What is Topstep?
Topstep is a Chicago-based futures funded-trader program. It deals exclusively in CME Group products, so there is no forex spot, no CFDs, and no crypto here. You are trading index futures, energy, metals, and the like, or you are not a fit for this firm at all. It began life as Patak Trading Partners in 2010, launched the Trading Combine evaluation as TopstepTrader in 2012, and rebranded to Topstep in 2020. Founder and CEO Michael Patak is an ex-CME floor trader, and the company has held FIA membership since October 2023. At roughly 14 years operating, it is one of the oldest futures prop firms in existence, and unlike many newer competitors there is no question about whether the entity is real.
The model has three stages. First is the Trading Combine, a monthly-subscription evaluation with no minimum trading days and no time limit, where you hit a profit target while staying above the Max Loss Limit and meeting a 50% consistency target. Pass that, and you move to an Express Funded Account (XFA), a simulated account where, importantly, the payouts are real money from Topstep. The XFA starts at $0, so Combine profits do not carry over. Finally, the Live Funded Account (LFA) trades real capital in live CME markets cleared through Plus500US. You do not request the LFA; Topstep's risk team invites you, typically between your third and fifth XFA payout.
Our verdict
Topstep is a strong, long-established futures firm with a real payout track record and a fairer-than-average drawdown rule, currently dragged down by a recent and serious reliability and trust cluster. We score it 7.2 / 10. If the outages and the litigation were not live concerns, this firm would sit comfortably higher. As things stand in mid-2026, it is a cautiously-positive pick for disciplined futures traders who understand exactly what they are buying.
We assess Topstep from its own help docs and rules pages, NFA records, court filings, the BBB, and aggregated trader reports. We have not purchased an evaluation or traded an account.
Key features & specs
The table below frames the three Standard-path account sizes Topstep sells, with the monthly fee, profit target, Max Loss Limit, and split for each. Read the Max Loss Limit column carefully, because the way that number behaves is the single most important rule in this entire review. Note also that the headline figures are a recurring monthly subscription plus a one-time activation fee on the Standard path, not a single up-front challenge price, which changes the real-cost math considerably.
| Attribute | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Firm & track record | Real Chicago firm since 2010 (as Patak Trading Partners); Trading Combine launched 2012 as TopstepTrader; rebranded Topstep 2020. Founder/CEO Michael Patak, ex-CME floor trader. FIA member since Oct 2023 | Topstep ↗ |
| Regulatory status | The prop evaluation is NOT a regulated brokerage relationship — Combine + Express Funded are simulated. A separate Topstep Brokerage LLC is a CFTC-registered Introducing Broker / NFA member (NFA ID 0567079) with no disciplinary actions; Topstep Advisory LLC took NFA CTA/Swap registration ~May 2026 | NFA ↗ |
| Evaluation model | 3-stage: Trading Combine (monthly-subscription evaluation, no min days, no time limit) → Express Funded Account (simulated, real payouts) → Live Funded Account (real CME capital, cleared via Plus500US, invited by the risk team) | Topstep ↗ |
| Account sizes & fees | 50K $49/mo / 100K $99/mo / 150K $149/mo (Standard path) plus a one-time $149 Express Funded Activation Fee; No-Activation path $95/$149/$229 skips it. Recurring monthly subscription that rebills until you pass or cancel; no refund disclosed | Topstep ↗ |
| Max drawdown | Max Loss Limit, END-OF-DAY trailing: $2,000 / $3,000 / $4,500 (50K/100K/150K). Rises on end-of-day balance, never moves down, locks once it reaches the starting balance. Daily Loss Limit $1,000 / $2,000 / $3,000 | Topstep Help Center ↗ |
| Profit split | 90/10 in the trader's favour from the first dollar for sign-ups on/after 12 Jan 2026; legacy grandfather (earlier sign-ups) keeps 100% of the first $10,000 lifetime profits, then 90/10 | Topstep ↗ |
| Payouts | Minimum $125. Express Funded standard path needs 5 winning days of $150+ net each (consistency path: 3 days at/below 40%). Aeropay instant (no fee), Wise 1-3 days (no fee), ACH/Wire $30. Self-reported $1.4B+ paid and 92.26% approval (not independently audited) | Topstep ↗ |
| Platform & products | TopstepX (proprietary, built on ProjectX) with integrated TradingView charts; no external TradingView connection and no algo/automated trading. CME Group futures only. Commissions ES/NQ $3.80, MES $1.24 round-turn | Topstep ↗ |
Pricing & value
The entry cost is low. A 50K Combine starts at $49 a month, and even the 150K is $149 a month, with a one-time $149 Express Funded Activation Fee on the Standard path once you pass. There is also a No-Activation-Fee path that raises the monthly price to $95, $149, or $229 and skips the $149. So far so cheap. The catch is the structure. This is not a one-time challenge fee like some competitors charge. It is a recurring monthly subscription that rebills every month until you either pass or cancel. A trader who takes several months to clear the Combine can quietly spend far more than the headline $49 suggests. Topstep does not disclose any fee refund, so you should treat the subscription as non-refundable and budget accordingly.
