Choosing the right funded trading program is crucial, and failing to do so can lead to regret. Topstep and Earn2Trade are two of the most recognized funded futures trading programs available, both boasting large communities and numerous positive reviews. However, new traders often find deciding between these two platforms challenging. Selecting the futures-funded program that aligns with your skills and trading strategy is essential.
To assist with this decision, the Trading Funder team conducted thorough research to compare Topstep and Earn2Trade. We provide all the necessary information to help you make an informed choice and begin your journey with the funded futures trading program that best suits your needs.
Introduction to Topstep and Earn2Trade
Topstep
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Topstep (formerly known as TopstepTrader) is a funded trading program for futures traders. It was founded by Michael Patak in 2010 and registered as an LLC in 2012. Like all other funded trading programs, you have to pass a challenge/test to get funded. They offer 3 account sizes for futures traders and 3 account sizes for Forex traders. When the trader successfully passes the challenge, he will be financed by having access to a real trading account offered by “ Patak Trading Partners.”
Topstep also provides two education products: “Personal Coaching” and “Digital Coaching.”
However, our article will focus only on future trading programs, especially future trading, since Earn2Trade doesn’t offer challenges to forex traders.
Earn2Trade
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Earn2Trade is also a funded trading program that is only for future traders. Earn2Trade was founded in 2016 by Ryan Masten and David Lojko. Earn2Trade offers 2 types of challenges:
- The Gauntlet™: it’s a one-time payment challenge where you have precisely 60 days to trade on a virtual account with live data and try to reach a sure profit. If you successfully pass, you will get a real funded trading account. Learn more about The Gauntlet™ here.
- The Gauntlet Mini™: This challenge has almost the same concept as the challenges offered by other platforms (including Topstep). You will have access to a virtual account where you must trade for a minimum of days, with no full trading days; all you have to do is reach a target profit and respect multiple rules during that time.
Earn2Trade also offers a product called The Bootcamp, one of the most powerful trading academies. They offer courses, webinars, and direct mentoring in a virtual account. Finally, you will pass The Gauntlet™ evaluation that can allow you, if successfully passed, to get a funded futures trading account.
The products compared in our article:
In this article, we will compare the following:
- Topstep futures funded trading challenge: called The Trading Combine®.
- Earn2Trade futures funded trading challenge: called The Gauntlet Mini™.
Compare prices: The Trading Combine® vs. The Gauntlet Mini™
Comparing price table
Here are the prices of all offers from Topstep and Earn2Trade. Plus, the number of contracts for every account size.
| Size | 
|  |
|---|---|---|
| $25,000 | $150 (3) | *** |
| $50,000 | $170 (6) | $165 (5) |
| $75,000 | $245 (9) | *** |
| $100,000 | $315 (12) | $325 (10) |
| $150,000 | $350 (15) | $375 (15) |
Analyzing prices
As you can see, Topstep offers 3 buying power account sizes, but Earn2Trade offers 5 buying power account sizes.
The numbers in the table above after the price are the number of contracts allowed in every account. So we can see that most of the time, Earn2Trade offers more contracts than Topstep and better pricing, too.
The prices above constantly fluctuate. For example, Topstep offers 60% off on the trading combine. You can also get up to 50% discounts on Earn2Trade. In addition, there are always new promos from Earn2Trade almost every month.
Compare rules: The Trading Combine® vs. The Gauntlet Mini™
Unfair comparison with a significant difference
When we compare the rules between Topstep and Earn2Trade, we must not ignore one of the most significant differences between those two challenges.
The Gauntlet Mini™ from Earn2Trade is a one-step evaluation; you reach your target, and then you get funded.
Here are the rules that you need to follow during The Gauntlet Mini™:
- Trade a minimum of 15 days
- Do not reach the maximum daily loss
- Do not use more contracts than allowed
- Do not reach the trailing drawdown
- Trade during approved times
- Maintain consistency
The Trading Combine® from Topstep is a 2 step evaluation. When you reach your target, you will be directed to start the second step, where you must contact the same target again with different rules.
Here are the rules that you need to follow during The Trading Combine®:
| Step 1 | Step 2 |
|---|---|
| Trade Minimum 5 Days | *** |
| *** | Maintain consistency |
| Daily Loss Limit | Daily Loss Limit |
| trailing drawdown | trailing drawdown |
| *** | the scaling plan |
Why is it an unfair comparison?
Imagine you have to win a car race for a $1M prize, and you have two options:
Option 1: we ask you to win the race two times to get the prize. One time with a Mercedes and the other time with a Lamborghini.
Option 2: we ask you to win the race only one time with a Lamborghini and get the $1M prize.
Between The Trading Combine® and The Gauntlet Mini™, It’s almost the same thing; Topstep offers you a 2 step evaluation where you have to reach the same profit target every time, but with Earn2Trad, it’s only a 1 step evaluation, you have to get that target profit only 1 time. And the most important thing is that there are no significant advantages in Topstep related to the rules in the second step of the Trading Combine are almost the same in The Gauntlet Mini™, so why do we need to pass the first step?!
Comparing rules
Taking into consideration all we said in the previous paragraph, now we will compare the rules between Earn2Trade and Step 1 and Step 2 of the Topstep challenge:
Customer support differences between Topstep and Earn2Trade:
Earn2Trade has a more significant advantage in customer support than Topstep because it provides live chat support.
|
| |
|---|---|
| – Live Chat Available – Rapid response in the live chat (less than 5 min) – Email support – Response with email in less than 24 hours. – Good FAQ section | – Email Support – Response with email in less than 24 hours. – Good FAQ section |
Compare internet reviews
We can find many reviews on the internet for Earn2Trade and Topstep, but trustpilot.com gives us a clear idea about every platform and the opinion of traders about it.
So here is a recap of all reviews on Trustpilot.com until this date 10/2021:
|
| | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of reviews | 629 | 1,219 |
| Reviews Class | ||
| Excellent | 85% | 75% |
| Great | 7% | 15% |
| Average | 1% | 4% |
| Poor | 1% | 2% |
| Bad | 6% | 4% |
As we can see, Topstep has double the number of reviews than Earn2Trade, which makes Topstep one of the most trusted funded trading programs ever.
Conclusion
Topstep is the oldest, the most trusted, and the most transparently funded trading program, it has a great team, a professional cooperation with clients, and a great platform where you can follow your progression and even trade via the platform. This is why we highly recommend that traders seeking trust and professionalism choose the Topstep challenge.
But suppose you are a new trader and want your journey to funded trading programs less complicated. In that case, it’s Earn2Trade that we will recommend to you, especially since Earn2Trade has a 1-step challenge, and Topstep has a more arduous 2-step evaluation.
