If you're a futures trader looking at prop firms, Take Profit Trader and Topstep have almost certainly made your shortlist. Both have been around for more than five years and have earned the trust of a large base of funded traders. The real question isn't which firm is "better" overall, but which one fits how you want to get paid, manage risk, and reach live markets. This comparison breaks down the payouts, rules, and fees side by side, then lands on where each firm genuinely stands out.
TL;DR: Take Profit Trader delivers day-one and daily PRO payouts with no minimum trading days, no funded consistency rule, no payout cap, no daily loss limit at any stage, and no scaling plan holding a trader to less size than they traded in the evaluation. Topstep, by comparison, offers a more structured, coached evaluation experience.
Take Profit Trader may be the better fit for traders who...
Want day-one and daily PRO payouts, with no minimum trading days, no funded consistency rule and no payout cap
Want no daily loss limit at any stage of the program
Value quick withdrawals without hidden rules blocking payouts
Want no scaling plan limiting them to less size than they traded in the evaluation
Topstep may be the better fit for traders who...
Want a heavily guided, well-documented evaluation experience
Value community coaching as part of the program
Want to trade with a firm that has more than a decade of experience funding futures traders
Company Snapshots
Take Profit Trader is a futures prop firm founded in 2021 and helped pioneer one of the first paths to live-market trading. It offers one streamlined evaluation program across $25K to $150K account sizes, moving traders through three stages, Evaluation, PRO, and PRO+, with a clear route from simulated funding to live-market trading. In a short time it has become one of the most talked-about names in the space, widely recognized in the futures trading community for its popular daily payout policy.
Topstep is a futures prop firm that has operated since 2012, originally as TopstepTrader before shortening its name to Topstep in 2020, making it one of the longer-established names in the industry. It funds traders through its Trading Combine evaluation across $50K to $150K account sizes, progressing to an Express Funded Account and then a Live Funded Account. Over more than a decade, it has become widely recognized in the futures trading community, particularly for its education-and-coaching approach.
At a Glance: Take Profit Trader vs Topstep
Here's a look at the two firms side by side. The table covers the core evaluation, payout, and platform rules, with the finer details unpacked in the deep dives further down.
Feature | Take Profit Trader | Topstep |
|---|---|---|
Account sizes | $25K, $50K, $75K, $100K, $150K | $50K, $100K, $150K |
Payout Frequency | Day-one and daily PRO and PRO+ Payouts; processed within seconds. | Standard: 5 days (weekly), 5 winning days of $150+ with no consistency and a cap for 50% profits. |
Minimum Payout Amount | No minimum; $50 fee for withdrawals less than $250 | $125 |
Maximum Payout Amount | No max | 50% of account balance up to a cap depending on payout path and account size |
Profit split | In PRO, you keep 80% of your profits above the buffer and 90% with no buffer in PRO+ live-market accounts. | 90% |
Funded consistency rule | None | 40% for Consistency payout path. None for Standard path. |
Daily loss limit | None | Applies at the Live stage; available as an add-on and recommended for evals and XFAs |
Activation fee | $0 (with code NOFEE40) | About $149 one-time (Standard path); $0 on the higher-monthly No-Activation path |
Evaluation fee model | $90-$216/month for 25K-150K account sizes (with code NOFEE40) | Monthly subscription; recurs until passing (about $49/mo on the $50K Standard path) |
Drawdown type | Evaluation: EOD trailing (locks at start balance); PRO (Sim-funded): intraday trailing; PRO+ (Live-funded): EOD | EOD trailing (locks at start balance) |
Eval consistency rule | 50% (best day under 50% of net profit; evaluation only) | 50% |
Minimum days to pass | 3 trading days | 2 trading days (if consistency is met) |
