts at a $0 balance with the MLL at minus $2,000, minus $3,000 or minus $4,500, and locks at $0 once your balance reaches $2,000, $3,000 or $4,500; after your first payout it is set to $0 regardless. The Live Funded Account runs its own regime, where a balance below $1,000 can trigger liquidation at the end of the trading day.

How does the Topstep Daily Loss Limit work?

The Daily Loss Limit caps how much you can lose in a single trading day, and in the Trading Combine and Express Funded Account it is optional: you add it at checkout for $1,000 on the $50K, $2,000 on the $100K or $3,000 on the $150K, and it cannot be changed or removed afterwards. In the Live Funded Account it is automatic and mandatory at $2,000/$3,000/$4,500 by size. The DLL resets at 5 PM CT, the start of the new CME trading day. Hitting it triggers automatic liquidation and locks the account for the rest of that session, but it is NOT a rule violation: Topstep calls it a Temporary Violation, the account stays open, and trading resumes next session. Adding a DLL at Combine checkout also doubles your later XFA payout caps, so the $2,000 to $6,000 band by size and path becomes $4,000 to $12,000, under a limited-time offer Topstep started on June 2, 2026. The full cap table by size is in the Topstep payout rules guide. Adding it at checkout also takes $10 to $30 a month off a No Activation Fee Combine, by account size, and that discount recurs monthly. It is called the Responsible Trading Discount, a checkout price break, and it is not the Responsible Trading Program the Risk Team imposes.

What is Topstep's profit split in 2026?

For traders who joined the new Topstep dashboard on or after January 12, 2026, Topstep pays 90% trader / 10% Topstep, flat from $1. Anyone who joined that dashboard before January 12, 2026 is grandfathered into 100% of their first $10,000 in lifetime profits, then 90/10 thereafter. The "50/50 first $5K then 90/10" claim that circulates in older content is wrong and outdated.

What is the $150 winning day threshold at Topstep?

A winning day at Topstep is any day that closes at least $150 net profit. It matters in the payout mechanics rather than in the Combine: the Combine has no winning-day requirement at all, the XFA Standard path needs 5 winning days of $150+ (the Consistency path instead counts 3 trading days at or below a 40% consistency target), and 30 non-consecutive winning days inside the Live Funded Account unlock daily payouts. The number is $150, not the $200 figure that has appeared in older third-party content.

Does Topstep have a consistency rule?

Yes, but only in the Trading Combine, and it does not fail you. Your best single day should stay at or below 50% of your Profit Target; exceed it and the Profit Target rises to best day divided by 0.50. Example: a $3,000 target with a single $1,800 day lifts the target to $3,600, so you need $600 more than the original target rather than being blocked. On the Express Funded Account the Standard path has no consistency rule at all, and the Consistency path uses a 40% target (largest winning day divided by total net profit) that resets after every payout. The rule does not apply on the Live Funded Account.

Can I use a VPN with Topstep?

No. Topstep's Prohibited Conduct article: "Do not use a VPN. VPNs, proxy services, TOR, geo-location obfuscation, and other identity-masking services are not permitted at Topstep. If you see an Error 403 Forbidden message, disable your VPN or proxy and try again." The TopstepX API rules: all trading activity must originate from your personal device, and VPS, VPNs and remote servers are prohibited by the Terms of Use. There is no monitored grey zone, no exception for travel, and no whitelisting workflow.

Is copy trading allowed at Topstep?

Yes on the Trading Combine and the Express Funded Account, set up through TopstepX, Settings, Copy Trading. The Trade Copier is not available on the Live Funded Account. The TopstepX API also supports cross-account copy, is powered by ProjectX and billed separately, and API automation is prohibited in the Live Funded Account. All trading must originate from your personal device (no remote VPS). When a payout request is submitted, TopstepX automatically unlinks the Follower accounts. Topstep's Payout Policy describes the connection as disabled during processing; reconnect it manually after the deduction is complete and the balance updates. Cross-account hedging is prohibited as a separate rule, and automated trading through the ProjectX API is prohibited in the Live Funded Account.

What platforms can I use with Topstep?

As of August 2026, one platform: TopstepX, Topstep's own platform, with TradingView drawing tools built into its charts, DOM, hotkeys and 50+ futures. Quantower can connect using TopstepX credentials, for the Trading Combine and Express Funded Account only. TopstepX API access is powered by ProjectX and billed separately from your Topstep subscription, and automated trading through that API is prohibited in the Live Funded Account. Topstep acquired The Futures Desk on April 1, 2026, and TFD's technology is being integrated into TopstepX over time.

What is the maximum payout from Topstep?

Since April 28, 2026 each XFA payout request is capped at 50% of account balance, up to $2,000/$3,000/$5,000 by size (Standard eligibility) or $3,000/$4,000/$6,000 (Consistency); Live Funded payouts carry no dollar cap, though each request is still limited to 50% of the account balance until 30 winning days unlock daily payouts of the full unlocked balance. Minimum payout is $125. Payout methods: Prop-to-Brokerage (same day), Aeropay (instant), Wise (1-3 business days), ACH and Wire / SWIFT ($30 fee). PayPal is no longer listed. Internal approval can take 1 to 3 business days, then the rail runs. US requests on Aeropay are often auto approved and land the same session.

