What Is ProjectX? TopstepX, Its API and Where Firms Went

ProjectX is a futures trading platform and Gateway API (the programming interface outside software uses to place orders) built by ProjectX Trading LLC, and since February 28, 2026 it runs only as TopstepX, Topstep's platform. Until then it was a white-label product (software one company builds and other firms rent under their own brand). A November 15, 2025 notice ended that, and firms such as Tradeify and Bulenox moved their accounts to NT/Tradovate or Rithmic, while Alpha Futures now lists its own AlphaTrader platform.

Key takeaway

ProjectX Trading LLC, formerly Sim2Funded, builds the platform Topstep sells as TopstepX, and ProjectX stopped serving other prop firms on February 28, 2026, 105 days after its November 15, 2025 notice. Most former licensees we checked now list Tradovate, NinjaTrader or Rithmic, though Alpha Futures lists its own AlphaTrader. Per Topstep's help center, the API costs $29 a month, one key covers every eligible account, and Live funded accounts cannot use it.

What is ProjectX, and is it a prop firm, a broker or a data feed?

ProjectX is software, not a trading firm: a web trading platform plus the order routing and Gateway API behind it. It is not a prop firm and not a broker.

The company announced its name on X on August 11, 2024 with the words "Sim2Funded is now ProjectX". Topstep's TopstepX product page says the platform "is developed and owned by ProjectX Trading LLC"; Topstep, the prop firm, trades under its own entities.

No public filing or statement shows how the two companies are related by ownership. The claim that Plus500 owns ProjectX has no support in any source we found; in the sources we checked, Plus500 appears only as the provider powering the TradingView connection at Alpha Futures.

Is ProjectX shutting down, and what happened in 2025 and 2026?

ProjectX did not shut down. It stopped serving third-party prop firms on February 28, 2026 and kept running as TopstepX, 105 days after partner firms received the notice on November 15, 2025.

Top One Futures posted the partner notice on X that day, with one stated reason: "Shifts in operational demands and upcoming compliance reporting, oversight, and audit requirements have made continuing third-party support no longer sustainable." Finance Magnates reported it on November 17, 2025. The ProjectX home page still says it is winding the service down "for most of our partners", and we found no reason or terms published by Topstep itself. Guides that date the notice to late November have it wrong.

LucidX, Lucid Trading's ProjectX platform, went live on August 10, 2025, 97 days before the notice. Then come November 15 (notice), November 17 (Finance Magnates), December 23 (Tradeify stops new purchases), January 15, 2026 (Bulenox and Alpha Futures stop) and February 28 (cutoff). On April 1, 2026, Topstep announced it had acquired The Futures Desk to bring its tools into TopstepX.

The notice gave firms 105 days, but the buying window closed first: December 23 at Tradeify and January 15 at Bulenox and Alpha Futures.

What is the difference between ProjectX and TopstepX?

For a trader today there is no practical difference: TopstepX is the ProjectX platform under Topstep's name, and Topstep's are the only connection URLs that ProjectX's Gateway docs list.

Topstep's help center, as of October 2026, is direct: "TopstepX™ is the only available trading platform." Quantower connects too, but with TopstepX credentials, over the same back end. ProjectX's Gateway documentation, accessed October 29, 2026, gives only TopstepX endpoints (api.topstepx.com and rtc.topstepx.com). Its page header still names The Futures Desk, which TradersPost counted on September 16, 2026 as a second listed platform and which a Topstep subsidiary now operates.

Which prop firms used ProjectX, and where did they move?

The firms that ran ProjectX accounts, including Tradeify, Bulenox, Lucid Trading, Alpha Futures and Top One Futures (and TradeDay, by secondary accounts), all list other platforms as of October 2026, and none lists ProjectX. Most now list Tradovate, NinjaTrader or Rithmic-based platforms; Alpha Futures does not.

The sheet gives each firm's ProjectX brand, last date for new ProjectX purchases, account cutoff and current platforms. "Not published" means no page from the firm states it; check the firm's current platform page before buying.

Firm	ProjectX brand	Last new purchase	Account cutoff	Platforms, October 2026
Tradeify	Not published	December 23, 2025 (first announced as December 31)	February 28, 2026, to NT/Tradovate	Tradovate, WealthCharts, Rithmic (Tradesea)
Bulenox	Project X	January 15, 2026	February 28, 2026, to Rithmic	Rithmic data, NinjaTrader partner, 20+ platforms
Lucid Trading	LucidX	Not published	Not published	CQG (NinjaTrader, Tradovate, TradingView) and Rithmic (9 platforms)
Alpha Futures	AlphaTicks (secondary)	January 15, 2026 (secondary)	February 28, 2026	AlphaTrader, TradingView (Plus500), WealthCharts, Deepchart, Quantower (dxFeed)
Top One Futures	Not published	Not published	February 28, 2026	Tradovate, NinjaTrader, TradingView, BlackArrow
TradeDay	Not published	Not published	Not published	Tradovate, NinjaTrader, Rithmic, TradingView, Jigsaw, Quantower
Topstep	TopstepX	Not applicable	Continues	TopstepX only (Quantower through TopstepX)

Compiled by Phoenix Technologies from each firm's own X posts, help pages and home pages, accessed October 29, 2026; Bulenox dates from a Bulenox helpdesk notice reposted on X; Alpha Futures' date from The Godfunded's December 13, 2025 report and its AlphaTicks name from secondary guides.

