Topstep Review (2026): Trading Combine Prices, Every Rule, XFA Payouts, the Live Account & Our 8.5/10 Rating

Two ways to buy the Trading Combine

Standard: $49 (50K), $99 (100K) or $199 (150K) a month, then a one-time $149 XFA activation fee when you pass. No Activation Fee: $95 / $149 / $229 a month and nothing to pay when you pass. Both bill every 30 days until you pass or cancel, and each rebill includes one free reset; a reset otherwise costs the monthly price. Topstep locks your price for the life of the Combine.

A toggle Topstep calls the Responsible Trading Advantage adds a Daily Loss Limit ($1,000 / $2,000 / $3,000) and, in return, doubles your XFA payout caps. On the Standard path the price stays the same; on No Activation Fee it cuts the monthly price to $85 / $129 / $199. Topstep labels the doubled caps a limited-time offer with no end date published.

Combine rules: one loss limit, one consistency target

Profit targets are $3,000 / $6,000 / $9,000 against a Maximum Loss Limit (MLL) of $2,000 / $3,000 / $4,500, with up to 5 / 10 / 15 minis (10 micros per mini). The MLL trails your highest end-of-day balance, never moves down, is checked in real time with open P&L counted, and locks permanently once it reaches the starting balance.

The consistency target is 55%: your best day may not exceed 55% of the profit target, or the target rises to match. Topstep's own guidance is to keep your best day under $1,650 / $3,300 / $4,950. You need at least two trading days — there is no one-day pass — and there is no time limit. The Daily Loss Limit, if you chose it, flattens you for the session when hit; it is not a rule violation.

Trading rules that apply everywhere

All trading is on TopstepX, Topstep's own browser platform — no NinjaTrader, Tradovate or TradingView connection, and no mobile app. Every position must be flat by 3:10 PM CT, with no overnight or weekend holding; trading reopens at 5:00 PM CT. You can trade CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX futures, including CME currency futures. You don't have to flatten for news, but a trade hurt by a release gets no exception.

Banned: hedging (opposite positions in one account or across accounts, including ES against MES), account stacking, orders outside the bid-ask spread, high-speed or AI systems that exploit the simulator, and trading your full maximum size into a scheduled major release. Automation is allowed in the Combine with conditions — Topstep asks you to test it on a practice account first — but is not currently available on the Live account. Traders in about 35 countries, including Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia, are not eligible, and some others can trade an XFA but not go Live.

Express Funded Account: two payout paths

An XFA starts at a $0 balance with the same-size MLL below it (-$2,000 / -$3,000 / -$4,500), trailing end-of-day and locking at $0 — and after your first payout it is set to $0 permanently. There is no monthly fee, you can hold up to five XFAs, and a scaling plan limits size until you build profit: 2 lots on the 50K until $1,500, rising to the full 5 above $2,000 (the 150K reaches 15 lots above $4,500).

You pick the payout path when you activate. Standard: five winning days of $150+ net. Consistency: three trading days with your biggest day no more than 40% of total net profit. Either way you can take 50% of your balance per request, minimum $125, up to a cap — Standard $2,000 / $3,000 / $5,000, Consistency $3,000 / $4,000 / $6,000, doubled with the Daily Loss Limit. The split is 90/10 from the first dollar for anyone who joined after January 12, 2026 (the old 100%-of-the-first-$10,000 deal applies only to earlier traders). US traders can be paid same day; international wires cost $30.

The Live Funded Account

Going Live is by Risk Team call-up only, and all your XFAs close when you move. Your live size is the average of your XFAs, capped at $150K. Only 20% of the transferred balance is tradeable at first (minimum $10,000); the other 80% sits in a reserve released in four 25% steps as you make $3,000 / $6,000 / $9,000 of net profit. Live payouts need five winning days and are capped only at 50% of balance; after 30 Live winning days you can withdraw daily. Professional data ($133 per exchange per month, one exchange covered) and commissions are on you.

Topstep is unusually open about the odds. Its published 2025 figures: 16.8% of Combines passed, 51.8% of participants reached a funded account, 33.3% of funded traders received a payout, and 0.71% of XFA traders were called up to Live.

Reputation

Topstep holds 3.7/5 on Trustpilot from about 14,900 reviews (read October 3, 2026) — lower than its tenure suggests, with complaints concentrated on the TopstepX-only switch and platform outages, including one on September 22, 2026. In its favour: fifteen years of operation, a Chicago headquarters and Omaha support hub, published pass and payout statistics, and a 99.26% payout approval rate it reports on its pricing page.

Rating: 8.5/10 and who Topstep is for

The Enigma Score rates Topstep's best plan — the No Activation Fee Combine with the Daily Loss Limit, 100K at $129 a month — 8.5/10 (Excellent): an end-of-day loss limit that locks at your start, no activation fee, and doubled caps that make a first payout of roughly $5,400 net possible in about seven trading days. Against Apex Trader Funding, Topstep is the stricter, slower start (two-day minimum, 55% consistency, TopstepX only) with the stronger funded structure.

Choose Topstep if you want an established firm with an end-of-day drawdown, are happy trading on TopstepX and flat by 3:10 PM CT, and value published statistics and a defined path to a live account. Look elsewhere if you need NinjaTrader or TradingView, want to pass in a day, or trade from one of the restricted countries. Compare it with other firms on the best futures prop firms list.

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