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Topstep Labs 1.5K/3K/6K Challenges rules

The Topstep Labs 1.5K/3K/6K Challenges is one of Topstep's accounts. There is no daily loss limit, there is no consistency rule and it must be passed within 90 calendar days.

67 of 119 rules recorded, 67 verified against Topstep’s pages, most recently on 21 October 2026.

AlgoLift does not simulate the Topstep Labs 1.5K/3K/6K Challenges yet, so the project opens with Topstep named and no account picked.

01Key numbers
Evaluation fee
Not stated by the firm, checked 16 Oct 2026: Not stated by the firm
Activation fee
Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026: $0
Profit target
Not stated by the firm, checked 16 Oct 2026: Not stated by the firm
Maximum drawdown
Not stated by the firm, checked 16 Oct 2026: Not stated by the firm
Daily loss limit
Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026: No daily loss limit
Consistency
Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026: No consistency rule
Minimum trading days
Not stated by the firm, checked 16 Oct 2026: Not stated by the firm
First payout after
Not stated by the firm, checked 16 Oct 2026: Not yet verified
Profit split
Not stated by the firm, checked 16 Oct 2026: Not stated by the firm
Largest payout
Not stated by the firm, checked 16 Oct 2026: Not stated by the firm

Automated trading: Allowed with conditions. Topstep allows automated and algorithmic trading with conditions. Bots and automated strategies may trade through the TopstepX / ProjectX API, under the platform rules, with high-frequency trading banned, orders sent from the trader's own device, and not on Live Funded Accounts. Topstep’s policy

02Every rule

The Topstep Labs 1.5K/3K/6K Challenges, rule by rule

Each rule says what it means, its value, and the Topstep page that states it with the day it was checked. A rule no page states is marked so, and a rule not recorded yet is listed as such, never filled in.

Verified: links to the firm's pageNot stated by the firm: AlgoLift's assumptionUnder review or not yet verified

Account

Instant funding

True when the plan has no evaluation: the fee buys a funded account directly.

No

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Instruments · Every Topstep account

What the account may trade: the exchanges or product list, and any products excluded.

CME Group futures only, no spot forex: equity index (ES, NQ, RTY, YM, NKD and their micros, MBT, MET), currency futures, grains and livestock, energy, metals and Treasury futures. Some metals are barred (SI, HG, PL at 0 contracts) and others capped, per the Risk Adjustments article.

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Micros per mini · Every Topstep account

How many micro contracts count as one E-mini toward a contract limit.

10

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Trading day starts · Every Topstep account

When the firm's trading day begins. A trade after this time counts toward the next trading day for every daily rule: daily loss, consistency, winning days and minimum days.

18:00 New York time

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Trading day · Every Topstep account

The firm's trading day as it states it, from its open to its close, with the time zone it uses.

17:00 Central time to 15:10 Central time

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

A trading day counts when · Every Topstep account

What makes a day count toward minimum trading days: any day with a trade, or only a day with at least a set profit.

Any day with a trade

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Profit for a trading day to count · Every Topstep account

The profit a day must make to count as a trading day, when a trading day counts only with a minimum profit; null when any day with a trade counts.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Hitting the daily loss limit · Every Topstep account

What happens when the daily loss limit is reached: trading stops for the day and the account stays open, or the account fails; null when there is no daily loss limit.

Trading stops for the rest of the day; the account stays open

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

4 rules not recorded yet(show)
  • Account size: not stated by the firm
  • Evaluation steps: not stated by the firm
  • Funded account type: not stated by the firm
  • Trading platforms: not stated by the firm

Evaluation

Drawdown type

How the drawdown floor follows the balance: end of day trails the highest end-of-day balance; intraday trails the highest balance reached at any moment, open profit included; static never moves.

Static

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Trailing drawdown stop by platform

Where the trailing floor stops rising when that depends on the platform the account trades on: one row per platform.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Floor checked against open profit · Every Topstep account

True when touching the drawdown floor at any moment, open profit and loss included, fails the evaluation, even when the floor itself is set at the end of the day.