Against that, the commission schedule is transparent and competitive: ES and NQ run $3.80 round-turn, and the micro MES is $1.24 round-turn. The profit split is generous at 90/10 from the first dollar for anyone signing up on or after 12 January 2026, and traders who signed up earlier keep a grandfathered 100% of their first $10,000 in lifetime profits before the 90/10 kicks in. On split alone, Topstep is at the better end of the peer group. The real value question is not the split, it is how many monthly rebills it takes you to get funded and paid.
Recurring monthly Combine subscription plus a one-time $149 Express Funded Activation Fee (Standard path); no refund disclosed| Account size | Fee | Profit target | Max drawdown | Profit split |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $50K Combine | $49/mo + $149 activation | $3,000 | $2,000 (EOD trailing) | 90% to trader |
| $100K Combine | $99/mo + $149 activation | $6,000 | $3,000 (EOD trailing) | 90% to trader |
| $150K Combine | $149/mo + $149 activation | $9,000 | $4,500 (EOD trailing) | 90% to trader |
Legitimacy & payout safety
This is the section that should decide your purchase, and it cuts both ways. Start with what is solid. Topstep is a real, 14-year-old company with a named, on-the-record founder, not an anonymous offshore shell. Topstep Brokerage LLC is a separate CFTC-registered Introducing Broker and NFA member (NFA ID 0567079) with no disciplinary actions on that ID, and Topstep Advisory LLC picked up NFA CTA and Swap Firm registration around 2 May 2026. The risk here is not corporate existence or a phantom regulator. No regulator has sanctioned Topstep.
Now the critical distinction. The prop program itself is not a regulated brokerage relationship. The Trading Combine and the Express Funded Account are simulated. Only the Live Funded Account touches real capital, via the Plus500US FCM partnership announced on 22 October 2025, and even that carries the plain disclosure: “Not a Deposit | Not FDIC Insured | May Lose Value.” You have no compensation-scheme protection on the funded arrangement. That is normal for prop firms, but you should buy with your eyes open.
On the drawdown definition, Topstep earns real credit. The Max Loss Limit is end-of-day trailing, and the firm states it plainly in its own help docs.
“The MLL is a trailing limit. It rises as your end-of-day balance grows, but never moves down. Once it reaches your starting balance, it locks permanently.”
Topstep Terms of Service, Maximum Loss Limit, Topstep Help Center, accessed June 2026 TOS ↗
This matters enormously. The floor only ratchets up on your end-of-day balance, so an intraday profit spike does not permanently raise the level you have to defend, which is what makes the harsher intraday-trailing models used by some peers so punishing. The nuance to understand: intraday, both realized and unrealized P&L are monitored, and if you touch the MLL during the session the account liquidates immediately. But the limit itself only steps up at end of day. The buffers are $2,000, $3,000, and $4,500 across the three sizes, and once the MLL reaches your starting balance it locks for good. This is a genuinely trader-friendlier design than the industry norm, and it is one of the strongest arguments for choosing Topstep.
Payout proof is where you need to read carefully. Topstep self-reports more than $1.4 billion paid to traders, a 92.26% payout-approval rate, and 99.26% approval on Aeropay instant payouts. It also reports 2025 cohort data: 16.8% of Combines completed, 51.8% of participants advanced to funded at some point, and 33.3% of funded-level participants received a payout. These are marketing figures the company published itself. They are not independently audited, and we present them as self-reported rather than verified. They are encouraging, and consistent with the firm's age, but they are not proof.
The reliability cluster is the reason this score is not higher. Between October and December 2025, Topstep had 11 company-acknowledged TopstepX and ProjectX outages. CEO Patak said he would “make things right in January,” but the remediation was evaluation resets, not funded-account reinstatements or cash refunds. Separately, a data incident running 8 September to 16 October 2025 exposed roughly 1,920 users' names, addresses, and SSNs; Topstep first cited a DDoS attack, then attributed it to credential stuffing, and offered Experian monitoring. And McCrudden v. Topstep (case 3:26-cv-00816, filed 9 April 2026, M.D. Florida, plaintiff pro se) alleges the firm operates as an unregistered Commodity Pool Operator running a deceptive scheme to collect evaluation fees while blocking payouts. Those are unproven allegations in active litigation, and we treat them as such, but combined with 100-plus BBB complaints citing account closures near payout, they are a real and current concern.
What traders say
The aggregate picture has deteriorated. Trustpilot sits at roughly 3.4 out of 5 from about 13,900 reviews as aggregated, down sharply from around 4.5 in February 2025. That fall lines up almost exactly with the late-2025 outage wave, which tells you the rating drop is event-driven rather than a slow decline. The BBB gives an A- but lists the firm as not accredited, with a recurring complaint theme of accounts being closed near payout for alleged rule violations such as hedging or mirror-trading, sometimes with shifting stated reasons.
