Topstep runs the Trading Combine (evaluation) into the Express Funded Account (XFA), with a Live Funded Account (LFA) as the eventual goal. The rules below apply across all three stages unless noted.

Trading Hours

Topstep is day-trading only — no swing trading, no overnight holding, no Forex. All positions must be closed by 3:10 PM CT every weekday; trading resumes at 5:00 PM CT. Friday's close holds until Sunday 5:00 PM CT. Positions and pending orders begin auto-canceling at 3:10 PM CT sharp — avoid opening anything new after 3:08 PM CT, since Risk Managers start flattening at that point. You're still responsible for being flat by 3:10 PM CT regardless.

CBOT Commodities (Corn, Wheat, Soybeans, Soybean Meal, Soybean Oil): Sun-Mon 7:00 PM-7:45 AM CT, Mon-Fri 8:30 AM-1:20 PM CT, with a market pause 7:45-8:30 AM CT (no orders accepted, no manual lockout available for CBOT positions held during this window).

CME Agriculture (Live Cattle, Lean Hogs): Mon-Fri 8:30 AM-1:05 PM CT.

Maximum Loss Limit (MLL)

Topstep calls this its "singular rule" — the lowest point your balance can reach. Hit it at any point during the day, including on unrealized P&L, and the account is liquidated immediately. It cannot be adjusted or changed, no exceptions.

The MLL is a trailing limit — it rises as your end-of-day balance grows, but never moves down, and locks permanently once it reaches your starting balance. In the Trading Combine, your balance starts at full account value and the MLL starts below it. In the XFA, your balance starts at $0 (the account size is your buying power, not a starting balance) and the MLL starts negative, trailing up to lock at $0 once your balance reaches the MLL's starting distance. After your first payout, MLL is set to $0 permanently regardless of where it was.

If you breach it: Trading Combine — liquidated for the rest of the day and ineligible for funding until you reset (you can still practice trade). XFA — permanently closed (Back2Funded reactivation may be available if eligible).

Important nuance: the MLL is monitored on real-time unrealized P&L. If your open loss touches the limit, liquidation triggers immediately via market order — even if slippage during the forced exit pushes your final realized balance back above the limit. The breach already happened the moment it was touched.

Daily Loss Limit (DLL)

Optional in the Trading Combine and XFA, automatic in the LFA. Triggering it is not a rule violation — just a forced break for the rest of the session.

When it triggers: open positions flatten, pending orders cancel, no new trades until 5:00 PM CT the next session — but the account stays fully eligible for funding. A DLL set at checkout is fixed and can't be changed later, and carries over into your XFA once you pass. If you skip it at purchase, you can still add a Personal Daily Loss Limit (PDLL) manually anytime through Risk Settings — but unlike a purchase-set DLL, a PDLL can be freely adjusted or removed, which makes it easier to talk yourself out of in the moment. A Trailing PDLL option is also available, which rises with your balance (based on either unrealized or realized gains) and never moves back down.

Consistency Rules

In the Combine, exceeding 55% doesn't fail you — it raises your Profit Target. New target = Best Day ÷ 0.55. Losses do not reset your best day; it's locked in at 3:10 PM CT the day it's set and only replaced by a future day that exceeds it. You can pass in as few as 2 days if no single day crosses 55% of your total profit. Trying to "fix" a violation by earning more on the same day it was set won't work — every dollar earned that day adds directly to your best day, which raises your target further. The fix has to come from a separate trading day after that session closes.

In the XFA Consistency path, staying at or under 40% is what makes you payout-eligible (see the Payout page for the full mechanic) — it doesn't affect your ability to trade, only your ability to withdraw. Consistency resets to $0 after every payout.

Hedging

Cross-account hedging — simultaneously going long and short the same or correlated instrument (e.g., MES/ES, MNQ/NQ) across multiple accounts — is prohibited. This is different from institutional hedging (a firm managing real market risk); cross-account hedging at a prop firm eliminates directional risk specifically to game the Combine or Payout structure, which Topstep detects via position timing, size, duration, and intent.

Enforcement escalates: 1st attempt gets a real-time warning with a brief window to un-hedge (no penalty if resolved in time); repeat attempts the same day get another brief window, then auto-liquidation if not resolved; you're then required to acknowledge the hedging policy before you can trade again; after acknowledgment, any future attempt triggers immediate liquidation with no warning window; excessive attempts result in a Temporary Violation (locked out for the rest of the day) across all accounts involved; continued violations can mean permanent account closure. Accounts closed for hedging are not eligible for payouts, and any associated profits can't be withdrawn. Violations are tracked at the trader level, not just the account level, and confirmed violations cannot be appealed. Trading the same instrument across multiple accounts is fine — it's holding opposing positions simultaneously that's the violation.

Prohibited Trading Strategies

• Account stacking — repeatedly trading aggressively to hit the MLL on one account, then switching to another and repeating, hunting for a lucky big win.
• Intentionally depleting a Live Funded Account to force a failure.
• Using unfair technology — software, AI, ultra-high-speed systems, or mass data entry that manipulates or creates an unfair advantage.
• Trading outside real market behavior, or in a way that creates financial risk for Topstep.
• Trading outside the best bid or offer.
• Trading your full max position size directly into a scheduled major news event on purpose.
• Exploiting SIM fills — scalping algorithms designed around unrealistic simulator fills, mass rapid-fire trades to grab favorable queue position, reckless trades in gapped markets chasing stray fills, exploiting SIM's lower slippage for impossible stop-loss execution, or tight brackets/auto-breakeven built to exploit favorable SIM fills specifically.

Topstep is explicit that this isn't about genuine short-term trading — the violations they act on are systematic, usually hundreds or thousands of trades a day with holding times measured in seconds. A few lucky fills in the normal course of trading won't get a payout rejected.

Tradable Products

All CME Group products approved on TopstepX: CME Equity Futures (ES, MES, NQ, MNQ, RTY, M2K, NKD, MBT, MET), CME FX Futures (6A, 6B, 6C, 6E, 6J, 6S, E7, M6E, M6A, 6M, 6N, M6B), CME Agricultural (HE, LE), NYMEX (CL, QM, NG, QG, MCL, RB, HO, PL, MNG), CBOT Agricultural (ZC, ZW, ZS, ZM, ZL), CBOT Equity (YM, MYM), CBOT Financial/Interest Rate (ZT, ZF, ZN, TN, ZB, UB), and COMEX (GC, SI, HG, MGC, SIL, MHG). No Forex.