Apex Trader Funding Review 2024: The Inside Scoop

I've spent over 1000 hours getting the Apex experience. 

In this Apex Trader Funding review, I'll tell you what I've found. From signup and onboarding, talking with their support staff, day trading futures on their custom Rithmic server...

To getting funded and paid our...

I'll show you all I've learned. That way you can get the inside track before deciding if it's worth joining.

Apex Trader Funding Review: Fast Facts

• With Apex you can go from evaluation to funding in as little as 7 days. During a 1-day-to-pass sale...well, as little as 1 day!
• ATF prop firm evaluations start with balances from $25,000 to $300,000, giving you between $625 and $7,500 in risk per account
• You can trade up to 20 accounts simultaneously using a trade copier to trade all accounts using one account.
• Trade with up to $150,000 in risk while risking only your subscription fee, using multiple accounts.
• Get 100% of your profits for the first $25,000 earned in each funded account, a nice bonus for reaching that milestone.
• Funded accounts pay out 90% of your profits after that, the most anyone offers, and according to their site, they've paid out $222,091,079 since 2022 (as of 7/02/2024). 
• Stay in the game with Apex's simple rules and automations that prevent you from opening more contracts than you're allowed.
• Their trailing max drawdown threshold ticks up with unrealized profits, so you need to monitor P&L more closely and avoid letting big unrealized profits slip away completely. This may affect how you use your trading strategy, and it favors scalping. They also offer a static account (fixed drawdown) if you prefer that.
• All these things and more mean Apex is consistently at or near the top of the best futures prop firms.
• Save money with the apex 90 coupon. They often have flash sales up to 80% or 90% off, so I recommend checking and buying when there's a deal.

Apex Trader Funding Reviews Online

With a 4.8 TrustPilot rating and the comments you see above, ATF Reviews look pretty good. Another couple highlights, as of this writing:

• 95% 5-star reviews. 4% 4-star reviews.
• They respond to 92% of negative reviews.

For more, check out Apex Trader Funding reviews from users.

Apex Trader Funding: Who's it for?

Apex might be for you if any of these apply:

• You have some experience trading and don't need a firm to provide you with education
• You want to maximize your potential account size / risk limit
• You want to spread risk across several accounts, for more potential profits with lower chances of hitting your risk limit
• You want to receive 90% of your profits and are ok with a monthly withdrawal
• You don't like daily loss limits
• You want low commissions

Apex Trader Funding: Setup

Apex trading setup is smooth and automated. Pick an account tier, enter your information, check some boxes, and checkout. You'll receive your login and setup information automatically, along with setup instructions. 

The setup instructions will provide you with links to videos for some of the steps that will walk you through everything. So you can just follow along and pause the videos to set yours up as shown.

Follow the instructions closely, and you can be setup and ready to trade in less than 30 minutes. Apex has their own dedicated server with Rithmic, which requires some extra setup steps, but it's worth it. The emails you get explain this, and they make it sound more daunting than it is. They just need you to pay attention and follow the instructions.

When I went through setup, I was ready to trade within 30 minutes after slowly and carefully following the instructions.

Rating: 10/10

Apex Trader: Pricing

ATF evaluation prices are better than average. For funded futures trading programs, they're the best-priced at most tiers, while close to best at others. Although this is a short term consideration if you plan to trade for real money in the long term, it sure does help lower the cost of entry.

Apex Trailing Threshold Plans (Rithmic)

Don't forget, always use this ATF coupon for a better deal!

Apex Trailing Threshold Plans (Tradovate / NT Mobile)

Note: If you've read my site, you may have noticed I'm not a fan of Tradovate. I had one very bad experience with them in 2022, and I've never gone back. Maybe they'll improve after being purchased by NinjaTrader - Their support at least seems to be improving for some people.

But if you want to trade on Mobile or Mac with Apex, Tradovate makes that possible.

The rules, sizing, profit goal, and trailing threshold are all the same as the Rithmic accounts of each size. These are just $20 more expensive due to increased fees from Tradovate.

