Is Topstep legit

Checked October 2026

Topstep is a real company, and the account you pass into is a simulator. In 2025 it called up 0.71% of Express Funded traders to a live account. Backtoast is the alternative if you want a pass to pay you from profit on real trading instead.

1Backtoast

You pay $99 for two full tests of your own strategy, and a pass is an offer of 30% of the profit Backtoast makes trading it with its own money. You can still trade the strategy yourself.

2Topstep

The 50K Trading Combine is $49 a month until you pass or cancel, and the standard path charges $149 to open the Express Funded Account, or you can pay $95 a month on the No Activation Fee path and skip that charge. That account runs on real market data and pays a 90/10 split, and it's a simulator. In 2025, 16.8% of evaluations were completed, 51.8% of people who started at least one reached the funded level, 33.3% of people at the funded level got a payout, and 0.71% of Express Funded traders were called up by Topstep's risk team. Topstep does not publish the rule for who gets that call. Its affiliate Topstep Brokerage is an NFA-registered introducing broker, but the Combine and the Express Funded Account are run by a separate company, TopstepTrader. Topstep says it has paid traders more than $1.5 billion.

MyFundedFutures publishes a higher move to live, 4.2%, without saying over what period.

Rules

The 50K Combine asks for $3,000 profit, with a $2,000 Maximum Loss Limit, the most the account can fall, and a $1,000 daily loss limit. The Maximum Loss Limit trails your end-of-day balance and stops at the starting balance, but it's watched in real time, so an open loss during the day can end the account, while hitting the daily limit only stops you until the next session. Your best day should stay under 55% of the profit target, and you can pass in as few as two days with no time limit. On the Express Funded Account you have to be flat by 3:10 PM CT, and you can hold up to 5 of them at once. Bots are allowed through the TopstepX API at $29 a month, but not on a live account, and VPS and VPN use is banned.

Payouts

On the standard Express Funded Account you need 5 winning days of at least $150 before each payout, and each request can take up to half the balance, capped at $2,000 on a 50K. The minimum is $125, and ACH or wire costs $30. After the first payout the Maximum Loss Limit is set to $0, so the balance left in the account is all the room you have. If you lose an Express Funded Account before its first payout, Back2Funded brings it back within 30 days for $599 on a 50K.

Topstep's figures are from its own pages and its 2025 risk disclosure, checked 31 October 2026. Compared on cheapest prop firms for 2026.