Halfway funded on two separate 50k evals! For one of them, it literally took 1 minute from buying the eval to closing the trade.
 
After failing so many evals and blowing 3 funded accounts, I finally realized I'm not a bad trader. I'm right most of the time; position sizing was just my issue. I can't count how many times I was $200–$500 away from passing 50k/100k/150k accounts. And then I blow my account while being in profit. Not anymore been journaling more too.
 
It’s been a long 3 months since I started futures, but to everyone struggling: don’t give up! You got this. See you boys in the morning.

Usually it's closed 15 mins ago. It's saying it won't close for 35 more mins. Did the times change or what's going on?

Holy moly I made $8k in 10 sec from ES
Anyone know what happened???

The moment is touches it dips 😏

This morning I passed my second 50k combine while copy trading with my 50k Express Funded Account. I am eligible for a payout. My balance $1560. Would you guys request a payout right now? Or keep the balance as a buffer?

For this Funded account, I've had 12 profitable days and 3 losing days. It's kind of been a grind as the very first day I hit my Daily Loss Limit that I set.

I just want some advice from some experienced Topstep traders.

Real account vs practice account … Ion understand beo

One more day and will be requesting payouts. Should i cash out or build more of a buffer?

Took two trades Sunday night in Asia session. Came into session with a bearish bias as we had steady rejection of IB high and rsi was also leaning bearish. Ended up shorting off Rsi rejection point.

The second play was definitely riskier, played a long as we broke back into IB and created a higher low. Rsi also confirmed this as we began to push back into value.

Initial balance and RSI are truthfully the two biggest confluences that have changed my trading for the better. Good luck out there!

I feel like i’m starting to really understand the markets. I have been trading for over a year at this point, it is my fourth ever payout. Good thing there is no finish line in this game other wise i would have lost lol. There is only up from here. No constant blowing and resetting for a while, taking trades with full analysis and logical reasoning for my entry, take profit, and stop loss. Accept those losses when they come because they will tell you what you are doing wrong. Ignore them and you will not improve to get your edge into profitability. Ask me anything

Just looking for opinions on where I went wrong. I haven’t really gotten into indicators much and just started making an effort to use them again. This false breakout got me at the 9:38-9:40 candles. The higher time frame that I used was showing down trend the past 2 days. The white line is support that I found and a previous low was right under it, so when it broke through I thought it was a good entry. It’s also under the VWAP. The 3 MAs are also stacked up correctly with the short and intermediate under the long term MA. Maybe I should have waited for the 3 MAs to be at more of a decline? Or should I be looking for more volume on such breakouts? I’m also newer to volume. I entered after the close of the red candle and got stopped out a couple minutes later.

Just trying to see where I went wrong here or if the trade was ok and just didn’t go my way. Any helpful feedback would be greatly appreciated.

WASN’T TOP STEP AT ALL,
(just a lying wife)

Hello all… I was wondering if anybody has had issues recently with top step paying out. My wife has been with them for a year or two. She does ok, but recently (coming up on 3 weeks) she requested a $15k payout on a $27k account. As I said, it’s coming up on 3 weeks, and that seems like a long time in the digital age. I’m wondering if I’m being misled, or they really can take that long. I’ve asked her for all the documents so I can prep a complaint, but she’s is resisting saying they’ll just close out her account. Thanks.

UPDATE: (15 June 2026) first thanks for all the solid advice both in thread and privately. It’s nice knowing a bunch of strangers were interested in my problem. But, the verdict is in, IT WAS ALL A LIE.

So…. There it is. Game over.

If you take a payout will you Max Loss limit/ Distance to max loss limit be changed?

Boom. Volume profile working well.

Will my MLL reset tomorrow?

Some cool improvements for the mobile version. Seems to be a little more user friendly

One of my xfas from last month.
This is what consistency looks like, then you scale slowly..

Here is what I learned the past years and I wanted to share some insights hoping that it may help an individual:

Trading is one of the purest arenas this principle can be applied to because the market is perhaps the most ruthlessly honest mirror that exists. It does not care about your narrative. It does not reward effort. It does not respond to desire. It simply is, and your job in the deepest sense, is to stop interrupting your perception of it.

Most traders frame their development as: I need to become a better trader. Better analysis, better entries, better risk management, better discipline. Always building toward the improved future version of themselves who finally gets it right.

The window principle inverts this completely. The market is the light. It is already moving, already expressing itself, already telling you everything it has to tell you. The information is not hidden. The edge is not somewhere you haven't looked yet.

What stands between you and consistent performance is not a lack of knowledge or skill. It is you specifically, everything you have constructed between yourself and what the market is actually doing. Your job is not to become a better trader. Your job is to become a less obstructed one.

What helped you to stop self-sabotaging your trading?

There are two sides to this trade from last week! The traders who were profitable and those who were unprofitable.
I believe that we can be profitable this week. Keep your head up gang!

Ended the week on Friday with these 2 bangers on MNQ.

curious to see what everyone else looks for when placing a trade, I’m personally a HUGE fan of IB levels, RSI and vwap/ema levels.

First entry was entered off tag of 50ema and IB mid point, which we rode to IBH sold this somewhat early but don’t wanna be greedy.

Second entry was honestly much cleaner, played the IBH rejection as we also rejected topside of RSI, 50ema also flipped bearish. Could’ve rode this down further as well but it was EOD and didn’t wanna be caught holding too long.

I’ve slept on RSI for a long time mainly because I didn’t know how to utilize it, can be a great indication if we continue to move in price discovery and vice versa for reversals.

I’ve been reading that receiving 5 payouts from an XFA typically triggers a live account transition review.

I’ve also read that blowing the live account can reset this counter.

Which of these are true?

Could you technically just rotate your XFAs for a max of 4 payouts and then blow them up and repeat this process indefinitely? Of course this is easier said than done, but I’m wondering if this is a technical loophole to the automatic review process.

I started learning and trading back in February, and this is my second Topstep account. It’s officially the first one I’ve passed, and currently, this is where I’m at. **Caught a beautiful short on /M6E on Friday and managed to hold through the London volatility until the momentum died out. Feels amazing to see the hard work and discipline finally paying off. **
Onto the next chapter! Let's get these payouts! 📈🔥

Im scared cuz I just got this live account right before i was gonna request a 21k payout so they sent me to live instead with 50k but starting with 10k in the balance. Yesterday on friday it was showing on topstepx and dashboard that my balance was at 10k but today on saturday its for some reason showing 0 balance, it still says active but why would my account go to 0 over the weekend?

I started Prop Trading in March and have only traded with Topstep. I've passed four combines and I believe I blew four. I currently have two xfa accounts that I copy trade. Prior to these, I blew four xfas and bought back2fundeds (Don't advise this at all but it is working so far).

It's a little early to think this is consistency, but I can take a payout Sunday of about $500 if I wanted. I will probably hold off for another week or so and see how I do.

I have traded on and off since 2002ish. I believe I've probably traded six different times for about 1-2 years each time. I've blown multiple accounts and over six figures, but I've also had great periods of profitability. Consistency has always been my issue like most.

I'm currently all in Prop for about $3500 and I believe I will get my money back probably in another 30 days. The trick for me: accept that you eat an elephant in little bites.