futures-trading Intermediate

How to Pass TopstepX Evaluation with Automated Trading in 2026

Sentinel Team · 2026-03-20

Key Takeaways

Passing the TopstepX Trading Combine is the gateway to a funded futures trading account. While many traders try to pass manually, automated trading offers a significant edge: no emotional decisions, consistent execution, and the ability to backtest your exact strategy against historical data before risking your evaluation fee.

This guide covers everything you need to know about passing TopstepX with automation in 2026 -- the current rules, optimal strategy parameters backed by real backtest data, which contracts to trade, and the mistakes that get most traders disqualified.

Understanding the TopstepX Trading Combine Rules

Before setting up any bot, you need to understand exactly what TopstepX requires. The Trading Combine is their evaluation process, and the rules are strict.

Account Tiers and Profit Targets

TopstepX offers several account sizes. The most popular tiers:

| Account Size | Profit Target | Daily Loss Limit | Max Position Size |

|---|---|---|---|

| $50,000 | $3,000 | $1,000 | 5 contracts (NQ) |

| $100,000 | $6,000 | $2,000 | 10 contracts (NQ) |

| $150,000 | $9,000 | $3,000 | 15 contracts (NQ) |

Trailing Drawdown

TopstepX uses a trailing maximum drawdown that is one of the most misunderstood rules. Here is how it works:

This means early profits are critical. If you make $2,000 on a $50K account, your drawdown level has moved up by $2,000. You now have less room for losses relative to your current balance.

Daily Loss Limit

The daily loss limit is a hard line. If your realized plus unrealized PnL for the day reaches the daily loss limit, TopstepX will flatten your positions and lock your account for the rest of the day. Repeated violations can result in disqualification.

Flatten Time

All positions must be flat by 3:10 PM CT (Central Time). This is non-negotiable. Any open position at 3:10 PM CT is a violation. Your bot must have an automatic flatten mechanism that triggers well before this deadline.

Minimum Trading Days

You must trade a minimum number of days to pass the Combine. This prevents lucky one-trade passes. The requirement is typically 5+ trading days with at least one completed trade each day.

Can You Use Automated Trading on TopstepX?

Yes. TopstepX explicitly allows automated trading through their API. This is not a gray area -- they have built API infrastructure specifically for algorithmic traders.

To access automated trading on TopstepX:

  1. Subscribe to the API add-on ($29/month on top of your Combine fee)
  2. Generate API credentials in your TopstepX dashboard
  3. Connect your trading bot to the API endpoint
  4. Ensure your bot sets the isAutomated flag on all orders (required by CME Group Rule 575 for algorithmic trading compliance)

The VPS/VPN Prohibition

Here is the critical caveat: TopstepX prohibits the use of VPS (Virtual Private Servers) and VPN services. This means you cannot run a NinjaTrader bot on an AWS EC2 instance or a DigitalOcean droplet and connect to TopstepX.

This restriction eliminates most traditional bot setups. Desktop-based platforms require a computer running 24/7, which is impractical for many traders and unreliable for evaluation attempts.

The solution is a web-based platform that runs in the cloud without requiring you to deploy a VPS. Sentinel Bot is designed exactly for this use case -- your strategy runs on Sentinel's cloud infrastructure, and you interact with it through your web browser. From TopstepX's perspective, you are using a web application, not a VPS.

Learn more about how Sentinel handles prop firm automated trading.

Optimal Strategy Parameters for TopstepX

We have backtested thousands of parameter combinations specifically optimized for TopstepX evaluation requirements. Here are the characteristics of strategies that consistently pass the Combine:

Target Performance Metrics

Based on our extensive backtesting, successful TopstepX strategies share these characteristics:

Why These Numbers Matter

The profit target for a $50K account is $3,000 with a daily loss limit of $1,000. A strategy with a profit factor of 1.85 means for every $1 lost, you gain $1.85. Combined with a Sharpe of 3.90, this produces consistent, low-variance returns that steadily accumulate toward the profit target without large drawdowns that risk hitting the daily loss limit.

