TopStep Combine Rules: Trailing Drawdown, Daily Limits and Consistency

A Combine can end on one misread number: a loss limit that tracks open profit when you assumed it only counted closed trades, a contract cap applied to the wrong product, or a minimum-day rule you find out about after you've hit the target. TopStep changes account sizes, targets and limits over time, so every dollar figure below is a hypothetical example, not the current rule set. Read TopStep's current rules page before you size anything.

Pull these items from the current rules first

Before the first trade, build a one-page summary from the firm's own documents. Fill in every row from the source text, not from a forum post or an old article.

Item	What to find	Why it matters
Profit target	Dollar target for your account size	Sets the pace you need
Maximum loss limit	Whether it trails open equity or end-of-day balance, and where it stops trailing	Decides whether unrealized profit raises your floor
Daily loss limit	Whether one exists, and what happens when it's hit	Changes how you handle a bad morning
Minimum trading days	What counts as a day	Sets the earliest possible finish
Contract cap	Limit per size, and how micros are counted	Caps your position size
Consistency rule	Which stage it applies to and the percentage	Shapes your payout planning
Event and session rules	Flatten times, news restrictions	Avoids a breach you never saw coming
Costs	Fee, reset price, data and platform fees	Your real cost per attempt

A trailing floor, worked through (hypothetical)

Assume a $100,000 account with a $3,000 maximum loss limit that trails open equity. The floor starts at $97,000. If equity peaks at $101,000 during a trade, the floor moves to $98,000. If you give back some of it and close the day at $99,500, the floor stays at $98,000, because it only moves up. Your real buffer is now $1,500, not $3,000.

Many trailing designs stop trailing once the account has earned the drawdown amount. In this example that would put the floor at the $100,000 starting balance once equity reaches $103,000. Whether TopStep's current rule does this, and whether the lock is measured on balance or equity, is something to confirm in the rules text.

Because a floor can follow open profit, a trade can breach it without ever closing at a loss. Convert the buffer to points. $1,500 divided by ($50 x 3 ES contracts) is 10 points, so three ES contracts and a 10-point adverse swing ends the account. A stop order can slip past your price, so the real cushion is a little smaller. In MES at $5 per point, the same $1,500 buffer is 300 points on one contract.

Size from the buffer, not from the target

Here is a hypothetical sizing check using 15% to 20% of a loss limit per trade. That is aggressive exposure, not a recommendation or a claim about my own trading. On a $3,000 limit that's $450 to $600. With a 6-point ES stop, one contract risks $300 ($50 x 6) and two risk $600, both before commissions and slippage. Three contracts risk $900, which is outside that range. Five full losers at $600 add up to the entire $3,000, so even this sizing leaves little room for a long losing streak.

Run your own win rate, average win and average loss through the edge calculator before deciding on size. Treat a result from a few dozen trades as a rough estimate, not a proven edge.

Daily loss limit

If a daily limit exists, find out what it does when touched. Some firms liquidate and lock the session, others fail the evaluation. In this hypothetical a $2,000 daily limit sits against a $3,000 floor, so two bad days can nearly empty the account. A forced stop for the day is a backstop, not a budget. Set your own cutoff well inside it, for example after two full-size losers.

Minimum days and pacing

Say the target is $6,000 with a 5-day minimum. That averages $1,200 a day, which is a 12-point ES gain on 2 contracts every day ($1,200 / ($50 x 2)). Forcing that pace is how people oversize. Spread over 15 days it's $400 a day, or 4 points on 2 contracts. Check how the rules define a trading day and whether the target counts before the minimum is met. If no time limit applies to your account, there's no reason to hurry.

Contract limits and micros

Confirm the cap for your account size and how micros count against it. Micros let you size in small steps. A $450 risk with a 6-point stop is 15 MES contracts ($5 x 6 = $30 each), which may or may not fit the cap in your rules.

Consistency rules

Find out whether a consistency rule applies during the evaluation, the funded stage, or only to payouts. As an example, if your best day is $2,000 and the cap is 30% of total profit, you need at least $2,000 / 0.30 = $6,667 in total profit before that day fits. Read the agreement for what the funded account actually is, what payouts require, and don't assume funded means live exchange fills or a guaranteed payout.

Scheduled event days

CPI, the jobs report and FOMC announcements can move price past a stop. A 20-point ES move on 2 contracts is $2,000, the entire daily limit in this hypothetical. Cut size or stay out around those releases, and check the rules for any event restrictions.

Comparing TopStep with other firms

Don't compare on the headline fee. Build the same table for each firm from its current documents, using the same account size and product. Then add up fee, expected resets, and data and platform costs for a cost per attempt. A rule set that looks easier can cost more if you reset often, and any difference in how floors trail or how consistency rules apply can matter more than price. Firms can differ by product and account vintage, so confirm the version attached to your account.