Topstep Funded Accounts 2026: Combine, XFA, Live and Labs

A Topstep funded account normally starts with the Trading Combine, moves to the simulated Express Funded Account (XFA), and can progress to a real-money Live Funded Account after a Risk Team call-up. In August 2026, Topstep also opened two experimental Topstep Labs routes: 25K Static and 250K Freedom. This guide separates the established standard program from those Labs products so their prices, drawdowns and account limits are not mixed.

I have traded Topstep since 2023 on the $50K standard Combine and received multiple payouts across six Combines in the past 12 months. My comments on that route are firsthand. The 100K and 150K standard sizes, Live Funded stage, and both Labs products are documented from current Topstep sources rather than personal testing. Updated August 12, 2026.

What are the new Topstep Labs funded account routes?

Topstep Labs is a separate testing area for new account structures. As of August 12, 2026, it lists a 25K Static route for $75 one time and a 250K Freedom route for $499 one time. These products do not replace the standard Combine. They are experimental offers with their own limits.

The 25K Static XFA keeps a static maximum-loss structure and moves its MLL to $0 after the first payout. The 250K Freedom XFA has a $25,000 payout cap. If Freedom progresses to Live, Topstep treats it as a 150K tier with a $10,000 minimum starting balance. These are product-specific rules, not additions to every Topstep account.

Because Labs is explicitly a testing environment, availability and specifications have a higher change risk than the standard program. Confirm the product card and account agreement in the current dashboard before paying.

What are the three Topstep account stages?

For the standard program, progression is sequential: Combine first, XFA second, Live Funded third. The two Topstep Labs products are separate experimental entry routes and should not be treated as standard Combine sizes. Topstep does not offer a generic instant-funding bypass across its established program.

How does the Topstep Trading Combine work?

The Trading Combine is the entry point. You pick a size ($50K, $100K, or $150K), pay the monthly fee, and trade a simulated account against a profit target with rule constraints. Pass the Combine and you progress to the Express Funded Account.

Combine sizing matrix

Verified against topstep.com/topstep-prop and the Topstep help center as of July 2026.

Combine drawdown, EOD-trailing MLL with real-time breach

The Combine uses an end-of-day trailing Maximum Loss Limit. The floor moves up with the end-of-day closing balance and never moves back down; intraday highs do not move it. It is monitored in real time, though: if the balance touches the floor at any point during the session, including on unrealized P&L, the account is liquidated immediately. Once the floor trails up to the starting balance it locks there permanently. The real-time breach check, not the trail, is what ends most Combine runs.

The Combine also enforces a Daily Loss Limit ($1K / $2K / $3K by size). When intraday losses reach the DLL, the account auto-liquidates and locks for the rest of the trading day, but this is a day-end mechanic, not a Combine-failing rule. You return the next session unchanged.

The 50% consistency rule on the Combine

Topstep enforces a 50% consistency target on the Combine: your single best winning day should stay at or below 50% of the Profit Target. Exceed it and nothing fails and nothing is blocked: the Profit Target rises to best day divided by 0.50, so you have to build more profit before the Combine passes. The target does not carry into the Express Funded Account. There the Standard Path has no consistency rule at all, and only the optional Consistency Path applies one, at 40%.

2025 Combine pass rate: 16.8%

Topstep publishes 2025 cohort statistics on the program journey page. 16.8% of Combines pass, 51.8% of any-Combine entrants advance to the Funded Level, and 33.3% of Funded Level traders receive at least one payout. These are honest numbers and reflect the structural difficulty of a trailing drawdown that is checked in real time plus a 50% consistency target.

My personal Combine experience

Since 2023 on the $50K Combine I've passed multiple times. The pattern that works for me: small contract sizes (1-2 minis on ES or NQ), $200-$500 winning-day pace rather than swinging for $1K+ days (avoids consistency), and respecting the intraday MLL by setting hard stop losses on every entry. The $50K size at $49 per month is the cheapest learning lab in futures props, I've never moved up to the $100K or $150K despite having the option.

How does the Express Funded Account work?

The Express Funded Account is the sim-funded middle stage. Pass the Combine, pay the $149 activation fee (Standard Path; the No-Activation-Fee Path skips it), and you're in the XFA. From here, profits start paying out (the Combine pays nothing, the XFA is the first payout stage).

