Apex Prop Firm Guide 2026: Rules, Payouts and Multiple Accounts

TradeDupe

November 01, 2026

11 min read

How the Apex prop firm works in 2026: evaluations, drawdown, the 30% and 50% consistency rules, payouts, and how to run several accounts on Tradovate.

Apex Trader Funding is a futures prop firm: you pay for an evaluation, hit the profit target without breaking the rules, and a pass unlocks a funded Performance Account (PA). The details that decide whether you keep that account are the drawdown type, the consistency rule attached to your account, and the payout conditions. This guide covers each in order, then shows how traders with several Apex accounts on Tradovate manage them.

TL;DR

Pass, then fund: the evaluation requires you to reach the profit target while following the rules. Passing unlocks a funded Performance Account.
Know your rule set: since March 2026 Apex has had Legacy and New Product accounts. Legacy uses a 30% consistency rule, New Product uses 50%.
Drawdown comes in two types: end-of-day (EOD) and intraday trailing. Confirm which one your account uses before you size positions.
Multiple accounts are allowed within a cap: Apex limits you to 20 active PA accounts across your household, companies and connections, and Tradovate's Group Trade feature has its own restrictions.
Prices and promotions change often: check Apex's own site for the current evaluation price and any sale.

How the Apex evaluation and funded account work
Drawdown: the rule that ends most accounts
Consistency rules: 30% versus 50%
Payouts: what you need before you ask
Running more than one Apex account
Our perspective
Setting up several Apex accounts on Tradovate
Mirroring your accounts with TradeDupe
FAQ
Sources

How the Apex evaluation and funded account work

The structure is simple on paper. You buy an evaluation in a size that suits your risk, trade it under Apex's rules until you reach the profit target, and then move to a funded PA. The company describes the process on its How It Works page: meet the target, stay within the rules, and the PA unlocks.

Two practical points before you buy:

Evaluation pricing is not fixed. Apex runs sales regularly, and the discount codes you see in search results are usually time-limited. A widely shared 90% off sale has already ended, so never plan a purchase around an old code. Check Apex's site for the current price of the size you want.
Taxes are yours. Apex states in its signup terms that you are responsible for all tax filings and government assessments tied to your trading activity. Talk to a CPA about how funded-account income is reported in your situation.

The account size you choose drives everything downstream: contract limits, drawdown distance and how fast you can realistically reach the target without a single oversized day.

Drawdown: the rule that ends most accounts

Apex uses a trailing drawdown, and the way it is calculated changes how you should trade.

End-of-day drawdown

With EOD drawdown, the level is calculated once a day at market close from the account's closing balance. An open position that swings against you during the session does not move the threshold until the day closes. That gives you room to hold through noise, but it does not remove the need for a stop.

Intraday trailing drawdown

Intraday trailing accounts follow your equity during the session. Apex's help center lists these in sizes such as 25K, 50K, 100K and 150K, with maximum intraday drawdown limits from $1,000 to $4,000 depending on size. Because open profit raises the floor, giving back a big unrealized gain can end the account even on a day you were green at some point.

Where the trail stops

For PA accounts, one summary of the current rules says the trailing drawdown stops at the starting balance plus $100 and that stop-losses are required. Treat that as a reason to read your own account's rules page, because the exact figures depend on account type and size.

A simple sizing habit

Before every session, write down your distance to the threshold in dollars, then convert it to a stop distance in ticks for the contract you trade. If a normal stop would use more than a modest slice of that distance, cut size. The goal is surviving a string of losers, not maximizing one trade.

Consistency rules: 30% versus 50%

This is the most misunderstood part of Apex, and the top search results often mix the two versions together.

Apex split its ecosystem into Legacy and New Product tiers on March 1, 2026, and Legacy keeps a 30% consistency rule while New Product moves to a 50% cap. The consistency rule means no single trading day may account for more than that percentage of your total profit balance when you request a payout, as summarized for both versions.

	Legacy accounts	New Product accounts
Consistency rule at payout	30%	50%
Negative P&L (MAE) rule	Yes, 30%	Not listed for current PA rules
Aim of the rule	Discourage erratic, outsized days	Same, with a looser cap

The 30% negative P&L rule is a different thing

Don't confuse the consistency rule with the MAE rule. Legacy accounts also have a 30% Negative Profit and Loss rule that limits unrealized open negative P&L on any single trade to 30% of the account's start-of-day profit. That one applies during the trade, not at payout time. It is the likely source of the "30% rule in Apex" question people search for.

Worked example of the payout consistency check

Say you have a profit balance of $3,000 on an account with a 30% rule. Your best day cannot exceed $900. If one day made $1,400, you need more profit across other days before you request: the best day must be 30% or less of the new total, so the total has to reach about $4,667 ($1,400 divided by 0.30). Under a 50% rule, the same $1,400 day would be fine once your total reached $2,800.

Payout totals compared under 30% and 50% rules

That arithmetic is why one outsized day is a trap, and why spreading profits over several sessions matters. For a deeper walkthrough, see our Apex consistency rule breakdown, and for the same rule across firms, the consistency rules compared page.

