Ownership and history
Apex Trader Funding launched in September 2021, making it probably the youngest funding company of its size and marketshare.
It is headed by Darrell Martin, and long time trading veteran, who is also the founder and CEO of Apex Investing Institute, a trading tools and education company.
The company boasts over $100 million in payouts to traders since 2022, with nearly 40% in the first 3 months of 2024.
Available instruments to trade
Apex Trader Funding is exclusively a futures funding company. There is an extensive list of futures markets available, but the only forex exposure is through forex futures (i.e. “the 6s”, such as 6A, 6B, 6E, etc.)
Major instruments from CME, CBOT, COMEX, and NYMEX are included with every account.
With a Tradovate account, you can gain access to EUREX and ICE markets as well ,(although these require an additional subscription to those exchanges).
Account sizes and types
Data Providers
Apex Trader Funding currently offers accounts from two different data providers:
Rithmic is widely used in the industry, and is a common option with funding companies.
Tradovate is a well established futures brokerage that also provides cloud technologies, including a trading platform. (Tradovate was acquired by NinjaTrader Group, another trading software provider and brokerage, in January 2022 for a reported $115 million.)
Both account types include access through multiple avenues including:
- their own desktop platform (Rithmic is Windows-only)
- mobile app
- web app
- access through NinjaTrader platform
Tradovate accounts also offer the ability to trade through Tradingview.
For more details on the differences, see: Rithmic vs. Tradovate – What’s the difference?
Sizes
There are eight (8) different account sizes for each provider, ranging from $25k to $300k, all with a trailing drawdown threshold, and a $100k static account.
As with essentially all funding companies, the advertised account size is largely arbitrary. The relevant aspect is the amount of available drawdown.
The available drawdowns are:
Drawdown
- $1500
- $2500
- $2750
- $3000
- $5000
- $6500
- $7500
- $625 (static)
Profit goal
- $1500
- $3000
- $4250
- $6000
- $9000
- $15000
- $20000
- $2000 (static)
Note how the difference in available drawdown is itself different between accounts. This makes some accounts a better value than others…
Pricing
Tiers
At standard pricing, Rithmic accounts are $20 less than Tradovate accounts.
(But Apex Trader Funding is constantly running promotional discounts. Use coupon code UYYLJPYP for the current ATF discount.)
Rithmic
- $147/mo
- $167/mo
- $187/mo
- $207/mo
- $297/mo
- $517/mo
- $657/mo
- $137/mo
Tradovate
- $167/mo
- $187/mo
- $207/mo
- $227/mo
- $317/mo
- $537/mo
- $677/mo
- $157/mo
Account
- 25k
- 50k
- 75k
- 100k
- 150k
- 250k
- 300k
- 100k (static)
Contracts
- 4
- 10
- 12
- 14
- 17
- 27
- 35
- 2
Drawdown
- $1500
- $2500
- $2750
- $3000
- $5000
- $6500
- $7500
- $625 (static)
Profit goal
- $1500
- $3000
- $4250
- $6000
- $9000
- $15000
- $20000
- $2000
Value
As you can see, there are four factors to consider when determining the value offered by one of these account tiers:
- Cost
- Available drawdown
- Profit goal
- Number of contracts
As mentioned earlier, there is a notable variation in the pricing difference between accounts.
For example, the profit goal for the 100k account is double the profit goal (2x) of the 50k account ($6k vs. $3k)…but the available drawdown is only 1.2x ($3000 vs. $2500).
And for the 75k account, the profit goal is $1250 more than the 50k account…but you only get $250 more drawdown.
The 25k account is the only one offering a 1:1 drawdown:target.
However, the 50k account is close, at 0.83:1, and is the subscription fee only $20 more, and you can trade more than double the amount of contracts.
Given the listed factors, in my opinion the two accounts that offer the best value are the 50k and 150k.
Evaluation trading rules
Basics
Apex Trader Funding has among the fewest rule requirements for passing their evaluations. (This is a big part of the reason they have been able to capture so much market share in such a short amount of time in my opinion.)
Where the industry standard was multiple rounds of challenges, with daily and weekly drawdown limits, strict “consistency” requirements, scaling requirements, and more, Apex whittled everything down to basically:
1. Reach the profit goal
2. Don’t cross the drawdown threshold
3. Trade a minimum number of days
It wasn’t long before most other funding companies followed suit, not being able to compete for customers otherwise.Specifics
1. Profit goal
Pretty straightforward. Make sure the trading day ends with your account balance at or above the stated goal for the account.
2. Drawdown threshold
Currently the drawdown threshold trails intratrade… That is, your threshold for failure is always the stated drawdown amount subtracted from the highest balance ever reached in the account… including during open trades.
In other words, the trailing threshold includes unrealized profit.
This is a sticking point for many traders, as it is seen as an unnatural and unrealistic restriction. Under this setup, it is possible to hit the drawdown threshold (and thus fail the evaluation) without ever having a negative balance on the account.
For example, the 50k account has a $2500 trailing drawdown threshold. If you enter a trade, and price moves in your favor, increasing the account balance by $2500…but then retraces back to your entry, the account is considered blown, even if you had a stoploss at the breakeven level for the trade.
The stated reason for this type of restriction is to encourage and train traders to take profit, instead of allowing “winning trades” to turn into losers.
Of course there is validity to this. Greed is a major pitfall for anyone in the markets. We all know that feeling of wanting to hold out for just a little more.
But obviously, a rule like this is going to lead to a lot of failed accounts, and thus be a lucrative money maker for the trading company, which is why it is common in the industry.
How to trade with a trailing drawdown threshold?
The way to trade around a trailing threshold is simply trade smaller size, and take profit sooner. For traders who are used to wider/longer-term trades covering a lot of ticks, the easiest way to achieve this is by trading micro contracts.
