Futures evaluation

Practice the Topstep Trading Combine with its real rules

Load the Combine for a 50K, 100K or 150K account and trade it on replayed market history. The Maximum Loss Limit trails your end-of-day balance the way Topstep describes it, the trading day rolls at 5:00 PM New York time, and at the end you get a clear pass or fail.

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Topstep Trading Combine rules

Topstep Trading Combine

Account	Profit target	Max loss	Daily loss
$50,000	$3,000 (6%)	$2,000 (4%)	None
$100,000	$6,000 (6%)	$3,000 (3%)	None
$150,000	$9,000 (6%)	$4,500 (3%)	None

Max loss type: Trailing, end of day
Floor stops moving: Once it reaches your starting balance
Trading day resets: 5:00 PM New York time
Minimum trading days: None
Time limit: None
Best day (consistency): Under 55% of the profit target

The floor moves up only at the end of a trading day, off your highest closing balance. During the day it stands still, but your live equity, open trades included, is checked against it all day.

Rules checked on 20 Sep 2026 against Topstep's own published rules.

Practice Topstep Combine free

How the Topstep Maximum Loss Limit actually moves

What traders call the Topstep trailing drawdown is officially the Maximum Loss Limit. On a 50K Combine you start at $50,000 with the floor at $48,000, $2,000 below you. The floor does not follow your trades during the day. It moves only when a trading day closes, and only upward: finish a day at a new high and the floor rises by the same amount.

Your live equity is checked against that floor all day, open trades included. So the floor moves on one clock and the breach is checked on another, and that is the detail most people miss. A winner you give back before the close never raised the floor. A loser that dips through the floor ends the Combine, even if it would have come back.

Once the floor reaches your starting balance of $50,000 it stops moving for good. From then on the whole distance between $50,000 and your balance is yours to work with. The Combine is passed at $53,000.

What usually ends a Combine

Topstep publishes its own numbers. For January through December 2025 it reports that 16.8% of Trading Combines were passed, and that 51.8% of the people who entered one reached a funded account in at least one of their attempts. Most Combines fail, and most people who keep going get there. Practice is how the first number stops being about you.

The rule that does the damage is the trailing floor. Early on it is close: on a 50K account one bad morning of $2,000 is the entire allowance. After a good day the floor has moved up behind you, so handing the gains back the next day costs you twice, once in money and once in room.

The best-day rule catches the other common path, one oversized day carrying the whole target. Topstep measures your best day against the profit target. The simulator does the same and warns you as soon as one day is more than 55% of it.

Risk check: at 0.5% a trade ($250) on a 50K Topstep Combine, 8 full losses in a row reach the $2,000 max loss, and 6 winners at 2R reach the $3,000 target. Plain arithmetic from a fresh account. On the page you can change the account size and the risk.

What the simulator covers

Profit target and Maximum Loss Limit for the 50K, 100K and 150K Combine, in the dollar amounts Topstep quotes
The end-of-day trailing floor, checked against live equity and stopping at the starting balance
A trading day that rolls at 5:00 PM New York time, so an overnight position lands in the right day
A best-day warning at 55% of the profit target

What it does not cover

The daily loss limit. At Topstep it is optional when you buy a Combine, and hitting it flattens you for the session instead of failing the account, so it is left out. If you bought it, add it under your own rules.
Position size limits are not enforced
Flat-by-close times and news restrictions are not enforced
The funded stage. Express Funded and Live Funded accounts are not simulated, only the Combine

Topstep practice questions

Is there a free Topstep practice account?

Topstep has a practice account of its own, available to traders with an active Trading Combine subscription. BacktestingMax is separate from Topstep. Prop firm mode is free on every plan here, and it replays historical data instead of running live. Futures data such as ES, NQ, CL and GC is part of Premium, so on the free plan you run the Combine rules on gold or forex.

Can I pass the Topstep Combine in one day?

Not at Topstep. Your best day has to stay under 55% of the profit target, so the target takes at least two days. In the simulator a one-day run does reach the target, and you get the pass together with a best-day warning, because the simulator warns on this rule instead of blocking the pass.

Does the trailing drawdown include open trades?

The floor itself moves only at the end of the day, on your closing balance. The check against it runs on live equity, which includes open trades. The simulator works the same way and checks your equity at every replay step.

When does the trading day reset in the simulator?

At 5:00 PM New York time, when the futures session ends, not at your local midnight. It matters for anything held overnight: the same trade can belong to a different day depending on which clock you use, and the floor moves on the day close.

Which markets can I practice the Combine on?

Any instrument in BacktestingMax. For a Combine that means the futures contracts: ES, NQ, YM, RTY, CL, GC and more, which are part of Premium. The rules themselves are free, so you can try them on gold or forex first and see how the floor behaves.

Are these the current Topstep rules?

They were checked against Topstep's own published rules on the date shown above the table. Firms change their rules, sometimes with little notice, so confirm the numbers with Topstep before you buy a Combine.

Practice another prop firm

BacktestingMax is an independent trading simulator. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Topstep. The name is used only to describe which published rules a practice session follows, and it belongs to its owner.

Hypothetical or simulated performance results have certain limitations. Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading. Also, since the trades have not been executed, the results may have under- or over-compensated for the impact, if any, of certain market factors, such as lack of liquidity. Simulated trading programs in general are also subject to the fact that they are designed with the benefit of hindsight. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profit or losses similar to those shown.