Funded account resets | PRO resets available (up to 3/account; no time limit or condition, ~$649 on $50K) | Funded resets available (up to 2/account; within 7 days of account breach, only available if the account hasn't taken a payout; $599 on $50K) |
Max PRO accounts | Up to 5 (copy trading allowed) | Up to 5 |
Max PRO+ (live) accounts | Up to 5 (copy trading allowed) | Only 1 Live Account |
Scaling plan (risk rule) | No scaling plan; trade a chosen size within the rules | Scaling rule limits maximum contract size by account performance; verify and date |
Path to live markets | Invitation-based path to live-market PRO+ (90% split) | On a case-by-case basis |
$50K buffer / drawdown | ~$2,000 trailing drawdown; no buffer requirement in PRO+ | Max drawdown $2,000. DLL $1,000, but no DLL for TSX accounts created after 8/25. No buffer but withdrawals are capped at 50% of profits |
Platforms | TradingView, NinjaTrader, Tradovate, and 15+ platforms across CQG and Rithmic data feeds | TopstepX |
Support | Real people (not robots); live chat during weekday hours; 4.3 stars across 10K+ Trustpilot reviews | Community and coaching model; 3.6 stars across 15K+ Trustpilot reviews |
Similarities and Differences
Both are single-firm futures prop programs with an evaluation stage leading to a funded account, both support leading platforms and CME Group markets, pay a 90% split at the live tier, allow multiple accounts and resets through the funded stage, and neither charges a monthly subscription on the simulated funded account. Where Take Profit Trader breaks away:
No Daily Loss Limit at any stage. Take Profit Trader never imposes one. Topstep offers it as an optional add-on during evaluation (with a discount and higher payout caps for opting in), then makes it mandatory at the live stage, compressing to $2,000 if the tradable balance drops below $10,000.
Faster access to profit. Payouts start day one and can be requested daily, with no monthly cap. Topstep pays weekly, and only unlocks daily payouts after 30 winning days in live.
No consistency rule once funded. Topstep attaches one to certain payout paths.
A live program built for speed. Take Profit Trader's PRO+ live accounts use the same end-of-day drawdown model as Topstep's live accounts, so the two are matched there. Where they differ is payout access: PRO+ traders get daily payouts with no buffer requirement, while Topstep traders typically need 30 winning days before payouts move from weekly to daily.
Automatic upgrades across every account. A trader can run up to 5 accounts at once, and once one account is approved for PRO+, Take Profit Trader automatically upgrades the trader's remaining active PRO accounts to PRO+ as well, so the higher 90% split and live-market terms carry across the whole set rather than being earned one account at a time.
No scaling plan, and the standard data feed is included at PRO+. Topstep adds another scaling rule plus data and platform fees once live.
Costs and Fees: The $50K Account Walkthrough
Let's walk through the actual costs of opening a $50K account. Topstep's entry price is lower, but the number that matters is what a trader pays after funding. Take Profit Trader's PRO+ carries no firm subscription and includes the standard data feed, while a live Topstep account keeps paying market data fees and a platform license for as long as it's open.
Take Profit Trader: The $50K evaluation is listed at about $170 per month, but promotions frequently cut roughly 40% off, bringing it closer to $102 and typically waiving the $130 activation fee. Billing stops the month a trader passes the evaluation. Resets run $100. After funding, PRO and PRO+ carry no monthly fee, and PRO+ trades live through Tradovate with the standard data feed included, so a live account can run with no firm subscription at all. Extra exchange data is optional at about $135 per month.
Topstep: The $50K Combine runs about $49 per month on the Standard path, plus a $149 activation fee per Express Funded Account earned, currently waived on promotion. Resets are $49. A No-Activation path swaps the activation fee for a higher monthly, about $95 at the $50K level. At the Live Funded Account stage, the trader picks up market data fees of roughly $135 per exchange per month, with one exchange covered, plus a platform license.
