How to Pass Topstep in 2026: The Complete Strategy Guide

Topstep is one of the most popular futures prop firms, offering funded accounts from $50K to $150K. The evaluation is a single-phase process called the Trading Combine, which tests your ability to reach a profit target while respecting risk rules.

As of 2026, here are the key parameters for each account size:

$50K Account: Profit target: $3,000. Trailing drawdown: $2,000. Max position: 5 contracts (micros equivalent). Daily loss limit: None (Topstep removed the separate daily limit in 2024, relying solely on the trailing drawdown).

$100K Account: Profit target: $6,000. Trailing drawdown: $3,000. Max position: 10 contracts. No daily loss limit.

$150K Account: Profit target: $9,000. Trailing drawdown: $4,500. Max position: 15 contracts. No daily loss limit.

The trailing drawdown is the defining challenge. Unlike FTMO's static drawdown, Topstep's drawdown trails your equity high — meaning every dollar of profit raises your floor by one dollar. This continues until your floor reaches your starting balance, at which point it locks and becomes static. Understanding this mechanic is critical because it changes how you should manage the early days of your evaluation.

Topstep also has a minimum of 5 trading days (you must place at least one trade on 5 separate days). There is no maximum time limit — take as long as you need.

Topstep's trailing drawdown is an intraday trailing drawdown, which means it tracks your real-time equity — including unrealized profits on open positions. This is the most aggressive form of trailing drawdown and requires specific management strategies.

How it works step by step: On a $50K account, your starting drawdown floor is $48,000 ($50,000 - $2,000). If your equity reaches $51,500 during the day (whether realized or unrealized), your new floor becomes $49,500 ($51,500 - $2,000). If you then close the day at $50,800 (giving back $700 of that unrealized profit), your floor is still $49,500 — it was set by the intraday equity peak.

This means an unrealized profit that you never actually capture permanently raises your drawdown floor. This is the most common way traders blow Topstep accounts — they let a winning trade run, their equity peaks at a high level, then the trade reverses. They exit with a small profit or breakeven, but their floor has been permanently raised.

The $50K trap: With only $2,000 of trailing drawdown, the $50K account is extremely tight. A single ES (S&P 500 E-mini) contract moves $12.50 per tick. A 40-point adverse move (which can happen in minutes during volatile sessions) costs $2,000 on just two contracts — your entire drawdown.

Key insight: Your drawdown floor trails based on the highest equity your account has ever reached at any point during the trading day, including unrealized gains. You must manage open position equity as if it were your actual balance, because from the drawdown calculation's perspective, it is.

The trailing drawdown is only dangerous while it is trailing. Once your drawdown floor reaches your starting balance, it locks and becomes static. At that point, you effectively have a normal max drawdown — much easier to manage. Your primary goal in the first phase of the Combine should be to lock in the drawdown as quickly and safely as possible.

On a $50K account: You need $2,000 in realized profit (with the floor trailing to $50,000) before the drawdown locks. Once locked, you still need to reach $3,000 total profit, but you have a full $2,000 static buffer to work with.

On a $100K account: You need $3,000 in realized profit to lock. Then you need an additional $3,000 to reach the $6,000 target.

The lock-in approach:

Phase 1 (Lock the drawdown): Trade with minimal position size — 1-2 micro contracts on ES or NQ. Your goal is not to make money fast; it is to slowly accumulate $2,000-$3,000 in profit without creating dangerous equity peaks. Take small, high-probability trades. Lock in profits quickly rather than letting winners run. Every dollar of realized profit raises your floor, but since you are trading small, the unrealized equity swings are minimal.

Phase 2 (Reach the profit target): Once the drawdown is locked, you have a static buffer. Now you can trade slightly larger positions (still conservative — 2-4 micros on ES). You have more room to let winners develop because your floor is no longer trailing.

This two-phase approach takes longer than trading aggressively from day one, but it has a dramatically higher pass rate. The traders who blow Topstep accounts almost always do so during the trailing phase.