Don't forget, always use this Apex Trader Funding coupon for a better deal!

Apex Static Drawdown Plan: Rithmic

Apex Static Drawdown Plan: Tradovate

Coupon Code:

The best value is in the $50K account or $25K account.

Why? It has a great ratio of profit goal to trailing threshold. In other words, the less you have to make, per dollar of risk, in order to qualify. For the $50k, that ratio is 1.2:1.

The $25K account has a 1:1 ratio, so in terms of R:R it's the best value. But, some traders who qualify and get a pro account may later wish they could trade more than 4 contracts. In my opinion, a position of 4 futures contracts is more than large enough to make (or lose) serious money.

Apex Trader Funding Reset Cost

If you blow up your account by breaking a rule, you can reset it for $80 with Rithmic ($100 with Tradovate). OR you can wait until your subscription renewal date, and your renewal will reset your blown account(s) automatically.

What I like here: All of it. Complimentary reset on renewal is a great deal. The rithmic resets are the cheapest out there, I believe. Tradovate resets could be cheaper, but it's probably better to wait (and possibly cheaper) if you bought the subscription at a discount.

What I don't like here: No complaints here.

Rating: 10/10

Apex Trader Funding: Platforms

Apex now offers two different platforms. Their original operates on Rithmic. For that, they recommend NinjaTrader 8, which is included free with your evaluation and your funded account. 

Additionally, Tradovate (and NT/Tradovate Mobile) are now available, with slightly higher pricing than the Rithmic evaluations.

Personally, I have had serious problems with Tradovate, so I can't recommend them. But, many traders want them for their mac and mobile trading access. 

Beyond that, any platform that connects to Rithmic can be used, which is over 50 platforms. You might have to contact their support and ask if they can add the Apex Rithmic Server if they don't already have it.

Use your favorites like Sierra Chart, Jigsaw, Bookmap, MotiveWave, Multicharts, VolFix, Trade Navigator, Overcharts, and more.

Personally I use NinjaTrader 8 for my Apex accounts, and I like it. I know some people think it's clunky and looks like "boomer software", but that's just how trading software is. Most of the sexy-looking trading platforms are less capable and functional than the old-school software born of the 90's.

Be sure to select the platform you want when you register. You can have accounts on each platform, but you can't move an account from one platform to another.

What I like here: Every Rithmic-integrated platform you want to use should work. For mobile traders (not me), there's now an option with Apex.

What I don't like here: There's something for everyone, nothing to complain about here.

Rating: 10/10

Apex Trader Funding: Commissions

Apex Trader Funding commissions are a little better than average: 

• Full-size contract commissions are average, not the best.
• Micro-contract comms are well below average. They're the 2nd best I've seen on a futures funding program, only 2 cents-per-roundtrip more than the best.

Minimizing commissions is like fixing a hole in the pocket where you hold all your cash. Small differences in commissions can really add up. For example:

• 100 trades with 1 contract each is 200 executions. So, saving 25 cents per execution on 100 trades saves you $50 (100 x 2 x .25 = 50).
• Say you scalp 1000 contracts in a week (typical for a scalper). That is 2000 contract executions, and that adds up to $500 saved per week (1000 x 2 x .25).

Traders of micro contracts will especially appreciate the low commissions on those

Even better, they use the same commissions in evaluation accounts as in funded accounts. No need to readjust once you get funded.

Evaluation & Funded account commissions, using Nasdaq 100 futures as an example:

• e-mini: $3.98 per roundtrip
• micro e-mini: $1.02 per roundtrip

What I like here: The micro e-mini commissions are great, a game-changer if you like to scale with micros.

What I don't like here: The e-mini commissions are just slightly above the lowest I've seen, by .10 (a 2.5% difference) which is negligible

Rating: 9/10

Apex Trader Funding Review: Withdrawals / Payouts

You can request a payout twice per month, up from once a month. 

To get your withdrawal, request it between the 1st-5th or 20th-25th of the month.