Yes

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Daily loss limit

The most the account may lose in one trading day; null when the plan has none.

No daily loss limit

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Consistency

The largest share of the total profit one trading day may contribute when the evaluation passes; null when the plan has no consistency rule.

No consistency rule

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Going over the consistency share

What happens when one day's share of the profit goes over the consistency rule: the target rises until the share is back under it, the pass waits for more days, or the evaluation fails.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

How consistency is measured

The firm's own definition of the consistency rule: which day is compared (the best day) and against what (total profit, net profit, the target).

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Time limit

Calendar days the evaluation may run before it expires; null when it has no time limit.

90 calendar days

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Contract limit growth

A contract limit that grows with profit: a starting number of contracts, plus one for every set amount of profit at the start of the day; null when the limit is fixed.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

7 rules not recorded yet(show)
  • Profit target: not stated by the firm
  • Maximum drawdown: not stated by the firm
  • Trailing drawdown stops at: not stated by the firm
  • Minimum trading days: not stated by the firm
  • Minimum profitable days: not stated by the firm
  • Maximum contracts: not stated by the firm
  • When the pass is judged: not stated by the firm

Funded account

Floor checked against open profit · Every Topstep account

True when touching the drawdown floor at any moment, open profit and loss included, closes the funded account.

Yes

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Funded account resets · Every Topstep account

How many times a failed funded account can be restarted for a fee without a new evaluation; null when it cannot.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Reactivation window

Calendar days after losing a funded account within which it can be reactivated for a fee; null when it cannot.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Moving to a live account · Live account

When and how a funded trader moves from the simulated account to a live one, and what changes when they do.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Live account contract limit · Live account

The most contracts a live account may hold at first.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

15 rules not recorded yet(show)
  • Funded starting balance: not stated by the firm
  • Maximum drawdown: not stated by the firm
  • Drawdown type: not stated by the firm
  • Trailing drawdown stops at: not stated by the firm
  • Drawdown after a payout: not stated by the firm
  • Floor locks when a payout is requested: not stated by the firm
  • Drawdown measured on: not stated by the firm
  • Daily loss limit: not stated by the firm
  • Daily loss limit by profit: not stated by the firm
  • Maximum contracts: not stated by the firm
  • Contract scaling: not stated by the firm
  • Scaling moves down: not stated by the firm
  • Contract limit growth: not stated by the firm
  • Reduced size until the buffer: not stated by the firm
  • Simulated stage profit cap: not stated by the firm

Payouts

Profit split by profit · Funded account

A profit split that depends on the profit left in the account: each row's share applies to the part of a payout above its level; null when the split is flat.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Alternative payout path · Funded account

Another set of payout rules the trader can choose instead (usually at activation, then fixed), with its terms.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Payout fees · Funded account · Every Topstep account

What the firm charges to send a payout, by method (bank transfer, wire, crypto); null when it charges nothing.

ACH $30; wire $30; Aeropay no fee; prop to brokerage no fee; Wise no fee.

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Payout processing time · Funded account · Every Topstep account

Business days the firm takes to send a payout once it is approved.

3

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Payouts before the account closes · Funded account

The funded account closes (or moves to live) after this many payouts; null when there is no such limit.

