Apex Trader Funding rules

Drawdown, daily loss limits, contract tiers, inactivity and banned trades for Apex accounts, checked November 12, 2026.

Status: Active
Billing: One-time, 30-day access
Drawdown: EOD or intraday, you choose
Flat by: 4:59 p.m. ET

Rules checked on November 12, 2026 · Apex's help center · By helloweekends Editors

Apex Trader Funding rules come down to five limits. A drawdown threshold of $1,000 to $4,000, EOD or intraday trailing, that you may never touch. A daily loss limit (DLL) that pauses trading for the day. A contract cap. Flat by 4:59 p.m. ET every day. And in the Performance Account (PA), two $50 profit days every 30 calendar days. The evaluation lasts 30 days, with no minimum days and no consistency rule.

Apex rules by account size

Accounts sold under the program that started March 1, 2026. Evaluation and PA drawdown are the same amount. Source: Apex help center (EOD and Intraday Evaluations, Daily Loss Limit, Scaling Levels), checked November 12, 2026.
Size	Profit target	Max drawdown	Evaluation DLL (EOD / Intraday)	Evaluation contracts	PA contracts, by tier	PA DLL, by tier
$25K	$1,500	$1,000	$500 / none	4	1–2	$500–$1,250
$50K	$3,000	$2,000	$1,000 / none	6	2–4	$1,000–$3,000
$100K	$6,000	$3,000	$1,500 / none	8	3–6	$1,750–$3,500
$150K	$9,000	$4,000	$2,000 / none	12	4–10	$2,500–$4,000

Contracts are minis. Ten micros count as one mini, and the cap covers all open positions across instruments together. An order that would go over the cap is rejected, with no penalty.

Rules on every Apex account

Flat by 4:59 p.m. ET. Holding a position through the market close is a prohibited activity, so there is no overnight or weekend holding. The trading day resets at 6:00 p.m. ET.
Drawdown threshold. The lowest your balance may go, open profit and loss included. Touch it once and positions are liquidated: an evaluation fails, a PA closes.
Daily loss limit. It counts realized and unrealized losses for the session. Reaching it liquidates open positions and stops trading until the next session. The account stays open.
News. Trading during news with your normal strategy is allowed. Chasing the market or placing orders on both sides of it to catch the release is not.
Directional trading only. No hedging: no long and short at once on the same or correlated instruments, and no passing evaluations by hedging them against each other.
No automation. Algorithms and automated trading are on Apex's list of prohibited activities, and so is trade copying with other traders.
Up to 20 PAs per household, counting Legacy, EOD and Intraday PAs together. There is no limit on evaluations.

EOD or intraday: how the threshold moves

Source: Apex help center (EOD Drawdown Explained, Intraday Trailing Drawdown Explained), checked November 12, 2026.
Account	When the threshold updates	When it stops trailing
EOD evaluation, Rithmic or WealthCharts	Once a day, from the 4:59:59 p.m. ET close	At the profit target balance ($53,000 on a 50K)
EOD evaluation, Tradovate	Once a day, from the 4:59:59 p.m. ET close	Never: it trails the highest close
Intraday evaluation	In real time, from the peak balance including open profit	Never during the evaluation
EOD or Intraday PA	Same as its evaluation type	At the starting balance plus $100 ($50,100 on a 50K)

On every type the threshold only moves up. A losing day leaves it where it was. The EOD threshold is set at the close but enforced in real time the next session, so an intraday dip can still reach it. For the difference in general, see EOD vs intraday drawdown.

PA tiers: contracts and DLL as profit grows

A PA starts at Level 1. After each close, Apex matches the 4:59:59 p.m. ET balance to a tier, and that tier sets the contract cap and DLL for the whole next session. Tiers go down as well as up, but never below Level 1. The 50K tiers:

$50K PA, EOD or Intraday. Source: Apex help center (Scaling Levels, Daily Loss Limit Explained), checked November 12, 2026.
Tier	Profit in the account	Max contracts	DLL
Level 1	$0–$1,499	2	$1,000
Level 2	$1,500–$2,999	3	$1,000
Level 3	$3,000–$5,999	4	$2,000
Level 4	$6,000 and up	4	$3,000

Worked example: a 50K EOD PA, three closes

You start at $50,000. The threshold is $48,000, the cap is 2 contracts and the DLL is $1,000.

Day 1 closes at $51,500. The threshold moves to $49,500. You are at Level 2: 3 contracts, DLL still $1,000.
Day 2 closes at $53,000. The threshold would be $51,000, but a PA stops at $50,100, so it stays there for good. Level 3: 4 contracts, DLL $2,000.
Day 3 closes at $52,400 after a $600 loss. The threshold stays at $50,100. Profit is now $2,400, so you drop back to Level 2 for day 4: 3 contracts, DLL $1,000.

From day 3 on, the room above the threshold is your balance minus $50,100: $2,300 at the day 3 close. A $1,000 DLL loss on day 4 would leave $1,300.

