When you want to start your first Trading Combine Challenge, Topstep provides 3 trading account sizes:
- $50K BUYING POWER
- $100K BUYING POWER
- $150K BUYING POWER
This article will focus on the Trading Combine challenges offered by Topstep.
Overview of the $50K Topstep Challenge:
| Price | $165 |
| Rules in step 1 | |
| Trailing Maximum Drawdown | $2000 |
| Max position size | 5 |
| Daily Loss Limit | $1000 |
| Permitted products | Click here |
| Permitted times | Click here |
| Profit target | $3000 |
| Minimum trading days | 5 days |
| Rules in step 2 | |
| Trailing Maximum Drawdown | $2000 |
| Scaling Plan | 2 contracts, then 3, then 5 |
| Daily Loss Limit | $1000 |
| Permitted products | Click here |
| Permitted times | Click here |
| Profit target | $3000 |
| Consistency Target | Best day below 40% of total profits |
Overview of the $100K Topstep Challenge:
| Price | $325 |
| Rules in step 1 | |
| Trailing Maximum Drawdown | $3000 |
| Max position size | 10 |
| Daily Loss Limit | $2000 |
| Permitted products | Click here |
| Permitted times | Click here |
| Profit target | $6000 |
| Minimum trading days | 5 days |
| Rules in step 2 | |
| Trailing Maximum Drawdown | $3000 |
| Scaling Plan | 3 contracts followed by 4, 5, and then 10 |
| Daily Loss Limit | $2000 |
| Permitted products | Click here |
| Permitted times | Click here |
| Profit target | $6000 |
| Consistency Target | Best day below 40% of total profits |
Overview of the $150K Topstep Challenge::
| Price | $375 |
| Rules in step 1 | |
| Trailing Maximum Drawdown | $4500 |
| Max position size | 15 |
| Daily Loss Limit | $3000 |
| Permitted products | Click here |
| Permitted times | Click here |
| Profit target | $9000 |
| Minimum trading days | 5 days |
| Rules in step 2 | |
| Trailing Maximum Drawdown | $4500 |
| Scaling Plan | 3 contracts followed by 4, 5, 10, and then 15 contracts |
| Daily Loss Limit | $3000 |
| Permitted products | Click here |
| Permitted times | Click here |
| Profit target | $9000 |
| Consistency Target | Best day below 40% of total profits |
The Rules & Targets of the Trading Combine Accounts
Two steps are needed in the Trading Combine Challenge, and we will examine the rules for each step.
Step 1 rules & targets of the challenge
Respect the Trailing Maximum Drawdown
The Trailing Maximum Drawdown is the minimum account balance that trails the profit the trader makes on the account. Its purpose is to ensure that traders keep their gains while compelling them not to give back many of these profits to the markets. Traders can monitor this rule on their accounts using the dashboard.
| Account | Trailing Drawdown |
|---|---|
| $50k | $2000 |
| $100k | $3000 |
| $150k | $4500 |
The Trailing Max Drawdown is calculated at the end of the day.
Example:
The allowed minimum account balance in your $50000 account is $48000.
$50000 – $2000 = $48000
On your first day, if you made one trade at a profit of $1000, your balance would be $51000, and your allowed minimum balance will be $49000.
$51000 – $2000 = $49000
On the second day, if you made one losing trade of $500, your account balance would be $50500, but your allowed minimum balance will stay at $49000. This is because your Trailing drawdown doesn’t move when you make losses.
The Trailing drawdown stop trailing when it reaches the starting balance: of $50000.
Maximum position size
Maximum position size is the maximum number of contracts allowed for your account at any time. So, you can’t open more than the maximum number of contracts simultaneously.
| Account | Maximum position size |
|---|---|
| $50k | 5 contracts |
| $100k | 10 contracts |
| $150k | 15 contracts |
Do not reach the Daily Loss Limit.
