- Topstep is a futures-only prop firm, founded in 2012 (14 years operating)
- Monthly subscription Trading Combine ($49–$149/mo)
- Funded accounts created after January 12, 2026 are on a 90/10 split; older accounts keep 100% of the first $10,000, then 90/10
- Trades CME futures (ES, NQ, CL, GC, MES, MNQ)
Topstep is the oldest pure-futures prop firm and the one US traders typically join first. The Chicago-based operator has been running since 2012 and uses a monthly subscription Combine instead of a one-time evaluation fee. In practice, the subscription model rewards traders who can pass within a single billing cycle and punishes the ones who keep paying month after month without progress.
Account Sizes
| Size | Monthly | Target | Max Loss |
|---|---|---|---|
| $50K | $49 | $3,000 | $2,000 |
| $100K | $99 | $6,000 | $3,000 |
| $150K | $149 | $9,000 | $4,500 |
The $50K plan is the standard starting point. Going larger before you have proven a strategy mostly just inflates the monthly fee.
Step-by-step
- Sign up at topstep.com with your legal name
- Choose an account size — start with $50K unless you have a reason to go bigger
- Trade on TopstepX, Topstep’s own browser-based platform (standard for all accounts; a Quantower connection via TopstepX credentials is the one external option — checked against the official help centre 2026-08-22). NinjaTrader, Tradovate and TradingView are no longer listed there.
- Pass the Trading Combine: hit the profit target plus minimum days and no drawdown breach
- Receive your Funded Account (Express simulated account first, then a Live Funded path)
Why Topstep
- Fourteen years of operating history
- The industry standard for US futures
- Live Funded Account option gives real market exposure once you have shown sustained performance
Comparing against Topstep
If Topstep is on your shortlist, you are presumably trading CME futures — so the fair comparison set is other futures firms, not FX/CFD shops. Our side-by-side of seven futures firms is in best futures prop firms. For every firm we cover, FX/CFD included, ranked by trust, see best prop firms ranked.
In our verification data, the strongest-verified futures firm is TradeDay: trader payouts of $13,394,795 across 11,681 settlements, independently verified on-chain by Payout Junction (checked 2026-08-05). That is a checkable figure, not a marketing claim. How it lines up against Topstep is in the comparison data and the payout verification tracker. What you get for passing is a simulation account first — the conditions to know before you buy are set out in our TradeDay review.
Know the payout conditions before you subscribe — see the Topstep payout guide.
One more futures option worth knowing — FTMO Futures
On 23 September 2026 FTMO, the largest FX/CFD prop firm, took its futures-only program out of beta. FTMO Futures runs on the same monthly-subscription model as Topstep, on the same CME products. Structurally it is close to Topstep: both trail the drawdown on the end-of-day balance (intraday unrealised profit does not raise the floor), and both let you run a funded account without a consistency rule (Topstep’s Standard path). The differences are mostly in how the price is built (FTMO read on 2026-09-23, Topstep on 2026-09-24):
- No FTMO Futures plan charges an activation fee after you pass. Topstep’s standard path charges a one-time activation fee per funded account, and it also offers a “No Activation Fee” path at a higher monthly price
- Entry is $119/mo for FTMO Futures (Growth $50K) against $49/mo for Topstep, so FTMO costs more to start
- FTMO’s Growth plan caps the withdrawable share at 50% (Pro is 100%)
This site has not verified a single FTMO Futures payout yet. FTMO’s 11-year record as a company and this futures program’s record are two different things.
Full measured terms are in FTMO has entered futures.
If you buy FTMO Futures and want to support this site, enter erBJrKjPjOvuBAmSdGxC in the “Affiliate code” field at checkout. It is not a discount code and does not change the price (discounts go in the separate “Discount” field). If you already have an FTMO account, following our link does not credit us, so the code is the only way.
Disclosure: this site earns affiliate commission from FTMO and TradeDay (TradeDay approved 2026-08-13) and has no partnership with Topstep. FTMO Futures became commissionable for us on 23 September 2026, and that commission recurs for up to 12 months, where the CFD product pays once. So we have a financial incentive to push readers toward futures rather than CFDs — which is exactly why the drawbacks above are stated first. Compensation does not affect ratings; see About. The TradeDay payout figures above were verified against a third-party record (Payout Junction) on 2026-08-05, before the partnership began.