So "everyone moved to Tradovate or Rithmic" is only partly true. The Alpha Futures help center lists AlphaTrader ("Our in house developed platform"), TradingView powered by Plus500, WealthCharts, Deepchart and Quantower on dxFeed, and neither Tradovate nor Rithmic. The two common destinations are compared in Rithmic versus Tradovate.

Eight cells are unpublished, covering Tradeify's brand, Top One's brand and purchase date, Lucid's dates and all three ProjectX cells at TradeDay. No firm page confirms whether Phidias, Blue Guardian Futures, Aqua Futures or FuturesElite ran ProjectX accounts, and no firm published how many traders it moved.

Most rows list Tradovate, NinjaTrader or Rithmic; Alpha Futures lists its own AlphaTrader instead, and eight cells were never published by the firms.

Could traders buy ProjectX accounts until February 28, 2026?

No. February 28, 2026 was the account cutoff, but firms stopped selling new ProjectX accounts weeks earlier: 67 days before it at Tradeify and 44 days before it at Bulenox and Alpha Futures.

Tradeify first named December 31, 2025 in a November 26 post, then moved the date 8 days earlier in a December 20 post: "Starting Tuesday, December 23rd at 5PM EST, ProjectX will no longer be available for new purchases." Existing accounts kept trading, resetting and taking payouts until February 28, after which "All remaining ProjectX accounts will migrate to NT/Tradovate". Bulenox stopped new accounts and resets from January 15, 2026, and its helpdesk notice said: "On February 28, 2026, all Project X accounts will be transitioned to the Rithmic platform."

Take one ProjectX account on February 27, 2026, the day before the cutoff. What it kept: the account itself, migrated rather than closed, with trading, resets and payouts up to the cutoff and, at Tradeify, access and rules unchanged for existing users. What changed: the platform and connection (NT/Tradovate at Tradeify, Rithmic at Bulenox) and the purchase window, shut on December 23 or January 15. No notice we found says in plain words that balances carried over, so the accurate label is "accounts migrated", not "balances preserved".

The notices promised the account would move, not that every balance would; the platform and the buying window were what changed.

If your firm changes platform while you hold an account, see what to check when a firm changes rules.

Is ProjectX a data feed like Rithmic?

Partly. According to Topstep's help center, TopstepX pulls market data straight from the exchange with no third-party feed, but ProjectX is a whole stack (platform, routing and API) serving one firm, while Rithmic is a gateway that many platforms and firms share.

Outside Topstep there is no ProjectX connection to pick, whereas a Rithmic login at Lucid Trading reaches nine platforms, from Quantower to MultiCharts; our guide to the Rithmic data feed covers that model.

In practice there are three routes to CME. An outside tool reaches TopstepX by REST at api.topstepx.com, with an API key and a 24-hour session token, and listens on two SignalR hubs at rtc.topstepx.com: a user hub for account, order, position and trade events and a market hub for quotes, depth and trades. A Tradovate account (CQG at Lucid Trading) and a Rithmic account, through R|Trader Pro or the Rithmic API, are the shared routes.

ProjectX is a full stack behind one firm, while Tradovate and Rithmic are shared lanes many firms and platforms use.

Our older Rithmic versus ProjectX comparison predates the February 2026 change. How a copier reaches each lane is in copying trades across platforms.

What does the ProjectX API cost, and what does it allow?

As of October 2026, Topstep's help center prices TopstepX API access at $29 a month, or $14.50 with its 50% code, and one key covers all your eligible accounts. Bots are allowed, but not on Live funded accounts and not from a VPS, VPN or remote server.

The TopstepX API Access page reads: "API Access is $29/month. Topstep Traders get 50% off with code topstep". Billing runs through the ProjectX Dashboard, separate from your Topstep subscription. The belief that each account needs its own subscription is false: "One subscription and one API key cover every eligible account under your ProjectX Dashboard profile."

The same page sets the limits: "No, Live funded accounts are not allowed to trade through the ProjectX API." It adds: "All trading activity must originate from your personal device. The use of VPS, VPNs, and remote servers is prohibited by Topstep's Terms of Use." Bots must respect Topstep's high-frequency trading ban, for which we found no published numeric threshold, and Topstep and ProjectX say they endorse no outside API vendor.

The Place an Order reference accepts a stop and target attached to the entry only in Auto OCO Brackets mode. "Brackets cannot be used with Position Brackets. You must enable Auto OCO Brackets." Send attached brackets from an account in Position Brackets mode and the order is rejected with errorCode 2, a setting worth adding to any copier diagnostic checklist.

How many accounts can the TopstepX API rate limit handle?

At most 66 accounts per minute if each bracketed entry takes three calls, and up to 200 if each entry is one Auto OCO call, because most endpoints allow 200 requests per 60 seconds. That assumes every account behind your key shares one budget, which the docs neither confirm nor rule out.

