How to pass the Topstep Trading Combine (2026 rules)

The Combine is a monthly-subscription evaluation across three sizes. You hit a profit target ($3K / $6K / $9K), respect a trailing Maximum Loss Limit, stay inside a Daily Loss Limit, and keep your best day at or under 50% of total profit. Pass, and you progress to an Express Funded Account and ultimately a Live Funded Account.

The trailing MLL is end-of-day — use that

Topstep's MLL is the only hard rule, and crucially it trails your end-of-day balance, not your intraday peak. That makes it materially more forgiving than the intraday trailing at Apex or MyFundedFutures Rapid — intraday swings don't tighten the floor, only your closing balance does. It rises as your EOD balance grows and locks at your starting balance once reached. This EOD behavior is exactly what PVE's default sizing model is calibrated for, so Topstep is a natural fit.

The two rules that catch automated traders

First, the 50% consistency rule: no single day may exceed half your total Combine profit, so one huge session can't carry you — you need steady accumulation. Second, and easy to miss: Topstep prohibits trading within roughly two minutes either side of high-impact US news (NFP, FOMC, CPI). For an automated strategy this is critical — your system must be paused around scheduled releases or a single news-window fill can disqualify the account. Build a news blackout into your automation.

How to pass it

Same systematic spine as any trailing-drawdown challenge: size against the MLL buffer, not the target, and reduce size as profit grows (a bigger balance means a higher locked-up floor and less room). Track your buffer — current balance minus the trailed floor — as the number that matters each session. Because the consistency rule rewards steadiness, a systematic approach that takes regular, similarly-sized trades fits Topstep better than a swing-for-the-fences style.

Funded and beyond

After the Combine you trade an Express Funded Account, then can reach Live Funded. The profit split favours the trader (the exact current split changes — verify before counting on a number). Topstep is futures-only — ES, NQ, GC and the micro contracts — so PVE's MNQ/MGC strategies apply directly, provided the news-blackout and consistency rules are wired into your execution.