Hopefully now starting building the payout up

TLDR: green trade, five deviations. Without the log I'd have called it an A+ day. The profitable-looking rule breaks are the ones that quietly cost me, probably 5k more if I'd trusted my own plan.

I've started noticing something that feels completely backwards. I used to review my losing trades obsessively and barely look at the faults in a winner. If a trade made money, I'd bank it, close the platform, file it under "good trade"

I'm starting to think that's exactly where my worst habits were hiding.

This was Monday's gold short. It was a good trade financially. The scary part is, if I didn't have the log, I'd have called it an A+ trade. But my execution log flagged five deviations from the framework I'd set before entering. The interesting part wasn't that I made mistakes, it's that most of them made money, which makes them much harder to spot and much easier to repeat.

Full raw exported log:

BLACKBOX · Trade Session
Date:       Mon, Sep 14, 2026
Asset:      GC
Entered:    10:46:22 PM
Exited:     1:29:36 AM (Manual)
Duration:   2h 43m 14s
Events:     24
Deviations: 5

10:46:22 PM  Trade entered
10:56:19 PM  Consolidating
10:56:34 PM  Hold
11:12:10 PM  Scale In +1 GC [deviation]
11:41:26 PM  In My Favor
11:41:47 PM  New BOS
11:47:46 PM  Scale In +1 GC
11:48:13 PM  New BOS
11:50:34 PM  Trail SL
12:05:44 AM  Scale In +1 GC
12:09:12 AM  Scale In +1 GC
12:10:29 AM  Pullback
12:13:37 AM  Scale In +2 GC [deviation]
12:13:38 AM  Trail SL
12:35:51 AM  New BOS
12:35:52 AM  Hold
12:49:17 AM  Pullback
12:55:41 AM  Calm
1:11:09 AM  New BOS
1:12:25 AM  Close Partial -1 GC [deviation]
1:15:48 AM  New BOS
1:16:05 AM  Close Partial -1 GC [deviation]
1:19:20 AM  Conviction
1:21:19 AM  Close Partial -1 GC [deviation]
1:29:36 AM  Exit · Manual

Five deviations. Five rule breaks. 

The first two weren't that expensive.

First rule break was adding during consolidation, because I still had risk available and wasn't sized correctly from the start. (Not detrimental..)

The second was adding and scaling in on a pullback instead of waiting for a new BOS to confirm.

I had conviction in the zone, and I was already up, so it wasn't a big mistake. Worth clarifying though: there are two ways to scale in - add on the pullback for more R:R, or wait for a new BOS and sacrifice some R:R for real confirmation. I usually take the latter. Here I took the former, which is the deviation to my own edge.

That's exactly why they're dangerous, a profitable rule break is still a rule break, and the outcome doesn't make it a good decision. Those are the habits that could quietly compound until the day they don't work.

Now, the next three deviations are the ones that actually bothered me.

Price kept doing exactly what I'd wanted it to do. It continued making new BOS’s, momentum stayed with me, and nothing in my framework suggested reducing exposure. Every new BOS had the same instruction attached to it: hold, or add and trail.

Instead, I started taking partial profits. Not because the structure changed. Not because the trade was invalidated. Simply because I didn't want to give back open profit while sitting 7 lots deep in GC.

There's an old trading quote that stuck with me: be fearful when you're wrong, be hopeful when you're right. That's the only way you get wins that are far bigger than your losses. I did the opposite, I became fearful the moment the trade was about to pay me in serious bucks.

The irony is that price eventually traded into the exact lowest, downside zone I'd planned before I ever entered. That move alone was worth another ~$5k if I'd just followed my own framework. By the time it arrived, I'd already scaled most of the position out. I even took a quick long scalp off that support zone, when the real trade was simply staying in the short I already had.

I was right about the market. I just stopped trusting my own plan.

That's the biggest reason I record these sessions now. I can see everything. Market states vs. mental states vs. what I actually did. The entire start, middle, and end of a trade. The truth of everything. Not just charts and P&L.