XFA drawdown, EOD-trailing MLL that locks at $0

The XFA uses an EOD-trailing Maximum Loss Limit instead of intraday. The MLL only moves at end-of-day close. Once it trails up to the original starting balance level (i.e., $0 distance from start), it locks permanently at that level as a static floor. The floor moves at the end of the day, but the breach test runs in real time: both realized and unrealized P&L count toward it, so an intraday wick that touches the floor liquidates the account on the spot, exactly like on the Combine. The relief you earn by passing is the $0 lock, not a softer breach test, and a single bad day can still end the account.

The Feb 5 2026 dual-path: Standard vs Consistency

Since Feb 5 2026, XFA traders pick one of two paths at activation. Both make you Payout-eligible on the same simulated funded account and both leave the same route to Live open, a route the Risk Team decides on; they trade off day-count vs profit-distribution in different ways.

Standard Path is for traders building winning days through small consistent profits: 5 winning days of $150+ net profit each (non-consecutive, each day locks in at 4:00 PM CT) makes you Payout-eligible. Consistency Path compresses the day-count to 3 trading days but requires you to stay at or below a 40% consistency target throughout. Neither day count is a ticket to the Live Funded Account. Both paths share identical pricing and the same EOD-trailing MLL structure.

XFA pricing carries forward from the Combine

The XFA has no monthly fee at all. Per Topstep's Help Center, the subscription tied to a passed Combine auto-cancels, and the Express Funded Account runs on rules and winning days only, with no recurring billing. Since Nov 25, 2025 Topstep prices Combines on two paths: the Standard Path at $49 / $99 / $199 monthly plus a one-time $149 activation fee when you reach the XFA, and a No-Activation-Fee Path at $95 / $149 / $229 monthly with $0 activation. The one-time cost is the $149 activation fee paid when you move from Combine to XFA. The Combine subscription itself auto-cancels once your dashboard shows a pass before the rebill date; the XFA then runs without recurring fees.

Profit split on the XFA

90% to trader, 10% to Topstep, flat from $1, for traders who joined the new Topstep dashboard on or after Jan 12 2026. Traders who joined the new Topstep dashboard before Jan 12 2026 are grandfathered into the older structure: 100% of their first $10,000 in lifetime profits, then 90/10. The 50/50 split that still circulates has never been current Topstep terms.

Winning day = $150 net profit (NOT $200)

A winning day on the XFA (and Live Funded) is any trading day with $150 or more in net profit. This is the threshold that counts toward the path-progression day count. The threshold is $150 net, not the $200 that older guides quote. Realized profit on sub-$150 days still grows your balance, but the day itself doesn't count for progression.

Stage 3: The Live Funded Account, real money

Nothing at the end of the XFA path automatically hands you a Live Funded Account. The Risk Team reviews every trader case by case on the full profile: consistency, risk management, position sizing, products traded, use of stops and risk tools, previous call-ups, Payout history, and overall account behavior. It issues the call-up when it decides you are ready, and there is no fixed number of winning days or Payouts that triggers it. You cannot decline it either: once the call-up comes, the choice is Live or closing your Express Funded Account. Live is real money, traded through Topstep's FCM partners, on TopstepX as the standard platform.

Live Funded sizing

Two separate numbers decide what a Live Funded Account looks like, and mixing them up is the most expensive mistake a multi-account trader can make. The account size comes from account sizes: Topstep averages all of your active, eligible XFAs that have taken at least one Payout (if you have taken none yet, all active XFAs are averaged instead) and rounds that average up to the next tier, $50K, $100K, or $150K. Topstep's own worked example: four 50K XFAs plus one 150K XFA average to 70K, which rounds up to a $100K Live Funded Account. The starting balance is the second number and it comes from balances, not from the Combine size you originally entered. The progression is structural, you don't separately purchase a Live account.

