TopStep is just one of many online prop trading firms.
A proprietary trading firm trades the financial markets using its own capital to make a profit.
Because retail traders are often under-capitalized and don’t want to risk their own money, these firms will provide funding for traders to trade with.
The traders do not risk their own money, but the firm keeps some of the profits generated.
Hence, these firms are also known as “prop funding,” “funded trader programs,” or other such variations.
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To see how these programs work, we will take TopStep as an example to explain their process and rules at the current time of this writing (April 2025).
About TopStep
TopStep is all about day-trading the Futures market.
No options.
No Forex.
They do not allow you to hold positions from one day’s trading session to the next.
TopStep started in 2012, and more than 10,000 traders have reached the level where they have been invited to trade live with TopStep’s real money, and the trader keeps 90% of the generated returns.
To reach that level, you have to go through three phases or types of accounts.
Three Phases Of TopStep
All of these firms will have an evaluation phase that you have to pass to prove that you can trade consistently before they even consider giving you live money to trade with.
TopStep calls their evaluation the Trading Combine in reference to the NFL Scouting Combine, where prospective football players are evaluated for qualification to join an NFL team.
You do not get paid during the Combine.
Once you pass TopStep’s Combine, you get an “Express Funded Account” (XFA).
While this is still a simulated account, you get a real money payout (within specific rules).
Then, if you are successfully trading the Express Account, you may get invited at TopStep’s discretion to the final phase, the “Live Funded Account.”
This is when you are trading live markets with TopStep’s real money.
TopStep’s Combine
As with all these prop funding firms, you need to pay a monthly subscription fee to go through the evaluation.
Some firms will occasionally offer sales or discounts on the fee.
TopStep’s fee will vary depending on the account size for which you seek funding.
Currently, it is $49 a month to get evaluated for the 50k account.
And $99 for the 100k account and $149 for the 150k account.
To pass the evaluation for the 50k account, you need to make a profit target of $3000 without hitting the maximum loss limit of $2000.
For the evaluation for using the 100k account, you need to make a profit of $6000 without losing more than $3000.
For the $150k account, you need to make a profit of $9000 with a max loss limit of $4500.
In each of these cases, you need to be able to generate a 6% return on capital:
$3,000/$50,000 = 6%
$6,000/$100,000 = 6%
$9,000/$150,000 = 6%
However, evaluating the 50k Combine should be easier because its profit target is only 1.5 times its max loss limit.
Meanwhile, you need to make twice as much as the max loss limit for the other two Combines.
Maximum Loss Limit Rule
There are some nuances regarding how the Max Loss Limit is calculated and updated under certain conditions. So be sure to read TopStep’s rule on that.
If you fail the evaluation by breaking their one rule, which is to exceed the Max Loss Limit, you will not be able to proceed to the Express Funded Account.
This means you will not get funded or payouts because that can only occur in the Express Funded Account.
However, you can still continue practicing trading on the Combine account as long as you pay your monthly subscription fee.
Or you can continue to use your separate Practice Account.
If you want to try again to pass the Combine, you can “reset” the account to try again. But there will be a “reset” fee.
TopStep’s reset fee is the same amount as the evaluation fee.
The shortest time needed to pass the Combine is two days (due to the Consistency rule to be described later).
But you can take as long as you want to pass the Combine.
Practice Account
Every TopStep subscriber has a separate “Practice Account.”
This allows you to test out strategies risk-free without affecting your primary account.
If you exceed your Maximum Loss Limit in a Practice Account, it can be reset anytime without a reset fee.
Daily Loss Limits
Besides the Max Loss Limit rule for passing the Combine, several other objectives exist.
One of which is the “daily loss limit.”
For the 50k account, you can not lose more than $1000 daily.
The daily loss limit for the 100k account is $2000. And for the 150k account, it scales proportionally.
So, there would be a daily loss limit of $3000 for the 150k account.
Exceeding the daily loss limit does not cause you to fail the evaluation.
It will exit all your positions, and you can not trade for the rest of the trading session.
Consistency Rule
The consistency rule is that your best trading day can not exceed 50% of the profit target for that account.
