Apex Trader Funding: The 30% Rules Explained (And How to Get Paid)

If you’ve ever made it through the minefield of trading a funded Apex account — passed the combine, traded smart, hit your goals — only to get hit with that dreaded payout denied email, you’re not alone. It’s a gut-punch that many traders experience, and it usually comes down to one thing:

Apex’s 30% rules.

Yes, rules — plural. These two misunderstood policies are responsible for more denied payouts than anything else in the funded trading world. The good news? They’re not as scary as they sound. And once you understand how they work, you’ll be well on your way to going from denied, denied, denied to approved, approved, approved.

Let’s break them down.

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Rule #1: The 30% Consistency Rule

This rule kicks in when you’re requesting a payout. According to Apex:

“No single trading day should account for more than 30% of the total net profit balance accumulated since the last approved payout (or since the start of trading if no payout has been made).”

In plain English: if you’ve made $10,000 in profit on your funded account, no single day can be responsible for more than $3,000 of that. Otherwise, your payout request will be denied — even if your overall performance is strong.

Real Example:

Let’s say you grow a $50,000 account to $60,000. That’s $10,000 in profit. Multiply that by 0.30, and you get $3,000. If any one of your trading days netted more than $3,000, you’re over the limit.

What happens if you break this rule? Your payout request is denied — but you don’t lose your account. You just need to keep trading and grow your total net profit until that big day becomes less than 30% of the new total.

It’s all about spreading out your gains.

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Rule #2: The 30% Unrealized Drawdown Rule

This one’s a little trickier — and it has to do with open trades, not closed ones. According to Apex:

“Open trades should not exceed a 30% unrealized drawdown from the account’s profit balance.”

This rule scales with your progress and has three stages based on how much profit you’ve made.

Stage 1: Profit Below the Buffer (Under $2,600 on a 50K Account)

You can’t have an open trade go more than $750 into the red (that’s 30% of the $2,500 trailing threshold).

Stage 2: Profit Between Buffer and 2x Buffer ($2,600–$5,200)

Now you’re allowed a drawdown of 30% of your daily starting balance. For example:

• Start at $53,000 = $900 max drawdown
• Start at $54,000 = $1,200 max drawdown
• Start at $55,000 = $1,500 max drawdown

Stage 3: Profit Above 2x Buffer (Over $5,200 profit)

Congrats — the drawdown cap jumps to 50%! So if you’re sitting at $60,000 (a $10,000 gain), your max unrealized drawdown is now $5,000.

If you break this rule, your payout request will also be denied, but again, you keep your account. You just have to prove you can follow the rules in the next payout cycle.

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Why These Rules Exist

These rules aren’t random. They’re Apex’s way of filtering out gamblers and rewarding consistent traders. The company doesn’t want a single lucky day to skew the risk model — they’re in the business of backing disciplined traders.

Yes, it’s frustrating when you don’t get paid after what felt like a great run. But these guidelines ensure the long-term stability of the prop firm model. Without them, Apex and similar firms wouldn’t survive.

And if these rules don’t suit your style? That’s okay. Not every firm is right for every trader. Shop around, know the rules, and pick the one that fits your approach.

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Final Thoughts

Understanding the 30% consistency and drawdown rules at Apex can save you serious heartache. The key is to:

• Set a payout goal early
• Reverse-engineer your daily max profit
• Monitor your drawdown in real-time
• Stay disciplined

These aren’t gotcha rules. They’re guardrails designed to keep funded traders in the game — and help Apex keep paying out the ones who deserve it.

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