Topstep FAQ & Complete Guide

Usually yes, if it was your first warning. Topstep says opposing positions across accounts are prohibited even when the overlap is brief or unintentional, but a first violation is treated as a warning with a short window to un-hedge, and warnings alone do not affect payouts. Repeats get harsher: after you sign the hedging acknowledgement, later hedges are liquidated immediately, excessive attempts bring a temporary violation, and an account closed for hedging is not eligible for payouts. Topstep's definition covers the same or correlated instruments across accounts, such as MES/ES and MNQ/NQ, in the Trading Combine, Express Funded and Live accounts.

Yes. In the Topstep Trading Combine your best day must stay at or below 55% of your Profit Target, and Topstep says there is no buffer: 55% is a hard line. If one day goes over, your Profit Target rises to your best day divided by 0.55, and the extra profit has to come on a later trading day, because more profit the same day raises your best day too. The Express Funded Account Consistency path is separate: your largest day must be 40% or less of total net profit before you can request a payout.

Topstep's Maximum Loss Limit trails your end-of-day balance upward, never moves down, and locks once it reaches your starting balance, but it is monitored in real time on realized and unrealized P&L, so an intraday dip through it liquidates the account. It is $2,000, $3,000 or $4,500 for 50K, 100K and 150K accounts. In the Trading Combine and Express Funded Account the Daily Loss Limit is optional ($1,000, $2,000 or $3,000), and hitting it is a forced break for the session, not a rule violation. In the Live Funded Account the Daily Loss Limit is automatic.

On the Standard path you need 5 winning days of $150 or more net P&L (not necessarily consecutive) plus profit since your last payout. On the Consistency path you need 3 trading days with your largest day at or below 40% of net profit. Each request can be up to 50% of the balance, capped by account size, for example $2,000 Standard or $3,000 Consistency on a 50K, per Topstep's payout policy. The minimum is $125 and the split is 90/10. Topstep recommends waiting until your Maximum Loss Limit reaches $0 before taking payouts. Live Funded payouts have no dollar cap.

There is no fixed number. Topstep says its Risk Team reviews each trader case by case, looking at consistency, risk management, position sizing, products traded, use of stops, payout history and overall behavior, and its FAQ answers the 5-payout question with a plain No. Your Live starting balance is 20% of your cumulative Express Funded Account balance, capped at your account size, with a $10,000 minimum; the other 80% is held in Reserve. Topstep can also move a Live trader back to a single Shoulder Tap Express Funded Account without warning.

Express Funded, yes; Live Funded, no. Topstep's TopstepX API Access page says custom bots are allowed through the TopstepX/ProjectX API, subject to platform rules and its ban on high-frequency trading, but Live Funded accounts cannot trade through the API. API Access is billed separately at $29 a month, or $14.50 with Topstep's 50% code. Orders must still originate from your own device, not a VPS. Topstep treats a rule violation the same whether it comes from manual trading or automation, and third-party tools on the API are used at your own risk.

No. Topstep's API page says all trading activity must originate from your personal device and that VPS, VPNs and remote servers are prohibited by its Terms of Use; running automation on a VPS can lead to suspension or removal. Its Prohibited Conduct page also bans VPNs, proxies, TOR and other identity-masking services. A private server is allowed only for work that never touches order flow, such as storing historical data, backtesting, logging or a read-only dashboard. In Topstep's words, your server can watch and record, but it cannot trade.

FOMC and most releases, yes; CPI has a blackout window. Topstep does not require you to flatten for economic releases, but around CPI it blocks new opening trades in ES, RTY, YM, NQ, NKD, GC, SI, HG and PL minis from 5 minutes before to 5 minutes after the release. Micros are capped during that window, for example 3 contracts on a 50K account, and pending orders will not fill. Separately, Topstep prohibits purposely trading your full maximum position size into a major scheduled news event, and it does not adjust accounts for slippage losses.

Yes, on Trading Combine and Express Funded accounts. TopstepX has a built-in Trade Copier that mirrors a Lead account to Follower accounts, and the Lead must have the lowest maximum position size in the group. Live Funded accounts cannot use the Trade Copier. Followers are unlinked when you request a payout, and if the Lead hits its Daily Loss Limit or is liquidated, the followers are flattened with it. Topstep's hedging page adds that you stay responsible for any opposite positions created by copy trading software or third-party tools.

Reach Live and make $10,000 there. Topstep says there is no set timeline: you must be called up to a Live Funded Account and grow that account's balance by $10,000 in profit earned in Live, not in a Trading Combine or Express Funded Account. While you are in the program, new Trading Combines and Express Funded Accounts get a Daily Loss Limit ($1,000, $2,000 or $3,000 by size), passed Combines go to the 40% Consistency path, and you can still request payouts of up to $6,000 every 3 trading days if you meet the consistency requirements.