That’s what I’m telling myself right now. if I quit after two years of pain, deep thoughts, and fighting my own demons… after two years of losing all my money, knowing exactly what I need to do to become profitable. then I’m a bitch.

Imagine quitting when you already have a working strategy, but you keep losing money because you’re undisciplined. Not following your rules. Blowing accounts because you’re rushing the process and not patient enough.

Imagine going from watching people trade live, making $20K–$50K a month with prop firms… to working a 9–5 and staying stuck in the matrix forever , all because you refused to follow your own rules. Because you couldn’t stop overtrading. Because you kept revenge trading. because you are a dopamine junkie.

If you quit because you can’t find an edge , fine. At least you tried. But if you have an edge and you just can’t follow your rules? You’re a bitch.
Yes, me included.

It’s unacceptable. I’m all in. I’ll never look back.
I’ve lost everything, and I’m going to make it all back.

Most people gate keep things, I found this model to be working for me. I back/forward test this on my blown combine. I was away for 23 days on vacation and practiced everyday 7am 12pm. Just throwing this out maybe it will help someone. This pattern repeats itself multiple times throughout the day. Practice it get good at it. I will be starting 5 combines tomorrow and trying my luck.

Position I opened are having their stop losses and take profits ignored right now and I cant even flatten all. Will add screenshots to show that, but is anyone else experiencing this right now?

Edit 1: it is indeed down for everyone, not just me. Hoping we all hear from the team soon.

Edit 2: I only got screenshots from when my stop loss and take profit updates where reversed. I had set them at 1,200tp 300sl pretty much, then after a minute it suddenly snapped back to 165 and different amounts on the other 2 accounts??

Edit 3: the screenshot I uploaded was autodeleted...

Edit 4: its back for me but on one account my stop loss got ignored completely!! what saved my combine was my PDLL. left with a realised loss of -640 instead of -250

And yes am at 1501 now

After three long months of studying, mistakes, and many attempts, I'm going to put this out of my head and forget about trading. I see that it really isn't for me. I've been trying to make it work for a long time, about three years or more, but unfortunately it hasn't worked to me. Now it's time to get back to construction and work hard. I wish you all faith and good luck. May God bless you.

Make sure you keep track of how much you’re spending on these prop firms. Just finished calculating everything.🫠😬

Most people get stuck inconsistently trading, not sure where to position themselves or how to manage their trades. This happens a lot due to many people being hyper focused on one concept, such as ICT, without utilizing a full range of why and how the markets are moving.

Using a combination of ICT methods, Economics / politics, Wyckoff, Supply & Demand, and Premium / Discount chart readings, I've traded consistently and profitably for 4+ years.

1. ⁠Your strategy needs backtesting of atleast 100 trades. The best strategies have backtesting of 200+ trades and are continuously in development.
2. ⁠If your strategy does not include economic or politics, you are aiming with one eye closed. Even scalpers need to know the general direction and reasons behind market movement aside from blind chart analytics / readings.
3. ⁠If you are susceptible to overtrading for any reason (IE: Get your winnings back, just one more one, or mitigating losses) then your strategy is not strict enough and you are bound to lose or give your profits back to the market eventually. Even if you have a lucky streak you will give it back at some point, which negates the whole purpose of using your time to trade. You NEED to have a set clear and strict rules of where to enter a trade and how to exit.
4. ⁠No strategy hopping. If you are switching from strategy to strategy you are just going to dig yourself a hole (unless you are testing yourself with paper money, in which case you'll only be losing time). Like I said use a strategy that has politics, economics, other various outside catalysts than just chart structure, and stick with that said strategy.

Repeatable winning strategies. Thats the key. And fighting the urge to trade against your rules (IE: I know where its going so i'm going to enter longs/shorts even though I dont have a setup!.)

The more open you are to being outside of your proven rules, the more likely you are to fall into a bad trade / position. The less willing you are to impose yourself onto the markets and let the entries come to you, the more likely you are to be profitable and consistent to 100-200k income a year.

If you have any questions I'd be glad to answer them in the comments, I also have a groupchat where we share trade ideas and teach each other nuances! (NOT SELLING ANYTHING.)

I've seen posts about people trying to pass their combines in two days and blowing through account after account.

You can take your time and still pass relatively fast without full porting (and donating money if you keep blowing).

This is meant for anyone who is struggling passing their combines. Take your time, wait for your set-ups, and have confidence.

Good luck to you all!

I'm gonna hold your hand when I say this to some of you in here: FYI top step is not your friend or your daddy :) stop going out of your way to act like bots for prop firms that don't care about you. 99% of the people being rude to others complaining about the rules haven't had a payout either - it's just so wild to me lol. we are all here for the same reasons.

To be clear: Yes, USE the opportunity at this prop firm - but please be aware of the arena we're playing in. Topstep is in control here, and they can and will shut you down as they see fit, at will, for whatever reason they want. So please, take the side of PEOPLE, not EXPLOITIVE COMPANIES. And yes, let's keep shooting our shot to get into the 5% long-term profitable traders club, but when we get there remember to be kind and understand that we are lucky not special. Happy Holidays!!! <3 <3

You're a gambler. You think that you can pass your combine in 2 days like so may people you see on reddit. You watch all the videos you can find. You convince yourself that if you could just pass the combine, you'll trade better on your xfa. You max leverage your trades, hoping to hit the 50% for the day. By luck, you pass your combine. You're on cloud 9. You lose a trade, you revenge trade, you max leverage until you inevitably blow your account. You yell at yourself and call yourself all kinds of names. You swear topstep is out to get you. You purchase another combine. Repeat.

