TopStep has been funding futures traders since 2012 — longer than almost anyone — and its Trading Combine works differently from the forex-style challenges. The drawdown trails your equity high instead of sitting at a fixed floor, the daily loss limit is a hard dollar number, and the consistency rule means your best day can't carry the whole evaluation. Forex-challenge instincts transfer badly here.
TradingSFX supports trailing drawdown natively. The built-in TopStep $50K Combine preset tracks the $2,000 trailing drawdown, the $1,000 daily loss limit, the $3,000 profit target, and your best-day percentage — so the two rules that actually end Combines are on your dashboard, not in your head.
TopStep challenge rules at a glance
Based on publicly available information — always verify current rules with TopStep before trading.
Trailing maximum drawdown
$2,000 (trails equity high)The floor rises with your equity peak. Make $1,500 and give it back, and you're $1,500 closer to failing than when you started — the rule forex traders most often misjudge.
Daily loss limit
$1,000A hard dollar number, 2% of the $50K account. In futures terms: a handful of ES points at full size. Contract sizing is the whole game.
Profit target
$3,0006% of account size. Modest by design — TopStep wants to see controlled, repeatable trading, not a hero run.
Consistency rule
Best day ≤ 50% of total profitOne monster day can't make up the bulk of your $3,000. If your best day is $2,000 of a $3,200 total, you're not done — you need more profitable days, not more profit.
Minimum trading days
2 daysA low formal minimum, but the consistency rule makes the effective minimum higher: you need multiple meaningful green days regardless.
TopStep offers $50K, $100K, and $150K Combines with scaled dollar limits. The TradingSFX preset covers the $50K; the others take a minute with custom rules — set drawdown type to 'trailing' and enter the dollar values as percentages of account size.
Why traders fail the Trading Combine
Misreading the trailing drawdown
Static-drawdown instincts say 'I'm up $1,800, I have room.' The trailing rule says your floor moved up $1,800 too. Giving back winners hurts twice here — once in P&L, once in headroom. A journal that shows the current floor after every trade prevents the misread.
Failing consistency after hitting the target
Traders hit $3,000 with one $1,800 day and think they've passed — then learn their best day is 60% of profit. Tracking best-day percentage live turns the consistency rule from a surprise into a plan.
Oversizing contracts into the $1K daily limit
Futures leverage makes the $1,000 daily limit brutally fast at full contract size. The journal's per-trade risk data shows whether your sizing actually fits inside the daily limit with room for two losers.
How TradingSFX tracks your TopStep account
Native trailing drawdown
TradingSFX supports trailing drawdown as a first-class drawdown type: the Challenge Status Card recalculates your rising floor from your equity high on every logged trade.
Consistency percentage, live
Your best day as a percentage of total profit, tracked continuously — so you know exactly how many more green days the 50% rule requires before payout review does.
Daily loss in dollars
Today's P&L against the $1,000 cap, visible before the next entry. Futures traders don't get slow breaches.
Per-symbol futures analytics
Win rate and expectancy broken down by instrument (ES, NQ, GC, CL…) and by time of day — the data that tells a Combine trader which setups actually pay for the evaluation.
TopStep journaling — frequently asked questions
Yes, natively. The TopStep $50K Combine preset sets drawdown type to trailing, and the dashboard recalculates your floor from your equity high after every logged trade — the same logic the Combine applies.
Start tracking your TopStep challenge today
Free plan, no credit card. Attach the TopStep preset to a session and your next trade is already tracked against every rule.
TradingSFX is an independent trading journal and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by TopStep. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Rules referenced on this page are based on publicly available information and may change — always verify current rules with the firm.