Topstep drawdown calculator

This Topstep drawdown calculator is preloaded with the real Combine rules. Enter your balance and your highest end-of-day close to see your Maximum Loss Limit, the cushion left, and whether the floor has locked at your starting balance.

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Breach level
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What this floor does to your odds over a whole challengeRun the challenge simulator →

How Topstep's floor and payout caps compare to the other four firms Prop firm comparison →

Cushion left
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Buffer used
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Topstep's Maximum Loss Limit trails your daily closes,
then stops

Topstep calls its drawdown the Maximum Loss Limit (MLL), and two properties matter more than the headline number.

First, it trails your end-of-day balance, not your intraday peak. You can be up $900 at lunch, give it all back by the close, and your floor has not moved.

Second, it locks at your starting balance. On a 50K Combine the floor starts at $48,000, climbs with each new daily high close, and the moment it reaches $50,000 it stops forever.

That is why the first few days of a Combine are the most dangerous. Size down until your highest close has pulled the limit to breakeven, then trade your normal plan.

Your first $800 of profit lifts the floor $800,
so the cushion never grows

You start at $50,000 with the Maximum Loss Limit at $48,000. Day one closes at $50,800, a new high, so the limit ratchets to $48,800.

Notice what happened: you made $800 and your room to lose shrank by $800. By the end of week two your best close is $51,900 and the limit has followed to $49,900, so you are $1,900 up with the same $2,000 of room you started with.

Then a close above $52,000 pushes the limit to $50,000 and it locks there permanently. Now every dollar above $50,000 is genuine cushion, and the account cannot be taken from you while you stay above breakeven. That lock, not the profit target, is the real milestone of a Combine.

The 50K Combine allows $2,000 of loss and the 150K $4,500

Account Profit target Maximum Loss Limit Daily Loss Limit (opt-in)
$50,000 $3,000 $2,000 (EOD trailing) $1,000
$100,000 $6,000 $3,000 (EOD trailing) $2,000
$150,000 $9,000 $4,500 (EOD trailing) $3,000

Rules last checked September 2026. The daily column applies only to accounts that added a Daily Loss Limit at checkout; with it off, the Maximum Loss Limit is the only floor. Confirm against Topstep's own help center before trading, since firms adjust parameters without much notice.

The daily loss limit is optional at Topstep, added at checkout

Most prop firms give you a daily loss limit whether you want one or not. Topstep sells it as a choice you make when you buy the Combine.

Take it and you get a per-session cap ($1,000 on the 50K, $2,000 on the 100K, $3,000 on the 150K) that pauses trading for the day, plus the Responsible Trading Advantage pricing that comes with it. Leave it off and the Maximum Loss Limit above is the only line on the account.

And the trailing floor above is a choice too, just not one made at Topstep's checkout. A static drawdown never moves, so profit you bank stays banked as cushion instead of dragging the fail level up behind it — The5ers runs one, and the static drawdown calculator shows what the same account looks like under it.

Which one you chose changes how you size. The prop firm risk calculator takes both floors and returns a position size that survives them, and Topstep's own help center states the current terms. Topstep pays us nothing, so that link is a plain one.

The Topstep drawdown calculator works from your closed balance

It uses Topstep's published Combine rules and the realized balance you type in. It cannot see open positions, a Daily Loss Limit you opted into, or your consistency-rule progress, any of which can end a session before the Maximum Loss Limit comes into play.

Open trades matter more here than the end-of-day rule suggests. The limit only rises at the close, but Topstep checks it live through the session and counts unrealized P&L, so a position underwater right now can breach a floor the number above says you are clear of.

For the broader question of whether the Combine is worth attempting at all, the prop firm challenge calculator simulates 5,000 accounts against the drawdown, the daily loss and the clock together.

Common Topstep drawdown questions

How does the Topstep Maximum Loss Limit work?
Your Maximum Loss Limit starts a fixed distance below your starting balance ($2,000 on the 50K Combine). It trails your highest end-of-day balance: every time a day closes at a new high, the limit rises by the same amount. It stops rising forever once it reaches your starting balance.
Is Topstep drawdown end-of-day or intraday?
End of day. Only your balance at the daily close can move the limit up. An intraday spike that you give back before the close does not raise your floor, which makes Topstep noticeably more forgiving than real-time trailing firms like Apex.
Does the Topstep drawdown stop trailing?
Yes. Once the Maximum Loss Limit climbs all the way to your starting balance, it locks there permanently. After the lock, the account effectively has a static floor at breakeven: you can no longer fail from drawdown while your balance stays above the starting balance.
Does a Topstep account have a daily loss limit?
Only if you add one. The Daily Loss Limit is an option you select when you buy a Trading Combine or activate an Express Funded Account, and it comes with the Responsible Trading Advantage (discounted pricing, and for a time double payout caps). With it off, the Maximum Loss Limit is the only floor on the account. With it on, the limit is $1,000 on the 50K, $2,000 on the 100K and $3,000 on the 150K, and hitting it pauses trading for the session rather than ending the Combine.