$50K Cost / Term | Take Profit Trader | Topstep |
|---|---|---|
Evaluation fee | ~$170/month (~$102 on a ~40% promo); billing stops on pass | ~$49/month Combine (Standard path) |
Activation (one-time) | $130, waived on current promos | $149 per Express Funded Account earned, waived on current promos; No-Activation path runs ~$95/month instead |
Monthly fees after funding | None (PRO and PRO+) | None on the simulated funded account; Live Funded Account adds market data (~$135/exchange/month) and a platform license |
Bottom line: the $50K math | ~$102 all-in to fund the promo. No recurring firm fee once funded, standard data included at PRO+ | ~$49 to $198 all-in to funding depending on path and promo. Live account adds market data fees and a platform license |
Take Profit Trader's cost is front-loaded and finite. The evaluation fee is ended on passing, and from that point forward a funded trader pays the firm nothing, with the standard data feed included at PRO+. Topstep's lower entry price is real, but it buys a cost structure that never fully ends, since a live account carries ongoing market data fees and a platform license. For a trader who reaches funding and stays there, Take Profit Trader is the cheaper account to hold, with easier access to earned profits.
Decision-Factor Deep Dives: Rules, Drawdown, Payouts, and Platforms Compared
Evaluation Rules: How Hard Is It to Get Funded?
Take Profit Trader runs one evaluation plan built around a 6% profit target ($3,000 on the $50K), a $2,000 max drawdown that trails end-of-day, no daily loss limit, a 50% consistency rule that applies only during the evaluation (no single day can account for more than half of total profit), and a 3-day minimum before passing. Monthly billing stops the month an account passes.
Topstep's Trading Combine targets the same $3,000 on the $50K against the same $2,000 end-of-day trailing drawdown, and applies its own 50% consistency rule during the evaluation. It also enforces a $1,000 daily loss limit that liquidates the account for the remainder of the day if breached, though newer TSX accounts have this removed. Traders who pass then choose between two funded paths, one with no consistency rule and one that trades a lower winning-day requirement for a 40% largest-day cap.
Bottom line: the two evaluations look nearly identical on the numbers, same profit target, same drawdown, same consistency percentage. The difference is how much room a trader gets to reach them. Take Profit Trader clears traders in as few as 3 days with no daily loss limit to trip over, while Topstep adds a daily ceiling on the way and a path decision on the way out.
Drawdown: Who Controls the Risk
Take Profit Trader uses end-of-day trailing drawdown in both the evaluation and PRO+ live-market accounts. The loss threshold is recalculated from the highest end-of-day balance rather than following unrealized gains throughout the session. This can provide more flexibility for strategies that experience normal intraday fluctuations before trades are closed.
The PRO simulated funded account uses intraday trailing drawdown. Because unrealized gains can move the threshold higher during an open trade, PRO rewards close attention to open equity, position sizing, and real-time risk management. Traders then return to end-of-day drawdown if they advance to PRO+ and begin trading in the live market.
Topstep also uses end-of-day trailing drawdown in its Trading Combine and Express Funded Account. That consistent structure may appeal to traders who prefer the same drawdown calculation through the evaluation and simulated funded stages.
Bottom line: Neither approach is universally better. The right fit depends on how a trader manages open positions, unrealized profit, and intraday volatility. TPT gives traders experience with both models while using end-of-day drawdown at the Test and live-market stages.
Speed of Payouts and Profit Splits: How Much and How Fast
Take Profit Trader's PRO accounts pay an 80% split with same-day processing, no minimum, no maximum, and no monthly payout cap, and carry no funded consistency rule at either PRO or PRO+. PRO+ live accounts pay 90%. The mechanic that sets the firm apart is day-one and daily payout eligibility: a trader can request a payout the day they reach PRO, and again on any day profit is available. A July 2026 release sharpened this further by fully automating the account-to-wallet step, which previously required manual review and up to 12 business hours and now completes in seconds, with no queue and no waiting period before returning to trading. Automation currently covers Tradovate PRO accounts, and the final bank leg still varies by payout method. PRO account profits are generated in a simulated trading environment, while the payouts themselves are real.
Topstep's Express Funded Account pays out weekly, and daily payouts unlock only after 30 winning days at the Live stage. Its payout paths carry their own requirements, including a 40% consistency rule on one of them that continues into the funded account. A trader must also close every Express Funded Account before moving to a Live Funded Account, so a live Topstep trader runs a single payout stream. Take Profit Trader allows up to five funded accounts, and moving to live doesn't limit them to one single account.