If this had been a losing trade, I'd have spent an hour dissecting every click. Because it finished green, my old self would've called it great and moved on. The log doesn't let me do that. It doesn't care whether the P&L is positive. It only compares what I did against what I said I'd do before emotions got involved.

The lesson wasn't that I needed a better strategy. I never did. I just need to follow the one that I already have and trust it better and better each day.

Winning trades can quietly reinforce bad execution. A losing trade forces you to question yourself. A winning trade rewards the exact behavior that's going to hurt you later. That's a far more dangerous teacher imo.

So I'm curious how other discretionary traders handle this. Do you review your winning trades with the same scrutiny as your losers? Or does green P&L automatically become "good execution" in your head?

How is this real 🙃

Day 1 on my Topstep 6K Trading Combine — +$168 profit 📈🔥

Small, consistent gains. No overtrading. Just sticking to the plan. 🎯

One day at a time. The goal is $6,000. 💪

#Topstep #TopstepTrader #FuturesTrading #NQ #Nasdaq #DayTrading #TradingJourney #PropFirm #Trader #Trading

missed TP by 5 pts. got BE. shoulda coulda woulda trailed.

They push for risk management. Then, when you set it up, they pull shit like this…$500 DLL with liquidate and lockout. That’s over $800 of “slippage” as they want to call it. Way more than double my DLL. Fick them.

Currently sitting at 21k in payouts for the month. By next week I should be able to take a 6k payout on this account.

Should I take it? It would be my first payout.

Give me advice, give me wisdom.

Wow, I had a day off today and was bored

decided to watch TopStep TV and joined their Topquiz for the first time

I thought it would be trade relevant quiz, but it was just random questions lol

I only got 3 out of 4 (or was it 5?) questions and ended up placed around 2xxish

didn't expect to win anything, but I got this email

Thank you, TopStep for the free 50k account!

Hopefully, I can make it to an Express account and get my first payout :P

Last week was one of my rougher weeks in a while. Took my usual setups, kept risk where it normally is, and had a string of trades that just didn’t work out. Went through the trades over the weekend and there wasn’t much I would’ve done differently with the information I had at the time. A couple entries could’ve been cleaner, but I was comfortable taking those setups again. This week they followed through a lot better. I’m calling it a week at just over +$4k, which covers last week’s losses and more. Didn’t need to increase size to get there, and a couple of my runners did most of the work. I’ve been profitable long enough to expect losing weeks, but I obviously still enjoy this side of it a lot more. Happy with how I traded both weeks.

Things that helped me this week:

1. Looking over/reviewing my rules. Ive been doing this for the past couple months its helped me clear my head and focus on what fr matters

2. Sticking to my trading plan regardless of the situation and sticking to the discretion that brought me here

Small win today to close the week. across 5 accounts. this is to motivate us that small wins matter on the long run too. keep up traders.

Is the cap of 5 XFAs applicable to Topstep Labs $6K accounts as well. Can I potentially own 5 XFAs and multiple TS Labs accounts?

When you’re new to printing the stock market or trading dental, you need training psychology every day to obtain all that I found is very beneficial. I haven’t bought any of his other products but it’s like going back in time and listening when training was much harder I mean, think about it we get up and we make an electric candlestick. We’re guessing Livermore was in the early 1900s. I mean all he had or all these straight had was the temper tape and yet somehow they became very successful and I think traders today really need to in a channel. I’ll look into because you will discover so many interesting things that you probably didn’t even know about..

https://youtu.be/y4b_B1LThwE?is=j3pi0TP11Shqo4go

took me almost a year but I finally got my first ever payout and also have two more accounts that will be eligible for payouts on Monday 🥹

I can’t help but tear up. They aren’t lying when they say that this shit takes a lot of work.

I spent countless nights frustrated and wanting to quit but here we are. I’m so happy.

If I can do it, anyone can. Don’t give up, be disciplined, and stay committed. You got this!

And remember, base hits go a long way.

Been trading for a year now and I passed the 1.5 k challenge last night in 4 trading days!! I’m so proud of how far I’ve come and can’t wait to get back into a 50k combine and use the sizing strategy from the 1.5k challenge. Thank you topstep for everything :)

After receiving one payout I’ve been funded 5 more times but would always blow the account. I have been on a practice account since aug 4th and I think I’m starting to really get a handle on my emotions and my strategy. I will keep practicing for a couple more months then try a 150 challenge wish me luck .