Topstep is a futures-only platform, and your instrument choice has a massive impact on your risk exposure. The most commonly traded instruments are ES (S&P 500 E-mini), NQ (Nasdaq E-mini), and their micro equivalents (MES and MNQ).

Micro contracts are your best friend: MES has a tick value of $1.25 (versus $12.50 for ES). MNQ has a tick value of $0.50 (versus $5.00 for NQ). Using micros gives you precise position sizing control that full-size contracts cannot provide. On a $50K account with $2,000 trailing drawdown, one ES contract exposes you to too much risk per tick. Two MES contracts give you the same directional exposure as 0.2 ES contracts with far less risk.

Recommended position sizing for the trailing phase: - $50K account: 1-2 MES or 1 MNQ - $100K account: 2-4 MES or 1-2 MNQ - $150K account: 3-6 MES or 2-3 MNQ

After the drawdown locks: - $50K account: 2-4 MES or 1-2 MNQ - $100K account: 4-8 MES or 2-4 MNQ - $150K account: 6-12 MES or 3-6 MNQ

Avoid these instruments during the trailing phase: CL (Crude Oil) moves $10 per tick and is notoriously volatile. GC (Gold futures) at $10 per tick is similarly dangerous. NQ full-size at $5 per tick can produce $500+ swings in minutes. Stick to micro contracts until your drawdown is locked.

Maximum position rule: Topstep limits your total position size. Respect it, but also set your own internal limit well below the maximum. Just because you can trade 5 ES contracts on a $50K account does not mean you should.

Futures markets trade nearly 24 hours, but not all hours are suitable for Topstep evaluations. The wrong session can destroy your account through choppy, unpredictable price action.

Optimal trading windows for ES/MES and NQ/MNQ:

The Regular Trading Hours (RTH) session runs from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern. Within RTH, the best windows are:

- Morning Drive (9:30-11:30 AM ET): Highest volume and cleanest directional moves. The opening 30 minutes (9:30-10:00 AM) can be volatile but offers strong momentum plays. Most consistent funded traders focus exclusively on this window.

- Afternoon Session (1:30-3:30 PM ET): A secondary opportunity window. The 2:00 PM hour often sees institutional activity. However, the last 30 minutes can be erratic due to end-of-day positioning.

Windows to avoid: - Pre-market (before 9:30 AM ET): Low volume, wide spreads, unpredictable. Except during major economic releases, which carry their own risks. - Lunch hour (11:30 AM - 1:30 PM ET): Lowest RTH volume. Choppy, range-bound action that chews through stop losses. - Overnight (6:00 PM - 9:30 AM ET): Thin liquidity can cause unexpected gaps and spikes.

News events: Topstep does not restrict news trading, but high-impact events (FOMC, NFP, CPI) create unpredictable volatility. During the trailing drawdown phase, avoid trading 15 minutes before and after these releases. After your drawdown is locked, you can consider news trading with reduced position size.

Stick to a consistent daily schedule. Trading the same 2-hour window every day builds pattern recognition and prevents the overtrading that comes from watching markets all day.

Topstep has several rules that trip up traders who come from forex prop firms. Understanding these nuances prevents costly surprises.

No overnight holding (during the Combine): All positions must be closed before the daily close at 4:00 PM ET. This rule is strictly enforced — an open position at close can result in a rule violation. Set an alarm for 3:45 PM ET to review and close all positions.

The Trading Combine resets daily: Your trailing drawdown is calculated based on your all-time equity high, but Topstep's platform resets the daily P&L display each morning. Do not confuse the daily P&L with your overall drawdown status. Track your drawdown floor manually or use PropJournal's Topstep integration to see your exact remaining room.

Scaling plan on funded accounts: After passing the Combine, Topstep funded accounts have a scaling plan that limits your position size until you build a profit buffer. You start with limited contracts and unlock more as your account grows. Many traders pass the Combine trading 4-5 micros, then are frustrated to find they can only trade 2-3 on the funded account initially.

