In a world of competitive prop firms that have attracted the attention of many interested traders, Apex Trader Funding stands out prolifically based on its popularity and brand. When you think of the term, prop firm, Apex Trader Funding undoubtedly comes to mind first.
But why is that? What makes it significantly more popular than the rest? We will answer that question by providing a deep dive on everything Apex from the straightforward rules to the easily affordable evaluation plans.
WHAT IS APEX TRADER FUNDING?
Apex Trader Funding (ATF) is one of the leading proprietary trading firms in the futures market. A proprietary trading firm, or simply prop firm, is when a company provides capital to a trader so that they don't have to risk their own.
Most prop firms require traders to pass an assessment in order to prove they have the necessary skills to manage their capital. In return, the trader isn’t risking anything other than the fees associated with the assessment process and the prop firm potentially has a skilled trader trading on their behalf.
Apex Trader Funding simplifies the entire assessment process by making it a one-step evaluation. Once you pass this one-step evaluation, traders are given a funded account to day trade futures contracts and earn money based on their risk tolerance. That risk tolerance will be dependent on the type of account size they choose during the evaluation stage and we’ll talk about that further.
Rithmic Plans
TRADOVATE Plans
As seen above, Apex can be broken down into two sets of plans: a Rithmic plan or a Tradovate plan. Each plan offers multiple evaluations, ranging from $25k - $300k accounts. There is also a $100k static account which we’ll get to later.
Both Rithmic and Tradovate are trading platform providers. But the biggest difference between the two is Tradovate is slightly more expensive than Rithmic. Although this can lean more traders towards a Rithmic plan, Tradovate is the only platform compatible with Mac that Apex offers. In addition to Rithmic and Tradovate, Apex Trader Funding also offers the ability to trade on Ninjatrader (part of the Rithmic plan) - which again, like Rithmic, is only exclusive to Windows.
Each evaluation account, regardless if it’s from Rithmic or Tradovate, has the same objective and set of rules: meet your profit goal and do not hit the trailing threshold.
As you can see from the images above, depending on the account size you choose, each evaluation has different profit goals and a different trailing threshold amount. However, once you meet the profit goal in any of the accounts while not hitting its trailing threshold, traders will pass Apex’s evaluation and are ready to be funded.
As far as the $100k static account, there is no trailing threshold like the others. You only need to be aware of the total drawdown, which in this case, is $625. So what that means is the account balance can not go below $99,375 ($100k - $625). However, unlike the trailing threshold, the static account will not continue to trail your profits. The drawdown threshold will remain at $99,375 no matter how much you make (realized or unrealized) whereas with the other accounts, your profits will be trailed.
For example, the trailing threshold for the $50k full account is $2,500 which puts the threshold at $47,500 - meaning your balance cannot go below that amount. But let’s say you make $1,000 profit and your starting balance increases to $51,000. Then your drawdown balance also goes up $1,000 from $47,500 to $48,500. With the static account, you don’t have to worry about this.
WHAT IS A TRAILING THRESHOLD
- A DEEPER DIVE
If you’re going to learn anything about the Apex prop firm rules, learn this. That’s because the trailing threshold will be the definitive factor on whether you fail or keep an account.
As stated previously, the trailing threshold will continue to trail the profits you make both in the evaluation and funded accounts. So using the example I mentioned before, say you have a $50k account. You make $1,000 and increase the starting balance to $51,000. Again, the trailing threshold balance also goes up by $1,000 from $47,500 to $48,500.
HOWEVER, let’s change things up a bit. Say you’re making $1,000 profit. But instead, you decide not to sell because you think it’s going to go higher. This intuition backfires and the trade goes against you. So instead of making more, you lose your $1,000 and decide to sell breakeven, bringing your total balance back to $50,000. Even though you didn’t lock in any profits, your trailing threshold still went up by $1,000, bringing the balance from $47,500 to $48,500. So now you’re left with only a $1,500 trailing threshold instead of the initial $2,500.
This is because the trailing threshold continues to trial your profits, REGARDLESS if you sell your position or not. The trailing threshold takes into account both realized and UNREALIZED gains. This is a very key detail that gets overlooked and why many traders fail their accounts.
