How $3,800 becomes $7,600
The rule is that the largest winning day cannot exceed 50% of the profit target. On a $100,000 Combine the target is $6,000, so the published maximum day is $3,000. A $3,800 day is above that ceiling. Dividing $3,800 by 0.50 produces a new target of $7,600. You did not get to keep the original $6,000 finish line. Create a Venasri account and stop the session when the day approaches $3,000, not when it feels good.
The end-of-day trail can be untouched. The 2% loss line can be untouched. The account is green. The pass got harder. That is why profitable traders still fail this particular rule. Equity Guard stops losses. It does not, by itself, cap a winning day at 50% of the target. You need a session stop on profit too.
The clock here is 3:10 PM CT, not 00:00
CFD midnight rules raise the next day's loss floor from floating equity. Topstep's surprise in this trap is the consistency rewrite, and the operational clock is the 3:10 PM CT flatten and the 5:00 PM CT session. Being flat does not reset a day that already printed $3,800. The new CME session does not give you a fresh target.
Weekend holding is prohibited, so there is no Sunday float to reprice the daily loss. If you are still in a position at 3:10, that is a separate breach from the $7,600 math. The bot should flatten on time and should also know the day's realized profit.
The cash breach is still available
Daily loss is 2%, $2,000 on $100,000. A revenge add after the big winner, or a giveback the same afternoon, can spend $2,000 and end the account before you ever trade the extra target. The pass plan flattens at 1.25% so the 2% print is not the first alert.
The trailing loss is $3,000 on $100,000, $2,000 on $50,000, and $4,500 on $150,000, locking at the initial balance. A green day walks it up at the end of the day. You can tighten your own floor and extend your target in the same session.
Trading the extra dollars without a second hero day
Once the target is $7,600, another day near $3,800 would be 50% of the new number only if you do that division again. The safe reading of the original rule is to keep every day inside half of the current target. Ten to sixteen trades at 0.50%, which is $500 on $100,000, is how the first target was supposed to be built without a $3,800 print.
Payouts want five days of at least $200, then up to 50% of balance, 100% of the first $10,000 and 90% after. None of that starts cleanly if the Combine target keeps moving. The $99 monthly fee does not buy a waiver of the 50% ceiling. News in the evaluation is permitted. Live accounts add Tier-1 flatten windows.
