How to pass the Topstep Trading Combine: the rules and the math
- To pass a 50K Combine you reach $3,000 of profit without your balance touching a floor that starts $2,000 below your starting balance.
- The floor trails your best end-of-day balance and stops rising once it reaches the starting balance, which happens when you close a day at $52,000 or more.
- Consistency: your best day can be at most 55% of your total profit. Go over and Topstep raises your target instead of failing you, so a single big day means more days of trading, not a fail.
- The daily loss limit, if your Combine has one, ends your day. It doesn't fail the account; the drawdown floor does.
- These are Topstep's published rules as of September 25, 2026. Topstep's current help center always governs.
The Trading Combine is Topstep's evaluation. The rules fit on one page, but they interact: the trailing drawdown, the consistency rule and the target pull against each other, and it's the interaction that catches people out. This guide works through the 50K Combine with real numbers. The 100K and 150K follow the same rules with bigger figures (table below).
The rules at a glance
| Size | Profit target | Max drawdown | Daily loss limit | Max size | List price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50K | $3,000 | $2,000, trails end of day | $1,000 (optional) | 5 minis or 50 micros | $49 a month |
| 100K | $6,000 | $3,000, trails end of day | $2,000 (optional) | 10 minis or 100 micros | $99 a month |
| 150K | $9,000 | $4,500, trails end of day | $3,000 (optional) | 15 minis or 150 micros | $199 a month |
Consistency is 55% on every size. You must be flat by 3:10 PM CT, with no overnight positions. Passing leads to an Express Funded account, which carries a $149 activation fee on the standard Combine. Full Topstep rules and sources.
The drawdown: a floor that follows your closes
On a 50K Combine your floor starts at $48,000. Each day you close at a new high, the floor moves up to $2,000 below that close. It never moves down.
Because it trails end-of-day balances rather than open profit, a trade that runs up during the day and comes back doesn't raise your floor. Only where you close matters. The floor stops rising once it reaches $50,000, your starting balance, which happens the first time you close at $52,000 or higher. From then on it's fixed.
What this means in practice: your room is always your balance minus the floor. After a good day, your room doesn't grow by the whole profit, because the floor follows you up. Early in the Combine, with the floor still trailing, you have at most $2,000 of room however well you've done.
The consistency rule: 55% of your total
Your best single day can be at most 55% of your total profit. On a $3,000 target, that makes $1,650 the biggest day that keeps the target where it is.
Go over and Topstep doesn't fail you: it raises the target so your best day becomes 55% of it. For example, a $2,000 best day means you need $3,636 of total profit ($2,000 ÷ 0.55) before you pass, not $3,000.
Two things follow from the math:
- You can't pass in one day. A single day would be 100% of your profit. The fastest pass is two days, each close to half the target.
- A huge day costs you time, not the account. But every extra day of trading is another day the drawdown can catch you, and another month of the subscription if it runs over.
The consistency calculator works this out for any best day and target.
The daily loss limit
Whether your Combine has a daily loss limit depends on how you bought it. If it does, it's $1,000 on a 50K. Hitting it closes your positions and ends your day. You can trade again next session. It doesn't fail the Combine; only the drawdown floor does. See daily loss limits, explained.
The math of the race
The Combine is a race between two numbers: $3,000 up before $2,000 down (and the floor follows you up until it locks). So you need to make 1.5 times the drawdown before you lose it once.
One way traders reason about this is a daily risk budget, a fixed amount they're prepared to lose in a day, sized against the room they have. For example, with $2,000 of room:
- a $500 budget means four full losing days before the floor,
- a $1,000 budget (the daily limit) means two.
A smaller budget survives more bad days but takes longer to reach the target, and on a monthly subscription time has a price. There's no right number. It depends on your win rate, your average win and loss, and how many trades you take. That's what the simulator is for.
Check it against your own trading
The pass rate calculator runs your win rate, average win and loss, and trades per day against the Topstep Combine and every other firm's evaluation, showing how often you'd pass, how long it takes and what it's likely to cost. In TradeHarbor, the Pass simulator does the same with your real imported trades.
After you pass: Express Funded
The Express Funded account works differently: its balance starts at $0, and the loss limit sits $2,000 below until it locks at $0. Payouts need either five winning days of $150 or more, or the consistency path. Details are on the Topstep rules page.
This guide explains Topstep's published rules and the arithmetic behind them. It isn't trading or financial advice, and it doesn't recommend any firm or strategy. Topstep changes its rules from time to time; check its help center before you buy.