Topstep Rule Changes (2026)
Topstep's payout terms have moved three times since the start of 2026 — the profit split, the Express Funded Account payout structure, and the per-request caps that bound it. Every verified change is dated and sourced below.
Per-payout caps published for Express Funded Accounts
| Old | Express Funded Accounts on newer no-activation-fee Combines were reported carrying higher per-payout caps — third-party trackers logged figures in the $5,000–$6,000 range before late April 2026. |
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| New | Topstep's published payout policy caps each XFA payout request at 50% of account balance, up to: $50K → $2,000 Standard / $3,000 Consistency; $100K → $3,000 / $4,000; $150K → $5,000 / $6,000. Live Funded Account payouts remain uncapped. |
Impact on automated strategies: Payout velocity on an XFA is now bounded by the cap as much as by P&L — a strategy that grows the account quickly still has to withdraw it in capped increments. The uncapped Live Funded Account, not the XFA, is the stage where payout size stops being a constraint.
Express Funded Account splits into Standard and Consistency payout paths
| Old | A single XFA payout path: 5 winning days of $150+ net P&L per payout cycle, with no cap on how much any one day contributed. |
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| New | Two selectable paths now exist. Standard: 5 winning days of $150+, non-consecutive. Consistency: only 3 winning days of $150+ needed, but the largest single day can't exceed 40% of total net profit. Days lock in at 4:00 PM CT, and the day a payout is requested doesn't count toward the next cycle. |
Impact on automated strategies: A steady algo with no outlier days reaches payout roughly a third faster on the Consistency path. A strategy with occasional big winning sessions should stay on Standard instead — one day over the 40% cap on Consistency delays the whole payout, even with the profit already banked.
Source: Topstep blog — Express Funded Account consistency path · Topstep Help Center — Payout Policy
Profit split moves to 90/10 from the first dollar
| Old | Traders kept 100% of their first $10,000 in lifetime profit before the 90/10 split applied to anything after. |
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| New | Accounts created after January 12, 2026 are on the 90/10 split starting with dollar one. Traders who joined before that date keep the legacy 100%-of-first-$10K treatment. |
Impact on automated strategies: New traders take roughly a 10% haircut on early profits that used to be fee-free. Anyone modeling eval-cost-versus-payout breakeven for a new automated strategy should rebuild that math around 90/10 from the start rather than assuming the old grace window.