TopstepX vs Tradovate, for a Topstep trader.

What changed

As of November 2026, Topstep's "New to Topstep" help article says plainly: "TopstepX is the only available trading platform." The Tradovate, NinjaTrader and Rithmic connection guides that used to sit beside it are gone from the help center. Reviews and videos that walk through connecting a Topstep Combine to Tradovate describe an older setup.

TopstepX is Topstep's own platform, built on technology from ProjectX, and it runs every stage of the program: the Trading Combine (the evaluation), the Express Funded Account (where payouts start) and the Live Funded Account (real capital). Quantower is the one outside front end Topstep still documents, and it connects through your TopstepX login for Combine and Express Funded accounts only.

We could not find an official Topstep notice giving the exact cutoff date for Tradovate and NinjaTrader on new accounts, and secondary sources disagree on it. If you hold an older Topstep account on another platform, ask Topstep support what applies to it and get the answer in writing.

Tradovate did not go anywhere

This is a Topstep decision, not a Tradovate one. Tradovate is still a futures platform with its own web, desktop and mobile apps and a TradingView connection, and several prop firms still offer it. Apex, for example, lists Tradovate beside Rithmic and WealthCharts in its platform guide.

So the practical picture for a trader with several firms is two ecosystems. Topstep accounts live on TopstepX. Accounts at other firms often live on Tradovate. Anything that ties them together (a copier, an automation tool, a journal) has to speak both.

The APIs side by side

Both platforms expose an API, but they are built for different users and gated differently.

The rules that come with the TopstepX API

Topstep's API article is short, and three lines in it matter more than the rest.

Live Funded is off limits. "Live funded accounts are not allowed to trade through the ProjectX API." The gateway is built for the simulated environment, so any automation or outside copier works on the Combine and Express Funded stages and stops at Live.

Custom bots are allowed, HFT is not. Topstep says custom automated strategies and bots are allowed through the API, subject to its standard rules and its prohibition on high-frequency trading. That is a different position from firms that ban automation on funded accounts outright.

Where orders come from. The same article says all trading activity must originate from your personal device, that VPS, VPN and remote servers are prohibited by Topstep's Terms of Use, and that a private server "can watch and record, but it cannot trade". It also says third-party applications connected to the ProjectX API are used at your own risk and are not endorsed by Topstep or ProjectX. Read that section yourself before you connect any outside tool, and if you are unsure how it applies to a cloud service holding your API key, ask Topstep in writing first.

What it means for copying

TopstepX has its own trade copier: one lead account mirrored to one or more followers. Topstep's platform guide limits it to Trading Combine and Express Funded accounts (Live Funded accounts cannot use it) and notes that trade limits, symbol blocks and contract limits are not available on follower accounts. If every account you trade is a Topstep account, that built-in copier is the first thing to try.

The harder case is the one most multi-firm traders have: a Tradovate account at one firm leading, and Topstep accounts following. The TopstepX copier cannot see a Tradovate account, and Tradovate's group trading cannot see TopstepX. Bridging them takes a tool connected to both, placing the TopstepX side through the API, which brings in every rule in the section above.

Sizing gets harder too. A Combine, an Express Funded account and an account at another firm each have their own drawdown, so the same trade wants a different size on each. That is a per-account multiplier problem, covered in position sizing across funded accounts.

What it means for automation

On Tradovate, automation means a receiver holding a broker session and placing orders when a signal arrives; see how a TradingView alert becomes a Tradovate order. On TopstepX, Topstep's guide says the platform cannot connect to external platforms like TradingView, so a TradingView strategy reaches a TopstepX account only through the API.

Put the rules together and the automated path on Topstep is narrow: API key, Combine or Express Funded only, no HFT, and the device rule to satisfy. Plan the whole route to Live before you build a strategy around a Combine, because the route ends at the Live account.

Where Quanify stands

Quanify runs on Tradovate today. Copy Trader copies one Tradovate leader onto your other Tradovate accounts, each at its own whole-number multiplier, with per-account Mute and a kill switch.

TopstepX is next, and not open to members yet. When it ships it connects with your TopstepX username and a ProjectX API key, it sends market orders only, and a TopstepX account can be a copy follower but not a copy leader. Live Funded TopstepX accounts cannot trade through the API, so they cannot be followers either. Market orders only means a leader that enters with a limit order is followed at market, so expect the follower's fill to differ by the slippage of a market order.

Details are on the TopstepX trade copier and TopstepX API pages. Whatever tool you use, Topstep's rules decide what is allowed on a Topstep account; check your contract.