Recommended Strategy Approach

For TopstepX evaluation, we recommend:

NQ vs MNQ for Evaluation

Choosing the right contract for your TopstepX evaluation is crucial.

NQ (E-mini NASDAQ-100)

NQ moves fast and has high daily ranges. A single NQ contract can produce $500-$1,000+ in daily PnL, which means you can hit the profit target quickly -- but you can also hit the daily loss limit quickly.

MNQ (Micro E-mini NASDAQ-100)

MNQ is 1/10th the size of NQ. This means finer position sizing, smaller PnL swings, and more room for error. For a $50K evaluation with a $1,000 daily loss limit, MNQ allows you to take multiple positions without risking more than 10-20% of your daily limit per trade.

Our Recommendation

For evaluation attempts, start with MNQ regardless of account size. The smaller contract size gives you:

Once you pass the Combine and receive your funded account, you can scale up to NQ for the payout phase.

Want to backtest NQ and MNQ strategies with tick-based PnL? Try Sentinel Bot's backtest engine free.

Risk Management Settings for TopstepX Combine

Here are the specific risk management parameters we recommend for a $50K TopstepX evaluation:

Daily Loss Hard Stop

Set your bot's daily loss limit to $700 (70% of the $1,000 daily limit). This gives you a $300 buffer for slippage, commissions, and any final trade that might be in progress when the limit is reached.

Per-Trade Risk

Limit each trade to 1-2% of your daily loss budget. For a $700 daily budget:

Trailing Stop Configuration

Use a trailing stop that activates once a trade reaches 1:1 reward-to-risk. This locks in breakeven and lets winners run toward your take-profit level.

Flatten Mechanism

Configure your bot to:

  1. Stop opening new trades at 2:50 PM CT (20 minutes before flatten time)
  2. Close all open positions at 3:00 PM CT (10 minutes before the TopstepX deadline)
  3. Never hold a position overnight unless the prop firm's rules explicitly allow it

Trading Hours Filter

Restrict trading to the highest-liquidity periods:

Common Mistakes That Get You Disqualified

Avoid these pitfalls during your TopstepX evaluation:

1. Trading Through Major News Events

FOMC announcements, Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP), CPI releases, and other major economic events cause extreme volatility and slippage. Your bot's stop-loss may not fill at your intended price. Add a news filter that pauses trading 15 minutes before and 30 minutes after scheduled high-impact events.

2. Scaling Up Too Fast

After a few winning days, traders get tempted to increase position size. This is especially dangerous with the trailing drawdown -- a larger position size means a single loss can wipe out days of progress. Keep position size constant throughout the evaluation.

3. Ignoring the Trailing Drawdown Mechanics

Many traders do not realize that early profits actually tighten their risk parameters. If you make $1,500 on a $50K account, your trailing drawdown has moved up $1,500. You now have less room for losses. Your bot should dynamically adjust daily risk budgets based on the current trailing drawdown position.

4. Using a VPS or VPN

TopstepX actively monitors for VPS and VPN usage. Detection results in account suspension. Use a web-based platform like Sentinel Bot that does not require any remote server setup.

5. Overtrading

More trades does not mean more profits. Each trade carries commission costs and slippage. A strategy that takes 0.5-2 trades per day with high selectivity will outperform a strategy that takes 10+ trades in almost every backtest we have run.

6. No Backtest Validation

Deploying an untested strategy to your evaluation is the fastest way to fail. Always run at least 6 months of historical backtesting (ideally 12 months) to validate your strategy across different market conditions.

For a full tutorial on backtesting futures strategies, see our futures backtest software guide.

