Apex Trader Funding

I started my funded futures trading journey in May 2024 because my friend Daniel is doing very well with manual trading using smart money concepts (SMC) and his own model that works for him. He's been teaching me, and I've been trading manually while also building my NQ Scalper Bot based on the rules I'm learning.

Apex Trader Funding offers traders like me a chance to trade with substantial virtual capital after passing their evaluation.

My decision to choose Apex wasn't random. Daniel (who has been teaching me) has received multiple payouts from Apex and is still growing his accounts. His positive experience and the recent simplification of Apex's rules gave me confidence.

Account Types and Pricing Structure

As someone who's gone through their evaluation process, I want to share my insights into their various account types and associated costs.

Evaluation Accounts

I started with some $250K evaluation accounts to give me extra room on the trailing drawdown ($6500). But I have since realized that $50k accounts are the way to go, as the drawdown vs profit target ratio is much better, and they're easier to pass than $250k evals.

Apex has evals ranging from $25k to $300k. Each account comes with specific profit targets and trailing drawdown limits that you'll need to meet during the evaluation phase.

Features Apex Trader Funding Details TopStep Details Company Origin USA USA Funding Levels Starting $25,000-$150,000 (7 Levels) Starting $30,000-$150,000 (6 Levels) Profit Targets Starting 2.5-8% based on level Starting 3-6% based on level Profit Split Profit split up to 80% Profit split up to 80% Program Duration Account never expires Account expires after 60 days Platform/Software MetaTrader 4 and 5 NinjaTrader, TradeStation, MultiCharts and more Market Access Forex Market Access Futures and Forex Market Access Max Daily Loss Account balance carries over each day Hit max drawdown and you're out Monthly Fees Starting $77-$323 depending on tier Starting $150-$375 depending on tier Additional Fees No data or platform fees for Forex Fees for live data, platform and starting over

Performance Accounts: Rules and Requirements

Once you pass the evaluation, you'll move to a Performance Account (PA). In my experience, understanding the rules here is crucial. The consistency rules are particularly important.

  • 30% Consistency Rule: No single trading day can generate more than 30% of your total account profit
  • New November 2024 Rule: Your open trade can't go into drawdown more than 30% of your account profit or the trailing drawdown
  • Improved Payout Schedule: I'm excited about their new payout system - you can now request withdrawals every 8 trading days instead of waiting twice per month

Breaking Down the True Costs

Beyond the initial account costs, there are several other fees to consider. I've found it helpful to budget for these additional expenses:

  • Reset Fee: $35 if you need to restart your evaluation
  • PA Activation Fee: $85 when moving to a funded account
  • Data and Platform Fees:
    • Personal accounts: Free data feed and NinjaTrader license
    • Company registration: Monthly fees apply for both data and platform

Trading Rules Deep Dive

When I first started with Apex Trader Funding, understanding their trading rules was crucial for my success. Let me break down the key rules I had to follow and how they affected my trading strategy.

Trailing Maximum Drawdown

The trailing drawdown rule was initially challenging for me to grasp. Unlike a fixed drawdown, it moves with your highest achieved balance. For my $50K account, I had a $2,500 trailing maximum drawdown limit. This means if I started at $50,000 and reached $51,000, my new drawdown limit would be calculated from the $51,000 mark - not the initial balance.

  • Starting balance: $50,000
  • If account reaches: $51,000
  • New drawdown limit: $48,500 ($51,000 - $2,500)

You can see the max contracts, trailing drawdown limit, profit targets and prices on Apex accounts on their homepage.

Apex Trader Funding implements specific trading rules including trailing drawdowns, position size limits, and trading hour restrictions to maintain risk management standards while allowing traders sufficient flexibility to execute.

When I started out, I disliked the rules because I was trying to trade with too many contracts (bad risk management). But the rules have actually helped me become a better trader.

Evaluation Process Details

With a $50,000 account, the had two main goals I needed to hit:

  • Reach the profit target of $3,000
  • Don't hit the trailing maximum drawdown limit of $2,500

The profit target felt reasonable to me - I needed to generate $3,000 in profits to advance to pass the evaluation and be able to convert the account to a PA which I can get payouts from.

Managing the trailing drawdown of $2,500 required careful attention to my risk management. This means if my account balance ever dropped $2,500 below my highest achieved balance, I would fail the evaluation. It was a pain at first, but tbh this requirement helped me develop better discipline in my trading approach.

I noticed that other traders in the community had similar experiences. Several successful traders have reported receiving consistent payouts after passing their evaluations, which gave me confidence in the program's legitimacy.

On a $50k eval, Apex requires achieving a $3,000 profit target while maintaining a trailing maximum drawdown of $2,500. The $50k is definitely my favorite account size now and I see why all the YouTubers copy trade $50k accounts and not the higher ones like $250k. Ic can pass a $50k account in a few days pretty safely at this point.

Payout Structure and Process

You keep 100% of my first $25,000 in profits on each account. After reaching this threshold, the split becomes 80/20, where you receive 80% of any additional profits. This is notably better than some competitors like Topstep, which offers a standard 80/20 split from the start.

Payout Process

Here's how the payout process works as of Nov 2024. I'll use $50k PA as an example. The safety net balance and max withdrawal amount are different for each account size, and you can check the list of account sizes and their associated limits on Apex's support page.

  • You can get a payout once you have at least 8 trading days on your account.
  • For the first 5 payouts, there's a minimum withdrawal amount of $2,000 on the $50k account.
  • After the initial 5 payouts, you can withdraw any amount.
  • Processing typically takes 2-3 business days now.

Apex Trader Funding offers a 100% profit split on the first $25,000, followed by an 80/20 split, with straightforward withdrawal processes and a scaling program that doesn't require additional evaluations.

Pros and Cons of Apex Trader Funding

Key Advantages

After spending several months with Apex Trader Funding, I've identified several notable benefits that make it stand out in the prop trading space.

  • Competitive Pricing Structure: I found their pricing to be reasonable compared to other firms. The one-time evaluation fee is lower than many competitors, and they don't charge monthly subscription fees.
  • Clear Trading Guidelines: Their rules recently improved in Nov 2024 and are now more straightforward and easy to understand. I appreciated how they clearly outline maximum drawdown limits and profit targets without hidden conditions.
  • Flexible Account Options: Starting from $25,000 up to $300,000, I had multiple choices to match my trading capital needs. This flexibility allowed me to start small and scale up as I gained confidence.

Notable Disadvantages

My experience also revealed some limitations that potential traders should consider before signing up.

  • Trailing Max Drawdown: The trailing max drawdown can cause you to blow many eval accounts if you aren't careful. If you trade with too many contracts, hoping to pass as quickly as possible, it will likely burn you. Just don't do it. Patience pays here.
  • Data Feed Costs: If you register with Apex as a professional trader (LLC or other corporate structure) the additional fees for market data caught me off guard.
  • Simulation Environment: Apex is kindof infamous for talking about how they want their traders to do well, but I have not seen anyone online say Apex moved them to a live account to trade real money. At this point it's safe to say we all know that Apex's business model may only be focused on the fees for evaluations and PA activations. I could be wrong. Maybe they copy the best traders trades to trade their own capital privately. That would make sense to do. TopStep, BluSky and TakeProfitTrader are known to move good traders to real brokerage accounts. This creates a perception that the company is more stable. That's all I can really say. Meanwhile, Apex continues to be the leader, and competition forces them to improve.

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