It is not allowed for a trader’s net P&L to reach or exceed the Daily Loss Limit during any period of the trading day, which spans from 5:00 PM to 3:10 PM CT. Exceeding the daily loss limit renders such an account ineligible for funding.
| Account | Daily Loss Limit |
|---|---|
| $50k | $1000 |
| $100k | $2000 |
| $150k | $3000 |
This rule is violated if a trader’s net P&L should hit or exceed Daily Loss Limit at any point during the trading day.
Only trade-permitted products.
Topstep deals in the futures market, which is why most of the permitted products are concentrated in this market. Part of the Trading Combine is a subset of Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Futures Contracts which traders must be aware of.
For more information on all the permitted products, click here.
Only trade during permitted times
The permitted trading sessions start from 5:00 PM CT Sunday through Thursday and end at 3:10 PM CT Mondays through Fridays, with traders urged to close their trading positions before 3:10 PM CT.
Hit the profit target
To complete step 1 of the Trading Combine, you must reach a profit target.
| Account | Profit Target |
|---|---|
| $50k | $3000 |
| $100k | $6000 |
| $150k | $9000 |
Trade a minimum of 5 days
The required minimum number of trading days is 5, and traders must achieve this before being certified to complete this first step.
Step 2 rules & targets of the challenge
Respect the Trailing Maximum Drawdown
Like step 1, this rule is applicable in step 2, and traders are expected to respect the Trailing Maximum Drawdown. This means they must not exceed this value once a trading day ends. Again, read the full description of this rule above.
Respect the Scaling Plan
The scaling plan at Topstep limits the number of contracts the trader can use. When the trader reaches a new level of profits, he can use more contracts.
In this step 2, the trader’s account is evaluated against the scaling plan once a trading day ends. The peculiarity of the scaling plan is that it affects the buying power of traders. This is because building or losing equity will lead to a proportional increase or decrease in traders’ buying power, depending on their end-of-day P&L.
Do not reach the Daily Loss Limit.
This rule concerns the net P&L of traders as it is against the rule to hit or exceed the Daily Loss Limit at any point of the trading day. This rule is considered violated if a trader’s net P&L should hit or exceed the Daily Loss Limit at any point during the trading day.
Only trade permitted products.
Only the products permitted for trading should be traded, and Futures products made available by Topstep come from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) group. The classes of products available for trading are:
- CME Agricultural Futures.
- CME CBOT Financial/Interest Rate Futures.
- CME Equity Futures.
- CME CBOT Agricultural Futures.
- CME COMEX Futures.
- CME NYMEX Futures.
- CME Foreign Exchange Futures.
- CME CBOT Equity Futures.
For more information on all the permitted products, click here.
Only trade during permitted times
Stipulated time frames for trading must be followed, or traders will have their positions canceled. For example, trading begins at 5:00 PM CT and ends by 3:10 PM CT, but traders must have closed their positions before 3:10 PM CT.
Hit the profit target
Since this is the second step of the Trading Combine, the profit target must be achieved again to complete this step.
Respect the Consistency Target
The consistency target is the aspect of Topstep’s rules that measures the ability of a trader to generate regular profits while simultaneously managing risk. This rule is critical to passing the second step of the Trading Combine because the trader’s best day (most significant winning day) must be less than 40% of the total profits earned.
This means that if the trader’s best day should equal or exceed 40% of the trader’s total profits, the trader will have to keep trading until the best day profit percentage falls below 40%. Instead of the 5 minimum trading days in step 1, step 2 uses the consistency target.
More to know about the Trading Combine Account
What will you get after winning the Trading combine challenge?
You will get a funded account from Topstep.
What happens if I break a rule?
If you break a rule and have yet to use the Topstep reset option, your account will Rest-at-Rebill when Topstep deducts your monthly payment. This will give you access to a new trading account eligible for funding and a new starting balance without any broken rules.
What platform can I use to trade the trading Combine account?
Topstep has a variety of platforms that can be used to trade the trading combine account, including TradingView, NinjaTrader, Rtrader Pro powered by Rithmic, and TSTrader powered by Tradovate, to mention a few. In addition, there are more platforms that Topstep traders can choose from.