Also keep in mind the max allowed contracts is not a requirement or even a suggestion. For virtually all account tiers, the max contracts is unnecessarily high relative to the available drawdown and required profit goal.
This is for two reasons:
1. To allow larger size for instruments with low-tick value and low volatility where you need larger size to make it worth it
2. To allow traders the opportunity to overleverage and blow their account
3. Minimum trade days
This was originally set at 10 trading days, but after the first year of operation was decreased to 7 days.
This is another common multi-purpose rule. Different funding companies have different minimums, but virtually all of them have at least one.
1. A minimum number of trading days encourages profit over time instead of getting lucky with a home run.
2. It weeds out gamblers who would otherwise be in that second category and attempt to game the system for quick profits instead of putting in the work to be profitable consistently and over time.
3. It forces users to trade for a longer period of time before passing an evaluation, giving inconsistent traders more opportunity to fail.
That being said, Apex Trader Funding has been known to include “1-day to pass” provisions in its promotions, essentially eliminating this rule. It is no doubt a significant money-maker for the company, as gamblers purchase evaluations and overleverage themselves in attempts to pass evaluations in a single day (or even a single trade).
4. Additional rules
The official rules page for evaluation accounts lists a few other ancillary rules:
a. Do not let someone else trade your account.
b. Always have RTrader/Tradovate open to monitor max drawdown and as a backup to close trades.
c. Follow The Code of Conduct. (Be professional)
Obviously it would be nearly impossible to know whether someone else was trading an account, or whether a trader was monitoring their trades in the RTrader/Tradovate dashboard.
And there actually is no real stated “Code of Conduct,” rather it is essentially a plea of “Don’t Be An Asshole.”
Again, not something that is likely to get an account disqualified, but these are rules listed on the evaluation page, so they have been included here.
Performance Account trade rules
After passing an evaluation, the trader has earned a “Performance Account” where the profit earned can potentially be withdrawn to the trader’s bank account.
This account is subject to the same trailing drawdown as the corresponding evaluation account.
Additionally there are “consistency rules” that apply to PA (and live) accounts:
1. The 30% rule
“At the time traders submit a withdrawal request, the balance in the account cannot consist of more than 30% of the profit balance being from a single trading day.”
It is explicitly stated that there is no penalty associated with this rule, but rather it simply limits when a withdrawal can be requested.
It is also stated that it is NOT a hard and fast rule. “It exists to discourage schemers, and traders who trade using an erratic, windfall, high-risk, all-in style of trading.”
In other words, it’s not enforced across the board in every instance. It’s just an insurance for the company to prevent home run gamblers from getting a lucky windfall and immediately withdrawing.
It could be argued that it shouldn’t matter if the profits were the result of luck, technically the trader earned them. But also technically, no, they didn’t, as they’re still just trading simulated funds on someone else’s platform. If you want to be able to withdraw lucky windfalls, open an actual brokerage account and gamble with your own money. No restrictions on those withdrawals.
2. News trading
Apex Trader Funding allows trading during news events, but prohibits “news trading.”
This is another understandable rule to combat gamblers who try to game the system.
It essentially forbids techniques like straddles and strangles, or utilizing multiple accounts to be in a market both long and short directions simultaneously.
The company reportedly has rarely invoked this rule, offering one particular example of a trader who was unquestionably enlisting cohorts to collude in entering the same market for both long and short positions at the same time, hoping to catch a large move (in either direction), without care for failing the accounts in the wrong direction.
3. The 20% rule
“Any kind of flipping cannot make up more than 20% of a trader’s trading days.”
This is a restriction against simply placing a trade and immediately exiting, for the purpose of logging a trading day to count toward the required minimum for a withdrawal.
4. Automation
“AI, Autobots, Algorithms, Fully Automated Trading Systems or software, High Frequency Trading (HFTs), or any other automated trading is prohibited on the PA or Live accounts.
“It is strictly prohibited to use any type of hands-off, set and forget, set and walk away, trading continuously 24-hour-a-day as well as any other type of automation, including those listed above. Using those types of automation will cause the closure of the PA or Live account and forfeiture of all funds and balances.”
Pretty straightforward. If they catch you using full automation, you could lose the account and everything in it.
5. Additional rules
The official rules page for Performance Accounts lists a few other ancillary rules:
a. All trades must be closed before at least 1 minute before that market’s closing time.
b. Follow The Code of Conduct. (Be professional)
c. Always have a trading plan.
Here again, these additional rules not exactly things that would shut down the account, but rather things to be mindful of.
Risk Disclosure:
Futures and forex trading contains substantial risk and is not for every investor. An investor could potentially lose all or more than the initial investment. Risk capital is money that can be lost without jeopardizing one’s financial security or lifestyle. Only risk capital should be used for trading and only those with sufficient risk capital should consider trading. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.
Hypothetical Performance Disclosure:
Hypothetical performance results have many inherent limitations, some of which are described below. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those shown. In fact, there are frequently sharp differences between hypothetical performance results and the actual results subsequently achieved by any particular trading program. One of the limitations of hypothetical performance results is that they are generally prepared with the benefit of hindsight. In addition, hypothetical trading does not involve financial risk, and no hypothetical trading record can completely account for the impact of financial risk of actual trading. For example, the ability to withstand losses or to adhere to a particular trading program in spite of trading losses are material points, which can also adversely affect actual trading results. There are numerous other factors related to the markets in general or to the implementation of any specific trading program, which cannot be fully accounted for in the preparation of hypothetical performance results and all of which can adversely affect trading results.
Any testimonials appearing on this website may not be representative of other clients or customers and is not a guarantee of future performance or success.
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Additional Disclosure:
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