tr8d3r 

TopStep and E2T gives you real account straight after you passed your evaluation. Apex also setting you up with real account after 3 months.

Well, you are maybe going to think I am terribly pedantic but I don't believe this is quite right, actually.

It may just be a little out of date.

I think TopStep no longer give you a real account straight away, now: they keep you on a demo one until they decide you are ready to be moved.

E2T give you a choice of which you want: sim with payout for one more "round", or live right away.

With Apex ... ach: I don't even want to talk about Apex. Increasingly there are payment problems there, and I begrudge them the publicity.

josh 

It looks very fake. Well, "fake" may not be the word, more like, "scammy" and clearly a pay-to-play site. 1. See "Brokers --> Value-added services". It's a classic "we'll 'legitimize' you as a broker if you pay us." It's the kind of site that pops up when you search for "best skateboard" and see several "top 10" sites. It's effectively an advertisement. 2. Their name is "The Financial Commission". lol. 3. They have a NYC phone number, a Hong Kong PLC address and a London trademark address. Not exactly red flags, but, not exactly inspiring my confidence in anything. 4. See "Our Members." Ever heard of any of them? I haven't. Maybe you have. Shrug. 5. Do an ICANN lookup on the domain. Private GoDaddy registration. Some companies (like topstep, atf, etc.) may themselves have private registrations. But why would a .org, "for the public" kind of service have a private registration?

Ok some good points.

I dug a little further and looked up "Finacom Management Ltd" which is their UK address. Listed on companies house as a dormant company, and you can see the names of the people who own it.

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/09948250

Looks very dodgy to me.

VirtualMark 

I've been reading reviews of Apex, and one of the negative ones pointed out that they have been put on a warning list by the Financial Commission. This sounds really bad, can anyone shed any light on this or what it means? Apparently due to a high number of complaints against them as far as I know. https://financialcommission.org/warning-list/ For some reason the actual Apex page on there comes up in Russian, but the translation says about fraud and deception against traders! Anyone know what this is about? https://financialcommission.org/ru/2022/05/23/scam-alert-apex-trader-funding-added-to-warning-list/

That financial commission website is a fake. It's basically like a Trustpilot and they extort companies to remove bad reviews. On their about page it says "The Financial Commission is not a governmental regulatory body and does not purport to be. It is not licensed by any regulator."

Apex is one of the largest futures prop firms, so it's no surprise that some people have bad experiences, most traders lose money. Pull up TrustPilot and even the most reputable companies in the world will have some number of 1 stars.

The fake part about the website is that it's designed to appear like it is a government entity. It's similar to when I first registered my trading company LLC. There was tons of official looking mail for paying fees for registering the business, posters, etc. The envelopes, company names, everything were made to look and fool people into thinking it was from the State or IRS. But actually it was just a bunch of private scammy businesses scraping new company registrations and trying to fool people into paying like $500 to be listed on their "directory website" that no one has ever heard of.

planetkill 

That financial commission website is a fake. It's basically like a Trustpilot and they extort companies to remove bad reviews. On their about page it says "The Financial Commission is not a governmental regulatory body and does not purport to be. It is not licensed by any regulator." Apex is one of the largest futures prop firms, so it's no surprise that some people have bad experiences, most traders lose money. Pull up TrustPilot and even the most reputable companies in the world will have some number of 1 stars. The fake part about the website is that it's designed to appear like it is a government entity. It's similar to when I first registered my trading company LLC. There was tons of official looking mail for paying fees for registering the business, posters, etc. The envelopes, company names, everything were made to look and fool people into thinking it was from the State or IRS. But actually it was just a bunch of private scammy businesses scraping new company registrations and trying to fool people into paying like $500 to be listed on their "directory website" that no one has ever heard of.

I think what worries me with Apex and the bad reviews, is that they actively ban people and close their accounts for leaving them. They also fight to get any bad reviews taken down on Trustpilot. You can view this by looking through their stats on there, they've had hundreds of bad ones removed.