1

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

21 rules not recorded yet(show)
  • Trading days between payouts: not stated by the firm
  • Calendar days between payouts: not stated by the firm
  • Payout schedule: not stated by the firm
  • Winning days: not stated by the firm
  • A winning day makes at least: not stated by the firm
  • Payout consistency: not stated by the firm
  • Payout consistency measured on: not stated by the firm
  • Profit counted from: not stated by the firm
  • Profit before a payout: not stated by the firm
  • Smallest payout: not stated by the firm
  • Buffer kept in the account: not stated by the firm
  • Largest payout: not stated by the firm
  • Payout share of profit: not stated by the firm
  • Payout share of the balance: not stated by the firm
  • Payout multiple of recent profit: not stated by the firm
  • Profit split: not stated by the firm
  • Profit in every payout cycle: not stated by the firm
  • Balance left after a payout: not stated by the firm
  • Early withdrawal: not stated by the firm
  • Buffer paid when the account closes: not stated by the firm
  • Total payouts before the account closes: not stated by the firm

Fees

Evaluation fee basis · Evaluation · Every Topstep Labs size

Whether the simulated evaluation fee is the firm's list price or the standing promotional price its pages show.

List price

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Evaluation promotional price · Evaluation

The price the firm's own pages show with its standing promotion; null when there is no promotion.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Promotion · Evaluation · Every Topstep Labs size

The standing promotion the firm's pages show: its code, its discount, what it covers and when it ends.

None

Verified, checked 16 Oct 2026Source: topstep.com

Billing · Evaluation

Whether the evaluation is paid once, or billed again every period while it is open.

Paid once

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Recurring fee · Evaluation

Charged again every period while the evaluation is open; null when the evaluation fee is paid once.

No recurring fee

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Recurring fee period · Evaluation

How often the recurring fee is charged; null when there is no recurring fee.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Reset fee · Evaluation

The price to restart a failed evaluation; null when the plan offers no reset and a new evaluation is bought instead.

No reset sold

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Reset terms · Evaluation · Every Topstep Labs size

Limits and terms on resets: how many are allowed in a period, whether a promotion applies, whether a reset moves the billing date.

No resets: every Labs product is a one-time purchase with no subscription, rebill or reset.

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Reset credits · Evaluation · Every Topstep Labs size

Free resets the firm banks for the trader (for example one per billing period), and when they expire.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Activation fee · Funded account

Charged once when the account becomes funded; 0 when there is none.

$0

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

No activation fee option · Evaluation

A version of the plan sold at a different price with no activation fee, with its prices.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Add-ons · Evaluation

Optional extras bought with the plan that change its rules (a daily loss limit, another consistency rule), with their prices and effects.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Funded monthly fee · Funded account

A fee charged every month while the funded account is open; null when there is none.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Funded account reset fee · Funded account · Every Topstep account

The price to restart a failed funded account without a new evaluation; null when that is not offered.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Reactivation fee · Funded account

The price to reactivate a lost funded account within the reactivation window; null when that is not offered.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Evaluation fee refunded with a payout · Funded account · Every Topstep Labs size

True when the firm refunds the evaluation fee with the first payout.

No

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Market data fee · Every Topstep account

A monthly fee for market data the trader pays to the firm or the platform; null when data is included.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Commissions · Every Topstep account

The commissions the firm sets per contract, by contract size.

On TopstepX: $1.00 a round turn for minis and $0.50 for micros, plus a $0.02 NFA fee and exchange fees (all in, ES and NQ $3.78, MES and MNQ $1.22), deducted from the balance on each fill. The Live Funded Account runs $0.72 to $2.04 plus exchange fees.

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

2 rules not recorded yet(show)
  • Evaluation fee: not stated by the firm
  • Evaluation list price: not stated by the firm

Trading restrictions

Automated trading · Every Topstep account

Whether bots, automated strategies and algorithmic execution may trade the account. Not allowed means a strategy tested on AlgoLift can only be traded there by hand.

Allowed with conditions

Bots and automated strategies may trade through the TopstepX / ProjectX API, under the platform rules, with high-frequency trading banned, orders sent from the trader's own device, and not on Live Funded Accounts.

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

News trading · Every Topstep account

Whether trading through major economic releases is allowed, restricted to outside a window around them, or not allowed.

Restricted around releases

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

News rule · Every Topstep account

The window around releases and the releases it covers, when news trading is restricted.