Consistency is not formally required but practically necessary: Topstep does not have an explicit consistency rule, but their review team evaluates your trading patterns before approving funding. Wildly inconsistent results — one massive day carrying all your profit — may result in additional review or denial.

Withdrawal rules: Topstep funded accounts allow withdrawals after meeting minimum trading day requirements. First withdrawal is limited (typically $500-$1,000 for the initial payout). Subsequent payouts can be larger. Understanding the payout timeline helps set realistic income expectations.

Knowing these rules before you start prevents the frustration of learning them through expensive mistakes.

Analyzing thousands of Topstep failure stories from Reddit, Discord communities, and trading forums reveals consistent patterns. Here are the most common failure modes and their solutions.

1. Blowing the trailing drawdown on Day 1. New traders start the Combine excited, take oversized positions, and hit a losing streak that consumes their entire $2,000-$4,500 drawdown in a single session. Solution: Trade minimum position size (1 MES) for the first 3 days. Prove to yourself that you can be disciplined before increasing size.

2. Unrealized profit raising the floor. A trader enters a long position on NQ, sees a $1,200 unrealized profit, does not close it, and the trade reverses. They exit breakeven, but their drawdown floor has risen by $1,200 permanently. Solution: Use take-profit orders. When an open position has significant unrealized profit, either close it or move your stop to lock in at least half the gain.

3. Overtrading to meet the 5-day minimum. Traders who are close to the profit target after 3-4 days force trades on Days 4-5 to meet the minimum trading day requirement. These forced trades often produce losses. Solution: Plan for 10+ trading days from the start. There is no rush.

4. Trading during FOMC or NFP without reducing size. A 50-point ES spike during FOMC can wipe out a $50K account's entire drawdown in seconds with just 2 contracts. Solution: Be flat 15 minutes before and after major events during the trailing phase.

5. Switching strategies mid-Combine. After a losing streak, traders abandon their tested strategy and try something new. The new approach invariably fails because it has not been tested. Solution: Commit to one strategy before starting. If it is not working, stop trading for a day rather than improvising.

Track every trade in PropJournal with notes on what you did right and wrong. Review this data after each session — the patterns will tell you exactly where your risk management needs tightening.

Here is a structured 15-day plan for passing the $50K Topstep Combine ($3,000 profit target, $2,000 trailing drawdown). Adjust proportionally for larger accounts.

Days 1-5: Lock-in Phase Goal: Accumulate $2,000 in profit to lock the drawdown floor at $50,000. Position size: 1 MES contract per trade. Risk per trade: ~$100-150 (8-12 point stop on MES). Target per trade: ~$200-300 (16-24 point take-profit). Trades per day: 1-3 maximum. Expected daily profit: $100-400.

At this pace, you will accumulate $500-$2,000 over 5 days. If you reach $2,000, the drawdown is locked. If not, continue the lock-in phase.

Days 6-10: Growth Phase Goal: Build from $2,000 to $3,000 in total profit. Position size: 2 MES contracts per trade. Risk per trade: ~$200-300. Target per trade: ~$400-600. Trades per day: 1-3 maximum. Expected daily profit: $200-600.

Days 11-15: Closing Phase Goal: Reach $3,000 if not already there. Position size: Reduce back to 1 MES if within $500 of the target. Risk per trade: ~$100-150. Focus: Capital preservation. You are close — do not give back profits.

Daily routine: 1. Check overnight price action and economic calendar (5 min) 2. Mark key levels on MES/MNQ chart (5 min) 3. Wait for your setup during the 9:30-11:30 AM ET window 4. Take 1-3 trades maximum 5. Log every trade in PropJournal with entry reason, emotional state, and rule compliance 6. Review the session and update your drawdown tracking

This plan is deliberately conservative. Many traders pass in fewer days when markets cooperate. The plan ensures you survive the days when markets do not cooperate, which is what ultimately determines your pass rate.