The 20%-tradable / 80%-reserve split of your combined XFA balances

At Live activation, 20% of your combined Express Funded Account balances is available to trade immediately. The reference number is the balances you carried in your XFAs, not the account size and not the Combine size you started on: $75,000 combined gives you $15,000 to trade and $60,000 in reserve. The remaining 80% sits in reserve and unlocks in 25% increments as you hit profit milestones equal to your size's Combine profit target ($3,000, $6,000, or $9,000). Two edges matter. Topstep tops the opening balance up from the reserve so that no Live Funded Account starts below $10,000. And the starting balance is capped at your account size, so you cannot carry more than $100,000 into a $100K Live Funded Account; anything above the cap is forfeited. This is Topstep's risk-staging model: the firm doesn't put a fresh trader on the full balance immediately; you earn access through realized profit milestones.

Daily Payout unlock: 30 winning $150+ Live days

After 30 cumulative winning days (each with $150+ net profit) on the Live Funded Account, Topstep unlocks daily Payouts: you can request as much of your unlocked balance as you want, once per day, minimum $125. Winning days earned on an Express Funded Account do not count toward that total. This is a Payout-frequency unlock, not a balance unlock: the reserve is released through the profit thresholds described above.

The 0.71% XFA-to-Live advance rate: Live is the deep end

Topstep's published 2025 metric: 0.71% of XFA traders reach the Live Funded Account stage. The XFA-to-Live attrition is the steepest gate in the program. The combination of the EOD-trailing MLL with its real-time breach check (still strict at the $0 lock), the path-specific consistency requirements, the path-progression requirements, and the practical reality that most traders cycle through XFA over months without consistently hitting the path-progression milestones produces the 0.71% figure. I haven't reached the Live Funded stage personally; the documentation here traces directly to Topstep's program-page statistics.

Cross-stage master comparison

Profit split, current 90/10 vs grandfathered 100% first $10K

The profit split is frequently misreported. The current and grandfathered structures are:

There is no 50/50 tier, never was at the post-XFA-introduction structure. The 100%-first-$10K terms are not available for new sign-ups; they only persist for traders who joined the new Topstep dashboard before the Jan 12 2026 cutoff.

Payouts, when they start, how much, how fast

Payouts begin on the XFA stage. The Combine pays nothing because it's a simulated evaluation.

• Maximum per request (since April 28, 2026): 50% of your account balance, capped by size and path: $50K $2,000 Standard / $3,000 Consistency, $100K $3,000 / $4,000, $150K $5,000 / $6,000
• Live Funded payouts have no dollar cap: each request is capped at 50% of the balance until you have logged 30 winning days in the Live Funded Account, after which you can request the full unlocked balance once per day. Minimum payout: $125. 25 countries, Germany among them, can earn an Express Funded Account but never a Live Funded Account. Those traders stop at $200,000 in total payouts.
• Timeline: internal approval can take 1 to 3 business days, then the rail runs (instant with Aeropay, often auto approved for US traders, same day with Prop-to-Brokerage, 1 to 3 business days with Wise or ACH, 5 to 10 with Wire).
• Methods: Prop-to-Brokerage, Aeropay, Wise (1-3 business days), ACH ($30 fee), Wire / SWIFT ($30 fee). Each rail starts only after internal approval clears.
• Winning day threshold for path-progression: $150 net profit

PayPal still shows up in older summaries of Topstep's payout methods. It is not a verified current Topstep payout method as of July 2026; treat it as outdated.

Topstep Brokerage, adjacent product, not part of the program

Worth distinguishing because the names overlap: Topstep also runs Topstep Brokerage, a separate retail futures product. It's a different company structure (FCM partner is Plus500US), uses TopstepX as the platform, and exists for traders who want to trade their own personal capital with Topstep's tools, not the funded-trader program. Commissions are $0.50/side on standard contracts; account approval takes ~1 business day; debit-card funding is instant.

If you're reading this article looking for the funded-trader program, Topstep Brokerage is not what you want, stay with the Combine → XFA → Live Funded path documented here. If you want to trade your own money on TopstepX with low retail commissions, Topstep Brokerage is the adjacent product.

The April 1 2026 Futures Desk acquisition

Topstep announced the acquisition of The Futures Desk on April 1 2026, with founders Michael Patak (Topstep CEO) and Josh Schwartzberg (TFD founder) framing it as "Welcome to the next era." The Futures Desk's technology is being integrated into TopstepX over coming months. From an account-spec standpoint nothing changes, the Combine sizes, XFA paths, and Live Funded mechanics are unchanged. From a daily-trading standpoint TopstepX gains TFD-derived analytics and tooling.

