Topstep

A consistency rule with arithmetic attached

Most firms in this directory say a consistency rule exists. Topstep publishes the formula. A trader’s single best day of profit must stay at or below 55% of the profit target; if it does not, the target itself rises, and the help centre gives the worked example — on a $50,000 account with a $3,000 target, a best day of $1,800 pushes the target to $3,600 2. It states plainly that "55% is a hard line. It is not rounded, and there is no buffer" 2.

That is unusual and it is worth crediting. The rule is stricter than it sounds — one good session does not pass a Topstep account, it moves the goalposts — and a trader can work out in advance exactly where the line is. Alpha Capital’s equivalent sits tighter at 40% of total profit; the point is not which number is kinder but that both are knowable before you pay.

How the limits move

Two mechanisms, and they work in opposite directions. The maximum loss limit on a standard Trading Combine trails the end-of-day closing balance rather than an intraday peak, which is the gentler of the two trailing designs — an unrealised spike during the session does not permanently raise the floor 3. The daily loss limit is fixed until a profitable trade is closed, at which point it begins to trail upward, and it never trails down 4.

Set against that is the Risk Lock-In: the risk team may set a minimum profit floor after a trader has made significant gains in a day, and dropping below it liquidates and locks the account for the rest of the session 3. That is a discretionary rule applied by people, which is a different kind of risk from a published threshold, and it belongs on the page next to the published ones.

One mechanism runs the other way, and a page that only listed the traps would be as misleading as one that only listed the perks. Topstep’s Dynamic Live Risk Expansion raises a funded account’s daily loss limit and maximum position size as its profits grow, a tier at a time 4. A trader who performs is given more room rather than held at the opening limit for ever, which is not something most firms in this directory offer.

The record scores the $50,000 tier, where the profit target is $3,000 2. Topstep’s programme is futures-only, which is why it carries one market where every other firm here carries three or four, and the platform score reflects that rather than a judgement about futures.