Topstep vs FXIFY
Which of these two is likelier to end your account, and why — compared rule by rule from what each firm publishes.
Short answer
- The drawdown works differently, and that is the difference that matters. Topstep's loss limit steps up at each daily close and never steps back down; FXIFY's follows your highest closed balance, ignoring open profit. Topstep: A floor set at last night's close is still enforced live all session, so you can be liquidated intraday by a level you never saw move. FXIFY: Only closed profit moves it, so a winning trade you have not banked yet gives you no extra room and costs you none.
- Daily loss cap: Topstep 2%, FXIFY 4%.
- Minimum trading days: Topstep 2 days, FXIFY no minimum — this sets the earliest you can finish, however fast you hit the target.
- Overnight and weekend: FXIFY lets you hold; Topstep requires you flat before the session closes, so a swing plan does not fit it.
- Entry cost: Topstep from $49, FXIFY from $99.
Figures below are what each firm publishes. Confirm them on the firm's own site before paying for an evaluation — these rules change without notice.
Topstep
FXIFY
Side-by-Side Specifications Matrix
Every figure below is taken from the firm's own published rules. Check the source and date under the table before you size a position on it — prop firm rules change without notice.
| Evaluation Parameter | Topstep | FXIFY |
|---|---|---|
| Asset Class / Market | FUTURES | MULTI-ASSET |
| Drawdown Calculation Type | End-of-Day Trailing (Intraday-Enforced) The floor ratchets once per day on the closing balance and locks permanently when it reaches your starting balance, but the breach check runs live all session on realized plus unrealized P&L — touching it for one tick liquidates the account immediately. The threshold only steps up on your end-of-day balance and never moves down, so an open winning trade cannot drag your floor higher during the session. |
Trailing Closed-Balance HWM (locks at start balance) FXIFY's own FAQs label the 'Two Phase' drawdown 10% Trailing on the assessment-rules page and 10% Static on the static-drawdown page, so check which 2-Phase variant you bought. The 2-Step limit trails your highest closed balance (floating profit does not move it) and stops trailing once you are 10% up or take your first payout; Three Phase is static from day one. |
| Max Daily Loss | 2.0% 2% of account size ($1,000 / $2,000 / $3,000 on $50K / $100K / $150K), measured on the day's net P&L; it is optional in the Trading Combine and Express Funded Account and automatic only in the Live Funded Account, and hitting it never ends the account — it flattens you, cancels your orders and locks you out until 5 PM CT the next session. |
4% 4% on the 2-Step, measured against the balance recorded at 5PM EST the previous day; One Phase is 3%, Three Phase 5%, Instant Funding 8%, Lightning 3%. |
| Max Overall Loss | 4.0% 4% on the $50K account ($2,000); the $100K account gets 3% ($3,000) and the $150K account 3% ($4,500), because Topstep sets this limit in dollars per size rather than as a percentage. |
10.0% 10% on the 2-Step; One Phase is 6%, Three Phase 5%, Instant Funding 8%, Lightning 4%. |
| Profit Split | 90% | 80% - 90% |
| Minimum Trading Days | 2 Days Two days is the Trading Combine minimum, and it only works if your best day stays under 50% of the Profit Target; the Express Funded and Live Funded accounts have their own separate day counts for payouts. |
0 Days |
| News Trading Policy | ✓ News trading is allowed, but putting on your full maximum position size directly into a scheduled major news event is a named prohibited strategy and those profits can be rejected | ✓ News trading allowed with zero time restriction windows |
