Discover all about Topstep’s funded trading program along with their evaluation process. Analyze the insights on their performance from this Topstep Review and explore if it would be right for you:
Topstep company is based out of Illinois, Chicago, United States, was founded in 2012 and re-branded in 2020, and is regulated by the Commodities & Futures Trading Company. allows customers to trade futures that are listed on CME, COMEX, NYMEX, and CBOT.
It does not support trading of stocks, options, forex, cryptocurrencies, and CFDs. The platform is more of a trading game where traders can earn real profits. It is a popular trading platform reviewed by 3,977 reviewers on TrustPilot and has scored a 4.6/5 rating.
Table of Contents:
Topstep Review: Is it a Reliable Prop Trading Firm?
Traders are given a free trial period of 14 days on all accounts. After this, they can choose to pay a monthly subscription of between $49/month to $149/month. The type of account chosen depends on the amount of funds you want available for demo trading and after that, you can get funded with real money for free after proving your trading skills.
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Funded traders also pay a one-time fee of $149 once they qualify for free funding, but they no longer pay the monthly fee again. Once you make profits on the platform, you keep the first $10,000 earned and thereafter 90%.
Topstep provides expert tools that traders can use to trade futures. The platform is compatible with 16+ platforms, including NinjaTrader, the company’s proprietary trading platform TS Trader.
There is so much to expert from the company apart from a professional trading platform. For instance, through the trading platform, website, and apps, Topstep provides expert support for beginner and pro traders.
Such support includes free trade coaching, free commission-free trading during simulations, and funded accounts which newbies who go through coaching or not can earn by practicing their learned skills on a demo trading platform.
It also provides normal customer support, expert charting tools (extra indicators and charting objects on the TradingView integration for customizing trading experience), copy trading where users ON TopstepX can copy trades of expert traders, and a trading community where TopstepX traders can connect and chat on all issues trading.
This Topstep review aims to provide the audience with details on the company’s products and services and an in-depth review of its trading platform. We will tell you who the platform is best for with what tools users can optimize their trading and how to do it.
Trading with Topstep: How Does it Fair
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80% of reviewers who have used the platform find it a helpful tool, having given it a rating of 5/5 on TrustPilot. They rate it positively regarding the provision of coaching, professionalism of its trading platform, expert and expedited support, simplicity of use, and reliability.
It is evident from any Topstep review that the company provides significant support to traders wanting to succeed in futures trading. Signing up is quick and only requires mobile verification. KYC documents are necessary for fund withdrawals, although there are only a few supported payout methods.
However, those who rate low have concerns such as payouts not being available for some locations/countries, billing issues, which have caused some to lose their combines, and a few frustrations with the customer support service.
We also note its low leverage compared to quite several platforms, and that it is best suited for traders who are willing to take the shortest time to demo trade profitably to receive funding and then start to make a profit, yet making profits in asset trading is not that easy for beginners.
Only traders willing to apportion a significant amount of their daily time to navigate the ins and outs of futures trading are likely to succeed in such a platform.
Indeed, the success rate (those who pass Trading Combine to achieve funding status in the entire year 2023) was just 25.51% as per their statement on the website. Even experienced traders find it difficult to pass the Trading Combine, they admit.
Products and Services
#1) Accounts Types
Topstep has three different types of accounts, each with different monthly prices and offering different buying powers:
#2) Features
- Funded Trader Program: Earn real trading funds (up to 5 automated Express Funded Accounts) by experimenting with your trading skills on a simulated (demo) trading platform Trading Combine. You earn real money after achieving certain objectives. It can increase a trader’s buying power (for beginner and expert traders) when the trader continues making profitable trades.
- Funded Trader Certificate: Earn certification to share and show your expertise in trading futures.
- Trading Community: Discuss and share trading news, strategies, and other resources as you connect with other expert traders. Get expert trading tips, stats, etc. Connect via Facebook and Discord.
- Trading Resources: includes news and guides from Topstep blogs, videos, and podcasts.
- Routine-based personalized trade coaching provided for free: learn how to earn a Funded Account and how to trade live markets. There is a fee for professional trade coaching for those who need it.
- DOM (depth of market) and level II data.
With a premium subscription, you get the following extra features:
- Trade variety of futures: gold, crude oil, Nasdaq 100, Micro crude oil, E-mini natural gas, natural gas, S&P 500, DOW, silver, copper, platinum, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Gasoline, heating oil, corn, wheat, soybeans, live cattle, and lean Hogs.
