forgiven 

I posted several years ago they were bad actors not acting in good faith . I stated when they come across a trader that can trade their not going to give him any prop account . he can get that most any where . The trader will be introduced to the educational side of the business . Selling trading education and trader stuff was there business model not any prop trading . I was bombed instantly by top step shields and other members drinking the top step cool-aid . Anyone sell trading education should be considered a deep hole in the ground with a liar at the bottom of it . that will save a lot of money and pain .

I don't know what you problem is with them, but TopStep never sold trading courses.

This old thread was about a specific incident involving Topstep and one of their users, who has since decided to move on.

If you have an opinion about Topstep, or if you want to share an experience with them, it would be better to use the Topstep vendor review thread.

Anybody heard of topsteptrader (review) recently I got their email, they have combine program for 4 weeks($120), if you pass that, you will profit split with them, they don't require capital deposit, but I doubt if it is a scam!!! I appreciate if anybody here have experiences with them. …

If you want to comment generally on prop firms, or about some other topic involving Topstep, there are many threads to choose from, or start your own. The Search function will provide suggestions. Discussions not related to the original topic should not really go here.

Bob.

tr8er 

I don't know what you problem is with them, but TopStep never sold trading courses.

I do not have any problem with them . they have sold educational packages through sponsored venders , Jason Loves is one of many . I have not seen them on this treaded talking about the money that was stolen from one of our members . There silence speaks loud and very clear . how long have you worked there . sales must be slowing .

bobwest 

This old thread was about a specific incident involving Topstep and one of their users, who has since decided to move on. If you have an opinion about Topstep, or if you want to share an experience with them, it would be better to use the Topstep vendor review thread. Anybody heard of topsteptrader (review) recently I got their email, they have combine program for 4 weeks($120), if you pass that, you will profit split with them, they don't require capital deposit, but I doubt if it is a scam!!! I appreciate if anybody here have experiences with them. … If you want to comment generally on prop firms, or about some other topic involving Topstep, there are many threads to choose from, or start your own. The Search function will provide suggestions. Discussions not related to the original topic should not really go here. Bob.

sorry bob i did not see your post when i received the notification i was quoted by the other member . consider it done .

tr8er 

I don't know what you problem is with them, but TopStep never sold trading courses.

Topstep doesn't sell educational material. In fact, we are going to be the only prop firm that offers 20min coaching sessions starting very soon.

Additionally, if anyone has any questions about our program A LOT has changed since a year ago and I'd be more than happy to address any concerns/issues people might have.

bobwest 

Hi @Topstep, This would be very, very, very good. I have held my peace about this incident when it came up again, because it was old, as you had said, and it was before your time here, and the trader in question had decided to drop it and had moved on. But, during the several weeks before that happened, the thread was often one of the most-read of the day. The situation that the user laid out was deeply troubling to many who read about it, and @Topstep kept absolutely silent about it, even though many members, myself included, invited them to address the situation and tagged the Topstep username with the "@" symbol, which sends an email to the account with a notification that Topstep had been mentioned, with a copy of the post. People were essentially pounding on the @Topstep door asking the company to come in and give their side of it... and there was nothing. The absence of a response was troubling. I went back and counted three posts I made tagging Topstep about it, and many others did the same. Either no one was monitoring the company account at that time, or no one at the company cared enough about this issue to simply respond and give their side of it. For example, here is a post I made early on responding to another member, whose post I am first quoting. There was no response to either post, nor to any other post in that thread: This is still a big deal, because the incident still gets mentioned from time to time, and there's still nothing from the company explaining their side of it. I hope that when you come back with whatever others at the company have told you about the situation, it's not just with some corporate fog, but with something of substance. I am sure that people on this forum are -- or should be -- perfectly willing to make allowances for the fact that people, and companies, make mistakes. It is also possible that there was no mistake, and that the company was correct. If the company feels they were justified, it would be only right to at least explain why. Or perhaps the only mistake was that they didn't tell their side of it. Or perhaps they felt they had to respect "individual privacy," as you mentioned. But there needs to be an explanation of some sort. Ignoring it has not helped the company at all. My view is that @Topstep has contributed positively in giving traders who are interested an avenue to learning their craft, and I have said so many times. I feel the company has simply made a mistake in letting this situation be ignored, and I do not think it should be taken out of proportion. But this is a reputational issue, and someone at the company has screwed up in letting it grow unanswered. I hope you will provide enough information to permit readers to understand what happened and, most importantly, to understand what they may face if they decide to use Topstep in the future. Any doubts peoples may have need to be settled, going forward. Bob.

Mick who handled this case forwarded me the email chain so I can speak with some confidence on this issue now albeit, a year late. The reason this payout was not issued was because of the traders trading behavior in Step 1 and Step 2. This was an account identified with (intentionally or unintentionally) exploiting the SIM fill engine using a method of high frequency trading that produces HIGHLY favorable results compared to if this strategy was executed in the real-time markets. This was also occurring around a time when Topstep was paying out on Pro Accounts so word got around that this strategy could be run for easy and unrealisticly earned profits without ever intending on trading this methodology in the real-time markets. At Topstep the goal is to use the Trading Combine and SIM markets to help develop a traders discipline and strategy so that they can take that to the real-time markets. When a trader is using the Trading Combine and SIM markets in such a manner that is exploitive then that goes against the intent of what the product is supposed to be used for and that is outlined in the Terms of Use.

For resolution to this issue we offered the trader to either redo the Pro Account under the circumstances they would no longer trade in a manner that took advantage of the SIM fill engine or a refund on their Trading Combine. They accepted the refund and we issued it.

Topstep learned a lot about itself in 2021 and we made an incredible amount of improvements since then including removing two rules, better risk-management for our funded traders, and increased transparency and communication in what we expect from our traders. It is very unfortunate that Topstep did not address this issue in a timely manner because this would have been a relatively easy issue to patch up in the moment. Thankfully, with the changes we have made since 2021 a circumstance occurring like this again would not happen. Now if a trader were trading like this we would send them an email suggesting a change in behavior, if they still didn't change we would send an email again, and if they still didn't change then it would be a longer conversation.

I hope this explanation makes some progress in patching up any lingering trust issues that this forum might have with our program. I'd be more than happy to answer any questions.

Recently the discussion of this thread came up again in the main @Topstep thread, and we received a detailed response from Nick at @Topstep regarding the issues of this thread from the @Topstep point of view. We didn't get that in this thread, and I am happy to have received it now. I am not sure of the reason it was never available before -- perhaps a change of staff on the account. But it does fill in information from the other side of things.

I have copied in the full post from Nick from the main thread, which explains in good detail what the @Topstep's view was. It's unfortunate that this only is coming out now, but that's how things happen sometimes. You can read his post just above this one.This is an old thread now that went on for a brief intense time in August of 2021 and then somewhat died out. I received suggestions to close it, but in general we let threads stay open in case there is more to be said on the topic at a later date, so it has stayed open, just in case.

I am now closing this thread, to avoid splitting the topic between too many different places. If anyone has anything more to say or has any other questions on this topic, by all means go to the main Topstep thread and take up the issue again there.

I do thank Nick for pulling together the information about what was going on, even if it over a year later.

Here is the main Topstep thread to use for any further discussion of this topic:

Topstep's Nick Dolby (Social Media and Community Coordinator) - Ask me Anything (AMA) I am getting additional information from Mick and Tim about what happened and will share what I can while respecting the individuals privacy.

I am now closing this thread, to avoid splitting the topic between too many different places. If anyone has anything more to say or has any other questions on this topic, by all means go to the main Topstep thread and take up the issue again there.

Bob.