$2,000, $3,000, $4,500 trails by Combine size
$50K: $2,000 EOD trail, $3,000 target, $1,500 50% day cap. $100K: $3,000 trail, $6,000 target, $3,000 50% day cap. $150K: $4,500 trail, $9,000 target, $4,500 50% day cap. Daily 2% is $1,000 / $2,000 / $3,000 in round numbers, often a soft TopstepX warning rather than the hard kill, which is the EOD max. Two minimum days. Flatten 3:10 PM CT. New session 5:00 PM CT.
Because the trail locks at a $0 buffer, once you have earned $3,000 on $100K the floor sits at starting balance. Further winners do not give extra trail room below the start. That lock is why Combine payouts later feel tight if you withdraw and sit near $0 buffer on Express/Live.
Worked NQ day: $3,800 that becomes $7,600 of homework
You run NAS100/NQ on $100K Combine. The trend day pays $3,800 closed by 3:05 PM CT. EOD trail is fine (you won). 50% of $6,000 is $3,000. $3,800 / 0.50 = $7,600 new target. Remaining homework is $3,800 more, not $2,200 more. If you instead flatten $2,700 at 2:40 PM and sit on hands, target stays $6,000 and you need $3,300 more across later days. That $1,100 you left on the table bought a simpler exam.
Intraday you were +$4,200 at 11:00 AM and gave back to $3,800. Topstep EOD did not trail up $4,200. Apex would have. If you bought Topstep because someone said all futures props trail ticks, you have been mis-sold, in a way that actually helps you, as long as you still flatten at 3:10. You can start a free Venasri account and put a $2,800 green cap on $100K Combine days.
The 3:12 PM CT self-own
Holding into 3:12 PM CT, even +$800, is a flatten-rule problem. Holding a -$2,400 NQ into the forced flatten can print the EOD -$3,000 if slippage on the session cut is ugly. Your daily calculator must include a 15:05 CT market-out, not a 15:10 hope. Friday is the same cut plus no weekend. Globex Sunday evening is a new session you may trade, with a fresh daily character, still inside the same EOD max that may have moved Friday.
Live Funded Tier-1 windows are extra flatten events (NFP, FOMC, CPI). Evaluation may allow the print. Do not practice Live as Combine. Message-rate bots that rewrite NinjaTrader stops every tick can fail CME efficiency even when the $3,000 trail is green.
Close-based guard, not Prague midnight guard
Venasri Equity Guard for Topstep should be a 15:05 CT flatten plus an EOD loss cap near $2,400 on $100K, plus a day-profit cap near $2,800. Do not reuse a 00:00 CE(S)T forex profile. 24/7 MT5 Bot Control is the wrong engine if it thinks in forex sessions; keep Combine automation on CME-aware tools. The ZeroMQ MT5 Bridge can still guard a parallel FX book, not this one.
After 5 winning $200 days, the 50%-of-balance payout rule is a cash-management calculator. Leave buffer above the locked $0 trail so a payout cannot sit you on the knife edge. 100% of the first $10,000 is easier to collect as several boring Express weeks than as one NQ lottery that also trips 50% consistency.
