Apex Trader Funding's evaluation rules changed more in the last 18 months than in the previous four years combined. The old mental model — "one phase, no time limit, 7 trading days, trailing drawdown" — is now only half the story. In 2026, Apex sells three kinds of evaluations: Intraday Trailing Drawdown (ITD) accounts, End-of-Day (EOD) trailing drawdown accounts, and legacy evaluation accounts still held by older subscribers. Each has its own profit targets, drawdown mechanics, trading-day requirements, and billing.

If you are about to buy an Apex evaluation, this guide is your rulebook. We break down every rule you will actually be tested on, explain the differences between the account structures in plain English, and finish with the strategy mistakes that fail more Apex evals than bad markets do.

The Three Apex Evaluation Structures in 2026

1. Intraday Trailing Drawdown (ITD) Evaluations

ITD is the flagship evaluation structure. The drawdown is tracked intraday: your equity trail updates continuously during the session, and if your balance (or open equity) drops through the trailing limit at any point, the evaluation is terminated for that day. Key features:

2. End-of-Day (EOD) Evaluations

EOD is the newer structure and it exists for traders who get hurt by intraday noise. Your drawdown is measured at the end of each trading day rather than continuously. You can dip below your limit intraday as long as you close back inside it before the session ends. Key features:

3. Legacy Evaluations

Legacy evaluation accounts are the old model that existing subscribers still hold: a single phase, a trailing maximum drawdown, a minimum of 7 trading days, no time limit, and a monthly subscription that auto-renews — with the famous "free reset at renewal" if you failed the account. Apex has been migrating traders off this model, but if you hold a legacy account, the old rules still govern it until you pass or switch.

Profit Targets on Apex Evaluations

The profit target is the number at the top of your dashboard, and it varies by account size and structure. Historically Apex targets have ranged from 5% to 8% of the account size, with larger accounts sometimes carrying lower percentage targets. On a 50K account:

Two things to know about targets:

1. There is no consistency rule on the evaluation. Unlike TopStep's 50%-of-target best-day rule, Apex evaluations do not restrict how much of your target comes from a single day. You can bank your entire $2,500 target in one session (on ITD/EOD) and pass. This is the single biggest structural reason traders describe Apex as the easiest major firm to pass.

2. Targets are set at checkout. Because Apex runs constant promos and occasionally adjusts targets, always read the exact target for the specific account and promo you are buying. A "5% target 50K eval at 85% off" is a different product from "8% target 50K eval."

Drawdown Rules: The Rules That Actually Kill Accounts

Profit targets are rarely what ends an Apex evaluation. Drawdowns are. Here is exactly how each one works.

Trailing Maximum Drawdown (all structures)

Your equity trail is anchored to your highest balance and your drawdown limit follows it upward, never down. Concretely, on a 50K eval with a $2,500 trailing drawdown: if your balance climbs to $51,500, your floor rises to $49,000. If you then drop below $49,000 at any point (intraday on ITD, at the close on EOD), the account is terminated.

The brutal part is the asymmetry: one great week raises your floor, and then a normal pullback can breach it. Traders who size up after early wins are the most common victims of the trailing rule.

Intraday Trailing Drawdown / Daily Loss Limit (ITD accounts)

On ITD evaluations, the trailing drawdown applies intraday, which effectively gives you a daily loss limit: lose more than the limit from your day's high and the day (and usually the account) is over. This is the rule that makes position sizing non-negotiable — you cannot "wait for the close" to recover because there is no close to wait for.

End-of-Day Drawdown (EOD accounts)

On EOD evaluations, the drawdown is computed from your end-of-day equity. You have more freedom intraday — a mid-session dip below the limit does not terminate the account if you close above it — but your daily equity swings still accumulate. EOD accounts trade intraday noise for daily balance discipline.

Static vs trailing: which is on your account?

Read the account type carefully at checkout. Some Apex promos and structures use static drawdowns (a fixed floor from starting balance) rather than trailing. Static is objectively easier to manage; trailing is what most traders actually buy without realizing it. If the product page does not say, assume trailing.