For your first withdrawal, you must have traded 10 days within your funded account in order to make the request. After that you must trade 10 days between each withdrawal request.

Minimums: The minimum withdrawal is $500, regardless of account tier. There is a minimum balance you must have in order to make a withdrawal, and that varies by account tier.

Maximum: Maximum withdrawals apply to your first three withdrawals and vary with account tier.

You can check out their site for all of these details, but for example, with the $150k:

• $155,100 minimum balance required
• $500 minimum withdrawal (reduced from $1000!)
• 1st-3rd months, $2,750 max withdrawal per account, per withdrawal (up to 2 withdrawals per month)
• After you make withdrawals in 3 months, the 4th month and on don't have a max withdrawal amount.

Minimum Required Balance to Request Withdrawal:

Maximum Withdrawal Amount Per Payout For the First Three Months of Withdrawals:

What I like here: Monthly withdrawals are unpopular but can help traders focus more on long-term consistency and less on short-term wins. The minimum balance requirement forces you to manage your risk - you do not want to withdrawal in a way that will put you close to your max drawdown.

What I don't like here: Of course we all want our money sooner. Life can happen, expenses come up. This policy requires you to build a small emergency fund and stay on top of your finances, which is extremely important as a trader, anyway. I do wish the minimum withdrawal was smaller, since sometimes on a mediocre month it's still nice to take a small check.

Rating: 6/10

Apex Trader Funding: Withdrawal Methods

Apex now processes payouts directly by ACH, or Wise for non-US traders.

What I like here: No fees

What I don't like here: This seems to be working well for everyone after the Deel shakeup last year. I have no complaints.

Rating: 10/10

Apex Trader Funding: Max Account Size

They offer accounts up to $300,000. But that number matters little. What matters is your drawdown - i.e., how much can you lose from your peak account balance before you blow the account.

The $300K account gives you drawdown risk of $7,500.

Remember you can combine up to 20 PA (funded) accounts for a total of $6,000,000 in funding / $150,000 drawdown risk.

This risk amount is above average among futures funding firms.

What I like here: Bigger accounts with larger max drawdowns give more room to trade, so if you want more room for P&L fluctuation, it's available.

What I don't like here: I wish that larger accounts everywhere didn't have less favorable ratios of profit target to drawdown. I'd like to see a 1:1 ratios of (profit target) : (drawdown threshold) like you see on the $25k Apex account. Unfortunately, this is the same way every firm does it.

Rating: 8/10

Apex Trader Funding Review: Multiple Accounts

Apex offers multiple accounts, allowing up to 20 per trader on one login. This is powerful. Here's why...

Bottom line: You can earn more while reducing the risk of blowing up an account. How, though?

You can spread the risk for one trade among several accounts, using a trade copier. Read more about trading multiple accounts.

What I like here: In my trading career, one of the most important lessons I've learned is that "staying in the game" is half the battle. Being able to earn more, while sizing smaller relative to account loss limits, is valuable. There will be good days and bad, good weeks and bad, good months...and, you guessed it, bad months. Being able to scale earnings while weathering those storms is critical to long-term success.

What I don't like here: For each additional funded account, you'll have a separate data fee ($85/mo), but that's standard across funding firms. And $85/mo should be a non-issue if your goal is to earn good money trading over the long haul. More on data fees in the next section

Rating: 10/10

Apex Trader Funding Review: Funded Account Costs

Data fees for funded futures accounts with Apex are some of the lowest. The monthly fees are among the lowest out there, $85 with Rithmic and $105 with Tradovate. They also offer a one-time data fee per account as well (see image below)

Apex calls their funded account a Pro Account, so they refer to them as PA fees. 

Why do these fees exist? Apex pays fees to the data provider for your connection and order routing. They're passing those fees onto traders. It comes with the territory.

Rating: 10/10

Apex Trader Funding Review: Evaluation Profit Target

Apex trading profit targets are in line with the other top futures funding firms out there. Profit targets as a percentage of starting capital are 5.67% - 6.67%, with most being 6%.  The $75k account is the one with a 5.67% target, and the $300k account is a 6.67% target.