- TradingView powered charts through a feature called TopstepX. TopstepX works on PC or Mac. Being the most popular charting software, TradingView supports
- Live execution of trade orders, which is powered by Plus500.
- Copy trading feature built into the trading platform.
- Commission-free trading.
- Topstep TV livestream. The live stream features guests and presenters who bring discussions on what is happening in the markets, etc.
- Up to 10x leverage for all products except for Silver (5x).
- See and get trading sentiments of all traders using The Tilt indicator which shows in real-time bias long and bias short of all traders trading the S&P, NASDAQ, Crude Oil & Gold, in real-time.
- Dedicated data feeds and customization of trading experience.
- Expert video guides on how to use the Topstep platform.
Further Reading => Most Popular Futures Trading Platforms of the Year
Trading Platforms
#1) Topstep TS Trader: This is an iOS and Android app (upcoming) as well as a web-based platform that is compatible with PCs and mobiles.
Features include the Trading Combine trader evaluation process, TradingView integration, The Tilt indicator, CME data feed, simple ‘bracket’ orders, TopstepTV, and live chat support. It also includes the ability to buy and sell futures straight from charts, hotkeys, and profit-and-loss trackers. Also, replay previous trades to analyze them.
#2) NinjaTrader 7: Advanced charting, advanced order types (besides a market order, there is the limit, stop, trailing stop, etc), integration of brokers, strategy development including developing automated trading systems and back-testing, and market replay. It supports direct trading from charts, third-party signal provision, and third-party copy trading support.
#3) TradingView: With a professional subscription, you get up to 25 indicators per chart, 8 charts per tab, 400 technical and price alerts, 20,000 historical bars, 50 parallel chart connections, trading right from the charts, etc.
#4) MultiCharts: 280 pre-built indicators plus 100,000+ public indicators, 110+ drawing tools, trading signals, chart trading, develop and backtest strategies, multiple charts on a single window, algo/robot trading where traders can get 10+ custom scripts and ideas from other users,
#5) Other trading platforms supported: Tradovate, Sierra Chart, T4, ATAS, Jigsaw, R/Trader, Volfix, MotiveWave, Bookmap X-Ray. Trade Navigator, and Investor/RT.
How to Trade With Topstep
Refer to this video:
Step #1: Browse the website and click/tap the ‘Earn Funding’ or ‘Get Started’ buttons on the homepage, choose an account, fill in, and submit the form by clicking/taping Start Trading. Verify your phone number, and you will get an email with your login and password, which you can use to log in back.
Step #2: Choose the account you want and pay for the account subscription fees. To prove your ability to be funded and earn profits, you must accomplish specific objectives and targets while demo trading.
All the targets are indicated on your dashboard and depend on the account type.
The targets include a Profit Target, Maximum Loss (what you cannot lose from profit), maximum open contracts (micro and regular mini contracts), 50% Consistency Rule (which means you cannot pass Trading Combine in a single day by making the profit given as target but you need to be consistent by making same or more than profit me on previous day/s), and Day Loss Limit.
You can reset any time to retry the challenge, but it will automatically reset if you blow the account by the maximum loss allowed.
Choose the trading platform to use from the list of available ones, click/tap Next, review details of the offer, tick to agree on terms, choose to pay with Credit or Debit Card or PayPal, and make the subscription payment to buy the Trading Combine.
You are directed to the platform chosen, and you need to log in with the Topstep details. Select the Demo or Simulation option and launch it, then you’ll be taken to the chosen trading platform.
You get a free 14-day trial period, although you can pay for a subscription immediately. Complete the Funded Account Agreement, verify email, pay for live market data if need be, etc. This will prevent your Funded Account from being abandoned. Try out the platform.
After the fourteenth day of the trial, you will need to pay a monthly fee depending on your chosen account type. You now do simulated trading to prove that you can trade without losing the assigned funding and show your ability to follow trading rules.
If this is proven, you get free funding with real money which you can use to trade or withdraw up to 50% of your account balance if you make a profit in at least 5 cumulative trades with +200 profits each after your previous payout.
Therefore, the longer it takes to get a Funded Account, the more money you lose because you will pay a monthly subscription. Hence, you require speed in attaining a Funded Account status. Once this happens, you pay a $149 one-time fee.
A Funded Account can be attained in two days at the minimum and traders have reported earning this status within that period.
As you trade, you can use automation to close open positions and working orders before the market closes. You must attain set objectives on Daily Loss Limit, Trailing Max Drawdown/Maximum Loss Limit, and Consistency Target. The objectives are tried and tested risk management tools developed by the company’s professional traders.
