Score breakdown

Rules side by side

The first $15,000 is the headline, and it is real

Tradeify pays 100% of your first $15,000 in profit, then 90%. TopStep pays 90/10 from the start. On the first $15,000 that is a difference of $1,500 in your pocket, and it lands exactly when it matters most, on your first withdrawals from a new account.

Tradeify also charges no activation fee on funded accounts. TopStep charges one on the standard path after you pass, on top of the monthly subscription. Between the split and the fee, the cost dimension goes 8.6 to 7.5.

Drawdown: Tradeify lets you choose, TopStep does not

TopStep runs one model, an end-of-day trailing drawdown that tightens as you profit. There is no alternative.

Tradeify runs three paths. Growth uses a forgiving end-of-day trailing drawdown, similar in spirit to TopStep’s but paired with better terms. Select uses a strict real-time intraday trailing drawdown, which is materially harder and follows your unrealised profit tick by tick. Lightning Funded is instant funding with no evaluation.

That choice is an advantage, but only if you make it deliberately. A trader who buys Select expecting Growth’s drawdown model will have a bad time. Read which product you are buying.

The thing to understand before funding a Tradeify account

Tradeify’s funded accounts are simulated until the firm transitions them to live, and the timing of that transition is set by the firm, not by you. You cannot elect to go live on a schedule of your choosing.

This is common across the industry and Tradeify discloses it, which is why transparency still scores 8.0. But it is the single most important thing to understand about what you are buying, and it is worth weighing against TopStep, whose funded structure is also simulated but whose payout record across fourteen years is far longer.

Two smaller catches: a consistency gate applies when you request a payout, and Lightning Funded has no reset, so failing it means buying a replacement at full price rather than a discounted retry.

One minimum trading day against none

Tradeify requires a single minimum trading day. TopStep requires none at all. Both are effectively unrestricted for a fast trader, and neither imposes a time limit, so there is no pressure to force trades at either firm.

On profit targets they are close: Tradeify asks $1,500 on a $25,000 account rising to $9,000 on $150,000; TopStep asks $3,000 on $50,000 up to $9,000 on $150,000. Tradeify starts at a smaller account size, which lowers the entry bar.

The review base is the honest counterargument

Tradeify holds 4.6 out of 5 from about 2,200 reviews. TopStep holds 3.4 from about 13,800. Tradeify’s rating is better but its evidence base is roughly one sixth the size and covers two years rather than fourteen.

We do not treat that as disqualifying, and our payout dimension separates them 8.8 to 6.5 on published terms and reported behaviour. But if your priority is a firm whose payout record you can research exhaustively before committing, TopStep gives you far more to read. That is a legitimate reason to choose the lower-scoring firm.

Platforms

Tradeify supports NinjaTrader, TradingView, Quantower, Sierra Chart, R Trader and WealthCharts, one of the widest lists in futures, scoring 8.3. TopStep offers TopstepX, NinjaTrader, TradingView and Quantower at 7.5.

Both are futures only. Neither offers forex, CFDs, stocks or crypto.

Pros and cons

Frequently asked questions