Topstep’s Daily Loss Limit is not what most people think
Checked against the firm’s published rules on September 14, 2026. Your firm’s dashboard is the record; if it disagrees with this page, it wins.
The Daily Loss Limit, DLL, is the one Topstep rule that is on your side. It is a forced break, not a failure. Hit it and the day is over, but the account is not.
The numbers
| Account | Daily Loss Limit | Maximum Loss Limit (for comparison) |
|---|---|---|
| 50K | $1,000 | $2,000 |
| 100K | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| 150K | $3,000 | $4,500 |
What happens when you hit it
- Open positions are flattened.
- Pending orders are cancelled.
- No new trades until the next session opens at 5:00 PM Central.
- The account stays eligible. Tomorrow you trade again.
Topstep’s own wording is that triggering it “is not a rule violation.” We think that framing is exactly right, and worth internalising. The DLL is the firm putting a hand on your shoulder. The trailing drawdown is the firm showing you the door.
Why it matters more than it looks
Look at the table again. On a fresh 50K, one maximum daily loss uses up half your total room. Two in a row and you are at the Maximum Loss Limit with nothing left. The DLL does not stop that. It just makes you sleep on it first.
And the room to the MLL shrinks as you win, because the floor trails your best close. A trader who has closed at +$1,500 has a floor at −$500. Their next daily loss of $1,000 does not stop at the DLL, it goes through the MLL first, at a net balance of −$500, and the account is gone before the daily limit ever triggers. This is the single most common way an Express Funded Account ends: the trader was thinking about the daily limit, and the daily limit was not the binding constraint that day.
Open trades count
The day’s net P&L is realized plus unrealized. A position that is $600 underwater on a 50K, added to $450 of booked losses, is a flatten. You do not get to wait and see. Neither does the firm.
Use it on purpose
Plenty of good traders set a personal daily stop well inside the firm’s. On a 50K that might be $400 or $500, roughly half the DLL, so a bad morning can never turn into a bad week. Whatever number you pick, the useful question at any moment is not “what is the DLL” but “how far am I from it right now, and is that closer than I am to the MLL.” Tapeworm keeps both distances on screen as live numbers and colours whichever one is closer. That is the whole trick.
Questions people search for
Is hitting the Topstep Daily Loss Limit a rule violation?
No. Topstep says so directly. Open positions are flattened, pending orders are cancelled, and you cannot trade again until the next session at 5 PM CT. The account stays eligible for funding.
What is the Daily Loss Limit on a 50K Topstep account?
$1,000 on a 50K, $2,000 on a 100K, $3,000 on a 150K.
Does the Daily Loss Limit protect me from the Maximum Loss Limit?
Partly. A full daily loss on a 50K is $1,000, and a fresh 50K has $2,000 of room to the Maximum Loss Limit. So one bad day cannot end a fresh account, but two can, and the room shrinks after every winning close.