Topstep made the Daily Loss Limit optional — what it means

As of April 14, 2026, Topstep no longer forces a Daily Loss Limit on new Trading Combine or Express Funded accounts. You pick it at checkout. If you don't pick it, it isn't there. Live Funded accounts still get the DLL applied automatically — that hasn't changed.

This is a real parameter change, not a marketing reshuffle. Before you buy your next Combine, read this so you actually understand what box you're checking.

What the DLL used to do

On a Topstep Trading Combine, the Daily Loss Limit was a hard ceiling on how much you could lose in a single session — $1,000 on a $50K, $2,000 on a $100K, $3,000 on a $150K. Hit it and the system flattened your positions and ended your day. If you blew through it intraday, it counted as a rule violation and you had to reset the account.

That "counts as a violation" part is the piece that's gone. On the Combine and Express Funded, the DLL is no longer a rule — it's a tool, and you decide whether to install it.

What actually changed on April 14

At checkout on a new Combine or Express Funded account, you now see a toggle to add a permanent Daily Loss Limit. Two things to know before you touch it:

First, if you add it, it's locked to that account for life. It carries over from Combine to Express Funded automatically when you pass. You can't remove or adjust it later. That's a one-way door.

Second, if you don't add it, you can still set a Personal Daily Loss Limit from the Risk Settings page inside TopstepX. That one is adjustable any time. So you have two flavors: a locked-in permanent one at checkout, or a flexible self-imposed one in-app.

On Live Funded accounts, none of this is up to you. The DLL is always on and always mandatory.

The three behavior options

Whichever flavor you pick, you also choose how the account reacts when the DLL is triggered:

• Do Nothing — the limit is logged but the system doesn't touch your positions. It becomes an honor-system target.
• Liquidate — the system flattens all open positions and cancels pending orders, but the account stays tradable.
• Liquidate and Block — the system flattens everything and prevents new orders for the rest of the session (until 5:00 PM CT reset).

None of these count as a rule violation on the Combine or Express Funded. That is the real shift. Under the old regime, crossing the DLL on a Combine meant you had to reset. Now it only does what you told it to do.

What this actually means for you

If you're a disciplined trader with a real stop-loss workflow, this is a small quality-of-life win. A single over-correlated sequence on an ugly CPI day won't nuke your account just because you dipped $5 over an arbitrary floor mid-session. You can recover within the same day — assuming you don't then also cross the Maximum Loss Limit (the trailing drawdown), which is still a hard rule and will still end the account.

If you're a newer trader or someone who has blown accounts on tilt, do not celebrate. The DLL existed for a reason. Checking Liquidate and Block at checkout gives you a real circuit breaker and costs you nothing. An optional safety net you've turned off is just a rule you used to have.

One more wrinkle: if you add the permanent DLL at checkout, it stays with you into the Express Funded account. If your plan is "I'll train with the safety net, then take it off when I'm funded," that plan doesn't work. Pick the flavor you want to live with.

The numbers

The Maximum Loss Limit is unchanged. That's still the real account-killer on any Topstep account — trailing end-of-day, locks once your profit exceeds the drawdown amount, and resets to $0 after every payout on a Live Funded account.

Bottom line

Topstep's Daily Loss Limit is now an opt-in on the Combine and Express Funded, mandatory on Live Funded. Pick your behavior (Do Nothing / Liquidate / Liquidate and Block) at checkout and know that if you take the locked version, you can't undo it. Most traders should still opt in — the DLL was never the thing killing accounts, the MLL was, and an optional kill-switch set to "Liquidate and Block" is cheap insurance against a single bad day. Check the box.

As of April 17, 2026. Rules change — verify on Topstep's help center before you buy.