Inactivity rule

A PA needs at least two days with $50 or more of net profit within any 30 consecutive calendar days. Without them, Apex closes the account, and a closed PA cannot be reopened: you would have to pass a new evaluation. Evaluations have no inactivity rule, but they expire at 6:00 p.m. ET on day 30 of access, weekends and holidays included. How other firms count inactivity is on the prop firm inactivity rules page.

What breaks an Apex account

Touching the drawdown threshold at any time of day, on EOD and Intraday accounts alike.
Holding a position through the 4:59 p.m. ET close.
Hedging, news straddles or bracket orders left on both sides of the market, and chasing the market on news.
Automated or algorithmic trading, high-frequency trading and trying to exploit simulated fills.
Trading without a stop loss, real or mental, or using the account's full threshold as your stop.
Strategies with a tiny target against a large stop, such as a 5-tick target with a 150-tick stop, which Apex names as an example.
In a PA, going 30 calendar days without two $50 net-profit days.
Running out of time: evaluation access lasts 30 days, with no extensions and no resets.

Hitting the DLL does not break an account. It ends your trading day.

Evaluation fees and activation

An evaluation is a one-time, non-refundable fee for 30 calendar days of access. It does not renew, so there is nothing to cancel. Apex shows the prices in a product selector at checkout. After you pass, the account is marked Passed after 6:00 p.m. ET, and you have 7 calendar days to pay the one-time PA activation fee. No Activation Fee evaluations have the same rules and a $0 activation. They come as single accounts and as 5-packs, except the EOD 100K and 150K, which have no 5-pack.

Legacy accounts are on sale again

Apex retired its old evaluations on March 1, 2026. Its Legacy Products page now sells them again as a limited-time offer, in six sizes on Tradovate, WealthCharts and Rithmic. The help center's Legacy overview still says they cannot be bought, so check which program is in your cart. Legacy evaluations are monthly subscriptions with a trailing threshold, no daily drawdown and no scaling, and they follow the Legacy payout rules. They cannot be converted into the new accounts.

Legacy FULL evaluations on Tradovate, list prices before coupon codes. WealthCharts plans have the same rules and lower prices (25K: $177 a month, $99 PA fee). Source: apextraderfunding.com/legacy-products, checked November 12, 2026.
Size	Contracts	Profit goal	Trailing threshold	PA fee	Price a month
$25K	4	$1,500	$1,500	$105	$227
$50K	10	$3,000	$2,500	$130	$247
$100K	14	$6,000	$3,000	$155	$447
$150K	17	$9,000	$5,000	$185	$647
$250K	27	$15,000	$6,500	$189	$747
$300K	35	$20,000	$7,500	$199	$847

Recent rule changes

November 2026: Legacy evaluations listed for sale again as a limited-time offer on Apex's Legacy Products page.
March 1, 2026, for newly bought accounts: monthly billing with resets became a one-time fee with 30 days of access; traders choose EOD or intraday trailing; the 30% windfall rule on PAs became a 50% consistency rule; the per-trade MAE limit was dropped in favor of tier-based DLLs and scaling.

Every dated change is in the rule change log. Split, caps and the 50% consistency rule on payouts are on the Apex Trader Funding payout rules page. How Apex compares with Topstep on these limits is in Apex vs Topstep.

Know the riskAn Apex evaluation is a paid service with simulated trading, and a PA is a simulated funded account. Most people who buy an evaluation do not pass it, and firms change their rules, pause payouts and close. Read Apex's current rules before you buy. Not investment advice.

Questions

Does Apex Trader Funding have a daily loss limit?

EOD evaluations have a fixed DLL of $500 to $2,000 by size; Intraday evaluations have none. Every PA has a tiered DLL, from $500 on a 25K up to $4,000 on a 150K. Hitting it closes your positions and pauses trading until the next session; it does not fail the account.

What is the Apex inactivity rule?

A Performance Account must record at least two days with $50 or more of net profit within 30 consecutive calendar days, or Apex closes it. Evaluations have no inactivity rule but expire after 30 calendar days.

Is hedging allowed at Apex?

No. Holding long and short positions at once on the same or correlated instruments is prohibited, and so is passing evaluations by hedging them against each other. A violation closes the account.

Is there a minimum number of trading days or a consistency rule?

Not in the evaluation: you can pass in one day. For PA payouts, your largest day must be under 50% of the profit since your last payout.

Can you trade the news with Apex?

Yes, with your normal strategy. Chasing the market and orders on both sides of it around a release are prohibited.

Are trading bots allowed at Apex?

No. Automation and algorithms are on Apex's list of prohibited activities.

Can you still buy Apex Legacy accounts?

As of November 12, 2026, Apex's Legacy Products page sells Legacy evaluations as a limited-time offer in six sizes from $25K to $300K, billed monthly. They keep the Legacy rules and cannot be converted into the new accounts.

Sources

All checked on November 12, 2026.