Is Topstep a 1-step or 2-step evaluation?

Topstep is a 1-step evaluation. The path is Trading Combine → Express Funded Account → Live Funded Account. No 2-step evaluation, no instant funding, no choose-your-path multi-stage product on the prop side. Topstep Brokerage is a separate retail product, not part of the prop pipeline.

What countries are restricted at Topstep?

Topstep publishes two complete lists in its Help Center eligibility article. Thirty-four entries cannot trade or receive payouts at all, including Kenya, Nigeria, Morocco, Turkey, Pakistan, Kosovo and Ukraine as well as Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Russia, Venezuela and Belarus. A second list of 25 countries, Germany among them, can pass the Combine and hold Express Funded Accounts with up to $200,000 in total payouts but gets no Live Funded Account; select traders from that group may be considered for the Pro Account track instead. Eligibility is judged on citizenship and residency together, and the lists can change at any time. Always check both before purchasing a Combine.

What happens if I breach a Topstep rule?

Hard breach: hitting the Maximum Loss Limit ends the account, at any moment during the session, including on unrealized P&L. On a Trading Combine you reset it, free with a banked credit or at the published price. Lose an Express Funded Account before your first payout and Back2Funded reactivates the same size under the same payout rules, up to twice and within 30 calendar days of closure, for $599 to $829, or $50 less if you add a Daily Loss Limit at the reactivation checkout; after that window, or once you have taken a payout from that XFA, a new Trading Combine is the route back. Soft breach: hitting the Daily Loss Limit is a Temporary Violation rather than a rule violation. It auto-flattens and locks the session, it lifts at the start of the next one, and it blocks a payout request until it does. Prohibited conduct is handled case by case rather than by a fixed tariff: Topstep names a warning, deletion of the impacted trading day, an account reset, delay or denial of a payout request, and permanent closure as the possible responses, with the Trust Team reviewing the suspected cases. Cross-account hedging runs its own escalation ladder, from a real-time warning with a window to un-hedge through to permanent closure after repeated attempts, and an account closed for hedging is not eligible for payouts and the decision cannot be appealed, while a warning alone does not affect payouts. On the Live Funded Account, breaching a Risk Lock-In liquidates and locks the account until 5:00 PM CT the next trading day. Exceeding the Combine consistency target ends nothing: your Profit Target rises to best day divided by 0.50.

Can I hold a Topstep position overnight or over the weekend?

No. Topstep is a day-trading program: all positions must be closed by 3:10 PM CT every weekday and you can resume trading at 5:00 PM CT. There is no swing trading and no carrying a position from one session into the next. Open positions and working orders begin cancelling automatically at 3:10 PM CT and risk managers start flattening at 3:08 PM CT, but being flat in time is your responsibility. Products with an earlier daily close, such as the CBOT grains and the CME agricultural contracts, have to be exited before their own close. On shortened holiday sessions the deadline moves to 15 minutes before the early close, and anything still open at the cutoff is auto-liquidated.

What trading strategies are prohibited at Topstep?

Topstep names seven: account stacking (breaching the Maximum Loss Limit in one account, switching to the next and repeating), intentionally depleting a Live Funded Account, trading in conflict with the Terms of Use, unfair technology (software, AI, ultra-high-speed systems or mass data entry), trading outside real market behavior, placing orders outside the current best bid or offer, and purposefully trading your full Maximum Position Size directly into a scheduled major news event. A second list covers exploiting the simulator: scalping algorithms built on unrealistic SIM fills, hundreds of rapid trades for preferential queue position, reckless trades in gapped markets, systematic use of the missing slippage for stop executions a live market would not give, and tight brackets or auto-breakeven used to farm favorable SIM fills. Topstep frames that second list narrowly, as behavior that is "intentional and systematic, usually hundreds or thousands of trades per day", so an ordinary bracket order or a stop moved to breakeven is not what the rule is aimed at.

What is the Topstep Responsible Trading Program?

The Responsible Trading Program (RTP) is imposed by Topstep's Risk Team, not chosen. Triggers include multiple accounts hitting the Maximum Loss Limit in one day, max-sizing most of your trades, trading without stops, and tilt or revenge trading. While in it, every new Trading Combine and XFA carries an automatic Daily Loss Limit ($1,000/$2,000/$3,000 by size), and a Combine bought during the program goes to the XFA Consistency path when it passes, so payouts run to the Consistency cap for your account size every 3 trading days ($3,000 on a 50K, $4,000 on a 100K, $6,000 on a 150K), never more than 50% of the balance. A Standard Combine bought before the placement keeps its Standard status and can still be activated as either a Standard or a Consistency XFA, and an existing Standard XFA is untouched, so the Standard caps still apply to those. You keep up to five Express Funded Accounts throughout. You leave the RTP by reaching a Live Funded Account and making $10,000 of profit inside it. The Focused Trader Program is the step above: its Corrective Path closes all current accounts, issues no refunds, denies pending payouts and leaves one active $50K account for six months, while the Slowdown Path lets existing accounts run but blocks new purchases, resets and Back2Funded reactivations.