Futures Trading

What it Means:

• You need at least 5 days of trading activity (does not need to be consecutive).
• A trading day is defined as any day that you execute an order in the market.

Why it is Important:

• Proves to yourself and the firm that your performance is consistent.
• Provides you and the firm enough information to evaluate and understand your trading.
• Gives you the opportunity to test your strategy in multiple market conditions.

What happens when I complete Step 1?

Your account will automatically be reviewed the day you’ve passed, once the Trade Reports are uploaded at 4 PM CT. If you passed Step 1, you will automatically receive a Step 2 account confirmation email.

We currently trade CME group futures only. For more information on trading CME Products click here.

All positions must be closed prior to 3:10 PM CT. You can then restart trading at 5:00 PM CT.

An asterisk (*) indicates a product with an earlier close than 3:10 PM CT and/or a later open than 5:00 PM CT. If the product you are trading has an asterisk please refer to the CME site and follow the times listed there. Links are provided below.

For special holiday hours, please also refer to the Holiday Schedule here.

All traders must only trade the “front” (most liquid/highest volume) contract month for all products. Overnight trading is permitted, although positions must be closed prior to a product’s electronic market close or 3:10 PM CT (whichever comes first).

Why it is Important:

• You should only be exposed to risk when you are able to get in and out of the market
• You need to know your product intimately, including knowing when the market opens and closes

What it Means:

• Your Net P&L cannot hit or exceed the Daily Loss Limit at any point during the trading day (5:00 PM CT-3:10 PM CT). If at any time your Net P&L does exceed this amount for your account, any open trading positions may be flattened, any pending orders may be canceled, and your account may be prevented from placing any new trades until the start of the next trading day (5:00 PM CT). The account automatically becomes ineligible for a Funded Account once the Daily Loss Limit is exceeded.
• For example, in a $150K Trading Combine, the Daily Loss Limit is $3,000. Therefore, if at any point during the trading day your Net P&L hits or exceeds -$3,000, the Daily Loss Limit is considered hit.
• The Daily Loss Limit is factored based on each trading day’s Net P&L, which includes simulated commissions, fees, and both unrealized and realized trade P&L values.
• We recommend that all NinjaTrader users utilize the R|Trader platform in order to accurately monitor their Net P&L.
• This rule is updated at the end of each active trading day. You can keep track of the rule in relation to your account using your dashboard.

Why it is Important:

• Adhering to a loss limit instills discipline and proper risk management
• At a certain point, you need to call a bad day, a bad day (we all have them)
• It allows you to live to trade another day, the markets will be there tomorrow
• Losses can be emotional, emotions affect decision making

What happens if I exceed my Daily Loss Limit:

Your position may be flattened should you hit or exceed the Daily Loss Limit. We advise you to cover the position on your own. If this does not occur, you may be automatically flattened by the Risk Manager. If your Unrealized Net P&L hits or exceeds your Daily Loss Limit at any point during the Trading Combine, your account is no longer eligible for a Funded Account. You have the option to reset your account.

What it Means:

The Trailing Maximum Drawdown is best thought of as a minimum account balance. For instance, the Trailing Maximum Drawdown for our $50K account is $2,000. This means that when you start the account your balance cannot drop below $48K. This number is calculated at the end of the trading day in the Trading Combine. Which means that at any point during the trading day, you can drop below the minimum account balance, but you must be above it when the day ends.

This rule is updated at the end of each active trading day. You can keep track of the rule in relation to your account using your dashboard.

In the Funded Account, this rule is calculated intraday, which means if the balance falls below the minimum account balance you will be pulled from your trades right away and the rule is considered broken. To learn more about the Trailing Maximum Drawdown click here.

Why it is Important:

• Allows you to recognize and reevaluate when your strategy is not working in current market conditions
• Encourages smart account management

What it Means:

Following successful completion of Step 1 in a $50K, $100K or $150K account, the Trading Combine Step 2 and Funded Account™ have a Weekly Loss Limit. The Weekly Loss Limit is the maximum amount you may lose at any point in a calendar week (Monday through Friday). If that number is hit or exceeded it is a broken rule. The Weekly Loss Limit is equivalent to the Daily Loss Limit and is factored based on the sum of the total Net P&L in the calendar week.

Pro Tip: The Weekly Loss Limit rule is eliminated once the Trailing Maximum Drawdown reaches the starting balance.

In the Trading Combine, this rule is updated at the end of each active trading day once your trade report is updated.

In the Funded Account™, your Weekly Loss Limit will be calculated intraday.

You can keep track of the rule in relation to your account using Weekly Net P&L on your dashboard.

Why it is Important:

• Protects your account from large losses
• Allows you to reflect on recent performance – increasing your probability of success

What it Means:

For major economic releases, Topstep refers to the economic calendar listed below. Economic releases cause extreme volatility and large price swings, therefore, are very difficult to trade consistently and profitably. Due to this increased risk, all traders in the Trading Combine Step 2 and Funded Account™ cannot have any open positions on one (1) minute before and until one (1) minute after a major economic release.

Those in Step 1 do not need to be flat during any releases.

Why it is Important:

• Proves to yourself and the firm that your performance is consistent.
• Provides you and the firm enough information to evaluate and understand your trading.
• Gives you the opportunity to test your strategy across market conditions.

Please refer to the economic calendar for releases that Step 2 traders need to be flat for.

*Pending Abbreviated Trading Hours. Times are subject to change without notice, Traders are responsible for being aware of what economic releases apply to their accounts and when they occur.

In Step 2 of the Trading Combine, your account will be evaluated against the Scaling Plan at the end of each trading day. As you build or lose equity, your buying power will increase or decrease based on your end of day P&L. Watch this video to learn more.

Please note that your maximum number of contracts allowed to trade under the scaling plan does NOT increase throughout the trading day. Once you surpass one of the thresholds according to your account size, you will need to wait until the following session to trade the next scaling plan level.

We recommend checking your trade report each day after it is updated at 5 pm CT to identify the number of contracts your account is eligible to trade during the next session. You can see the number of lots your account is allowed to trade under the rules section of your dashboard.

If you have questions about how to calculate your net positions with a simultaneous long and short position in multiple products, please see an example here.

Why it is Important:

• Acts as a guide on how to responsibly leverage a growing account
• Over-leveraging causes the most damage to long-term success

For more information about the scaling plan, refer here.

To learn more about our withdrawal process please view this Help Center article.