This is a one-phase evaluation, so it's as simple as that.

What I like here: Simple, straightforward, reasonable targets

What I don't like here: None

Rating: 10/10

Apex Trader Funding Review: Eval Drawdown Limits

Apex evaluation drawdown limits are unique in two ways:

• No daily loss limit (few other firms offer this)
• Max drawdown threshold trails up with unrealized profits.

Max drawdowns range from 2.5% to 6 %, with the lower percentages being on higher account tiers. This is similar to other top firms, nothing new there.

What I like: I like that they don't get tighter on drawdowns just because they're offering a lot of value with other factors like payout, cost, etc.. Some people like having no daily loss limit, but I keep one anyway, so that doesn't change much for me.

What I don't like: Since the trailing threshold level is set by your highest intraday balance, including unrealized profits, it can affect how you manage your trades.

For instance, you might choose to lock in profits after pulling back to a profit of a certain amount, rather than letting the trade continue to run. Whether this helps you or hurts you depends on a lot of variables.

Rating: 8/10

Apex Trader Funding Review: Funded Drawdown Limits

Apex drawdown limits stay simple here. No switcheroo when you get funded - your max loss threshold stays the same.

The only change is, once your threshold level reaches your starting balance + $100, it stops trailing and becomes static.

For example, in a $100k account with a $3,000 trailing threshold, that level starts at $97,000. When you build up $3,100 in profits for a balance of $103,100, that level moves up to $100,100 and stays there - regardless how high your balance goes.

ATF isn't the only one who does this, but it's a nice feature. It also removes the impact of their unrealized trailing threshold vs an EOD threshold, once you get to that level.

You can build up as much cushion as you want, and since you don't have a daily limit, the only thing limiting your size will be your contract limit, and they're generous with those. 

What I like: I appreciate them keeping limits the same between the evaluation and funded account, and that the threshold becomes static after making an amount equal to your risk limit.

What I don't like: It's not a big deal, but when starting with Apex I was used to an end-of-day loss limit, so I had to adjust to the intraday trailing drawdown.

Rating: 9/10

Apex Trader Funding Review: Rules

Apex doesn't have many rules, they keep it simple.

Hard rules (will blow up your account if broken)

• Don't hit max drawdowns with net loss (including commissions)
• See news trading (below)

No consistency requirements, no quirky scaling limits, no minimum trading requirements, no hoops to jump through.

What I like: If it's not clear enough yet, I like things simple. I like their minimal simple rules, without any of the 'gotcha' clauses and bait-and-switch rules seen with other programs. 

What I don't like: Just remember how the trailing threshold works and remember to keep an eye on your account threshold inside Rithmic.

Rating: 10/10

Apex Trader Funding Review: Sizing

Their max contract sizing is very simple. Are you noticing a trend, yet?

Scaling with micros is possible with Apex, and as of December 2022, they now use the proper ratio for Minis/Micros - 1/10. 1 mini = 10 micros. They also allow larger contract limits than most firms, per account size. There's a table showing all of this below, but for example, the $50,000 account can trade up to 10 contracts or 20 micros. That is plenty of room with which to scale, and more than enough size for your profit goals.

What I like: Again, the simplicity and minimalism make me happy. Software that stops you from accidentally fat-fingering your way into a blown account or big loss is awesome. Outside of the big firms with their own trading software, Apex is the only one offering this.

What I don't like: Now that they've updated the ratio, all is good here.

Rating: 10/10

Apex Trader Funding Review: Trading News

Apex allows you to trade during the news. They don't allow you to trade news strategies.

In their words: 

• To trade a news-based strategy, you can have another account elsewhere for that. Earn2Trade doesn't set any restrictions on news trading (as of this writing). I have some news-based scalp strategies with high win rate and great r/r, and I trade them with E2T or my personal account.

What I like: I'm glad the firm makes an effort to protect itself. No matter what firm I've been with, I always want the firm to manage its own risk so that everyone can keep on trading without worrying about someone blowing up the whole business.

