It’s not fun to talk about, but from time to time, we see traders trying to “game the system” to make a quick buck. Topstep exists to help and teach traders because the live markets are tough.
Because of this reality, Topstep does not allow traders to explicitly take advantage of the simulated environment to gain an edge in our program, and we retain the right to reject any profit claims if abuse is suspected. We want to help you become a better trader, not learn how to dupe a simulator.
Examples of gaming the Topstep simulator include but are not limited to:
Running “scalping” algorithms in the SIM environment to take advantage of unrealistic fills
Making hundreds of rapid trades to take advantage of preferential queue position in SIM
Initiating reckless trades in gapped markets to profit from stray fills (these are improbable in LIVE markets)
Repeatedly exploiting the relative lack of “slippage” in the simulator to achieve impossible stop-loss execution
Using tight brackets or auto-breakeven to take advantage of favorable fills
If any of this seems confusing or scary, don’t worry, it’s probably not meant for you!
The vast majority of our traders are here to learn and work toward consistent profitability, not make a quick buck. Seriously, we’d never prevent you from making payouts because you got a few lucky fills on SIM. The practices described above are intentional and usually involve making hundreds if not thousands, of trades in a day (usually with an average duration measured in seconds, not minutes).
We shut down this behavior quickly because we want our experts, risk managers, and coaches focused on helping traders, not monitoring their activity. We want to help you become a smart trader, not great at making algorithms or gaming the SIM environment.
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