Apex Trader Funding: A Complete Guide (2023)

Apex Trader Funding Complete Guide and Review

Author: Jeff Park

Jeff is a professional trader with 17 years of market experience in day trading stocks, options, and futures. Jeff is the head trader at LiveStream Trading with a strong focus on a systematic trading process. He provides daily live trade walk-throughs, mentorship, and live trading education for his team members on a daily basis.

The Apex Trader Funding Program provides a unique opportunity for individuals to secure funding for their trading account so they don't have to put their own capital at risk.

In this comprehensive guide, we will explore what the Apex program is, how it works, who can benefit from it, eligible trading platforms, program rules, payout structure, and valuable tips to successfully pass the evaluation. Lets get started!

What is the Apex Trader Funding Program?

The Apex Trader Funding Program is a platform that offers traders the chance to trade with a fully funded futures trading account of up to $300,000 after passing a trading evaluation test, enabling them to access large amounts of trading capital without needing to risk their own funds.

It serves as a gateway for aspiring traders to gain experience, refine their strategies, and potentially generate substantial profits without putting any of their own money at risk.

By removing the financial barriers that often hinder traders, the program allows them to focus on their trading performance and unlock their full trading potential. The program does come with some rules, of course, to protect company capital, so read on to learn all about this program and how it may benefit you.

Who is the Apex Trader Funding Program for?

The program is designed for individuals who have a passion for trading and aspire to become professional traders. It caters to both experienced traders who seek additional capital to scale their strategies and new traders looking to gain experience and access substantial funding so they dont have to risk their own capital in their trading ventures.

The program is a really good option for anyone who doesn't want to put large amount of capital at risk. Many people come into the market with no experience, make a deposit into a brokerage account and think they will start printing money.

The reality is that profitable trading takes a good strategy and a lot of discipline. By starting with an Apex Trader Funding account, the only risk is the small amount of money you put up to do the evaluation (more on this plus a big discount if you read until the end of this article), and if you get funded, Apex takes all the risk.

Apex Evaluation Account

If you do well in the evaluation and you get approved for funding, you'll never have to put up capital. You do, however, need to follow their rules in terms of drawdowns and daily loss limits.

If your trading strategy doesn't succeed during the evaluation (you can try as many times as you want), you will only be out the small evaluation fee instead of potentially 10's of thousands of dollars that would be lost if you traded your own money in a real account without a profitable strategy.

This is a great way to evaluate whether your trading strategy works, and whether you have what it takes to trade full time. If you fail your first evaluation, don't be too discouraged, just adjust your strategy and if you wish to try again, make the necessary adjustments and work at it until you have reached profitability.

Many people need to try a few times to make the necessary adjustments to pass, but don't worry, we are going to help you later in the article with some tips for successfully passing the program.

How does the Apex Trader Funding Evaluation work?

The Apex program follows a structured evaluation process to identify skilled traders worthy of receiving funding. The program consists of several stages, beginning with an initial evaluation phase where traders showcase their trading abilities using a simulation account with real time data. Successful candidates progress to a live trading evaluation, where they trade with real funds provided by Apex.

In order to gain funding, you need to meet a profit target on your evaluation (simulated trading) account based on the account size that you are trading.

Below are the list of account sizes you can start with, and their corresponding profit targets and loss limits to pass the evaluation and secure funding:

If you fail the evaluation, not to worry, you can reset the account (for a small fee) at any time and start over again. Many people need to try a couple times before they have a good risk management and trading strategy before they succeed.

How Does the Trailing Threshold Work?

The trailing threshold can be a bit confusing to many so we're going to try to make it as simple as possible. If you are doing an evaluation account of $25,000 and have a $1,500 trailing threshold, that means if you lose $1,500 from your account balance, you would fail the evaluation. Clearly this is designed so that they end up funding people who have stellar risk management techniques and cut losses quickly and small, to avoid them having to cover any sizeable draw downs when you trade their live accounts.