| Weekend & Overnight Holding | ✗ Flat by Close (Intraday futures only; every position flat by 3:10 PM CT, risk desk starts flattening at 3:08 PM CT, nothing held from one session to the next) | ✓ Permitted (Weekend and overnight holding permitted across all account types) |
| Supported Platforms | TopstepX, Tradovate, NinjaTrader, Quantower | MT4, MT5, DXtrade, TradingView |
| Payout Schedule | Daily payouts after 5 winning days (+$200/day) | On-demand Day 1 payouts (bi-weekly thereafter) |
| First Payout Eligibility | 5 winning days (Standard Path) or 3 trading days (Consistency Path) Standard Path needs five winning days; the Consistency Path pays out after three trading days with at least one trade each, but only if your biggest day stays at or below 40% of total net profit. |
Day 1 (immediate upon passing and trading) |
| Consistency Rule | Trading Combine: best single day must stay at or below 50% of the Profit Target. Express Funded Consistency payout path: largest day must stay at or below 40% of total net profit Measured as your largest single day divided by the relevant total — against the Profit Target in the Combine (50%), against total net profit on the Express Funded Consistency payout path (40%, not rounded). |
No consistency rule published for the 2-Step; other FXIFY programmes carry 20-30% best-day rules Lightning caps your best day at 30% of total profit, Instant Funding Lite at 20%, Crypto funded accounts at 25%, and Two Phase Pro stops you for the day at $4,000 profit. |
| Islamic / Swap-Free Option | ✓ Inherently Swap-Free (CME Futures) Inherently Swap-Free (Topstep forces every position flat by 3:10 PM CT and permits no holding from one session to the next, so no overnight interest/riba can accrue) |
✓ Swap-Free Checkout Add-on Swap-Free add-on available at checkout; eliminates overnight swap charges permanently on live simulated accounts |
| US Residents Accepted | ✓ Accepted | ✗ Restricted |
| Maximum Capital Allocation | $450,000 | $4,000,000 |
Where these figures come from. Read from Topstep's own published rules on : Maximum Loss Limit · Daily Loss Limit · Combine 50%-of-Profit-Target best-day rule and · 3 · Flat 90/10 split and the pre-2026-01-12 gating · Named prohibited strategies · Trading Combine two-day minimum and the best-d · The two restriction tiers · TopstepX as the firm's own platform and the st · Quantower connects via TopstepX credentials, T · Express Funded Standard Path five-winning-day . Prop firm rules change without notice — confirm on the firm's own site before you pay for an evaluation.
Where these figures come from. Read from FXIFY's own published rules on : Daily loss limit by programme (3/4/5%) and the · Instant Funding 8% daily drawdown, same 5PM ES · Lightning 3% daily drawdown, 4% trailing max d · Per-phase table · Trailing mechanism · Static drawdown definition, and the page that · Instant Funding 8% trailing max drawdown and i · Platform list including TradingView · Identical platform sentence, confirming the li · Instant Funding Lite 20% best-day rule and 10- · 25% best-day rule on Crypto funded accounts, w · Two Phase Pro $4,000/day profit cap and same-d · 60-day inactivity breach · Profit forfeiture on hard breach and the Perfo · Prohibited strategies and the termination-plus · Programme-specific copy-trading ban · One profile per person, no second account unde. Prop firm rules change without notice — confirm on the firm's own site before you pay for an evaluation.
What can end the account even if you are profitable
These are the rules people usually find out about after a payout is refused.