Most traders don't do well trading news, and people can lose a lot of money very quickly, so the firm has to prevent that.

What I don't like: Nothing. I get it. Some traders might be disappointed they can't trade news strategies, but there are other choices out there if that's your priority.

Rating: 9/10

Apex Review: Trading Hours

Apex requires you to be flat when the market you're trading closes. You can trade again when it reopens, and in that way you can technically hold overnight - you just can't hold when the market is closed. 

• All CME positions and working orders must be closed by 4:59pm ET. You can trade again at 6pm ET. This is later than most other firms allow you to hold.
• For products that close at other times, you must close all positions and cancel all orders at least 1 minute before that market closes.

What I like: I like that Apex doesn't make you close out as early as most other firms. Other than that, I like being flat at the close anyway. I have a swing account elsewhere, but I mostly trade intraday, so this doesn't affect me much.

What I don't like: Some people might have profitable swing trading strategies, and if they want to trade those, they'd have to take them elsewhere.

Rating: 8/10

Apex Trading Instruments

Apex offers futures (CME, NYMEX, COMEX, &CBOT). Their tradable assets include futures on indices, metals, energy, treasuries, bonds, and currencies, including crypto.

Rating: 8/10

Apex Rithmic Connection

If you've browsed through the ATF user groups on Facebook, Discord, etc., you've probably seen some people complaining about Apex Rithmic connection issues.

If you want to read more about the issues, you can click that link. For this review, I'll just say:

1. There are occasional issues with every prop firm, including Apex.
2. Without exception, managing these issues is the trader's responsibility
3. Apex has been extremely generous in how they've helped traders when these issues have caused losses, blown accounts, etc.

What I like: I've seen Apex go above and beyond to make things right for traders, in situations where they don't have to.

What I don't like: There have been times when many people are having issues, and communication could be more friendly on both sides (traders and company).

Rating: 9/10

Apex Trader Review: Support

Apex's support team has been good to me. You can reach their helpdesk by logging in on their site and hovering over 'Help Desk Support Tickets' from the top menu. They're responsive and helpful.

They also have an emergency account flattening page. This way, if your computer crashes or your internet drops, you can still get flat by going to that page, using your phone data, for example. You can find it at the top of your members' portal and bookmark it. I bookmarked the page onto my phone's home screen just in case.

What I like: I really like that they offer a way to get flat in case of a signal loss or other emergency, especially one that isn't dependent on another app.

What I don't like: Phone support or chat support would be a nice addition

Rating: 8/10

Apex Trader Funding Review: Final Verdict

Apex is a great trader funding option. It's my favorite, and for many people, it may be the best option available.

I don't use words like 'favorite' and 'best' very often. You'd have to put me in a headlock to make me assign a 'favorite' out of the places I've visited, foods I've tried, etc. But this is one of my favorites. Here are some of the reasons:

• Their simple, minimalist rules give you a lot of flexibility and freedom, as long as you can manage the drawdowns. 
• 20 accounts allowed on one login, and high account max, give you the best potential for scaling up
• Allowing those accounts to trade the same strategy simultaneously allows you to spread out risk and reduce chances of blow-ups, while increasing earning potential.
• Low commissions add up to large savings over time.
• Max position size automation helps you keep from blowing your account accidentally
• Flatten account page on their site gives you peace of mind.

Apex might be for you if any of these apply:

• You have some experience trading and don't need a firm to provide you with education
• You want to maximize your potential account size / risk limit
• You want to spread risk across several accounts, for more potential profits with lower chances of hitting your risk limit
• You want to receive 90% of your profits and are ok with a monthly withdrawal
• You don't like daily loss limits
• You want low commissions
• You want to risk as little money (eval fees) as possible.

Overall Rating: 8.79/10

Apex Details

We tend to be detail-oriented as traders, so I've included these tables to quickly show all the data you need to make your decision.

Apex Max Loss / Profit Target / Contract Limit Table

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