Be careful with prop-firm reviews generally. Payout reviews are often incentivised, and happy funded traders are over-represented on review sites while traders who fail an evaluation rarely post. On the positive side, the consistent community signal is that payouts, when approved, are fast and automated, frequently arriving within 24 hours via Aeropay or Wise with no Topstep fee. On the negative side, a BBB complaint dated 18 April 2026 captures the recurring fear that an account can be frozen just short of a payout. We cannot adjudicate any individual case, but the pattern of near-payout closures is frequent enough to be the single thing a prospective buyer should watch most closely.
“Recurring community theme: traders widely report fast, automated payouts, often arriving within 24 hours via Aeropay or Wise with no Topstep fee. (Framed as a community theme; the direct Trustpilot page returned a 403, so we do not attribute a verbatim five-star quote.)”
Trustpilot community sentiment, Trustpilot, 2025–2026 source ↗
“On April 8th, one account reached a profit of $3,700 USD. I was only four winning days away from being eligible for another payout. However, as I approached this goal, Topstep abruptly froze my accounts.”
BBB complainant, BBB, 18 Apr 2026 source ↗
Pros & cons
The strengths and weaknesses below all trace to the evidence above. The headline is a fair drawdown rule and a long payout record on one side, and a current reliability and trust cluster on the other.
- End-of-day trailing Max Loss Limit is friendlier than the intraday-trailing models used by peers like Apex
- 90/10 profit split from the first dollar for sign-ups on/after 12 Jan 2026
- Cheap entry from $49/month on the 50K Combine
- Transparent, competitive commissions (ES/NQ $3.80, MES $1.24 round-turn)
- 14-year-old real entity with a named founder and a separate NFA-registered brokerage arm
- Fast, automated payouts via Aeropay/Wise with no Topstep fee
- No minimum trading days and no time limit on the Combine evaluation
- Recurring BBB complaints of account closures near payout for alleged rule violations
- 11 company-acknowledged TopstepX/ProjectX outages in late 2025 with weak remediation
- Sept–Oct 2025 data incident exposed ~1,920 users' names, addresses, and SSNs
- Active McCrudden lawsuit alleges an unregistered CPO running a deceptive fee-collection scheme (unproven)
- Monthly-subscription model with no disclosed refund can cost far more than the headline fee
Topstep vs alternatives
Against Apex Trader Funding, Topstep's biggest structural edge is the drawdown definition. Apex uses an intraday-trailing model where the floor follows your peak unrealized balance, which permanently penalises you for giving back an intraday spike. Topstep's end-of-day trailing floor is materially more forgiving for traders who let positions run. Where Apex and similar firms often win is the up-front cost model: a one-time challenge fee can be cheaper than a Topstep subscription that rebills across several months.
On profit split, Topstep's 90/10 from the first dollar is at or above the peer norm. On payout record, Topstep's age and self-reported $1.4B give it a credibility edge, tempered by the current complaint cluster that most newer rivals have simply not existed long enough to accumulate.
How Topstep compares to the next tools in our prop firms ranking:
| Metric | Topstep | FundingPips | Tradeify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Our score | 7.2/10 | 7.4/10 | 7.3/10 |
| Starting price | From $49/mo Combine | From $36 evaluation | From $99 one-time |
| Best for | Disciplined CME-futures traders who want a forgiving end-of-day trailing drawdown | Disciplined traders who want low-cost, no-time-limit evaluations with verifiable payouts | Disciplined intraday futures traders who want one-time fees and a forgiving EOD-trailing drawdown |
| Regulation | Offshore | Offshore | Offshore |
| Full review | This page | FundingPips review → | Tradeify review → |
In short: FundingPips edges ahead of Topstep in the overall ranking, but disciplined CME-futures traders who want a forgiving end-of-day trailing drawdown is where Topstep makes its strongest case.
Who is Topstep for?
Use Topstep if…
Use Topstep if you trade CME futures specifically, you want a forgiving end-of-day trailing drawdown, you can clear the Combine in a month or two so the subscription stays cheap, and you value a long-established firm with fast automated payouts. Disciplined discretionary futures traders are the core fit.
Skip it if…
Skip it if you need forex, CFDs, or crypto; you rely on automated or algo strategies; you want a one-time challenge fee rather than a recurring subscription; or the current outage backlash, data breach, and active litigation push you past your risk tolerance right now.
Final verdict
Topstep is a genuinely strong futures prop firm with two things most rivals cannot match: a fairer end-of-day trailing drawdown and a 14-year track record with a large, if self-reported, payout history. Those are real reasons to buy. But the firm is currently working through a serious trust cluster: acknowledged outages with thin remediation, an SSN breach, an unproven but live deceptive-scheme lawsuit, and a persistent pattern of near-payout account closures. The trade-off is clear. You get a fair rule set and fast payouts when things work, against elevated reliability and enforcement risk while this period plays out. We score Topstep 7.2 out of 10: cautiously positive, with the explicit advice to watch the litigation and the near-payout-closure complaints closely before you commit.
Topstep pairs a fairer end-of-day trailing drawdown and fast payouts with a current cluster of outages, a data breach, and an active lawsuit you should weigh before buying. Open a demo account to try the platform risk-free, then fund a live account when you're ready. Trading carries risk.
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