Topstep Rules Explained: Maximum Loss Limit, Consistency Target and Daily Loss Limit

Trading Combine numbers by account size

Ten micros count as one mini toward the position limit, so on a $50K Combine you can hold 5 NQ, 50 MNQ or any mix that adds up to the same. The trading day runs from 5:00 PM CT to 3:10 PM CT the next day.

The Maximum Loss Limit: where your floor sits each day

The Maximum Loss Limit (MLL) is the lowest balance your account may touch. It trails your highest end-of-day balance, never moves down, and locks for good once it reaches the starting balance. Two details decide whether you survive it:

• It is checked in real time, on unrealized P&L. The limit only moves at the close, but if an open trade drags your balance to it at any moment, the account is liquidated. A fill that comes back above the limit does not undo the breach.
• Breaching it ends the attempt. In the Combine the account becomes ineligible until you pay for a Reset. In an Express Funded Account it closes the account.

Worked example on a $50K Combine

1. Start: balance $50,000, MLL $48,000.
2. Day 1 closes at $51,200. Your new high moves the MLL to $49,200.
3. Day 2: a trade is $2,100 against you at its worst, so your balance briefly shows $49,100. That is below $49,200: liquidated, even if the trade would have recovered.
4. Had day 2 closed at $52,000 instead, the MLL would have reached $50,000 and locked there.

Decision: size every trade against the distance to today's MLL, not against the $2,000 headline. Your room is the distance from your current balance to today's MLL; after a losing day it is less than $2,000, and a single oversized loser can end the account. Model your own days in the prop firm drawdown calculator (choose end-of-day trailing and a lock at $50,000).

The Consistency Target: why one big day can slow you down

In the Combine, your best single day must stay at or below 55% of your Profit Target. Topstep checks it as best day divided by total profit. If you go over, you do not fail; your Profit Target rises to best day ÷ 0.55. Losing days do not reset your best day, and today's extra profit adds to today's best day, so the fix is to earn the rest on later days.

Worked example

On a $50K Combine you make $2,000 on Monday. $2,000 ÷ 0.55 = $3,636.36, so your target is now about $3,637 instead of $3,000. Tuesday you make $1,000 (total $3,000) and still have not passed. Wednesday +$700 takes you to $3,700, best day 54% of the total: passed. If Monday had stopped at $1,600, Tuesday's $1,000 and Wednesday's $400 would have passed you at $3,000.

Decision: once your day reaches the best-day number in the table, stop or cut size. Topstep notes you can set a Personal Daily Profit Target in TopstepX risk settings to enforce this.

The Express Funded Account has its own consistency path: if you choose it, your largest day must be 40% or less of total net profit, with at least 3 trading days, before a payout. Read our consistency rule guide for how it compares with Apex and FTMO.

The Daily Loss Limit is optional

In the Combine and the Express Funded Account, a Daily Loss Limit only applies if you add it at checkout. When it triggers, your positions are flattened and you are done for the session, but it is not a violation and the account stays eligible. Once set at checkout it cannot be changed. You can also set a Personal Daily Loss Limit in risk settings, which you can adjust.

Decision: if you have ever lost more than half your MLL in one day, add the DLL. It turns a blown account into a lost day.

How to keep these rules in your journal

In the MyTradeEdge journal you can add the Combine as a prop firm account with its daily loss limit, maximum drawdown and profit target, and see them next to your trades. The account template fills in starting values; check them against the table above and edit them if Topstep has changed its numbers. The journal works on your logged trades, so it does not see intraday open losses or the 55% Consistency Target; use the calculator for those.

Frequently asked questions

Topstep, Trading Combine and Express Funded Account are trademarks of Topstep. MyTradeEdge is not affiliated with Topstep. This page explains public rules and is not trading advice.