I miss ProjectX, Topstep retired it in 2026 and the new TFD-acquired tech promises to fill the gap. ProjectX was the platform I spent the most time on during the early Combine years; TopstepX has been my preferred Topstep platform since the rollout, and the TFD integration is a real reason to expect the platform to keep maturing rather than stagnating.

Platforms: TopstepX for new accounts (Quantower connects via TopstepX credentials, no ProjectX)

On every Topstep account the platform is TopstepX (proprietary, with TradingView drawing tools built into its charts, "The Tilt", DOM, hotkeys, 50+ futures). It is the only trading platform Topstep offers. Quantower can connect with TopstepX credentials on the Trading Combine and the Express Funded Account, and API access runs through ProjectX, billed separately from the Topstep subscription. Automated trading through the ProjectX API is not allowed on the Live Funded Account.

Discount codes and promotions

Topstep does not have a PTV affiliate program, so there is no PTV-specific promo code. Topstep does run its own occasional public promotions on Combine pricing, those apply equally to all sign-ups during a promo window and are firm-direct, not affiliate. Topstep also runs a standing Responsible Trading Discount: $10 / $20 / $30 off No-Activation-Fee Combines when you add a Daily Loss Limit at checkout. The honest framing: Topstep is the industry incumbent with the longest operating record in retail futures prop, and its own pricing page reports $1.4B+ paid out to traders (topstep.com/topstep-prop, checked August 2, 2026), so the value comes from the program's track record rather than a discount layer.

Refunds and reset credits

Topstep operates a Reset Credit Bank model: each subscription renewal adds 1 Reset Credit to your bank, and resetting a failed Combine consumes a credit from the bank rather than incurring a separate per-reset fee. Auto-reset on subscription renewal was retired at some point, credits accumulate but are applied manually.

How Topstep accounts compare to peer firms

The three-way Lucid Trading vs Apex vs Topstep comparison covers how the account structures differ across the three firms.

Trust signals on the program

For the Trustpilot 3.6-rating analysis with context for the volume of reviews (14,532 as of August 2, 2026), see Topstep Trustpilot reviews.

Cross-references to account-specific deep-dives

• Topstep Trading Combine rules, the full Combine deep-dive
• Topstep Express Funded Account, XFA dual-path detail
• Topstep pricing breakdown, the full cost stack
• Topstep discount codes, the honest promo landscape

The bottom line

Topstep's three-stage account structure, Trading Combine, Express Funded Account, Live Funded Account, is the industry's longest-running 1-step funded-trader program. Each stage trades a specific tradeoff: the Combine is the strict evaluation stage where the EOD-trailing MLL is checked in real time, which filters for traders who can size positions against unrealized drawdowns; the XFA is the sim-funded payout stage that runs the same EOD-trailing MLL, locking at $0, plus the dual-path choice (Standard vs Consistency, since Feb 5 2026); the Live Funded Account is the real-money tier where 20% of your combined XFA balances is tradable and 80% sits in reserve, staggering risk exposure as you build the track record. Profit split is 90/10 from $1 for current sign-ups (100% first $10K only grandfathered pre-Jan 12 2026), winning-day threshold is $150 net profit, and 2025 cohort metrics show 16.8% Combine pass / 51.8% any-Combine to Funded / 33.3% paid / 0.71% to Live Funded. The $50K Combine since 2023, with multiple payouts across 6 Combines in the past year, has been my path; the program rewards small consistent days, respects the real-time MLL monitoring on the Combine, and pays out reliably on the XFA and beyond. The April 1 2026 Futures Desk acquisition is the latest signal that TopstepX (the platform you'll spend the most time on across all three stages) is being actively invested in rather than left to age, which matters more for daily trading experience than any individual account-spec change.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Topstep's three account stages?

Topstep runs a 1-step funded-trader program with three sequential stages. (1) Trading Combine, paid monthly evaluation on a simulated account with $50K, $100K, or $150K starting balance. (2) Express Funded Account (XFA), sim-funded stage you reach by passing the Combine, with EOD-trailing drawdown and a dual-path since Feb 5 2026. (3) Live Funded Account, real-money trading via Topstep's FCM partners. Its account size is the average of your active, eligible XFA account sizes rounded up to the next tier, up to $150K, and it opens with 20% of your combined XFA balances tradable and 80% in reserve. Profits are paid out from XFA onward.