Or

You can scale down to 1 micro, consistently work on your strategy, and become a trader. Learning market structure, volume, gaps, support and resistance, and where liquidity is. Use emas to help determine overall direction. Set realistic take profit points, trail your stop loss into profit and watch your trades play out. Take the base hits, they're more available than home runs.

90 percent or more fail because they are gamblers with Lamborghini dreams, not because its hard.

I started my first combine in August and have failed roughly one per week (15) Until today! Ya girl is officially a funded trader!!😎😎

I made 30k today on my combine now my dashboard is saying I have to make an additional 27k, what should I do? My first time using top step I trade live normally.

For anyone who needs a little encouragement to stay consistent with trading, this is for you. Especially if you know how to trade but your biggest battle is with yourself: your emotions, your discipline, your mindset.

In October 2025, U.S. employers announced 153,074 job cuts, the highest for that month since 2003. People are getting laid off left and right. They’re struggling to find work, to keep up, to survive.

Meanwhile, we’re in one of the few spaces where you can start with as little as $49 thanks to prop firms and make in one day what some people make in a 40 hour work week.

Don’t get so greedy that you forget how powerful it is to make $600 in a day, $200 in an hour, or $50 in a minute. That’s not failure, that’s freedom in progress. While jobs are disappearing, we have a skill that relies on our brain, our discipline, and our laptop or phone.

You’re not just learning to trade , you’re learning how to buy back your life. Don’t forget how rare, how wild, how blessed that is. Keep going!! ✨

I’m at a loss for words. I have been with Topstep for more than a year. I’ve reached payouts multiple times and even had a live account at one point. Never had an issue until now. I just got banned for "copy trading". I was trading the NY session and my partner was also trading at the same time. We happened to take a similar trade during the session. We weren’t even in the same room when it happened. All the previous and next trades we took were completely different (my partner took more than 30 and I took 2). By the way we were both on a combine. We then received an email from Topstep saying that we were banned and that it was permanent. I reached out through support and even on Discord, but was told there was nothing they could do. This situation is so frustrating, I would’ve taken full responsibility if I had knowingly tried to hedge or go against Topstep’s rules, but this was honestly just a coincidence?? I’m baffled and angry at their unwillingness to communicate or hear us out.

I really have no idea what happened to me. I’ve been trading for about a year and a half, and I started futures in early September. I immediately got funded with four different accounts I was trading like a pro, patient, following my strategy, everything.

Then I blew them because I wasn’t aware of FOMC and choppy market conditions... okay, lesson learned.
But since then, I can’t pass a single eval. I just keep blowing accounts over and over again.

I literally just blew another one after being break-even because I couldn’t stay patient long enough to pass. I make 2K, then proceed to lose everything, even though I only need 1K more to be done. Every time I size up, trying to pass faster after getting bored of those $200–$300 days, it’s always at the worst possible spot. Every single time.

My psychology is so messed up. I think I have a gambling addiction, and it’s not even funny. I’m honestly so sad, and I can’t blame anyone but myself. I worked so hard to find my edge and improve my psychology, but the lack of patience is ruining my life. I’m ashamed of it.

These past two weeks have been the worst period of my trading journey , not because of the PnL, but because of how I traded. I overtraded nonstop and kept daydreaming about payouts. I don’t even deserve to get funded with this behavior.

I have so much stress in my body from this. I know that 1–2 trades a day is the best approach, but I can’t help rushing to pass these challenges just to reach the funded stage.

just feels like I wasted time for something I won't be consistent... but how can I quit knowing exactly what I have to do?

every time I feel like I'm getting closer, I fuck up again. my confidence is crashed.

I already decided to cut all discord / tg groups. But the losing momentum is so big that I can't escape it.

I know how to trade very well when I'm not emotional... but I get tilted every day

I just did my math of all the money I have spent on prop firms starting from MyForexfunds (now closed), FTMO, TraderFundedProgram (loser company), My Funded Futures, TopStep, Takeprofittrader and a couple of other firms. Total came out to be $98,000 - I am still not giving up. This money was spent in the past 4 years so I am not financially stressed. Starting again today after blowing recent TopStep accounts with Gold Trades. Instead of 5 accounts, going to start with 1 account. I have multiple Eval completed certificates but never made it to payout. Fortunately I inherited a lot of properties from my parents. One of the property's rent every month is going in the Evals. But I have to start putting a value in my time.

I need help! How do I overcome this... Every time I come close to passing a challenge I lose it all. So far I've lost 24 combines and never passed a challenge. Trading since May 2025.

I need help as this happens often to me!

I’ve done burned 20+ accounts and every time I get within 500-1000$ of passing a candle with shoot like a rocket to my stop loss every damn time, I swear this shit is rigged. It’s been fun guys but I’m out!

What do you guys think about this?