@darling_trades Posts $25,000 Locked Across Topstep Funded Accounts
On Monday, May 25, the trader @darling_trades posted on X that $25,000 was locked across funded accounts at Topstep, with a withdrawal request to follow the next day. The post tagged the firm and several of its public figures.
The proof itself is concise. In a public post on X, @darling_trades wrote that $25,000 was locked across Topstep accounts and that the withdrawal request would be submitted the following day. An attached image accompanied the post, and the trader tagged Topstep alongside Coach DBA, TopstepNick, TopstepTV, and founder Michael Patak. The figure refers to profits secured for payout rather than a deposit confirmation already received.
Context matters for reading a number like this at Topstep. The firm, founded in Chicago in 2012, is one of the longest-running futures prop shops and routes its traders into CME Group products. Topstep states that its standard structure pays a 90/10 profit split, with accounts opened before January 2026 grandfathered to keep 100% of the first $10,000 in profits. The firm also reports a per-payout cap of $6,000 per request on legacy combines, which is consistent with the trader noting that the $25,000 sits across multiple accounts rather than a single one.
“$25K Locked on my Topstep Accounts. Will submit my withdrawal request tomorrow.”— @darling_trades on X
The post does not establish several details. @darling_trades did not disclose which account sizes were funded, which instruments produced the profits, or the time frame over which the balance was built. The hashtags reference Nasdaq and US futures, which is suggestive but not confirmation of the contracts traded. Readers should treat the $25,000 as a locked-profit figure pending payout processing, not as a cleared bank deposit documented in the post.
What the proof does support is straightforward. A funded trader, identifiable by handle and tagged directly to the firm's official accounts, has publicly committed to a $25,000 withdrawal request at Topstep and framed the result as a return to the firm where the trader began. For readers evaluating Topstep against other futures funding programs, the post is one more dated, public data point in a payout record that the firm itself has not fully disclosed.