ProjectX's rate limits page sets 200 requests per 60 seconds for every endpoint except bar history, which allows 50 per 30 seconds: 100 a minute. Past the limit, "the API will respond with an HTTP 429 Too Many Requests error".

The table counts calls for one bracketed entry across illustrative account counts: three separate orders against one Auto OCO call, plus five-call trade cycles per minute.

Accounts	Separate orders: calls	Share of 200	Auto OCO: calls	Share of 200	5-call cycles per 60 s
5	15	7.5%	5	2.5%	8
10	30	15.0%	10	5.0%	4
20	60	30.0%	20	10.0%	2
40	120	60.0%	40	20.0%	1
66	198	99.0%	66	33.0%	0
67	201	100.5%	67	33.5%	0

Computed by Phoenix Technologies from the published 200 per 60 seconds limit; method: calls = calls per account x accounts, share = calls / 200, cycles = floor(200 / (5 x accounts)). The bracket mode, more than the account count, decides whether a multi-account entry fits inside one minute.

Work it through for 20 accounts. Step 1: an entry with separate stop and target is 3 x 20 = 60 calls, 30% of the minute. Step 2: moving every stop to breakeven adds 20 calls and cancelling every unfilled leg adds 20 more, so one cycle is 5 x 20 = 100 calls. Step 3: 200 / 100 = 2 full cycles a minute; with Auto OCO the entry alone is 20 calls, 10% of the budget.

Attaching brackets with Auto OCO cuts each entry to a third of the calls, so the same minute carries 200 accounts instead of 66.

One more saving is our inference, since the docs are silent on hub traffic: a tool that listens for order and position events on the user hub, instead of polling REST for status, spends far less of the 200. Backoff after a 429 is covered in how rate limits throttle automation.

Can you copy trades to or from TopstepX?

Yes. Within Topstep, the TopstepX built-in copier raises no question under the device rule; an outside copier must work through the API and within Topstep's rules, so not on Live funded accounts and only from your personal device.

The TopstepX copy trading help says: "Follower Accounts must have a greater than or equal margin / max position size as the Lead Account in order to follow." You cannot create, close or adjust follower orders while copying, and "Latency or execution timing differences may result in minor discrepancies between copied account balances." No account-count limit is published. The causes of such gaps are in why follower results differ.

Thor lists ProjectX among its supported platforms. On order routing, Topstep's API page, as of October 2026, is explicit: "your server can watch and record, but it cannot trade." Read Topstep's current terms before connecting any outside tool to a Topstep account. The wider tradeoff is in built-in versus third-party copiers.

Apply these rules in order:

If every account is at Topstep and trades the same way, start with the TopstepX built-in copier and set each follower's max position at least equal to the lead's.
If an account is Live funded, the API route is closed; ask Topstep what copying it allows.
If you automate through the API, switch to Auto OCO Brackets, then divide 200 by your calls per account per trade cycle: 40 accounts at 5 calls, 66 at 3, 200 at 1.
If your tool runs on a VPS, VPN or remote server, it falls under Topstep's prohibition as written.
If a guide names a ProjectX firm other than Topstep, it predates February 28, 2026.

Go deeper

Frequently asked questions

What was LucidX?

LucidX was Lucid Trading's ProjectX-based platform, announced as live on August 10, 2025. It ran 97 days before ProjectX's partner notice. Lucid's supported platforms page now lists only CQG and Rithmic connections.

What was AlphaTicks?

AlphaTicks is the name secondary sources give Alpha Futures' ProjectX-based platform; we found no Alpha Futures page that uses it. Alpha Futures now lists its in-house AlphaTrader platform alongside TradingView, WealthCharts, Deepchart and Quantower.

How long does a ProjectX API session token last?

A token lasts 24 hours from issue, according to the Gateway documentation. You get one by sending your platform username, not your email, and your API key to the loginKey endpoint, and you can refresh it through the Validate Session call.

What platforms does Top One Futures use after ProjectX?

As of October 2026, the Top One Futures home page shows Tradovate, NinjaTrader, TradingView and BlackArrow. Its ProjectX accounts reached their cutoff on February 28, 2026. It has not published its last date for new ProjectX purchases.

Did TradeDay move off ProjectX?

Secondary guides say TradeDay ran a ProjectX platform, but TradeDay has published no ProjectX brand, last purchase date or account cutoff. As of October 2026, its home page lists Tradovate, NinjaTrader, Rithmic, TradingView, Jigsaw and Quantower, and no ProjectX.

Do I need an API subscription to use Quantower with Topstep?

No. Topstep says Quantower connects with your TopstepX credentials and no API access is required. That route is available for the Trading Combine and Express Funded Account only.

Did The Futures Desk use ProjectX?

Only secondary sources say so. Topstep announced on April 1, 2026 that it had acquired The Futures Desk and would bring its tools into TopstepX, and that release does not mention ProjectX.

Is there a TopstepX mobile app?

Topstep's help center describes TopstepX as running in a web or mobile browser, with no dedicated mobile app. The same help page places its data servers in Northern Virginia.