Five minutes before to five minutes after CPI, NFP and unemployment (7:30 CT), the FOMC decision (1:00 CT) and the FOMC press conference (1:30 CT): no new opening trades in equity index and metal minis, micros capped by account size, energies, rates and FX unaffected; existing positions may be managed. The $1.5K, $3K and $6K Challenges may not trade in the window at all.

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Trading hours · Every Topstep account

The hours in which the account may trade, New York time; null when it may trade whenever the exchange is open.

18:00 to 16:10 New York time

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Flat by · Every Topstep account

The time every position must be closed (or is closed by the firm) each day, New York time; null when positions may be held past the close.

16:10 New York time

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Holding overnight · Every Topstep account

Whether a position may be held from one trading day into the next.

Not allowed

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Holding over the weekend · Every Topstep account

Whether a position may be held over the weekend.

Not allowed

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Hedging · Every Topstep account

Whether opposite positions in the same or related instruments may be held at once, in one account or across accounts.

Allowed with conditions

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Copy trading · Every Topstep account

Whether trades may be copied between accounts: allowed, only between the trader's own accounts at the firm, or not allowed.

Only between the trader's own accounts

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Accounts at once · Every Topstep account

The most accounts of any kind a trader may hold at once; null when there is no limit.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Evaluations at once · Evaluation · Every Topstep account

The most evaluations a trader may hold at once (or buy in a month, when the firm says so in the note); null when there is no limit.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Funded accounts at once · Funded account · Every Topstep account

The most funded accounts a trader may hold at once; null when there is no limit.

5

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Live accounts at once · Live account · Every Topstep account

The most live accounts a trader may hold at once; null when there is no limit.

1

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Executions a day · Every Topstep account

The most order executions allowed in one trading day; null when there is no limit.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Shortest trade · Every Topstep account

The shortest time a trade may be held, when the firm restricts very short trades; null when there is no such rule.

None

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Price limits · Every Topstep account

Restrictions on trading near an exchange price limit, and what a breach costs.

Holding a position within 2% of a product's price limit is prohibited conduct; the help centre tells traders to stop trading once a product is within 2% of its limit.

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Prohibited strategies · Every Topstep account

Trading practices the firm forbids (for example exploiting data delays, coordinated trading, or holding to avoid the rules), as it lists them.

Account stacking; deliberately draining a Live account; software, AI, ultra-fast systems or mass data entry for an unfair edge; trading unlike real markets; orders outside the best bid or offer; full maximum size into a scheduled major release; exploiting simulator fills, queue position, gaps or missing slippage; price exploitation of display errors or feed delays; spoofing; external or slow data feeds; coordinated trading and cross-account hedging; exploiting platform bugs; dodging geographic restrictions; positions within 2% of a price limit; trading for others; VPNs and identity masking; high-frequency trading.

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Virtual servers · Every Topstep account

Whether the account may be traded from a virtual private server or a remote machine.

Not allowed

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: topstep.com

1 rule not recorded yet(show)
  • Loss per trade: not stated by the firm

Conduct

Inactivity closure

Consecutive calendar days without a trade after which the firm may close the account; null when there is no such rule.

30 calendar days

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Identity check · Every Topstep account

When the firm checks the trader's identity: before purchase, before funding, or before the first payout.

Identity verification (photo ID and selfie with Veriff) must be completed before a second purchase; trading continues, but no further purchases go through until it is done, and Topstep may ask for re-verification at any time.

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Breaking a rule · Every Topstep account

What the firm does when a rule is broken (a soft breach that pauses the day, a hard breach that closes the account, profits withheld), as it states it.

A Combine that hits its loss limit is liquidated for the day and needs a reset; an XFA that hits it is closed for good (Back2Funded may apply). The daily loss limit only stops the day. Prohibited conduct can bring a warning, a deleted trading day, an account reset, permanent closure, or a delayed or denied payout, and the terms allow profits and other accounts' withdrawals to be forfeited.