What many people don't understand is exactly how this trailing threshold works. The trailing threshold includes realized and unrealized profits. For example. If you had a $25,000 evaluation or funded account, and entered a trade that was up $1,500 and you didn't take profits and it comes all the way back to breakeven, that would break the trailing threshold and cause an evaluation failure.

So, its very important if trading with an Apex evaluation account to realize and take profits when you can and to cut losses quickly. You need to know when to exit positions before bigger reversals occur so you can realize more profits and not cut into your trailing threshold. Our proprietary trading system is great for this, as we have several strategies that teach the trader how to identify reversals as they are happening so you can lock in profits, or join the reversal trend to enter a new trade.

Another example: If you start with a $50,000 account with a trailing threshold of $2,000 and a profit target of $2,000, once you make the profit target and lets say the account gets to $55,000, your total loss limit goes to $50,000 ($5,000 loss) and stays there. This is designed to limit their downside risk. They want you to stay profitable and in the money and reduce any risk on their end.

If you passed evaluation and got funded with a $50,000 account, and on the next trading day lost $2,000, they would eat that loss and you would have to go back to evaluation and pass again.

As with all prop firms, you will have a daily loss limit set based on the size of your account and if you break that, they liquidate the profits in your account, take their 10% cut and you would have to start evaluation again.

While some of these rules may seem harsh, they are necessary to reduce risk on their end, and it teaches you, the trader, the value of proper risk management and realizing profits without having big drawdowns or taking unnecessary risk. The good news, however, is that trailing threshold disappears after you pass your evaluation and trade live, at which point you will only have a daily loss limit to protect your account.


Which Trading Platforms Can You Use with Apex?

Apex supports various trading platforms, offering traders flexibility in choosing the platform that best aligns with their trading preferences and expertise.

Some of the platforms you can use include Rithmic, Tradeovate, Ninjatrader 8 (your evaluation and funded accounts come with a free Ninjatrader license key!) and Trading View.

Copy Trading Multiple Accounts Simultaneously with Apex

You can trade up to 20 accounts at the same time with Apex! What does this mean for you? It means if you pass 20 evaluations and have 20 live trading accounts, you can execute one trade on a single account that copies the trade to your other trading accounts automatically to exponentiate your profits. For example, a $300 scalp copied across 20 accounts is $6000 in total profits.

One of our trading group members trades up to 20 accounts at once to exponentiate his profits, and limit his risk across any one account to avoid any large drawdowns in a single trading account:

Rules of the Apex Trader Funding Program

To ensure a fair and transparent trading environment, Apex imposes certain rules and guidelines. These may include adhering to maximum drawdown limits, avoiding specific prohibited trading strategies, maintaining compliance with risk management protocols, and meeting specific performance targets.

Maximum Drawdown Limit: Traders are usually required to stay within a predefined maximum drawdown limit. This limit represents the maximum percentage of loss allowed from the peak account balance.

Prohibited Trading Strategies: Certain trading strategies deemed unfair or manipulative, may be prohibited. Traders should review and comply with the program's guidelines regarding acceptable trading strategies.

Risk Management: Traders are expected to employ sound risk management techniques to protect their account balance and manage potential losses. This may include setting stop-loss orders, implementing proper position sizing, and utilizing risk-reward ratios.

Compliance with Trading Hours: Traders should adhere to the specified trading hours and sessions as outlined by the program. Some programs may restrict trading during specific times or limit trading to certain market sessions.

Account Verification: Traders may be required to undergo an account verification process to ensure compliance with program rules and to establish their identity and trading credentials.

Position Holding Time: The program may impose minimum or maximum time limits for holding positions. Traders should follow these guidelines to maintain compliance with program rules.

Compliance with Program Guidelines: Traders are expected to comply with the specific guidelines and policies outlined by the Apex Trader Funding Program. These guidelines may include rules related to order execution, platform usage, and reporting requirements.

Profit-Sharing Terms: Traders should be familiar with the profit-sharing terms and understand the percentage of profits they are entitled to receive. Compliance with the profit-sharing agreement is necessary to ensure accurate and timely payouts.

