Topstep drawdown calculator
Preloaded with the real Combine rules. See your exact Maximum Loss Limit and the cushion you have left.
- Cushion left
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- Buffer used
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How Topstep's trailing drawdown actually works
Topstep calls its drawdown the Maximum Loss Limit (MLL), and it has two properties that 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. What you keep at the close is what ratchets the limit up.
Second, the limit locks at your starting balance. On a 50K Combine the floor starts at $48,000 and climbs with each new daily high close. The moment it reaches $50,000 it stops forever. That lock changes how the account should be traded: before the lock, every winning day quietly spends part of tomorrow's room to breathe; after it, your worst case is a reset back to breakeven.
The practical takeaway: the first few days of a Combine are the most dangerous. Your floor is closest, your cushion is thinnest, and one oversized loser can end it. Size down until your highest close has pulled the limit up to breakeven, then trade your normal plan.
How to use this calculator
- 01
Confirm your Combine size
The calculator opens on the $50,000 Combine. Switch it if you trade the $100,000 or $150,000, because each one carries its own Maximum Loss Limit and the difference is thousands of dollars.
- 02
Enter your current balance
What the account is worth right now with all trades closed. Topstep measures you on realised balance, so this is the figure that matters at the close.
- 03
Enter your highest end-of-day balance
Not your best intraday spike, your best CLOSE. If you ran to $51,400 at lunch and finished at $50,600, the number to enter is $50,600. This is the single input people get wrong, and it is the one that moves your floor.
- 04
Press Calculate
You get the Maximum Loss Limit in dollars, how much cushion sits between you and it, and whether your floor has already locked at breakeven.
Understanding your results
- Breach level
- Your Maximum Loss Limit in dollars. If your balance touches it, the Combine ends immediately. On a fresh $50,000 account it sits at $48,000.
- Cushion left
- Balance minus the MLL: what you can lose before it is over. Divide by your per-trade risk to get the number of consecutive losers you can survive today.
- Buffer used
- How much of the $2,000 allowance is already gone. It climbs when you lose, and before the lock it also climbs when you hand back profit after a new closing high.
- Floor locked
- Shows once the MLL has reached your starting balance and stopped trailing for good. After that Topstep can no longer take the account from you while you stay above breakeven.
A $50,000 Combine, week by week
You start at $50,000 and your Maximum Loss Limit sits at $48,000. Day one closes at $50,800, a new high, so the limit ratchets to $48,800. Notice what just happened: you made $800 and your room to lose shrank by $800. The cushion did not grow at all.
By the end of week two your best close is $51,900 and the limit has followed to $49,900. You are $1,900 up with $2,000 of room, which is the same $2,000 you started with. This is the part that catches people out: on a trailing account, profit does not buy safety until the floor locks.
Then a close above $52,000 pushes the limit to $50,000, your starting balance, and it locks there permanently. Now every dollar above $50,000 is genuine cushion, and the account can no longer be taken from you while you stay above breakeven. That lock, not the profit target, is the real milestone of a Topstep Combine.
Topstep Combine rules by account size
| Account | Profit target | Maximum Loss Limit | Daily Loss Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| $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 July 2026. Confirm against Topstep's official help center before trading; firms adjust parameters without much notice.
From the trading desk
This site is built by a trader running these exact challenges, and the EOD trailing rule is the one that has caused the most self-inflicted damage: winning days that raised the floor faster than the account grew. The journal tracks each attempt with the numbers behind it, including where the MLL sat before every session. If you want the bigger picture first, the pass probability calculator models the whole Combine, this rule included.
Frequently asked 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.
What is the daily loss limit on Topstep accounts?
Each Combine size has its own Daily Loss Limit: $1,000 on the 50K, $2,000 on the 100K, and $3,000 on the 150K. Hitting it does not always end the Combine, but violating the Maximum Loss Limit does, so track the tighter of the two numbers.
Where this calculator stops
It works from Topstep's published Combine rules and your realised balance. It does not see open positions, your consistency-rule progress, or the separate Daily Loss Limit, which can end a session before the Maximum Loss Limit ever comes into play. Topstep also adjusts its parameters from time to time: the figures here were last checked in July 2026, so confirm them against Topstep's own help centre before you trade against them. If you want the broader question of whether the Combine is worth attempting at all, the pass probability calculator models the whole thing, this rule included.
Related calculators
Drawdown calculator, all firms
The same engine with every firm's rules, so you can see how Topstep's end-of-day trailing compares to Apex's real-time version or FTMO's static floor.
Pass probability calculator
Your real odds of passing the Combine, simulated across 5,000 accounts against the drawdown, daily loss, and time limits together.
Djosa
Founder, QuantPropTraderI've been trading CFDs for about 18 months, and most of that was losing. What turned it around wasn't a better setup — it was measuring one simple strategy until the numbers stopped being an opinion: 20,000+ trades back-tested by script, ~2,000 by hand, and 500-1,000 forward-tested live. That's what makes a calculator like this useful instead of decorative, because it only works if the win rate and R:R you type in are numbers you've actually measured. I built these tools because the odds of passing a challenge are the one number nobody hands you before you pay for it.