How much does the Topstep Trading Combine cost?

Combine pricing as of July 2026 on the Standard Path: $50K Combine is $49 per month, $100K is $99 per month, and $150K is $199 per month, plus a one-time $149 activation fee per account when you pass the Combine and move into the Express Funded Account. Since Nov 25, 2025 there is also a No-Activation-Fee Path at $95 / $149 / $229 per month with $0 activation fee. There is no separate evaluation purchase; the monthly subscription continues until you pass, fail, or cancel.

What is the Topstep Express Funded Account (XFA)?

The Express Funded Account is Topstep's sim-funded stage between the Trading Combine and the Live Funded Account. It uses an end-of-day-trailing Maximum Loss Limit that locks at the original starting balance once it trails up to $0 (no more drawdown room going down from the start). The floor moves only at end of day, but the breach is checked in real time on unrealized P&L, so a wick into the floor closes the account. Since Feb 5 2026, traders pick one of two paths at activation: Standard Path (5 winning days of $150+ net profit, non-consecutive, each day locking in at 4:00 PM CT) or Consistency Path (3 trading days staying at or below a 40% consistency target). Both are Payout-eligibility paths on the same account, and neither one triggers the move to the Live Funded Account by itself; that call-up is a Risk Team decision.

What is the difference between the XFA Standard Path and Consistency Path?

Both XFA paths sit on the same account and keep the same route to Live open, but they trade different parameters. Standard Path: 5 winning days, any day with $150+ net profit counts, days are non-consecutive and lock in at 4:00 PM CT. Consistency Path: 3 trading days while staying at or below a 40% consistency target, fewer days but a tighter profit-distribution constraint. There is no minimum profit floor for the first payout beyond the winning-days requirement. Both have the same trailing EOD MLL that locks at the starting balance and the same XFA pricing. Pick Standard if your edge is small consistent days; pick Consistency if you want the faster three-day route and your profits are evenly distributed.

How does the Topstep Live Funded Account work?

The Live Funded Account is real-money trading via Topstep's FCM partners. Its size is the average of the account sizes of your active, eligible XFAs with at least one Payout, rounded up to $50K, $100K, or $150K. The starting balance is a separate number: 20% of your combined XFA balances is tradable and 80% is held in reserve, with a $10,000 minimum and anything above your account size forfeited. Each profit milestone, equal to your size's Combine profit target ($3,000, $6,000, or $9,000), unlocks another 25% of the reserve into your tradable balance. Payout eligibility is not tied to that capital expansion: you can take Payouts while still trading with partial account access. After 30 winning days of $150+ net profit on the Live account, Topstep unlocks daily Payout requests (once per day, minimum $125). Express Funded winning days do not count toward that total. The call-up to Live is a Risk Team decision reviewed case by case on your whole trading profile, not a day count you can tick off, and it cannot be declined. Topstep reports 0.71% of XFA traders reach Live Funded, so this is the deep end of the program.

What is Topstep's profit split?

For traders who joined the new Topstep dashboard on or after Jan 12 2026, Topstep pays 90% of profits to the trader and keeps 10%, flat from $1. Traders who joined the new Topstep dashboard before Jan 12 2026 are grandfathered into the prior structure: 100% of their first $10,000 in lifetime profits, 90/10 thereafter. The "50/50 first $5K then 90/10" claim that still circulates has never been correct for current Topstep terms. The split applies on the XFA and Live Funded stages; the Combine is sim-only and pays no profits.

What is a winning day on Topstep?

A winning day at Topstep is any trading day with $150 or more in net profit (after commissions). The threshold is $150 net, not the $200 that older guides quote. Winning days count toward the XFA Standard Path requirement (5 winning days; the Consistency Path instead counts 3 trading days under a 40% consistency target) and the Live Funded daily-Payout milestone (30 winning days). Days with profit below $150 don't count toward these progression metrics, even though the realized profit still grows your account balance.

What is Topstep's drawdown structure across the three stages?

