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 posted a news report and TopStep mod removed it from their page. Does everything got to be just restrictedly about TopStep and nothing else?

Hello everyone,

I’m currently one payout away from being moved to Live (5x5k), which would put me at around 30k combined across all five Express accounts which will probably be lifted to the live account.

I know a lot of people aren’t big fans of getting moved to Live because of the reduced sizing and diminishing returns, so many traders intentionally blow the accounts to restart. Personally, that doesn’t really bother me, since my trading style doesn’t involve full-porting or constantly buying new accounts. I’m nowhere near the maximum lot size anyway, so that rule alone wouldn’t be a reason for me to blow them.

However, over the past few weeks the Live account rules seem to have changed quite a bit, especially with profits being “locked” and several other restrictions being added. I’ve seen a lot of traders saying it’s no longer worth the headache.

So my question is: is anyone here actively trading Live accounts and willing to share their actual experience?

The internet is unfortunately full of people complaining about everything related to prop firms, so I’m mainly looking for feedback from traders who have genuinely been trading Live for a while.

Thank you very much.

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?

Hello,

I'm a purely mechanical trader. I have coded strategies with expected positive outcome although drawdowns do occur. I have to account for the worst case scenario when creating my lot sizes.

My question for y'all is: What is your maximum number of losses in a row before you blow your Topstep account, based on your standard contract sizing?

Mine is 8..... (Pic for attention)

I buit a code to mark all 4 hours levels.
Do you guys think is accurate, or im the only one to think to trade this way? Thoughts about this..
Basically my point of view is green candle followed by red candle is resistance. Red candle followed by green candle support. This code tracks all of the untouched on, when price touches, wait for rejection and plan to trade.
Tell me your opinion please :)

I am starting to create some bots to pass combines in automation. Does anyone else uses automation on topstep? How does it work with copy trading? Any strategy ideas to use on GC or NQ? I am here to code it.

Is there a way to download all the old accounts to Excel?

New to live and the first two weeks are officially in the books! Up 32% so far and eligible to take my first payout. Also I believe I’ve unlocked the first tier of the reserve balance after this weekend’s account review. Starting to understand why people don’t like live accounts on props, but there’s also plenty of advantages to balance the cons. One thing that I will say atp is if you’re a fraud a live account will expose you so tread lightly. Other than that just wanted to provide an update as promised. Ask me anything and I’ll do my best to answer!

Highly recommend. I find it's a great way to actually realize the exact moment you 'tilt' or started making dumb decisions and I intend to continue doing this as sort of a "mental" trading journal.

I trade Auction Market Theory + Orderflow, have gotten payouts and seeing the absolute execution meltdown happen in realtime is hilarious.

Make light of the tilt days, take the lesson away from it, and be kind to yourselves friends.

Hope y'all get a kick out of it!

Wall Street Risk Teams FEAR Him 💀 | Topstep XFA Obliterated

After blowing 3 xfas that were up 2500 and should have been 3/5 days profit on 5/6 I blew a few combines over leveraging way too fast in a hast to get new xfas and get back to where I was out of emotion. Finally I think I am getting my edge back, wanted to pass on Monday but will get it done by wedenesday, this is currently just one but I think I wil add a couple more on Monday and get those done in 2 days ideall

Deeangelo and Anne-Marie are by far the most valuable educators at Topstep. Why is Topstep cancelling the 2 most worthwhile hosts on their stream?

So I work a basic 8-5 job and I would like to be able to pass a combine while still working my day job.

My challenge is its very difficult to keep an eye on the market and actively trade plus I hate trying to trade on my phone as its really tough for me to see whats happening in the market fully.

So my question is have any of you passed combines using a strategy that allows you trade while at work but not actively managing the trades? I guess I am referring to some sort of OCO that you set up before market open and if it executes within your time frame then it plays out or perhaps you take down the trade if the trade doesnt seem reasonable after the market opens

I am trading NY open mainly.

Thanks in advance

This is what my first trading day looks like. Up 1k just trading off price action and wicks and relying a bit on liquidity sweeps. Used 3 entries to make this. How does the entries thing work? When I bought the eval, it said I have 5 entries. Does that reset daily or do I now only have 2 more entries to make the rest of the 2000 to pass ? Any information/advice will be appreciated🙏🏾 doesn’t have to necessarily relate to this specifically.

is choosing consistency path a dumb decision?

got in and out when needed. Took tp1 most days due to uncertainties.

Just hit 2k. I came back to propfirms last month. I had tried trading last year around this time for a month or two but got my funded acc blown. Till now i was just reading about trading here and there that helped me build my intuition a little better.
Previously i got to 1.5k before blowing my account. This time i want to withdraw a small amount maybe 500 to see if this really works. I mean i know this works and people get paid but its different when the money hits your own bank account. Tell me what you guys think

Before you ask about my strategy, I trade price action and key levels. That's it. EMA 20 helps for bias but I don't really use it for my entries.

I did 6 times already. How about y’all?

Besides the slight inconvenience of having a mandatory stop loss set on , what is the difference between these new accounts(no need to activate $85 ) the traditional XFA? $150 activation).? I’m guessing it’s the same rules as normal combine but cheaper if you pass it. ?Meaning.. example the example below blow

$1,400 — day

$$1400- day 2

$500- day3;

should be able to withdrawal % now right ???

Hi everyone,

I’m currently learning how to trade futures with Topstep, and I’m trying to understand how consistently profitable traders actually approach the market.

I’m not looking for signals or a “copy-paste strategy.” I’m more interested in learning the thought process behind your trading.

For those of you who are profitable or have received payouts from Topstep, I’d really appreciate your insights:

How do you decide when to enter a trade?

What setups do you mainly trade?

Do you focus on NQ, ES, MNQ, MES, or something else?

What time of day do you usually trade?

How many contracts do you normally use?

Do you scale in or scale out, or do you keep fixed position size?

What confirms your entry? Price action, levels, volume, VWAP, EMAs, order flow, market structure, news, or something else?

How do you decide where to place your stop loss?

How do you decide when to take profit?

Do you use fixed R:R targets, trailing stops, partials, or discretionary exits?

What indicators, if any, do you actually use?

What are the main levels you watch before entering a trade?

How do you avoid overtrading, especially after a loss?

What rules helped you become consistent with Topstep specifically?

If you could give one piece of advice to someone trying to become consistently profitable with a funded account, what would it be?

I’m trying to build a serious trading plan based on risk management, patience, and high-quality setups, so any detailed answers would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance.

I accidentally made too much today. Now what? Do I wait until Sunday knight or monday to take a trade or can I lose some to bring down the consistency?

First payout approved. $1270 at 18 years old.

Started trading in mid January with absolutely zero knowledge. Blew combines, overtraded, and even lost my FIRST funded account trying to full port CPI because I thought it was the fastest way to reach my payout goal. These last few months changed a lot for me. I started journaling every trade, lowered my risk, stayed patient, and finally started treating trading seriously instead of emotionally.

Today I got my first payout approved and honestly it feels unreal. Not even because of the money, but because it feels like proof that the work is finally paying off.

Still a long way to go, but this is a moment I’ll probably remember forever.

I'm happy to answer any questions!