H

I’m really depressed

I know most of y'all would have gone for a bigger cushion, and I appreciate everyone that gave me feedback yesterday on my post. Love the community. locked my account for the day. Hardest 200$ ive ever traded for. rough on the mind knowing I can actually eat a burger from this.

Since taking my first payout I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders I feel calmer when I’m trading, my body feels light ( my armpits no longer get sweaty af☠️) I’m actually starting to realize that if I just apply my system I will reap the benefits instead of trying to do this n that it’s better to stay calm and just do what I know I have to do

In my opinion if you’ve never taken a payout before and you have the opportunity to do so please do it your trading quality will increase and you will have something tangible to show for it

Goodluck to all

Nothing I do seems to be working. I’m so stressed that my hair is falling out. I have a deep-seated fear of being a broke 9-to-5 worker for the rest of my life, so I can’t quit. I was in $6,000 credit card debt, buying combines. Thank goodness I paid it off, but now I’m back in $5,000 credit card debt, buying combines with only $1,000 to my name because options took all my money. Now, I just lost a brand new account that I had just made with $500 of my own money with Tradovate because TradingView is delayed. I can’t catch a break. I’m also sleepwalking because of stress, so my parents have to look out for me all night. Now they’re stressed and their health is getting worse because of me. I’m starting to hate life. I see no way out of this. Sorry for the rant. I’m going through a lot of emotions right now.

Second day of my XFA. Lost the whole 2k first day accidently trading minis and not micros and went over by $3 . Ended up making back 1.5k and i managed to keep my account. Hoping to keep up with it. Working on my mental which seems to be the biggest obstacle for me.

when i post the picture the quality dies idk why so my bad for that

Boys… I make it to my first milestone 10k… 2years : 12 accounts blown, consistent 2-3k in Amex credit dreaming of making $ and get more funded accounts

2 years ago me would be so proud, and start cheering for me. 5 years ago me would have never imagined this day

I hope everyone out here don’t ever give up, don’t ever stopped chasing your dream regardless what you do. You are destined to be successful. Never stop learning , never stop chasing your dream Stay disciplined… Stay sharp… Stick to your plan Be mindful… be patient… Good days are coming your way

How much should I make to get a live account is there an amount? Or should I just wait for 5 payouts to think about live

First off all glory to God! Was in the trade for 4 MINUTES with 10 MNQ contracts, that massive gamma candle popped to put me past my goal, and made over $1500 passed another combine. You all are awesome, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

Blew my 1st XFA, despite getting mad this was expected even though it wasn’t planned my thoughts secured it, subconsciously, being a regular guy with a huge passion for success I built this skill from the ground up, took my Ls like a champ it never sadden me but instilled even more greatness in me cause it’s not over yet, this right here marks the beginning to an end of everything I used to know, officially, and to part ways from them for good, I’m long gone I’m too honed into my craft to blink, this my definition of locked in, where you literally get yelled at by your partner for not spending time with them I’m too locked in to budge. 🔐

This my first ever attempt at any prop firm challenge but I’ve been in the markets since 2021, mainly $BTC, that’s all I know. This my first ever attempt at greatness. My 1st two combine might seem like a challenge at first in hindsight but once I pass the 3rd time by taking my time I passed it within two resets or two days so that shit fueled up my arrogance, it stirred up uncontrollable emotions from the outer world to the inner world all that shit got to me, I became undisciplined it made me lose sight of my greater self, only momentarily, this whole experience has made me even hungrier than all the newcomers combined im grateful to make it this far accomplished something that’s difficult for normal minded stuck on the couch type of people to achieve, im too certain about it.

It was inevitable that I fail my first XFA, call it a set up for my next one where it will silence doubters. Truly humbling experience as it taught me to listen to other traders cause they could share genuine ideas, tips, advices and all it took was to listen to them, that’s all it would take the power of an idea that’ll erupt itself into greatness. As I pay my tuition aka give profits back aka blow accounts, im continuously gaining valuable knowledge plus a newly founded respect to all the XFA and LFA traders, new or old, I commend everyone of you who reached payout at least one time if not more. Whole new level of respect. 🫡

I put a good amount of my payout in savings so im not too worried but when it came to this idk what it is i felt like any trade i take was going to hit and overtraded heavily and felt too comfortable but Each time i lost it was a lesson we gon come back better this to show the reality i won my payout but i still have bad clearly horrible horrendous days

I'm human yall

updates soon imma fix up fs

I held a trade on my combine account when i meant too hold it on my practice, I managed my way back down $16,000 and back up to $100,000 on a $50k and back down to $1497 right where i was this morning 😭

Today was well loved the trend we were in trade played out smoothly for the 1:2 I was looking to hit a 4hr fvg took partials at like a 1:2.40ish and the rest a little later after it took to long didn’t feel like waiting longer and good thing I did

I'm surprised by this because isn't this how they make money?