Bottom line: the splits land in the same place, 90% at the live tier for both firms, which makes speed of access the real differentiator, and it isn't close. Take Profit Trader clears traders through evaluation in as few as 3 days, then pays from day one with same-day processing, no minimum, no maximum, no monthly cap, and no funded consistency rule standing between a trader and their profit.
Platforms and Data: Where Traders Actually Trade
Take Profit Trader supports TradingView, NinjaTrader, Tradovate, and a wide range of compatible third-party platforms across both CQG and Rithmic data feeds, letting a trader work in whichever environment already fits their setup. At PRO+, live trading runs through Tradovate with the standard data feed included and no firm subscription, so a funded trader isn't paying to keep the lights on. Additional exchange data is optional at about $135 per month. Platform-specific technical issues typically sit with the platform provider rather than with Take Profit Trader itself.
Topstep has centered its evaluation and funded experience on its own TopstepX platform, the single option available to traders at every stage of the program.
Bottom line: Take Profit Trader gives traders more platform variety, supporting TradingView, NinjaTrader, Tradovate and other third-party platforms on two data feeds, so a trader can keep their existing setup instead of learning a new one. Topstep offers one platform, TopstepX, across the board.
Reaching Live Markets: No Scaling Plan Holding Traders Back
Take Profit Trader offers a path from simulated funding to a live-market PRO+ account by invitation. Rather than a single profit threshold, advancement is based on a holistic review of a trader's performance over time, including consistency, risk management, execution, and overall trading discipline. Once invited, PRO+ carries a 90% split, end-of-day drawdown, and up to 5 accounts with copy trading. There is no scaling plan, so a trader trades a chosen size within the program's rules from day one.
Topstep's risk managers monitor Express Funded Accounts and extend an invitation when they judge a trader ready, typically around 5 payouts from a single account. Reaching that stage also means closing every Express Funded Account first, so a live Topstep trader runs one account with no live-stage reset. Along the way, Topstep applies a scaling rule that caps maximum contract size by account performance and expands buying power only as profits accumulate.
Bottom line: Take Profit Trader's path to a live-market PRO+ account is invitation-based, driven by a holistic review of trading performance over time rather than a single profit threshold, so there is no guesswork about what actually matters: consistency, risk management, and discipline. Just as important, there is no scaling plan holding size back along the way. A trader at Take Profit Trader trades their chosen contract size within the rules from day one. Topstep works the opposite way: size is capped by performance and lifts only as profits accumulate, and the move to live happens on a more structured, staged timeline.
Why Traders Choose Take Profit Trader
Strip away the feature list and Take Profit Trader's pitch is simple: get paid fast, keep control over risk, and know exactly what it takes to reach live markets.
For traders who want fast access to profit: Take Profit Trader is built around day-one and daily PRO Payouts, with no minimum trading days, no monthly cap, and withdrawal requests that process in seconds rather than sitting in a review queue.
For traders who want fewer conditions between funding and withdrawal: the program carries no funded consistency rule, no scaling plan, and no daily loss limit at any stage, so intraday risk stays in the trader's hands rather than the firm's rulebook.
For traders who want a route to live markets: advancement to PRO+ is based on demonstrated trading performance over time, including consistency, risk management, and discipline, rather than a single profit threshold or an arbitrary risk-team timeline.
For traders who want to run more than one account: Take Profit Trader allows up to 3 PRO resets and copy trading across as many as 5 funded accounts, and once a trader is approved for PRO+, all of their PRO accounts move to PRO+ together.
For traders who want to stop paying once they are funded: PRO and PRO+ carry no monthly firm fee, and PRO+ includes the standard data feed.
None of this changes the fact that trading is a serious endeavor. A trader's financial risk is limited to the cost of the evaluation, and no outcome is guaranteed. Traders can review current evaluation terms directly on Take Profit Trader's homepage.
What Traders Say About Take Profit Trader
This Take Profit Trader review roundup draws on Trustpilot, where the firm holds an approximate 4.4-star rating over 10 thousand reviews, with payouts and support as the two themes that come up most often.
