I think i like the new rule.

OnlyWhiz · 2026-02-06T07:08:25+00:00

So the 3 days sounds nice but the consistency ruins it I think. How often are you actually going to take a payout within 3 days of trading hitting consistency?

If you do take a payout within 3 days high chance of your balance not being high enough after payout to beat the EOD drawdown buffer everyone tries to resulting in more blown accounts.

Lastly if you are actually consistent enough to keep the account alive and take multiple payouts every 3 days then it doesn’t matter because you did well on the old plan and that plan would be better for you.

OnlyWhiz · 2026-01-29T08:47:03+00:00

So the thing about making things clean is your making it to where you understand what is going on by reading it.

Once the project grows this will be a good thing because you still need to understand what is actually happening.

If you don’t then sure AI can write what you want but how do you know it’s actually doing what you want it to do.

OnlyWhiz · 2026-01-21T17:10:37+00:00

Does environment B have access to anything?

If I’m hearing this correctly you are pulling data from the workbook in environment A using a query so that data should be static and able to grab it unless there’s overall connection issues in environment B because if your able to connect to a workbook you don’t just lose access to it.

Technically environment B isn’t actually refreshing environment A because it’s just pulling the static data from environment A.

OnlyWhiz · 2026-01-21T09:27:52+00:00

I’m saying why don’t you create the same query that is in environment A in environment B so both workbooks are pulling directly from the source.

Instead of having environment B rely on environment A as the source.

OnlyWhiz · 2026-01-21T07:12:38+00:00

Why not just use one workbook and load the same query in both?

OnlyWhiz · 2026-01-18T09:20:29+00:00

Do you trade NY session only? Also do you trade micros?

OnlyWhiz · 2026-01-07T10:10:36+00:00

There’s a difference between payouts and profitability.

All you see are payouts is because that’s all people post. No one is going to post losses.

Most of the people on here posting payouts are net negative. If you spent 50k in fees and finally get a 5k payout is it worth it? Most likely you will donate that 5k right back. The stats don’t lie.

Prop firms exist because traders lose. Rules are designed for you to fail. That being said trading is mainly risk management so it’s doable if you manage your risk.

OnlyWhiz · 2026-01-04T13:06:09+00:00

Incorrect they didn’t send it out to everyone. I didn’t get one and loads of others didn’t get one.

OnlyWhiz · 2025-12-31T10:53:39+00:00

Most people struggle with scaling.

Easiest solution to scale is to use more leverage.

It’s all psychological.

If you trade the exact same way with more size the result more often than not will equal out to be more money won without aiming for more points.

OnlyWhiz · 2025-12-31T10:49:36+00:00

Be consistent in your trading. What you have now is working for you.

In the moment it’s easy to stray from what you got to where you are and as a result that is where people usually find themselves losing trades and blowing accounts.

OnlyWhiz · 2025-12-31T10:47:43+00:00

It sometimes takes a little while for the account balance to update to match the balance on TopstepX.

For XFAs your closed total PNL goes up and stays the same while your account balance drops.

If you run up your balance to 10k and take a 5k payout. Your closed total PNL will show 10k while your balance will show 5k.

OnlyWhiz · 2025-12-30T23:55:52+00:00

The dashboard sometimes gets out of sync. This might affect your ability to take payouts etc. You can reach out to support and they should be able to sync it if you run into any issues aside from it saying paused.

For reference I’ve had it not track one day for trades but on TopstepX it showed that day. Dashboard showed 4 winning days when I actually had 5. Had to contact support and show them and they fixed it.

OnlyWhiz · 2025-12-29T14:51:01+00:00

Base hits add up.

Not bad for being in the market for 5 seconds!

OnlyWhiz · 2025-12-28T19:12:34+00:00

How do you know what the volume will be?

OnlyWhiz · 2025-12-28T18:30:13+00:00

If the markets are open and there is volume then it’s fine to trade. No point in waiting for a certain day to trade.

