TopStep Review 2026

TopStep Review: the short version

TopStep is a futures prop firm and the longest-running one AFM covers – 15 years, a self-reported $1.5 billion+ paid out and more than 750,000 traders through the programme.

You buy a Trading Combine, a monthly subscription starting at $49 for $50,000 of buying power. Hit the profit target without breaching the Max Loss Limit and you move to a funded account, keeping 90% of what you make, with payouts of up to $12,000 at a time.

Two things set TopStep apart from the rest of this sector. TopstepBrokerage LLC is a registered introducing broker and an NFA member (ID# 0567079) – almost no prop firm has any regulatory registration at all. And the rule set is refreshingly short: Topstep markets the Max Loss Limit as “the One Rule”.

Two things to keep in view: those funded accounts are simulated, and the subscription recurs monthly until you pass.

What is TopStep?

TopStep is a proprietary trading firm for futures – CME products like the E-mini S&P, Nasdaq, crude oil and gold, traded in mini and micro contracts. It is not a broker and it does not hold client deposits.

This is the first thing to get straight, because it is different from every other prop firm in AFM’s set. FTMO, The5ers, IC Funded and iFunds are forex and CFD firms. TopStep is futures. The instruments are exchange-traded rather than over-the-counter, contract sizes are fixed, and position limits are counted in contracts rather than lots. If your experience is forex, expect a real learning curve.

The structure is the classic two-stage one: an evaluation you pay for, then a funded account you trade for a share of the profits. What Topstep has that newer firms do not is a long, public operating record and a genuinely large payout history.

Is TopStep regulated? Partly – and the distinction matters

This is the most misunderstood thing about TopStep, and getting it right cuts both ways.

The genuine part: TopstepBrokerage LLC is a registered introducing broker and a member of the National Futures Association, NFA ID# 0567079. That is a real registration with a real US regulator, and essentially no other prop firm in this comparison has anything equivalent. iFunds holds only company registrations; FTMO and The5ers hold no financial licence at all.

The limit of it: that registration covers TopstepBrokerage LLC, the brokerage arm through which you can trade your own capital. The Trading Combine, Express Funded Accounts and Topstep Labs are operated by TopstepTrader, LLC, and Topstep describes them as “realistic simulations of trading under actual market conditions”.

So: your funded account is a simulation, and the NFA registration does not extend to it. You are not trading real market positions during the Combine or on an Express Funded Account; you are being measured against live prices, and paid a share of the simulated profit.

That is standard for the sector and Topstep is open about it. But “TopStep is NFA regulated” – a line that appears widely online – is only half true, and the half that is missing is the half you are actually using.

Trading Combine pricing and targets

Three account sizes, priced monthly:

$50K – $49/month. Profit target $3,000, Max Loss Limit $2,000, up to 5 mini / 50 micro contracts.
$100K – $99/month. Profit target $6,000, Max Loss Limit $3,000, up to 10 mini / 100 micro.
$150K – $199/month. Profit target $9,000, Max Loss Limit $4,500, up to 15 mini / 150 micro.

All three carry a 50% Consistency Target, a reset fee equal to the monthly cost, a monthly reset credit included on rebill, and a $149 Express Funded activation fee once you pass.

The recurring cost is the part most reviews get wrong. This is a subscription, not a one-off challenge fee. Pass in a month on the $50K and you have paid $49 plus $149 activation. Take six months and you have paid $443. Topstep says the Combine can be passed in as little as two days, and that is true – but plan for the monthly cost, because your break-even moves every month you do not pass.

Note also the risk-to-target ratio: on the $50K you must make $3,000 while never losing $2,000. On the $150K, $9,000 against $4,500. The larger accounts ask you to make twice your risk allowance rather than 1.5 times.

The rules: one limit, one consistency test

Topstep brands the Max Loss Limit as “the One Rule”, and the simplicity is real – it is a trailing maximum loss that follows your account equity upward, and breaching it ends the Combine.

Trailing is the important word. On a $50K account the limit is $2,000, so your floor starts at $48,000. Trade up to $52,000 and the floor rises to $50,000. Fall back to $49,500 and you have breached it – even though you are still up $500 on where you started. This is the opposite of iFunds‘ static drawdown and it catches people who bank a good week and then give some back.

The 50% Consistency Target means no single day may account for more than half your total profit. It exists to filter out traders who make everything on one lucky session, and it is reasonable – but it means a single outsized winning day can leave you needing to grind out matching profit before you qualify.

On the Express Funded side, payouts require either five winning days of $150+, or a 40% Consistency Target after a minimum of three trading days. Max Loss Limits there are $2,000 / $3,000 / $4,500 for the $50K / $100K / $150K sizes, and reactivation costs $599 / $699 / $829.

Payouts and the 90% split

This is where TopStep is genuinely strong. The split is 90/10 in your favour on all qualifying payouts, and traders can request up to $12,000 at a time.

Topstep reports a 99.26% payout approval rate and an average instant-payout time under 9 seconds, with more than 7,000 traders paid weekly and $1.5 billion+ paid out over 15 years. Those are self-reported figures and should be read as such – but the sector’s most common failure is slow or refused payouts, and a firm publishing an approval rate at all is unusual.

Set against iFunds‘ 50% split, the difference is stark: on $10,000 of profit you keep $9,000 at TopStep and $5,000 at iFunds.

Who TopStep suits

TopStep makes sense if you trade or want to trade futures rather than forex; you want the best profit split in this comparison; you value a long operating record and published payout statistics; or you want a rule set you can hold in your head.

Look elsewhere if you trade forex – the instruments and margin behave differently and the transition is not trivial; you would struggle with a trailing drawdown, in which case a static-drawdown firm suits better; or you expect to take several months, since the subscription compounds.

And be clear that the funded account is simulated. If you specifically want your orders in the live market, TopstepBrokerage is a separate product for trading your own capital.

How TopStep compares

TopStep is the strongest firm in AFM’s prop set on economics and track record, and the only one with any regulatory registration – though that registration sits on the brokerage arm, not the Combine.

Against FTMO, TopStep pays a slightly better split and trades a different market. Against iFunds, TopStep asks you to pass an evaluation and then pays 90% rather than 50%. Against The5ers, the drawdown model is the key difference – TopStep trails, The5ers is static.

Conclusion: is TopStep worth it?

TopStep scores 8.3, the highest of AFM’s prop firms. Fifteen years of operation, a 90/10 split, published payout statistics, instant transfers and a single headline rule is a strong, mature product, and the NFA-registered brokerage arm gives it a credibility no competitor here can match.

The honest caveats are that the funded accounts are simulated, the NFA registration does not cover them, the cost recurs monthly until you pass, and there is a $149 activation fee waiting on the other side.

If you trade futures and can work within a trailing drawdown, TopStep is the best-run option in this category. If you trade forex, start with FTMO instead – the right market matters more than the right firm.

1. Topstep prop firm – Trading Combine pricing and targets — www.topstep.com/topstep-prop (checked September 2026)
2. Topstep Express Funded Account rules — www.topstep.com/express-funded-account-rules (checked September 2026)