For example, the profit target on the 50k account is $3000.
Therefore, the profits of your best trading day can not exceed $1500 in one day.
If you have hit your target profit and the consistency rule is not met, you need to continue trading to increase the balance to be at least twice as big as your single one-day gain.
This is to ensure that you don’t pass the evaluation with one or two big (and potentially lucky) wins, but rather, they want you to be able to build up to that profit target consistently through many trades.
Max Position Size
There is also a max position size restriction.
For the 50k account, your maximum position size is five contracts in the future.
10 contracts for the 100k account.
And 15 contracts for the 150k account.
These could be contracts for:
ES (E-mini S&P 500 futures)
NQ (E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures)
CL (Crude oil futures)
GC (Gold futures)
And others (see full product list)
So, for the 50k account, you can have five contracts of the ES.
You can also have three contracts for ES and two contracts for CL.
When it comes to position size limits, TopStep counts one contract of Micros (like MES or MNQ) just like one contract of ES or NQ.
Express Funded Account
Upon reaching the profit target of the Combine, you get promoted to the Express Funded Account.
This requires a one-time “activation fee” of $149.
But there is no monthly subscription fee anymore.
Express Funded Account is still a simulated account.
It is called a funded account because the payout you can get is real money that is paid to you.
This is what is meant when people say that “they got funded.”
You can have up to five Express Funded Accounts if you pay an activation fee on each account.
Some people use a trade copier on their accounts, increasing their payout amount.
You can request a payout of $200 or more after five winning days.
It does not need to be consecutive days.
At TopStep, a winning day is considered a day with $200 or more in profits.
After a payout, you need to have another five winning days (of $200 or more) to request another payout.
The minimum payout request is $125.
One payout has a cap of $5,000 or 50% of account balance.
There are no resets in Express Funded Account and Live Funded accounts.
If you blow up the account, you must start with the Combine.
There is no more profit target and consistency rule.
The Max loss limit rule and daily loss limit rule remain the same.
There is a position size limit, which increases as you make more profits in the account.
Profit Split
For the first $10,000, the trader will get 100% of the money for the payout requested.
After that $10,000, the trader will keep 90% of the payout.
And TopStep gets 10%.
Live Funded Account
Once TopStep has determined that you have shown consistency in the Express-funded account, they may give you a Live Funded Account at their discretion.
This is known as a “call up to live.”
This is when you are trading the firm’s real money without any simulation.
You can usually reach the Live Funded Account level by achieving five payouts in the Express Funded Account level.
The key word here is “usually” because call up to live is at the TopStep Risk Team’s discretion.
The starting live balance for the Live Funded Account is the balance that is in your Express Funded Account.
There is no activation fee for a Live Funded Account.
However, since you are trading live funds in a live market, you will have to pay CME exchange data fees, round-trip commission, and any trading platform fees—more details are here.
The max loss limit rule and the daily loss limit are still in effect.
You have uncapped daily payouts after 30 winning days of $200+ in the Live Funded Account.
That means you can request payouts up to 100% of your account balance.
But if you withdraw 100% of your account balance, your balance will be $0, and you will have no funds to trade with.
Effectively, you voluntarily close your Live Funded Account when you request a 100% payout.
Final Thoughts
TopStep is just one of many prop funding – for example, Apex Trader Funding, Take Profit Trader, My Funded Futures, Tradeify, FTMO, Earn 2 Trade, etc – just to name a few (in no particular order).
While the overall concept may be similar, each firm has its own rules and processes, which sometimes change from time to time.
Some of TopStep’s policies may differ slightly if you trade on their TopStepX platform.
So please do check their respective websites for specifics.
We hope you enjoyed this article on how TopStep Prop funding works.
If you have any questions, send an email or leave a comment below.
Trade safe!
Disclaimer: The information above is for educational purposes only and should not be treated as investment advice. The strategy presented would not be suitable for investors who are not familiar with exchange traded options. Any readers interested in this strategy should do their own research and seek advice from a licensed financial adviser.
This is so well explained. Thank you. It’s been blurry for me to understand this whole prop firms trading and this article has helped a lot. Appreciate it.
You’re welcome!