Prop Firm Reviews
A side-by-side look at published evaluation rules, daily loss limits, drawdown types, profit splits, and payout terms for two currently operating funded-account firms, pulled from each firm's own materials and recent independent coverage.
FTMO (forex/CFD evaluations) and Apex Trader Funding (futures evaluations) are two of the best-known prop trading firms still actively accepting new evaluations as of this writing. They aren't direct substitutes — FTMO funds forex and CFD accounts, Apex funds futures accounts — but they're frequently compared because both use a pay-for-an-evaluation, pass-and-get-funded model. This page lays out what each firm's own published rules and fee schedules say, plus what's publicly documented about complaints or disputes. It is not a recommendation to use either firm.
| Category | FTMO | Apex Trader Funding |
|---|---|---|
| Market | Forex, indices, commodities, crypto CFDs | Futures |
| Evaluation structure | 1-Step or 2-Step challenge | Single-phase evaluation ("PA" program) |
| Daily loss limit | 3% (1-Step) or 5% (2-Step) of account balance | None during the evaluation; a tiered dollar limit applies after funding (e.g. $500 on a 25K account, scaling up with account size) |
| Max drawdown type | 2-Step: static 10% from initial balance. 1-Step: trailing, recalculated daily from prior close | Trailing (Intraday Trail) or end-of-day trailing (EOD Trail), depending on account type, until it locks at a fixed threshold |
| Profit target (evaluation) | 10% (Phase 1), then 5% (Phase 2) on the 2-Step; 10% single target on the 1-Step | Varies by account size; no fixed percentage published, evaluated in dollar terms |
| Profit split at funding | 80% to trader (90% starting split on the 1-Step's "Best Day" structure) | 100% of the first $25,000 in profit per account, then 90% to the trader after that |
| Payout speed (once approved) | 1–2 business days, no firm-side withdrawal fee | Automated processing, typically 24–48 hours |
| Consistency rule | Applies on some account types; check current account terms | No consistency rule during the evaluation; a 50% single-day profit cap applies on funded Performance Accounts |
Sources: FTMO trading objectives and conditions coverage (PropJournal, brokeranalysis.com, Lune) and Apex Trader Funding rules coverage (QuantCrawler, traderssecondbrain.com), cross-referenced August 2026. FTMO's and Apex's own rules pages did not return readable content through this run's automated fetch (both are JavaScript-rendered), so figures here are drawn from multiple independent, recently updated third-party breakdowns rather than the firms' raw HTML. Confirm exact current terms on ftmo.com and apextraderfunding.com before paying for an evaluation, since prop firm rules change frequently.
FTMO is a Czech Republic-based firm and one of the longest-operating names in the retail prop trading space, funding forex, index, commodity, and crypto CFD accounts. As of this writing it appears to still be actively accepting new evaluations.
Publicly available trader feedback on review platforms is largely positive on FTMO paying out, with most documented complaints centered on rule interpretation, spread conditions, and account closures after multiple payouts rather than allegations that the firm refuses to pay. That is a summary of what multiple third-party review sources report, not a claim this site has independently verified.
Apex is a U.S.-based futures prop firm and one of the larger players in that specific niche by evaluation volume. As of this writing it appears to still be actively accepting new evaluations, having restructured parts of its funded-account program during 2025–2026.
Documented dispute: A civil case, Riot v. Apex Trader Funding Inc., was filed in 2024 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas (case 1:24-cv-01557); Apex has filed counterclaims and the matter is an individual dispute, not a class action, and was unresolved as of this run's research. Independent trader-community sources also document a 2024–2025 pattern of trader complaints about payout denials and account bans, and Apex's public Discord server was reportedly closed to new messages during that period. Apex's public materials describe changes made in 2026 intended to reduce discretionary payout denials. None of this is confirmed first-hand by Trading Habits; it is a summary of publicly reported, multiple-source coverage, presented so readers can look into it further before paying an evaluation fee.