Step #3: Activate TradingView from the chosen platform interface, e.g. from Tradovate, go to Application Settings->Add-ons->Activate TradingView at the relevant section on the same page.
Go to TradingView and sign in. From the TradingView bar below the charts, find icons for different platforms and select your relevant platform, choose the same trading platform, select Demo account, and start trading from the TradingView interface.
You can analyze markets using TradingView charting indicators and objects as professionally as you should. The profits and loss earned and other statistics will show from the dashboard.
To copy trade on TopstepX, on the trading terminal and top left, go to Settings>Copy Trading and
Step #4: To withdraw. request a payout (minimum $125) by submitting a payout request on the app. They are processed daily. Payouts are made via ACH (takes up to 10 business days) and International Wire/Swift which takes up to 3-5 business days.
Step #5: To join the trading community on Topstep, log into your Facebook and Discord accounts and visit the relevant links.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Free personal trade coaching in addition to trading guides.
- Free Funded Accounts with which you can continue practicing trading skills while earning real money that you can trade in live markets or withdraw.
- 14+ expert trading platforms supported, which provide extra tools for customizing the trading journey.
- 20% no-code discount on purchasing the first Trading Combine.
- Very generous profit split: keep the first $10,000 earned in profits and thereafter 90%. Payout is per trader, which means can be across all Funded Accounts by the one trader.
Cons:
- Only for futures trading. Limited futures types and numbers.
- Subscription needed to continue using even if you do not earn a Funded Account status. Most benefiting traders are those who can learn and attain objectives fast enough. The subscription goes away once your account attains the Funded Account status.
Pricing
- 14-day free trial and after that a monthly subscription which ceases immediately you qualify for a Funded Account.
- The monthly subscription depends on funds available on the chosen demo trading account: $49/month for a starting balance of $50,000 (size); $99/month for an account with a trading balance of $100,000; and $149/month for an account with a starting balance of $150,000.
- $149 one-time fee per each Funded Account once your account starts being funded for free after proving to be a trader who can follow trading rules and adhere to risk trading guidelines.
Further Reading => Most Popular Paper Trading Platforms to Look For
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does Topstep actually pay out?
Hundreds of customers have withdrawn money from Topstep and details are showing the company as legit. There are several authentic reviews of clients who have withdrawn money from their Topstep accounts besides the company’s good rating on TrustPilot, given the 4,473 reviewers.
2. Is Topstep trustworthy?
Topstep is regulated by the NFA for fair and legal operations in trading. It does not take user deposits. Traders buy accounts and, if qualified, are given funds for trading. The company has paid out over $270 million to funded traders and has a base of over 80,000 traders who have passed the evaluation.
3. What is the passing rate for Topstep?
About 25.51% passed evaluation out of all customer traders who underwent evaluation between January 1, 2023, and July 1, 2023. This percentage is quite high compared to most prop trading firms. Most prop trading firms hit less than 10% on average.
4. What is the 50 rule in Topstep?
The rule establishes that a trader cannot make a profit of over 50% of the total profit targeted during a Trading Combine challenge.
The consistency rule establishes that if over 50% of the total profit targeted is earned in a single trading day (meaning during your best trading day or the day when you attain the most significant profit wins).
The trader must continue trading during the rest of the days (during the Trading Combine challenge) such as to make this percentage of total profit lower than 50% of the total profit target.
Further Reading => Most Popular Forex Trading Platforms of the Year
Conclusion
In conclusion, Topstep provides adequate support, a trading platform, and coaching for traders to succeed in the Trading Combine game and achieve a Funded Account status. Quite a few traders committed to trade achieve that status, but it does not seem so easy given that asset trading is difficult.
The pass rate of a quarter is much higher than afforded by most trading platforms most likely due to the trading support and coaching. The simulated trading emulates live market conditions. Topstep integrates with over 16 trading platforms that offer more expertise, freedom, and support to futures traders.
Time spent for review: 30 hours
Our Rating
Topstep Review 2024: Must Read Before You Trade
Topstep is a leading futures prop trading firm that educates on how to become a funded futures trader. Deeply explore the Pros & Cons of the unique proprietary firm along with their various funding options.
Price: 49
Price Currency: $
Operating System: Windows, iOS, Android
Application Category: FinanceApplication
5
Pros
- Exclusive trading guides and free personal trade coaching
- 14+ expert trading platforms are supported
- Generous Profit Split
Cons
- Limited for Futures Trading only