Drawdown works the same way on the Trading Combine and the Express Funded Account: the Maximum Loss Limit floor moves only with the end-of-day closing balance, never with intraday highs, but it is monitored in real time, so an unrealized wick into the floor liquidates the account on the spot. On the Combine the floor locks once it reaches the starting balance; on the Express Funded Account it locks at $0, and it is reset to $0 after every Payout. The Live Funded Account adds the 20%-tradable / 80%-reserve split of your combined XFA balances on top, with reserve unlocking in 25% increments at profit milestones. The real-time breach check is the strict part, not the trail.

What were Topstep's 2025 cohort results?

Topstep publishes program statistics on topstep.com/topstep-prop and the program journey page. For 2025: 16.8% of Trading Combine attempts pass. Of all Combine entrants, 51.8% advance from any-Combine attempt to the Funded Level. Of those at the Funded Level, 33.3% received at least one payout. 0.71% of XFA traders reach the Live Funded Account stage. These are challenging numbers and reflect the longest operating history in retail futures prop without inflated marketing-funnel claims.

Can I buy multiple Topstep Combine accounts?

Yes. There is no limit on the number of Trading Combines you can hold, and traders frequently run several in parallel to increase the chance of passing one or to test different position-size strategies. Each Combine carries its own monthly fee. On the funded side the cascade tightens: up to 5 active Express Funded Accounts at a time, and exactly one Live Funded Account. Pass a Combine while you already hold 5 XFAs and the new account goes on hold until one of them closes. An XFA with no trading activity for more than 30 days may be closed, and XFAs cannot be put on hold to park them. When the Live Funded Account is granted, all Express Funded Accounts are closed, and while that Live account is active a passed Combine cannot be activated into a new XFA at all. That option returns only if the Live Funded Account is lost.

How is Topstep Brokerage different from the prop program?

Topstep Brokerage is a separate retail product, not part of the funded-trader program. It runs through Plus500US as the FCM, uses TopstepX as the platform, and is for traders who want to trade their own personal capital with Topstep's tools, $0.50 per side standard contract commissions, ~1 business day account approval, instant debit-card funding. There is no evaluation, no profit split, no payouts: it's straight retail futures trading. The prop side (Combine → XFA → Live Funded) is what this article covers.

Does Topstep have a PTV affiliate code or discount?

No. As of July 2026, Topstep does not have a PTV affiliate program, so there is no PTV-specific promo code or discount available through this site. Topstep occasionally runs its own public promotions on Combine pricing, those are firm-direct and apply equally to all sign-ups during a promo window. The honest framing here: Topstep is the industry incumbent with the longest track record in retail futures prop, and its own pricing page reports $1.4B+ paid out to traders (topstep.com/topstep-prop, checked August 2, 2026); the value comes from the program itself, not from a discount layer.

What does the April 1 2026 Futures Desk acquisition mean for Topstep accounts?

Topstep announced the acquisition of The Futures Desk on April 1 2026, with TFD's tech being integrated into TopstepX. The acquisition does not change account specs (Combine sizes, XFA paths, Live Funded mechanics), those remain as documented above. What changes is the platform side: TopstepX is gaining TFD-derived analytics and tooling, and the prior ProjectX platform was retired in 2026. From an account-progression standpoint nothing changes; from a daily-trading-experience standpoint TopstepX is the platform you'll spend time on across all three stages.

Which Topstep account size should I start with?

For most traders the $50K Combine is the right entry point: $49 monthly, lowest dollar risk on the activation fee if you pass, and the smallest contract caps so position sizing stays disciplined. The $100K and $150K Combines scale up the contract caps and profit targets but also increase monthly cost and Combine difficulty. Since 2023 I've stayed on the $50K Combine and pulled multiple payouts across 6 Combines, for the program's mechanics, $50K is the proven entry point.

What are the primary sources?

PTV uses these first-party pages as the current owners for this guide’s material facts. Each link supports only the scope named below; it does not verify every sentence on this page.

• Trading Combine Parameters — Trading Combine parameters.
• Express Funded Account Parameters — Express Funded parameters.
• Live Funded Account Parameters — Live Funded parameters.
• Topstep Pricing and Payment Questions — Current pricing and payment terms.

Evidence boundary: Paul’s account history is first-hand evidence and remains separate from Topstep’s current program documentation.