Passed 3 combines only to blow each separate one on different days trading after-hours before market opens.

All back to back in less than 2 weeks.

I invite you to use this as a pain thread and tell your bad stories so we can all feel better.

I accidentally, blew 6 XFA's this week, but anyhow, I purchased 3 more today, and it said I can only buy 1 more. Seems that they limit it to 10 Combines this time around, be careful fam.

Has anyone been in this situation before.

Long version:

I tilted last Friday (hopefully for the last time 😂). Drew way down and couldn't save it yesterday. I was liquidated on my last trade but price bounced legit 4.5 seconds later and liquidated higher than my MLL. Not by much but I was left with $90 of drawdown. I went back on last night and it was still letting me trade. I know combines do this but I don't think XFAs do but this is only my second one ever.

Since last night and this morning I'm now up, saved the account? I'm guessing not, obviously by it saying ineligible. But my dashboard is showing that I'm still payout eligible, I don't know which is the glitch and I'm scared to ask. Going to lock out today and request a 50% payout tomorrow and we'll see I guess.

Hoping to see someone else that this might have happened to.

First of all, I use Tradovate, only because it's what I was familiar with, but this is probably the best Topstep community on reddit so wanted to share. I created this daily P/L tracker sheet in Numbers, so if you'd like to use it, I can pass it along.

I learned to trade crypto 2016-2020, and quit due to depression issues (I cashed in a bunch of coins to trade with, and if I had held them, it would have amounted to $800k+.. years of self loathing ensued..)

I found out about prop firms in December 2024, and passed an evaluation with TradeDay without a losing trade, was able to cash out $2800, and then blew the account.. then did it again, and blew the account, repeated this maybe 4 times; until March, when I decided to switch to TopStep because they had a cheaper eval/combine, and you can pass it quicker.

I completely changed my strategy, and rather than shooting for the stars and trying to make as much money as quick as possible, I only try to AVERAGE $300 a day. Once I make more than that, I shut it down and walk away. $300 averaged with 5 XFA's is $375k a year.. a lot more than most people make, and more than enough to live on.

Changing my perspective on gains has done the most important thing, which is help me manage risk, and take small losses a lot better. I can also identify days that I'm not in the right mind a lot better, and know when to take the day off.

if it takes me a week to make $1500, then risking losing $2000 in a day by over trading doesn't make sense any more. Take a small loss, shut it down, you'll get it back another day.

It took 3 weeks to get one combine done (week 2, I had a trip coming up over the weekend, and was trading terribly, recognized it, and took Friday/Monday off)

Once I receive my first payout, I'm going to start 4 more combines, and keep the same strategy. Slow gains, and slowly scale everything up over the year, and maintain my peace mentally. If it takes 2 weeks to get paid out, that's better than blowing the account and starting all over again.

Just wanted to share a bit of perspective. It can get discouraging seeing the insane gains being posted here, and you may feel like you need to be making more, but small gains and maintaining the account is where it's at. The big wins will come along the way, but not if you don't have an account. Learn to trade well, and how to trade around your own psychology, and scale it up over time.

Really happy I found this company, and looking forward to a great future with them.

I have a question, I made 1700 on mu combine instead of 1500 for the consistency rule. Will I need to make more money now to be able to pass rather than 1500 more?

So I have made $300 dollars total one day into my combine. How does the rule change now at this point. Can I still not go over $1500 in a day?

Does anyone know what happens with payout when you get 30 green days on XFA? (Before you get called to go live)

I have an XFA that I have gotten three payouts from (about 13k). I am very close to 30 green days. I don’t want to go live yet so I am thinking maybe I can just close this account when I hit 30 green days and withdraw 100%? But i cant find anywhere if that is possible. I think by the 30th green day, my account will have approximately 35k in profit.

Been learning for just over a year now. Been backtesting like crazy the past couple months. Only issue is my winrate is sitting at around 60% which is not great I assume. Still profitable though since I usually take at least 2-3RR trades. Is it a good idea to maybe start my first combine or refine my strategy a bit more?