But the good news is once the trailing threshold reaches the initial starting balance ($50k in this case), it will no longer follow your profits. It will stay at $50k. So if you increased your account balance from $50k to $60k, that’ll now give you a $10k cushion of your trailing threshold. But if you somehow manage to lose all those gains and your account balance touches or goes below $50k, you will lose your funded account.
Image Credit: OneUp Trader (Another prop firm with an unrealized trailing threshold)
$100k account example of how the trailing threshold (or drawdown as OneUp calls it) trails your profits until it reaches your starting balance.
THE RULES
Like every prop firm, you have to follow the rules and regulations they provide in order to continue trading with them. The following table breaks down the differences and similarities between the evaluation rules and the funded account rules.
| EVALUATION RULES | FUNDED ACCOUNT RULES |
|---|---|
| Meet profit goal | Meet profit threshold |
| Don't hit trailing threshold | Don't hit trailing threshold |
| Trade a minimum of 7 days (unless there's a promotion) |
Trade a minimum of 10 days (in order to be payout-eligible) |
| Trading news allowed | Don't trade the news |
| No consistency rule | Meet consistency rule |
As indicated in the table above, the evaluation rules state you have to meet the profit goal which will be dependent on the account size you choose.
Do not hit the trailing threshold we talked about earlier or you’ll fail the evaluation.
You have to trade a minimum of 7 days unless there’s a 1-day pass promotion going on and there usually is. But if not, you’re allowed to meet your profit goal early and then spend the rest of the trading days quickly scalping a micro contract in order to fulfill the requirement.
Unlike a funded account, trading the news is allowed.
And there are no consistency rules you need to follow.
For the funded account, you have to meet the profit threshold which is the minimum balance needed for your account in order to be eligible for a payout. But just because you can withdraw at the minimum doesn’t mean you should. Remember, once you withdraw past the minimum, it’ll eat into your initial trailing threshold. So it’s best to build on a cushion above the minimum before any withdrawal is considered.
Like the evaluation, do not hit the trailing threshold.
Again, regarding the payout rules which we’ll get into shortly, you have to trade a minimum of 10 days.
You cannot trade the news. Apex doesn’t want traders to trade off luck where the futures market is the most volatile during news events that could make or break an account.
And you have to meet the consistency rule which states a single trading day cannot be greater than 30% of your total profits. In addition, you cannot dollar cost-average a negative PnL while trading except one time only.
| PAYOUT RULES |
|---|
| Two payout periods per month |
| Can only withdraw a certain amount depending on account size (for first 3 months only) |
| Minimum withdrawal is $500 |
| Traders keep 100% of first $25k per account |
| Profit split 90/10 |
You’re only allowed two payout periods per month. For each payout period, you’re not allowed to withdraw above a certain amount. These restrictions only apply the first 3 months. After that, you can withdraw as much profits as you’d like. The following is the max allowed amount for each account size for a payout period before those 3 months:
$25k Account- $1,500
$50k Account- $2,000
$75k Account- $2,250
$100k Account- $2,500
$150k Account- $2,750
$250k Account- $3,000
$300k Account- $3,500
$100k Static Account- $1,000
The minimum withdrawal amount is $500 - meaning you’re not allowed to withdraw any less than that.
The profit split between the trader and Apex is 90/10. Traders get to keep 90% and Apex keeps 10%. But traders get to keep 100% of the first $25k and that’s PER account.
So hypothetically, if you pass five $50k evaluations and use a trade copier to copy your trades for each of these accounts, the first $125,000 totaling all accounts would be yours. This is one of the magnificent benefits of Apex Trader Funding. But let’s talk more about the company’s overall pros and cons.
PROS & CONS
PROS
Simplified one-step evaluation that requires you to hit the profit goal and avoid the trailing threshold - nothing more
Allows you to select up to an industry high of 8 different account size plans ranging from $25k to $300k
Offers the highest discounts for evaluations among all prop firms
Profit split is among the industry’s highest (90/10) as well as allowing traders to keep 100% of the first $25k per account
No daily drawdowns unlike other prop firms
Could trade up to 20 funded accounts at the same time using a trade copier - easily the highest among other prop firms
CONS
Trailing threshold is unrealized whereas some other prop firms offer a more favorable drawdown like end of day which doesn’t calculate any of your gains until the trading day is complete and you’ve sold your position
Restricted to day trades only whereas a few other prop firms allow you to swing trade
No telephone number or live chat for customer support (submission ticket only through message board)
Activation fees for funded account per account
WHY CHOOSE APEX?