And the good ones look suspicious too. There's a ton by people with just a single review, and they do it because they're apparently over the moon by being allowed to buy an account lol. These aren't people that have been paid out, they are giving a 5 star review merely for the honour of being allowed to buy an Apex account.

Personally, when I write a 5 star review it's because that company has done something above and beyond. I don't jump on Trustpilot and write a good review for a shop after I bought a chocolate bar and some milk in there.


So overall it just feels like they're trying to cover something up. I might be wrong, but by the looks of their rules, they basically have any reason they choose to deny you a payout. And they accept no responsibility if there are problems with the trading software, you have to accept these conditions to trade with them.

VirtualMark 

I think what worries me with Apex and the bad reviews, is that they actively ban people and close their accounts for leaving them. They also fight to get any bad reviews taken down on Trustpilot. You can view this by looking through their stats on there, they've had hundreds of bad ones removed. And the good ones look suspicious too. There's a ton by people with just a single review, and they do it because they're apparently over the moon by being allowed to buy an account lol. These aren't people that have been paid out, they are giving a 5 star review merely for the honour of being allowed to buy an Apex account. Personally, when I write a 5 star review it's because that company has done something above and beyond. I don't jump on Trustpilot and write a good review for a shop after I bought a chocolate bar and some milk in there. So overall it just feels like they're trying to cover something up. I might be wrong, but by the looks of their rules, they basically have any reason they choose to deny you a payout. And they accept no responsibility if there are problems with the trading software, you have to accept these conditions to trade with them.

Not sure how relevant this is, but by looking at this information from Reddit, Apex seems to be extremely hard to pass their evaluations:

https://www.reddit.com/r/options/comments/1848ldi/apex_trader_funding_is_a_scam/

(Please delete my post if I broke any rules regarding posting public links here. Thank you.)

lightsun47 

Not sure how relevant this is, but by looking at this information from Reddit, Apex seems to be extremely hard to pass their evaluations: https://www.reddit.com/r/options/comments/1848ldi/apex_trader_funding_is_a_scam/ (Please delete my post if I broke any rules regarding posting public links here. Thank you.)

Passing any simulation prop firm challenge is tough, the live drawdown on apex doesn't help it. I think there are 100s of people here (myself included) that have passed their evaluation, however. So it is difficult but not impossible

jlabtrades 

Passing any simulation prop firm challenge is tough, the live drawdown on apex doesn't help it. I think there are 100s of people here (myself included) that have passed their evaluation, however. So it is difficult but not impossible

Yeah the trick is just to size down and take your time with it. Easy to pass with smaller size.

The problems start when people overleverage, go +$1500 in a trade then let it come back down. Then have a loser next, and suddenly they've blown the account and blame Apex.

That being said, their drawdown is pretty awful. EOD makes a lot more sense to me. You can blow an Apex account without losing a single penny due to their drawdown. You can even blow it and still be profitable. Clearly the rule is just there to trip people up and give Apex more subscription fees.

Apex seem to have changed some of their rules. Correct me if I'm wrong.

A friend of mine recently signed up for a PA account, paid the fee, then was presented with a screen they had to agree to, AFTER paying.

This new contract had a lot of extra rules, and states that stop losses must always be placed, and there is a max risk/reward ratio, that trades with just a few ticks and large stops are prohibited etc. Is this new?

They have also updated their site to say new staff are monitoring PA accounts, as if it's going to help us traders. It seems to me that they are actively making it harder to get payouts, and have employed more people to scrutinise our trades.

Thoughts?

And after a quick read of their rules I see that their help centre has been updated 4 days ago to include yet more rules, this really rings alarm bells:

Quoting 

Defined System with Set Rules: Traders must have a defined strategy or system with set rules for entries, stops, targets, and trailing. They will follow their rules consistently and with discipline. Traders will use a normal day-to-day system that is set, tracked, and explainable upon request. Purposely and irresponsibly blowing multiple company accounts in an attempt for a “lottery style lucky windfall” is not the purpose or the intent of Apex Trader Funding. If you were funding a trader, you wouldn’t want your funds traded by an inconsistent trader who blows through many accounts. Apex reserves the right to request detailed and explanation as to the exact strategy or system being traded and to show marked up charts based on entries selected by Apex to show that these rules of entries, targets, stops, trails etc. are consistency followed day to day on trades. Apex also reserves the right to request a live Zoom session to view, monitor and assure compliance during a trading session or sessions. Or, to request any number of days of recorded trading sessions showing the entries, with commentary as to why the entry was taken and step by step showing and providing commentary and explanation as to how it follows the rules of your strategy or system, tools or indicators used, platforms, and contract amounts, showing consistency with all of the other trade entries from that day and prior days / weeks. Failure to provide this information or recordings can result in closure and forfeiture of non live, non real money, Simulated demo balances in the Apex owned PA Account. Bracket orders- placing both a long and short limit order to fill depending on the breakout direction, without a predetermined directional reason to enter only one way due to rules of a system is not allowed and any simulated amounts will be removed from PA account. Multiple offenses to this rule will result in full closure and forfeit of the account. The same goes for DCA- Dollar Cost Averaging, meaning entering a trade, it goes against you into a negative PnL, but yet you continue to make multiple entries in the same direction as it is going against you, this is prohibited and will forfeit the account. Morning open trade with limits in both directions. Profit targets of very small ticks but with huge stop losses or no stop losses is prohibited. Any purposed trading strategy with disregard to "blowing" an Apex Account is prohibited and will be closed and forfeited. Stops must be used at all times and PA Account must be traded as if you were trading your own real live money account, not with disregard, or purposed high rish trading, due to being accounts owned by Apex. Only true , disciplined, consistent trading systems, with set rules of consistent entry, profit targets, initial stops, and trailing will be considered for funding and potential payout. All other strategies, systems, scams, schemes, attempts at windfall trading, or other attempts to work the system will be disqualfied and can result in full closure and forfeit. Contract consistency must be maintained at all times. Raising the amount of contract size is accepted, expected and understsood and the balance and cushion amount builds. Or lowering contracts as the balance comes down, due to losing days or withdrawals. But starting off in a PA with large number of contracts for windfall days, attempting to overcome the Trailing Threshold, risking blowing through the account, with attempt, intent, and disregard, then lowering contracts movign forward will be disqualified. Customer will be required to maintain the same level of contracts over an additional ten day period to potentially qualify for a withdrawal, or the simulted profit balances from those days will be removed. For example starting off the first few days in a PA Account using 7-10 Contracts to go for lucky big days, and have profitable days, then go down to only 2-3 contracts to ride out until withdrawal request dates will be denied and disqualified. Contract consistency must be maintained and managed or the non consistent windfall days will be removed at the sole discretion of the Company

It's just a mess, so many rules to worry about. Rather than "just profit and do well in the market" which is hard enough. And having to explain my system? Er... I buy when I think it's going to go up and sell when I think it's going down.

They have also changed the wording - "potentially qualify for a withdrawal" and "simulated funds", basically even less chance that you'll get paid.

They reserve the right to set up a zoom meeting with you!? Or make you record your trading and explain each trade? Wow, I'm done with this awful company.

Anyone here been requested to do a zoom meeting!?

VirtualMark 

Apex seem to have changed some of their rules. Correct me if I'm wrong. A friend of mine recently signed up for a PA account, paid the fee, then was presented with a screen they had to agree to, AFTER paying. This new contract had a lot of extra rules, and states that stop losses must always be placed, and there is a max risk/reward ratio, that trades with just a few ticks and large stops are prohibited etc. Is this new? They have also updated their to say new staff are monitoring PA accounts, as if it's going to help us traders. It seems to me that they are actively making it harder to get payouts, and have employed more people to scrutinise our trades. Thoughts?

I can't find anything about the 3:1-rule on their official homepage, while this topic is discussed in their discord-channel Apex always says, that this Apex-discord-channel is not their official site, but announcements like that are made there. Confusing. Yes, it seems, that Apex increases the tools to stop you at the moment you start being successful continuously. Inviting with a 1-day-pass and then possibly killing you with tons of rules, which allegedly should help you is contradictory, not really credible nor trust-promoting.