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

Firm's discretion · Every Topstep account

Decisions the firm reserves to itself (reviews before a payout or a live move, closing accounts it judges to break the spirit of the rules).

Topstep reviews conduct case by case and may act at its sole discretion against trading it judges uncommercial or irresponsible, reject payouts where it suspects abuse, close positions or accounts at any time, and decides Live call-ups and call-downs through its Risk Team.

Verified, checked 21 Oct 2026Source: help.topstep.com

2 rules not recorded yet(show)
  • Minimum activity: not stated by the firm
  • Activation deadline: not stated by the firm
03How AlgoLift simulates it

Not simulated yet

AlgoLift does not simulate this plan yet. Its rules are recorded here so you can read them; a simulation needs every outcome-changing rule recorded first.

How the prop simulator works

Approximated

  • Hitting the daily loss limit: The simulator stops trading for the day at the limit and keeps the account open; a limit that fails the account is not simulated.
  • Floor checked against open profit: The simulator checks the floor against each trade's worst excursion inside the trade.
  • Going over the consistency share: The simulator caps the day at the share of the target and stops trading for the day, which reads the same as a pass that waits.
  • Floor checked against open profit: The simulator checks the floor against each trade's worst excursion inside the trade.
  • Trading hours: The backtest's session window applies the hours before the simulation; the simulation itself does not read them (retired 2026-08-15).
  • Flat by: The simulator reads a trading-hours end as the time trading stops.
  • Shortest trade: Simulated as a payout gate on the funded account when the plan records its shares (payouts.min_hold_shares): trades held longer than this time must make up more than those shares of the cycle's trades and profit. A rule with no shares recorded is not simulated.

Not modelled yet

  • Payout fees: ACH $30; wire $30; Aeropay no fee; prop to brokerage no fee; Wise no fee.
  • Commissions: On TopstepX: $1.00 a round turn for minis and $0.50 for micros, plus a $0.02 NFA fee and exchange fees (all in, ES and NQ $3.78, MES and MNQ $1.22), deducted from the balance on each fill. The Live Funded Account runs $0.72 to $2.04 plus exchange fees.
  • News trading: Restricted around releases
  • News rule: Five minutes before to five minutes after CPI, NFP and unemployment (7:30 CT), the FOMC decision (1:00 CT) and the FOMC press conference (1:30 CT): no new opening trades in equity index and metal minis, micros capped by account size, energies, rates and FX unaffected; existing positions may be managed. The $1.5K, $3K and $6K Challenges may not trade in the window at all.
  • Holding overnight: Not allowed
  • Holding over the weekend: Not allowed
  • Price limits: Holding a position within 2% of a product's price limit is prohibited conduct; the help centre tells traders to stop trading once a product is within 2% of its limit.
  • Inactivity closure: 30 calendar days
Questions

About the Topstep Labs 1.5K/3K/6K Challenges.

The Topstep Labs 1.5K/3K/6K Challenges evaluation has no daily loss limit. Hitting it: trading stops for the rest of the day; the account stays open.

The Topstep Labs 1.5K/3K/6K Challenges evaluation has no consistency rule.

Test your strategy against the Topstep Labs 1.5K/3K/6K Challenges rules before you pay the fee.

AlgoLift runs your strategy’s trades through an account’s rules, thousands of times in different orders: how often it would pass, the rule that ends it most often, and what passing is likely to cost in fees and resets. An estimate from past trades, never a promise.

AlgoLift does not simulate the Topstep Labs 1.5K/3K/6K Challenges yet, so the project opens with Topstep named and no account picked.

Rules checked against the firms’ own pages, most recently on 21 October 2026. This is a summary of each firm’s published rules, not financial advice and not a recommendation of any firm. Firms change their rules and prices; read the firm’s own page before you buy. Facts are paraphrased and linked to their source. Firm names are used only to say which firm a rule belongs to; they belong to their owners, and AlgoLift is not affiliated with or endorsed by any firm.