As detailed above, the pros far outweigh the cons for Apex Trader Funding. But every prop firm has their pros. What makes Apex that much more popular? I think most traders would agree it’s their prices.
The average price to usually sign up for an evaluation for most prop firms is 3-figures. Apex Trader Funding falls within this range too as indicated by the monthly prices in the Rithmic and Tradovate plans. But Apex has promotions going on ALL the time from half-off evaluations to 90% off!
In fact, they’re promoting 80 - 90% off almost constantly throughout the year. So with 90% off, you’d pay no more than $16.70 or $18.70 for a $50k Rithmic or Tradovate plan, respectively. As someone who has vast experience in the prop trading community, you’re almost never going to find a bargain like that.
Although these promotions sound enticing, Apex does have an activation fee you have to consider. Once you pass their evaluation, you have to pay an activation fee to activate your funded account. And this is PER account.
They provide a monthly option of $85 or a lifetime option in which you only have to pay one time. The following are the lifetime activation amounts for each account:
Rithmic Plans:
25k PA Activation Account Lifetime Fee $130
50k PA Activation Account Lifetime Fee $140
75k PA Activation Account Lifetime Fee $180
100k PA Activation Account Lifetime Fee
(full and static account) $220
150k PA Activation Account Lifetime Fee $260
250k PA Activation Account Lifetime Fee $300
300k PA Activation Account Lifetime Fee $340
Tradovate Plans:
25k PA Tradovate Activation Account Lifetime Fee $150
50k PA Tradovate Activation Account Lifetime Fee $160
75k PA Tradovate Activation Account Lifetime Fee $200
100k PA Tradovate Activation Account Lifetime Fee $240
150k PA Tradovate Activation Account Lifetime Fee $280
250k PA Tradovate Activation Account Lifetime Fee $320
300k PA Tradovate Activation Account Lifetime Fee $360
Most traders opt to pay for the lifetime fee instead of the monthly fee since they would save a signifcant amount in the long run. However, there are traders that choose to pay the $85 per month because it can be difficult to hold a funded account for a long period. A lot of traders ultimately end up failing it because they went below their trailing threshold and are already looking for the next promotion to repurchase another evaluation. And for them, a monthly option may save them more than the lifetime option.
You’re probably thinking even though I’m saving a lot of money using the promotions Apex offers on their evaluations, I ultimately end up paying the same as the industry average if you take into account the activation fees you have to pay afterwards. So how does this justify Apex’s popularity?
The key difference is while most prop firms require 3-figure payments up front when purchasing an evaluation, Apex only requires it afterwards. If you’re going to invest around three figures, wouldn’t you want to make sure you pass the evaluation first?
So the unique thing about Apex is, with their promotion, you’re essentially paying significantly less to take the evaluation to see if you pass or not before you end up paying majority of the overall fees. If you fail their evaluation, you only lose a modest amount of your money because of their discounted prices compared to failing the evaluations for most other prop firms.
IS APEX TRADER FUNDING LEGIT AND TRUSTWORTHY?
Yes. As someone who has gotten payouts from them, himself, Apex Trader Funding is as professional as they come. Here are the average ratings of the firm as provided by Trustpilot:
These reviews are from over 7,000 verified users that have used Apex’s services and majority of them provided a 5-star rating. Additionally, Apex’s website has various questions answered in thorough detail that one may have before signing up for a service in their FAQ section.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Apex Trader Funding continues to be in the forefront of the prop trading business with their simplistic one-step evaluation and unmatched promotional evaluation plans. With their clear rules and objective, Apex Trader Funding makes it easier for the trader to earn a funded account.
Rather than risking their own capital which would be a lot based on the initial margin required by most brokers to trade futures, Apex allows the opportunity and flexibility for traders to trade futures risk-free.
For more helpful resources on Apex Trader Funding, please check out the video below on everything Apex from how to pass to all the rules and regulations that need to be followed in a very visual-friendly manner.