Payout Structure and Profit Sharing

Upon successfully passing the evaluation phase and becoming a funded trader, participants in the Apex Trader Funding program can enjoy attractive profit-sharing arrangements. Typically, traders receive a percentage of their trading profits, with a portion going to the trader and the remainder shared with Apex. The current split is designed so that the trader keeps 100% of the first $25,000 that they earn, and after that its a 90/20 split (90% for the trader, and 10% for Apex).

As traders generate profits, a portion of those profits is retained by the program provider. This retained portion typically covers expenses, program costs, and the risk capital provided to the trader. The remaining portion is allocated to the trader as their share of the profits.

For example, if you start with a $50,000 funded account and meet the profit target of $2,000 brining the account balance to $52,000, Apex will leave that first $2,000 earned in your account to cover your draw downs so they eliminate risk on their end. If you earn $2,000 more bringing the balance up to $54,000, you may start withdrawing profits from the account but it will not ever be able to drop below the $50,000 starting balance.

Payouts begin 10 days after passing your evaluation, and you are eligible for up to 2 payouts per month.

Profit calculations are typically based on the net profits generated by the trader. Net profits refer to the profits made after deducting any trading fees, commissions, or other costs associated with the trades.

There may be a minimum payout threshold that traders must reach before they become eligible for receiving a payout. The threshold ensures that payouts are made once a certain level of profitability is achieved.

The payouts are typically made through electronic payment methods, such as bank transfers or digital payment platforms. Traders will need to provide their preferred payment details to receive their payouts securely and efficiently.

It is important for traders to carefully review the profit-sharing and payout structure outlined by the specific Apex Trader Funding Program they are participating in. Each program may have its own unique terms, conditions, and payout percentages. By understanding the profit-sharing arrangement and payout structure, traders can have clear expectations regarding their earnings and make informed decisions about their trading strategies and goals within the program.

Best Practices to Pass Your Apex Evaluation

Successfully passing the evaluation phase is a crucial step toward becoming a funded trader. Here are some tips to enhance your chances of success:

  • Develop and refine your trading strategy: Demonstrate a well-defined and consistently profitable trading approach.
  • Implement proper risk management: Emphasize capital preservation and employ sound risk management techniques.
  • Consistency is key: Display consistent trading performance throughout the evaluation period.
  • Adhere to program guidelines: Follow the rules and guidelines set forth by the Apex Trader Funding Program.
  • Maintain a trading journal: Keep a detailed record of your trades to analyze your performance and identify areas for improvement.
  • Continuously educate yourself: Stay updated with the latest market trends, trading techniques, and risk management strategies.
  • Review and learn from your mistakes: Analyze your losing trades and identify patterns to avoid repeating them in the future.

Get a Discount with Apex Trader Funding

We believe that Apex is a good route for anyone who wants to start trading or get funded as they will not have to put their own capital at risk, so we've partnered with Apex and they've agreed to give our members and readers a big discount on their evaluation. To get started, simply register for your Apex account here, and use coupon code: GDSKOMLZ to receive the current promotional ongoing discount (up to 70-90% off during promotional periods!) Please make sure to clear your cookies or use an incognito browser so it recognizes that you were referred by us or the discount code may not work.

Final Thoughts on Apex

The Apex Trader Funding program offers a remarkable opportunity for talented traders to access substantial capital, unleash their trading potential, and gain practical experience in a risk-free environment. By understanding how the program works, who it caters to, the trailing threshold feature, eligible trading platforms, program rules, payout structure, and the best practices to succeed, aspiring traders can position themselves for success in the competitive trading industry.

Remember, the Apex is not only a means to secure funding but also a platform to refine your trading skills and pave the way for a rewarding trading career. If you are new to trading, we would highly recommend joining a community of skilled traders who can help you beat the learning curve and get you a proper foundation to set you up with the best chance of success.

Good luck with your trading journey!

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