👀 Topstep lowers payout caps by 60%

Hi everyone, it’s Kieran. Another week is in the books and the markets are open so let’s get into it.

Most of the talk last week on social media was about Topstep reducing their payout caps significantly. On a percentage basis, the profit cap on their flagship 50k has been lowered by 60% (Standard) and 50% (consistency).

They did however reduce their prices by 10%. Mixed reactions online.

Also a new “prediction markets” prop firm was teased last week “powered by Polymarket” apparently. Not sure if this is an official collaboration (don’t think so) or they are just plugged into their api. Cool idea though, will keep an eye on this.

📢 Firm Announcements

• Tradeify expanded its ecosystem with a new “Funded” podcast, ongoing Tradeify TV updates, and bundled account offers with stacked discounts.

• Funded Trader Markets launched a new trader dashboard with full analytics, calculators, economic calendar, live payout tracking, and customizable UI. One of the more complete platform upgrades this week.

• BrightFunded introduced a 1 Step challenge with a 10% target and no extended evaluation phase, simplifying the path to funding.

• Breakout shipped another terminal update, adding trigger orders, SL in profit, and expanding to 31 languages as the platform continues to mature.

• Maven Trading continued pushing its Gold Eternal concept, enabling off-hours gold trading strategies.

• Alpha Futures teased an upcoming premium product, with details still under wraps.

• Follow all firm updates live on X → x.com/promojunction

• Set alerts for your favourite firms → promojunction.io.

Here are the firms who paid out the most over the last 7 days 🏆️.

🔥 Monitor prop firm payouts LIVE on Payout Junction - https://payoutjunction.com.

🕜 Red Folder News

Here are this week’s red folder news events. FOMC on deck this week, however it is widely expected that the Fed will keep rates on hold. Lots of other central banks meeting as well, so expect some whipsawing in the FX markets through the week.

📈 Markets

S&P500 up 14% in 3 weeks

Another huge green week for the equity markets. Safe to say, if you are buying here you’re not the only, so the likelihood of a pullback has increased significantly, as the Fear & Greed index is now firmly in Greed territory.

Positioning in Mega Caps showing no signs of FOMO yet

From Deutsche Bank, Tech and mega cap positioning is far from extended. This rally could still have plenty more room to run.

A clear sign that the market believes the war is over

Defense stocks are absolutely cratering. Per Barclays capital “Defense stocks have been trading not just like the Iran war is over, but like all war ever is over"

Semiconductors going parabolic

Late stage AI bubble? Early warning? Market pricing China making a play on Taiwan? Not sure, but need to keep an eye on this as this type of price action tends to result in massive reversals.

OK let’s see how this week plays out, have a good one!

Kieran

Enjoy trading related newsletters? Try the Market Journal 👇️ 

Monitor prop firm payouts LIVE on Payout Junction 🔥 

Real-time prop firm discounts, flash deals and announcements 👇️