"TPT is one of the top prop firms in the space. The account rules can be challenging but aren't constantly changing - just conquer the intraday drawdown to build your account and take payouts. The new payout process is very fast and a big improvement. Thanks to TPT for staying solid!!!"
— Steven, 5 Stars, July 24, 2026
"Take Profit Trader is a prop firm that could really change your life, clear and straightforward rules, fastest payouts in the industry, serious customer support, possibility of keeping funded accounts on hold. My experience with them is awesome, I recommend them !!!!"
— Antonio, 5 Stars, July 15, 2026
"So far Take Profit Trader has been 100% true to their words and it's been a great experience. I traded an 150k eval. Passed after 5 trading days and received my PRO account. I have been trading my PRO account and been profitable staying above my buffer. Requested my first withdrawal they approved with no issues. Now I am going to be moved to a live account. They do exactly what they advertise no bs. This is the best Prop firm hands down! To a long partnership together. Well recommended."
— Dom, 5 Stars, July 19, 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main difference between Take Profit Trader and Topstep?
The clearest difference is speed and control. Take Profit Trader offers day-one and daily PRO Payouts, no daily loss limit at any stage, and no scaling plan capping contract size, with advancement to live-market PRO+ based on demonstrated trading performance over time. Topstep pays weekly until a trader logs 30 winning days at the live stage, offers a Daily Loss Limit as an optional add-on during evaluation before making it mandatory at the live stage, and scales contract size with performance as a trader progresses toward its Live Funded Account. Both run single-step futures evaluations and both pay a 90% split at the live tier, so the choice usually comes down to how quickly a trader wants access to their profit.
How does Take Profit Trader handle drawdown?
Drawdown changes by stage: the evaluation uses an end-of-day trailing drawdown that locks at the starting balance, PRO uses intraday trailing drawdown, and PRO+ uses end-of-day drawdown. On a $50K account, maximum drawdown is approximately $2,000. There is no daily loss limit at any stage, so intraday risk management stays with the trader.
Is Take Profit Trader legit?
Take Profit Trader is an established futures prop firm with published rules and publicly disclosed evaluation results: 36.22% of Trading Tests were passed between January 1 and December 31, 2025. Payout terms, drawdown rules, and the path to live markets are all documented rather than discretionary. As with any prop firm, financial risk is limited to the cost of the evaluation, and no outcome is guaranteed.
Which firm has the lower fees, Take Profit Trader or Topstep?
On the $50K evaluation alone, Topstep's Combine runs lower per month than Take Profit Trader's list price, though Take Profit Trader frequently discounts roughly 40% and the evaluation fee ends once a trader passes. The bigger ongoing difference is at the live stage: Take Profit Trader's PRO+ carries no monthly subscription and includes standard data, while a live Topstep account adds market data fees and a platform license.
How long does it take to get funded with Take Profit Trader?
The evaluation requires a 6% profit target and a 3-day minimum, so a trader who hits the target quickly can reach a funded PRO account inside their first week. Payout eligibility begins immediately at that point, with no additional waiting period or minimum trading days.
Ready to Get Funded?
Reading about trading is one thing. Doing it is another. Take Profit Trader gives traders a clear way to prove their skills through a single-step evaluation. Clear it, and a trader moves into a PRO account with an 80% profit split and day-one, daily payouts. See what a funded account can offer.
Methodology: This comparison uses each firm's current published terms as of September 2026, checked against official pages and dated accordingly. Take Profit Trader's figures come from the firm's own published rules; Topstep's figures were checked against Topstep's help center and published terms.
Disclaimers: This article is for information purposes only, and should not be construed as legal, investment, financial, or other advice. All investments involve a degree of risk, including the risk of loss. Futures, foreign currency and options trading contains substantial risk and is not for every investor.
All information presented in this article was verified against each firm's publicly available terms and accurate at the time of publishing on September 25 2026. Prop firm rules, fees, and program structures are subject to change; readers are encouraged to confirm current details directly with each firm before making any decisions.