Trading Days and Time Rules

Account Sizes and What Each One Asks of You

Apex offers account sizes from 25K up to 300K (and larger via scaling), and the size you choose changes the math more than the dollar amount suggests:

Account sizeTypical target (5-8%)Typical drawdownTypical sale price
25K$1,250-$2,000$1,250-$2,000$20-$35
50K$2,500-$4,000$2,250-$2,500$30-$70
100K$5,000-$8,000$4,500-$5,000$60-$120
150K$7,500-$12,000$6,750-$7,500$90-$180
300K$15,000-$24,000$13,500-$15,000$180-$350

Here is the trap hidden in that table: larger accounts do not have proportionally larger targets. A 50K account with a 5% target asks for $2,500; a 100K account with a 5% target asks for $5,000 — same percentage, double the dollars. If you are a new trader, a 50K eval is not "half as hard" as a 100K eval; it is the same difficulty at half the dollar stakes, which makes it the better learning vehicle. Upgrade size only when your percentage consistency is proven, not because the bigger number looks better in your bio.

ITD vs EOD: Which Structure Fits Your Style?

FactorITD (Intraday Trailing)EOD (End-of-Day)
Drawdown measuredContinuously during the sessionAt the daily close
Intraday dipsCan terminate the accountAllowed if you close back inside
Minimum trading daysNoneNone
Access window30 days30 days
Best forScalpers with hard stopsIntraday-swing traders who need midday room
Biggest riskA midday spike through the trailRed closes that drain the balance

If you trade with hard stops and never let a trade run against you intraday, ITD costs you nothing and gives you the cleanest rules. If you occasionally hold through midday noise (waiting for a setup to work), EOD's close-based measurement is the difference between a bad day and a dead account. Match the measurement to your behavior — do not try to change your behavior to fit the measurement.

Products, Platforms, and Instruments

Fees and Billing on Evaluations

A Worked Example: Passing a 50K ITD Evaluation

Let's run the numbers on a concrete case so the framework is not abstract. Say you buy a 50K ITD evaluation with a 5% target ($2,500) and a $2,500 trailing drawdown, on a 30-day window.

Notice what this plan never does: it never risks more than $125 per trade, never trades after a -1% day, and never tries to finish in one heroic session. That is not timidity — it is the math. A trader who risks 0.5% per trade with the same targets is one bad streak away from the drawdown; a trader who risks 1% per trade is statistically guaranteed to breach within 30 days. The eval rewards the trader who is still alive on day 29, not the trader who was most aggressive on day 3.

When to Trade: Sessions and Conditions

On a 30-day evaluation, when you trade is a strategic decision:

How to Actually Pass: A Strategy Framework

Passing an Apex eval is a math problem with three constraints: hit the target, stay inside the drawdown, and (on ITD) never let intraday equity swing through the floor. Here is the framework we use on every challenge we pass for clients:

Step 1: Reverse-engineer the numbers before you trade

Write down four numbers: account size, profit target, drawdown limit, and your daily loss budget. If the target is $2,500 and the drawdown is $2,500, then risking 0.5% per trade with a plan to bank 2-3% per week gives you a realistic 3-5 week pass window (on 30-day accounts, that means trading from week one — you cannot afford to "feel out" the market for two weeks).

Step 2: Size for the drawdown, not the target

The correct risk per trade on an Apex eval is whatever keeps your worst realistic losing streak inside the drawdown. For most accounts that is 0.25%-0.5% risk per trade. Sizing for the target (e.g., "I need $500/day so I'll risk $300/trade") is how traders blow evals in week one.

Step 3: Bank the target in chunks, not one hero trade

Even though there is no consistency rule, do not attempt the whole target in one session. Target 1-2% per day. On an ITD account, that keeps your intraday trail shallow; on an EOD account, it keeps your daily closes green. Compounding small days is both safer and faster than gambling one big day, because one big day requires big size, and big size is what breaches drawdowns.

Step 4: Set a daily kill-switch

Decide before the open how much you will lose in a day before you stop. For ITD accounts this is your intraday drawdown minus a buffer; for EOD accounts it is a self-imposed limit (e.g., 1% of account). The trader who stops at -1% today gets to trade tomorrow; the trader who "waits for the close" on an ITD account often does not have a tomorrow.