- Topstep: Your account is wiped the instant your balance touches the Maximum Loss Limit at any point in the session, and open unrealized losses count — you can be up on the week and still get liquidated by one spike against an open trade. source
- Topstep: In the Trading Combine your single best day must stay at or below 50% of the Profit Target, and if it goes over, Topstep raises your Profit Target instead of passing you. source
- Topstep: If you take the faster three-day payout path on an Express Funded Account, your biggest single day must be 40% or less of your total profit — Topstep does not round, so 40.1% means no payout. source
- Topstep: You must close every position by 3:10 PM CT each weekday, and Topstep's risk desk starts flattening people at 3:08 PM CT, so a winning trade left open into the close gets closed for you and nothing can be carried into the next session or the weekend. source
- Topstep: Deliberately loading up your full maximum position size right before a scheduled major news release is a banned strategy, and Topstep can reject the profits it produces. source
- Topstep: Blowing one account into its Maximum Loss Limit and then repeating the same reckless bet on your next account is banned as account stacking, and Topstep shuts it down and can refuse the profits when the gamble finally works. source
- Topstep: Deliberately draining a Live Funded Account to force it to fail is banned, so you cannot blow up a struggling live account to get a clean start. source
- Topstep: Using software, AI, ultra-high-speed systems or mass order entry to gain an unfair edge, or placing orders outside the current best bid and offer, is banned and Topstep can reject your profits and close the account. source
- Topstep: Running scalping bots, firing hundreds of seconds-long trades a day, trading recklessly into gapped markets or milking the simulator's unrealistically clean stop-loss fills gets your payout refused and you removed from the program, even if you hit the profit target. source
- Topstep: You cannot take a first payout until you have five winning days on the Standard Path, or three trading days with at least one trade each on the Consistency Path — profit alone does not unlock the money. source
- FXIFY: If you go 60 days without placing a single trade, FXIFY breaches your account and it is over, evaluation or funded. source
- FXIFY: If you hard-breach a funded account you lose every dollar of profit you have not already been paid, unless you bought the Performance Protect add-on at the original checkout, which is the only way to keep it. source
- FXIFY: FXIFY terminates your account and wipes your profits to zero if you use latency arbitrage, high-frequency trading, hedging positions across accounts, order-book spamming, trading the same setups as a group, exploiting platform bugs, or let anyone else trade for you, including a paid pass-your-challenge service. source
- FXIFY: On Instant Funding, Instant Funding Lite, 2 Phase Pro and the Lightning Plan you may not copy trades in from anyone else, such as a signal service or a copier bot, and doing so breaks FXIFY's terms; copying between your own FXIFY accounts is allowed on the other programmes. source
- FXIFY: You may register only one profile with FXIFY, and opening a second one under a different email address is a rule violation. source
- FXIFY: On the Lightning Plan your single best trading day cannot be worth more than 30% of your total profit, or you do not meet FXIFY's payout requirement. source
- FXIFY: On Instant Funding Lite your best trading day cannot be worth more than a fifth of your total profit, and you must also have traded on 10 separate days since your first trade before you can be paid. source
- FXIFY: On the Crypto Instant Funded and Crypto 1-Phase funded accounts no single trading day's profit may exceed 25% of your profit for that payout period, though this does not apply during the crypto challenge step. source
- FXIFY: On Two Phase Pro you are closed out of the market for the rest of the day the moment you make $4,000 of profit, and you can only trade again the next day. source
Drawdown Architecture: Topstep vs FXIFY
The fundamental differentiator between Topstep and FXIFY lies in how risk and liquidation thresholds are tracked:
Topstep: End-of-Day Trailing (Intraday-Enforced)
Topstep applies a End-of-Day Trailing (Intraday-Enforced) approach. Under this structure, your stop loss floor is anchored to balance intervals. This ensures that temporary floating open profits do not pull your stop loss floor higher in real-time.
FXIFY: Trailing Closed-Balance HWM (locks at start balance)
FXIFY implements a Trailing Closed-Balance HWM (locks at start balance) model. Open equity peaks will instantly adjust your maximum loss threshold tick-by-tick.
The Trader's Verdict: Which Firm Should You Choose?
Depending on your trading style, asset preference, and capital requirements, here is how our research team segments the two providers:
Choose Topstep if you:
- Want End-of-Day Trailing (Intraday-Enforced) risk management.
- Trade primarily FUTURES instruments with TopstepX, Tradovate, NinjaTrader.
- Value Disciplined futures day traders who prioritize End-of-Day drawdown protection and rapid daily payout availability.
- Do not mind closing before the daily market session closes.
- Seek up to $450,000 in maximum scaling capital.
Choose FXIFY if you:
- Prefer Trailing Closed-Balance HWM (locks at start balance) execution terms.
- Trade MULTI-ASSET via MT4, MT5, DXtrade.
- Value Traders demanding on-demand Day 1 payouts with a trailing drawdown that locks to the starting balance after the first payout and no minimum trading days.
- Want flexible swing trading terms without time limits.
- Want access to starting entry fees at $99.