Payouts: what you need before you ask

One summary of the current program lists payouts available every five winning days, a $500 minimum payout, a 50% consistency score and up to six payouts per PA. Rules differ by account type and change, so confirm the current numbers on your Apex dashboard before planning around a payout date.

A practical payout checklist:

Count qualifying days on your account, not your calendar.
Run your consistency math with your best day against total profit, using the percentage for your account version.
Check the minimum and your balance above any required buffer.
Confirm no rule flags such as a missing stop-loss or an open-trade breach.
Request, then keep trading by the rules while it processes.

Apex also automates compliance checks, so assume a breach will be seen, not overlooked. Our Apex payout rules post covers what changed and why the 30% cap deserves a first look.

Running more than one Apex account

Most serious Apex traders hold several accounts, because one failed evaluation should not be your only attempt. Here is what the rules allow.

There is a cap. Apex allows 20 active PA accounts across the same household, companies and connections, including Rithmic, Tradovate and WealthCharts accounts.
Tradovate has a built-in option. Apex's help center explains that you can use Tradovate's Group Trade feature to mirror trades across accounts. The accounts must be in an enabled group, bracket orders are restricted, and quantities must be multiples of the total contracts in the group.
Orders outside the group do not copy. If you place an order on an account that is not in the selected group, it will not mirror.

Those constraints matter when you hold, say, five accounts with different sizes. If your accounts need different contract counts, the multiple-of-the-group rule can force awkward sizing. Apex's rules on copy trading also say your accounts must be your own, so never share access to a funded account with another person. Our Apex copy trading rules page lays out limits and compliance, and the Apex copy trading blog post explains why your own accounts, with no shared access, are the safe route.

Mistakes to avoid with multiple accounts

Treating all accounts as identical. Different drawdown types, legacy versus new rule sets and different balances mean one position size does not fit every account.
Stacking correlated risk. Ten accounts in the same trade is a ten-times loss on a bad day. Decide what total loss you accept across all accounts.
Ignoring a follower that drifts. Missed or extra fills on one account can quietly break a rule. Check fills after the session.
Skipping the firm's current rules. If unsure whether something is allowed, ask Apex support before you do it.

Our perspective

> We built TradeDupe for one kind of trader: someone holding several prop firm accounts on Tradovate who wants to trade them from one place without handing over a password or running software on a PC or VPS. > > Our view is that the dangerous part of multi-account trading is not the entry, it is the drift. A follower that misses a fill, or an order that no one in the group placed, is how an account breaks a rule while you are looking at the leader chart. That is why we focus on rogue-trade detection, per-account copy toggles and execution mode controls, and why daily loss limits and profit targets are set directly on Tradovate, so the broker enforces them rather than us. > > We also think a flat plan makes more sense than per-account fees when you are scaling attempts. Passing an evaluation is a numbers game over many sessions, and your tooling cost should not rise every time you add an account. > > Andres

Setting up several Apex accounts on Tradovate

Whichever method you use, the setup order is the same:

Confirm each account's rule set (Legacy or New Product, EOD or intraday drawdown).
Choose a leader account where you place all trades.
Enable only the followers you want for that session.
Set daily loss limits and targets on Tradovate itself.
Test with minimal size before using real risk, and check fills on every account.
Review after the session so any difference shows up early.

If you want to read about the approaches, our guides on Tradovate copy trading setups and which futures prop firms allow copy trading go deeper. For preparing trade ideas, some traders also pull numbers through stock market data tools when they review sessions after funding.

Mirroring your accounts with TradeDupe

TradeDupe connects through Tradovate's official OAuth flow, so your password is never stored. You pick a leader, and each fill is mirrored to your enabled followers over live streams, typically under 100ms. It works with Apex and the other Tradovate-based firms, and it includes a trade journal, analytics and an economic calendar.

Plans are Standard at $20 per month billed yearly, Pro at $45 per month billed yearly and Elite at $90 per month billed yearly. Monthly billing is $30, $60 and $120. Every plan has a 7-day free trial and one-click cancellation. See the Tradovate trade copier page to start.

TradeDupe

If you only want the Apex-specific view, the Apex copier page covers it.

FAQ

Is the Apex prop firm legit and does it pay out?

Apex is a US futures prop firm that has paid traders who meet its payout conditions. Payouts depend on meeting your account's rules, including the minimum amount and the consistency rule. Read your account terms and confirm the current figures with Apex before you buy.

What is the 30% rule at Apex?

It usually refers to one of two Legacy rules. The consistency rule says no single day can exceed 30% of your profit balance at payout. The negative P&L (MAE) rule limits open unrealized loss on a trade to 30% of start-of-day profit. New Product accounts use a 50% consistency cap.

Is there a 90% off code for Apex?

Apex has run 90% off sales with promo codes, but they are time-limited and the most recent one has ended. New sales appear periodically, so check Apex's own site for the current price rather than relying on an old code.

Can I copy trades between my Apex accounts?

Yes, with your own accounts. Tradovate's Group Trade feature can mirror trades, though it restricts bracket orders and requires quantities in multiples of the group's contracts. Apex also caps you at 20 active PA accounts. A dedicated copier is another route; confirm any setup with Apex support.