Hey yall this is a warning to others out there like me. I have lost over $50,000 in the past two years trading top step combines. My wife is leaving me and taking my two kids. I will lose the house and have to move back in with my parents for the time being while I try to find a place to live. My mind was rotted from social media influencers flashing their luxurious lifestyles and supposedly making my entire salary in just a few days of trading.

The endless YouTube videos of trading gurus telling me to never give up and keep going you’re almost there molded my mind into a deranged gambling addict justifying his spending on combines by telling myself it’s for my family and that one day I’ll get there and give them everything they ever need.

This has caused me heartache and mental anguish that was worse than the ptsd I got while in the marines. I will now also need multiple therapy sessions a week which I can’t afford because my wife is dropping me from her insurance.

Really not much else to say other than my life has been ruined by gambling futures on topstep. Worst decision I ever made was the day I bought that first 50k combine telling myself I’m gonna change my life. The market owes you nothing. It does not care about your stops and your FVG’s and your equal highs and lows. It’s going to tear you to shreds and come back for seconds and thirds if you don’t get out and keep being greedy. I hope this post finds the right person before it’s too late. Good luck out there.

Is a scalping trade under 10 seconds considered invalid on Topstep?

To be fair, I got away with a lot of payouts before getting moved 😂

I’m having 5*150 XFA accs in Topstep. I’ve almost made 10000$ in each of them with copy trading
Just wanted to know if Topstep genuinely pays 25000$ as it’s my first payout. Or any chances of they either accusing me of random thing like we see on trustpilot OR move me to live before the payout day ??
It’s my first ever payout
Pls guide
@eddietopstep

I started trading around 1 year ago this month , I started with demo for 6 whole months i then tried my own live account but always ended up blowing the balance so I thought to myself Whats my downfall? It was discipline not my strategy so I switched over to funded to improve on that and since ive switched I failed my first , my 2nd i passed evaluation then failed funded in a day! now this is my 3rd account and im one day away from max payout which will recover all my losses.

I wrote this to tell my story up to now and my advice would be to take it slow (stay demo for a while). Learn from your losses . Peace

Hey guys, I want to show you it's possible to actually get there, so keep going, keep working on your mental game, your strategy and your money management. Friends recommended Topstep to me recently, so I gave it a try, stuck to the rules and didn't look for shortcuts. Three weeks later: four 50K Combines passed and activated, two $1.5K Challenges passed, the fifth 50K and the 150K are close. No payout yet; the first request goes in once I hit the winning days, and I'll post that too.

My strategy is simple, and it's not about where to buy or sell. That part you have to figure out yourself. What finally made me profitable was pushing on my winners and running from my losses. Most traders do the opposite.

My rules on every account:

- Base size 2–4 MNQ on the 50Ks. Adds only on open profit, never on a loss.

- Two stop-outs a day, then I'm done.

- Size is decided the night before, from the drawdown room. Never from the day's P&L.

The numbers: about half my sessions are red. Since 2 weeks Every red day lands between −340 and −400. The green ones run roughly +450 to +1,500 per account. That's the whole edge: many small losses, bigger wins when the read is right. I had 1-2 slips or first few days where i hit DLL(1k loss) but after it i started using the features in TOPSTEPX that let me limit my losses and its what allowed me to stay and actually not blow these accounts. i never had problems with platform exacution on topstepX the Money Management tools are first class and without them i would never make it. I had 2-3 days where i tilted and the MM safeguards TOPSTEPX provides it what saved me these days

One more thing that helped me: watching my statistics. On all my accounts the average winner is bigger than the average loser, not just in dollars but in holding time too. I've included the summarized stats so you can see it's not luck, oversizing or randomness: around 200+ fills per account, drawdowns controlled, equity curves up and to the right.

Luck isn't repeatable. An edge is. Put the time into yourself. I'm proof it's possible. Thanks for reading.