Eval vs Funded: The Rules Change After You Pass

A mistake traders make constantly is treating the evaluation rules as the only rules. The moment you pass, a second rulebook activates — the Performance Account rules — and it is different from the eval rules in three important ways:

The practical consequence: the discipline that passes the eval — small size, hard stops, early stops — is the same discipline that keeps a funded account alive and paying. Traders who "relax" after passing are the ones who burn through resets and new evals. Treat the pass as a promotion to a harder league, not a vacation.

The Most Common Reasons Apex Evals Fail

FAQ

Q: How many trading days do I need to pass an Apex evaluation in 2026?

A: ITD and EOD evaluations have no minimum trading days — you can pass as soon as you hit the profit target. Legacy evaluations require a minimum of 7 trading days.

Q: Does Apex have a daily loss limit?

A: ITD accounts enforce an intraday trailing drawdown that functions as a daily loss limit. Legacy accounts historically had no separate daily loss limit, just the trailing maximum drawdown.

Q: What is the profit target on an Apex evaluation?

A: Targets range from about 5% to 8% of account size depending on the account and promo. The exact target is shown at checkout — check it before buying.

Q: Can I pass Apex in one day?

A: On ITD and EOD structures, yes — no minimum trading days. On legacy accounts, no — 7 days required.

Q: What happens after I pass?

A: You pay a one-time activation fee, activate your Performance Account within 7 calendar days, and start trading funded. Payouts then follow the PA rules: minimum qualifying days, a $500 minimum payout, 50% consistency, and a cap of 6 payouts per account.

Q: Can I use an EA on the Apex evaluation?

A: Automated trading is generally allowed, but copy trading is restricted and arbitrage/latency strategies are prohibited. Confirm the current policy for your account type.

Q: Can I reset a failed Apex evaluation?

A: No — new-style evaluations have no resets. Fail and you buy a new one, which is why buying on an 80-90% discount sale matters so much.

Q: Do I need to trade every day on my Apex evaluation?

A: No minimum days on ITD/EOD structures, but the 30-day access window means every idle day is a spent day. The safest plan is to trade most sessions with small size, banking green days early so the clock is not your enemy.

Q: What is the best Apex account size for a beginner?

A: A 25K or 50K evaluation. The difficulty is the same percentage-wise as larger accounts, but the dollar stakes are lower, so mistakes cost less while you learn the rules. Upgrade size only after you have proven you can pass consistently.

Q: Can I pass Apex with only one or two trades per day?

A: Yes — quality over quantity works on Apex because there is no consistency rule on the eval. One well-managed setup per day at 0.25-0.5% risk is a perfectly viable path to the target, and it keeps your drawdown trail shallow.

Q: What happens if I hit the profit target but breach the drawdown the same day?

A: The rules are checked as a whole, not in sequence. If your equity trails through the drawdown at any point (intraday on ITD) before the day's end (EOD), the account terminates — even if you were profitable overall. Never keep trading after you are close to the target; lock in the pass the moment both conditions are satisfied.

Q: Do bigger accounts have easier or harder rules?

A: The rules scale proportionally — same target percentages, same drawdown percentages — so difficulty is roughly constant. The real difference is dollars: bigger accounts have bigger targets and bigger drawdowns, so the same 0.5% risk per trade moves a smaller percentage of the target. Most traders find mid-size accounts (50K) the best balance of cost, target size, and psychological pressure.

Don't Want to Figure Out the Rules the Hard Way?

We pass Apex evaluations for traders every week — ITD, EOD, and legacy, any account size, at a flat rate, with a free test available. You keep your edge; we handle the evaluation and the rulebook.

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The Bottom Line

Apex evaluations in 2026 are faster, cheaper, and structurally clearer than the old model — no consistency rule, no minimum trading days on the new structures, and one-time fees with huge discounts. The catch is that the new structures are also less forgiving: ITD accounts punish intraday sloppiness, EOD accounts punish red closes, and neither offers a reset when you fail.

Read your exact account type at checkout, size for the drawdown rather than the target, start trading on day one, and treat the 30-day window as a sprint with a budget. Do that, and Apex remains one of the most passable evaluations in the entire prop firm industry.

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