Topstep has acquired The Futures Desk (TFD) in a move aimed at strengthening its futures trading education and technology capabilities. The futures prop firm said on Wednesday that the acquisition will support its goal of developing disciplined traders through better tools, coaching, and evaluation programs.

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Integration of Technology and Expertise

Topstep will incorporate TFD’s trading technology into its TopstepX platform, providing traders with additional developmental and performance-tracking tools.

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The Futures Desk co-founders, Josh Schwartzberg and Brian Ford, will join Topstep following the acquisition Acquisition Acquisition means acquiring or taking possession or the securing of property, services, or abilities. To put it simply, it is the act or process of acquiring or gaining. You can acquire a work of art, you can acquire an ability such as speaking another language, you can acquire a business or shares in a company and you can acquire an accountant's service. For example, you can acquire a new car. In a broad sense, Acquisition can mean the act of taking ownership or possession of something. There Acquisition means acquiring or taking possession or the securing of property, services, or abilities. To put it simply, it is the act or process of acquiring or gaining. You can acquire a work of art, you can acquire an ability such as speaking another language, you can acquire a business or shares in a company and you can acquire an accountant's service. For example, you can acquire a new car. In a broad sense, Acquisition can mean the act of taking ownership or possession of something. There Read this Term. The company said their experience guiding traders from simulation to live trading will contribute to its training framework.

In a statement, Topstep founder and CEO Michael Patak said The Futures Desk shares the company’s focus on structured trader development and continuous improvement. “The Futures Desk has built a strong community focused on the grind of trading and building consistency,” he noted.

The acquisition continues Topstep’s expansion across trading education and evaluation services. The firm operates reportedly in more than 170 countries and offers simulated evaluation programs for retail traders.

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Focus on Trader Development

By integrating The Futures Desk’s systems and coaching methods, Topstep plans to enhance its learning environment for traders progressing from practice to live markets.

Meanwhile, Topstep disclosed earlier this year that some user information might have been exposed following a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack DDoS Attack A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack is defined as an attempt by malicious actor to overwhelm a targeted server, website, or network with a flood of internet traffic. Most often this takes the shape of a machine or network becoming unavailable to users for a period of time through the systematic disruption services of a host connected to the Internet.These attacks are most effective when multiple compromised computer systems and other internet-connected devices are exploited as sources A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack is defined as an attempt by malicious actor to overwhelm a targeted server, website, or network with a flood of internet traffic. Most often this takes the shape of a machine or network becoming unavailable to users for a period of time through the systematic disruption services of a host connected to the Internet.These attacks are most effective when multiple compromised computer systems and other internet-connected devices are exploited as sources Read this Term that occurred in September 2025.

In a letter sent to affected users, the Chicago-based futures prop trading firm stated that an internal review completed on 3 December revealed certain files containing personally identifiable information could have been accessed between 8 September and 16 October 2025.

However, the company later clarified that its internal systems were not directly compromised. In a post on X, Topstep’s support team attributed the incident to reused passwords from non-Topstep websites that had suffered unrelated breaches, stressing that only a small number of traders were affected.

Earlier, Topstep faced backlash from prop traders following repeated outages and performance issues on its sole trading platform, TopstepX. Many users complained they were unable to open or close positions during trading sessions, accusing the firm of not promptly acknowledging the disruptions.