Choosing the Right Strategy Type for TopstepX

Not all strategy types perform equally well in a prop firm evaluation context. Here is what our backtesting data shows:

Trend-Following Strategies

Trend-following strategies perform best in TopstepX evaluations because they align with how NQ and ES move during regular trading hours. These strategies use moving averages, momentum indicators, or breakout levels to identify the current trend direction and trade with it.

Advantages for prop firm evaluation:

Mean-Reversion Strategies

Mean-reversion strategies buy dips and sell rallies, expecting price to return to an average. While these can work, they carry higher risk for prop firm evaluations:

If you use mean-reversion, combine it with a trend filter to avoid fighting strong directional moves.

Scalping Strategies

Scalping (many small trades with tight stops) is the riskiest approach for prop firm evaluations. The commission cost per trade is fixed regardless of trade size, so a strategy making $10 per trade loses nearly half to commissions ($4.18 per round trip). Additionally, the high trade frequency increases the chance of hitting the daily loss limit through a sequence of small losses.

We recommend against pure scalping for TopstepX evaluations unless you have extensive backtesting data proving the strategy maintains positive expectancy after all costs.

Step-by-Step: Passing TopstepX with Sentinel Bot

Phase 1: Strategy Development (1-2 weeks)

  1. Sign up for Sentinel Bot and access the backtest engine
  2. Build your strategy using the block strategy builder
  3. Backtest on NQ or MNQ with 6-12 months of data
  4. Optimize parameters for TopstepX-specific metrics (profit factor > 1.5, max DD < 40% of daily limit)
  5. Paper trade for 3-5 days to verify live execution matches backtest

Phase 2: Evaluation (2-4 weeks)

  1. Subscribe to TopstepX Combine + API add-on
  2. Connect your TopstepX account to Sentinel Bot
  3. Configure risk management parameters (daily loss stop, flatten time, position limits)
  4. Launch your bot during market hours
  5. Monitor daily -- check that PnL, drawdown, and trade count are within expected ranges
  6. Do not modify strategy parameters mid-evaluation unless something is clearly wrong

Phase 3: Funded Account

  1. Once you pass, the same strategy and settings carry over to your funded account
  2. Consider scaling up position size gradually (not immediately)
  3. Continue monitoring and logging all trades
  4. Withdraw profits regularly -- do not let the account grow indefinitely

Join thousands of funded traders automating their TopstepX accounts. Sentinel Bot handles the execution while you focus on strategy. Get started free →

FAQ

Q: How long does it typically take to pass the TopstepX Combine with a bot?

With a well-tested strategy, most automated traders pass within 2-4 weeks. The minimum trading days requirement means you cannot pass in a single day even with a profitable strategy. Conservative strategies that target 1-3% daily returns relative to the profit target will reach the goal within 10-20 trading days.

Q: What happens if my bot hits the daily loss limit during evaluation?

TopstepX will automatically flatten all your positions and lock your account for the remainder of the day. This counts as a violation but does not immediately disqualify you. However, repeated daily loss limit hits will result in failing the Combine. Your bot should have a hard stop well below the daily limit to prevent this.

Q: Can I use Sentinel Bot's backtest engine without a prop firm account?

Yes. The backtest engine and strategy builder are available to all Sentinel Bot users. You can develop, test, and optimize your strategies before subscribing to any prop firm. Many traders use the backtest engine for months before starting a Combine.

Q: Is it worth paying for the TopstepX API add-on?

If you plan to use automated trading, the $29/month API add-on is essential. Without it, you cannot connect any bot to TopstepX. Given that a successful funded account can generate thousands per month in trading profits, the API fee is a small investment.

Q: What if I fail the Combine -- can I reuse my strategy?

Absolutely. If your strategy has strong backtest metrics but you failed due to unusual market conditions or a configuration error, simply fix the issue and start a new Combine. The strategy development is the hardest part -- the evaluation is just execution.

Related Articles

Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only. Trading futures involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Always trade within your prop firm's rules and never risk more than you can afford to lose.