EOD (Standard & No Activation) - Trading Rules
Daily Loss Limit (DLL)
- Evaluation: A fixed Daily Loss Limit applies during each trading session. If the DLL is hit, trading is paused for the remainder of that session. The account remains active and resets at the next session open. Touching the EOD drawdown threshold — not the DLL — is what fails or closes the account.
- Daily Loss in the Performance Account is Tier Based.
EOD Drawdown Enforcement
- The drawdown threshold is recalculated once per day at 4:59:59 PM ET using the closing balance. That threshold is then enforced in real time during the following trading session. The threshold trails upward with new highs and never moves down.
Intraday (Standard & No Activation) — Trading Rules
No Daily Loss Limit (DLL) in Evaluation
- There is no Daily Loss Limit during the Intraday evaluation phase. Risk is controlled entirely by the intraday trailing threshold. In the Performance Account, a tier-based DLL is enforced intraday.
Intraday Trailing Drawdown Enforcement
- The drawdown threshold trails in real time with the peak balance, including unrealized profit. It never moves down. If the threshold is touched at any point during the session — including on open unrealized losses — positions liquidate and the evaluation fails or the PA closes immediately.
When EOD & Intraday Drawdown Stops Trailing
- Performance Accounts (PA): The Threshold stops trailing once it reaches Starting Balance + $100, and remains fixed from that point onward.
- Evaluations on Rithmic & WealthCharts: The Threshold stops trailing once it reaches an amount equal to the Target Profit balance, and remains fixed from that point onward.
- Evaluations on Tradovate: The Threshold trails indefinitely with the peak account balance / EOD account balance.
General Rules
Inactivity Rule
- Evaluation: None
- Sim Funded
- Traders must record at least 2 trading days with $50+ new profit within every rolling 30-day period to keep the account active.
- After 15 days of inactivity the account enters a dormant phase and if 30 consecutive days pass without meeting the threshold, the account is permanently closed with all rewards and payouts eligibility forfeited - no reinstatement.
News Trading
- Trading during news is allowed for your normal trading strategy. Using “news trading” strategies that “chase the market” or place orders on both sides but to be lucky or gamble the outcome of news is not allowed.
Expert Advisors
- All trading must be manually initiated — EAs, bots, scripts, macros, or any system that automates order placement, modification, or cancellation are strictly prohibited. Permitted tools are limited to signal/alert generators, platform-native order types (stop-loss, take-profit) set manually at entry, and charting/analysis software that does not interact with order submission.
Copy Trading
- Copy trading is allowed on both Evaluation and Performance Accounts, provided all accounts are under the same Apex user ID and email. Using separate accounts under different emails is not permitted. Third-party copier software is used at the trader's own risk — Apex is not responsible for malfunctions affecting profits, losses, or account liquidation.
No Hedging
- Holding both long and short positions simultaneously on the same or correlated instrument is strictly prohibited.
Contract Scaling Rules
- Traders are subject to tier-based scaling in the Performance Account. Maximum contracts during evaluation are fixed at 4 ($25K), 6 ($50K), 8 ($100K), or 12 ($150K), with tier-based scaling applied in the PA.
Trading With Risk Management
- All trades must have either pending or mental stop losses and a well-defined risk management strategy. Trading without these measures is strictly prohibited.
Using the Trailing Threshold as a Stop Loss
- Traders are prohibited from using the account's full Drawdown threshold as a stop-loss mechanism to absorb large losses, leading to account liquidation.
Evaluation Period
- The evaluation period is 30 calendar days with no extensions. There is no minimum trading days required. Traders may pass in a single day if the profit target is reached without breaching the drawdown rules. After passing, traders have 7 calendar days to activate their Performance Account.
Trading Hours Explained
Prohibited Activities
- Account Sharing / Credential Sharing
- Third-Party Payments and Payouts
- Bad-Faith Chargebacks and Refund Disputes
- False or Misleading Information / Identity Misrepresentation
- Use of VPNs, Proxies, or Anonymizing Tools (to evade rules, hide violations, or facilitate misconduct)
- System or Documentation Manipulation / Staff Impersonation
- Abusive Use of Company Services / Gaming the Program
- Trading Without Stop Losses or Risk Management
- High-Risk Strategies (disproportionate risk-to-reward, e.g., 5-tick target / 150-tick stop)
- Using the Trailing Threshold as a Stop Loss
- Stockpiling Evaluation Accounts (buying multiple discounted accounts to intentionally blow up)
- Unsustainable Strategies
- Deviating from Professional Standards (strategies a trader wouldn't use on a personally funded broker account)
- Manipulation of the Simulated Trading Environment (includes HFT, erroneous-fill exploitation, non-directional bracket trading)
- Unauthorized Users (anyone other than the registered owner accessing the account)
- Account and Resource Sharing (MAC addresses, computers, IPs, credit cards, trade copying)
- Multiple Account Creation (including household/associated-party accounts to circumvent restrictions)
- Holding Positions Through Market Close
- Automation or Algorithm Usage
- News Trading Abuse (chasing the market or two-sided gambling on news; normal strategy news trades are allowed)
- Hedging (simultaneous long and short on same or correlated instruments)
- See details: https://apextraderfunding.com/help-center/getting-started/prohibited-activities/
Consequences for Rule Violations
- Temporary limitations on contract usage. Payouts restricted to profit earned since the last request. Disqualification of previously accrued windfall profits for withdrawal.
Apex Code of Conducts Explained
