The $50K to $100K Payout Challenge
Following one funded account from a $50K evaluation through to a $100K payout — every trade, every mistake, every adjustment, documented in real time.
Start here: Read the Introduction →
Daily Updates
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 18: Blown by $1.92
Account 1 is dead. Five correlated index shorts, -$674.10, and a balance that closed $1.92 below the Maximum Loss Limit. What 24 days and $85 actually bought.
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 17: A Green Day I Didn’t Earn
Day 17 finished +$288.10 with a 6/6 discipline score. One crude oil trade covered a 3.46R sizing error I never flagged — the same mistake that cost me Monday, hidden by a green result.
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 16: Three Trades Gave Back the Best Day of the Month
Day 16: three trades, no revenge trading, calm the whole way — and -$379.66, giving back all of Friday’s record day. The problem wasn’t discipline, it was that 6C was never tradeable inside a $50 risk budget. Plus August’s full close: 86% of the month’s loss came from three incidents.
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 15: Six for Six, Best Day of the Challenge
Part of the $50K to $100K Payout Challenge — a real, daily-tracked run at turning a Topstep 50K account into $100K of cumulative payouts. Yesterday: Day 14, Chopped Up Chasing a Trend That Wasn’t There. Today in one line Six trades, six winners, and the best single day of the challenge so far — net…
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 14: Chopped Up Chasing a Trend That Wasn’t There
Part of the $50K to $100K Payout Challenge — a real, daily-tracked run at turning a Topstep 50K account into $100K of cumulative payouts. Yesterday: Day 13, The Day I Tried to Make the Market Pay Me Back. Today in one line An up-and-down day in a choppy tape, and I spent too much of…
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 13: The Day I Tried to Make the Market Pay Me Back
Part of the $50K to $100K Payout Challenge — a real, daily-tracked run at turning a Topstep 50K account into $100K of cumulative payouts. Yesterday: Day 11 & 12, A Wedding Day Trade and a Choppy Time-Stop. Today in one line Nine trades, one setup, and a full session spent trying to will a losing…
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 11 & 12: A Wedding Day Trade and a Choppy Time-Stop
Part of the $50K to $100K Payout Challenge — a real, daily-tracked run at turning a Topstep 50K account into $100K of cumulative payouts. Last update: Day 10, Fewer Trades, Best Day Yet. No post went out for Day 11 (Aug 24), so this one covers both Day 11 and Day 12 together. Today in…
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 10: Fewer Trades, Best Day Yet
Part of the $50K to $100K Payout Challenge — a real, daily-tracked run at turning a Topstep 50K account into $100K of cumulative payouts. Yesterday: Day 9, The Green Day That Scared Me. Today in one line Four trades. One loser. The best single day of this challenge so far — and the first time…
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 9: The Green Day That Scared Me
Part of the $50K to $100K Payout Challenge — a real, daily-tracked run at turning a Topstep 50K account into $100K of cumulative payouts. Yesterday: Day 8, Six-for-Six on Discipline, Still Down $18. Today in one line First green day in a week — and the worst discipline score of the entire challenge. Thirteen journaled…
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 8: Six-for-Six on Discipline, Still Down $18
Part of the 50K to $100K Payout Challenge — a real, daily-tracked run at turning a Topstep 50K account into $100K of cumulative payouts. Yesterday: Day 7, When the Bias Signal Breaks, Read the Range. Today in one line Three Globex breakouts built the account up more than $280 by mid-morning, five AM trades handed…
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 7: When the Bias Signal Breaks, Read the Range
Part of the 50K to $100K Payout Challenge — a real, daily-tracked run at turning a Topstep 50K account into $100K of cumulative payouts. Monday: Day 6, Started Strong, Gave It Back. Today in one line Globex opened choppy and the trending-market bias read kept getting faded, and kept losing. Once that stopped being a…
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 6: Started Strong, Gave It Back
Part of the 50K to $100K Payout Challenge — a real, daily-tracked run at turning a Topstep 50K account into $100K of cumulative payouts. Friday: Day 5, Red Numbers, Perfect Discipline. Today in one line Two clean 6A breakouts paid overnight. Then I stayed in the chair through afternoon chop, stacked extra clicks, and walked…
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 5: Red Numbers, Perfect Discipline
Part of the 50K to $100K Payout Challenge — a real, daily-tracked run at turning a Topstep 50K account into $100K of cumulative payouts. Yesterday: Day 4, A Winning Trade That Still Broke the Rules. Today in one line Nine trades, a net loss of $218.96, and for the first time since Day 2, every…
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 4: A Winning Trade That Still Broke the Rules
Part of the 50K to $100K Payout Challenge — a real, daily-tracked run at turning a Topstep 50K account into $100K of cumulative payouts. Yesterday: Day 3, First Green Day, One Bad Fill. Today in one line Eleven trades, a net loss of $211.77, and the best-looking trade on the sheet — a winner, +$98.58…
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 3: First Green Day, One Bad Fill
Part of the 50K to $100K Payout Challenge — a real, daily-tracked run at turning a Topstep 50K account into $100K of cumulative payouts. Today in one line First green day of the challenge. Eight trades, net +$99.39, and a discipline score of 5 out of 6. The one point lost wasn’t a market-read mistake…
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 2: Perfect Discipline, Imperfect Exits
Part of the 50K to $100K Payout Challenge — a real, daily-tracked run at turning a Topstep 50K account into $100K of cumulative payouts. Today in one line Better day than yesterday, and it wasn’t close. Eleven trades, three winners, net -$90.97, and for the first time in this challenge, a perfect 6 out of…
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 1: Six Losses, and the Plan Still Held
Day 1 of the $50K to $100K Payout Challenge: six straight losing trades, a revenge trade past the daily cap, and the risk plan that kept the account alive anyway.
The $50K to $100K Payout Challenge: Intro
I’m turning a brand-new Topstep 50K Trading Combine into $100K of cumulative payouts. Here’s the account, the rules, the risk plan, and the strategy — in full.