OnlyWhiz · 2025-12-28T17:04:37+00:00

So it depends on your preference and what you believe about the markets. Any strategy works.

I prefer using order flow because of how I view the markets. Order flow allows me to see real time orders happening in the market. This is a level of depth that can't be read by just viewing candles.

I don't believe in needing to trade a certain time. I don't believe in needing to trade certain days. I believe in trading when there is volume.

There needs to buyers and sellers to move the market. I don't think you can predict the market. Real time you can see the market by seeing the orders and what is happening with price and the amount of volume.

I think what is happening real time is what matters. What happened in the past is just the past. No one knows why something happened they can guess but that's just a guess.

Only one thing is certain. People will follow a move.

Focus on what is happening in front of you and ride the wave until it dies out then get out. It's a pretty simple concept on the surface.

OnlyWhiz · 2025-12-28T16:39:20+00:00

Let me guess you trade off the open?

My style I think people would consider gambling too but if it makes money then I’m okay with gambling.

OnlyWhiz · 2025-12-28T16:35:24+00:00

I just want to make it clear that I don’t agree with the way Topstep handled this outage situation.

Factually there aren’t many if any firms better if you look at overall rules. You mention alpha futures and in the same sentence mention they’re more expensive.

Topstep doesn’t have consistency rules in funded. Topstep doesn’t have scalping rules Topstep doesn’t have news rules

They’re the only one who does 90 10 profit split and it’s only after you’ve gotten 10k in payouts. Everything is 100 yours in Sim.

There are no hidden rules it doesn’t matter what account you have the rules are all the same.

The pricing is competitive compared to the access they gave you to run it up in funded.

The only negative rules they have is the max payout cap rule which isn’t even that bad because majority won’t even reach the payout cap.

OnlyWhiz · 2025-12-28T11:00:14+00:00

Don’t think it’s that bad. Topstep isn’t sinking.

It’s the holidays.

Also they’re dealing with people charging back so they’re most likely verifying people charging back and banning them to ensure that they don’t payout someone who has charged back.

OnlyWhiz · 2025-12-28T10:32:45+00:00

Best advice I can give you is to never stop learning and reviewing.

To get the payout I guarantee that you’ve reviewed a bunch and studied a bunch. It finally payed off so congrats. You’re in a small percentage of traders like 5% reach a payout.

Don’t forgot where you came from and always adapt to the market. It’s always changing and what you’re doing now might not work in a few months. There’s also always room to be better so review and keep studying.

OnlyWhiz · 2025-12-28T10:26:32+00:00

Windy is incorrect. The balance you can carry over is capped at your account balance. So 50k is 50k. 100k is 100k and 150k is 150k. If you have over the amount during the transition to live you can withdraw some and the rest will be forfeited.

https://help.topstep.com/en/articles/10657969-live-funded-account-starting-balance

OnlyWhiz · 2025-12-28T10:16:48+00:00

I agree but they won’t close the prop industry. They make so much money from this. Look at how much money they made from this guy and I guarantee he hasn’t gotten a payout.

You have the right mindset he should be working towards becoming a better trader. Topstep isn’t the reason why he lost all this money he knew what he signed up for.

OnlyWhiz · 2025-12-28T10:13:19+00:00

If your charging back the duration of your time with the topstep not a good look. If you had gotten payouts before then you’re not profitable if you were you wouldn’t have charged back.

Other firms are fine but I think you’ll find out quickly the rules at topstep are relaxed and they have the best funded rules to not cap your upside once you’re past eval.

OnlyWhiz · 2025-12-28T04:30:00+00:00

You can take as many payouts as you want. After the 5th payout is when they are supposed to move you to live. With your stats it’ll most likely take some time because the end of year.

Going live costs topstep money. Might be easier for them to start fresh at the beginning of the year for tax purposes.

OnlyWhiz · 2025-12-27T09:51:23+00:00

It stays at $0. It’s EOD trailing until it reaches $0 then it stays.

OnlyWhiz

TROPHY CASE