Topstep traces its roots to Patak Trading Partners, founded in Chicago in 2010 by Michael Patak, giving it roughly a decade and a half of operating history - the longest of any US futures prop firm covered in this document. It runs on its own proprietary platform, TopstepX, built around integrated risk rules, trade journaling, and discipline-focused tools rather than third-party platforms alone, and offers a one-step evaluation with profit splits from 50% up to 90% and an activation fee of $0-$129 once a trader passes.