Apex Trader Funding vs Topstep

The main difference is how the loss floor moves

Apex Trader Funding offers one-step futures evaluations with either intraday or end-of-day trailing drawdown. A trailing floor is the loss boundary that rises as your account gains value. Apex Intraday follows unrealized gains in real time; Apex EOD updates from closing balances. Both have 30-calendar-day deadlines and no minimum trading days. Their profit targets are $1,500 for 25K, $3,000 for 50K, $6,000 for 100K, and $9,000 for 150K.

Topstep’s regular Trading Combine uses an end-of-day trailing floor that locks at the starting balance. It has no minimum time requirement to pass, but its monthly fee rebills until you pass or cancel. Topstep Labs also offers fixed-floor and larger end-of-day trailing evaluations with 90-day lifespans. These are paid evaluations on simulated accounts. Most traders do not pass, and the fee is usually lost when they fail. Funded accounts are also simulated at most firms; passing is not the same as receiving a live account.

Compare the fee model before the account size

As listed in October 2026, Topstep Standard costs $49 per month for 50K, $99 for 100K, and $199 for 150K, followed by a $149 activation fee per Express Funded Account earned. The No Activation Fee Path costs $95, $149, and $229 per month for those sizes, with $0 activation. Monthly rebilling means the total evaluation fee depends on how long you take.

Apex offers 25K, 50K, 100K, and 150K evaluations, but the pages we read do not state their purchase fees or whether those fees are one-time or recurring. As listed in October 2026, Intraday PA activation costs $89 one-time. EOD activation is one-time and does not renew, but its amount is not stated. All-In variants have $0 PA activation. Activate within 7 calendar days of an official pass.

As listed in October 2026, Topstep Labs Static costs $75 one-time for 25K or $149 one-time for 50K. Freedom costs $499 one-time for 250K. Both have free funded activation and 90-day lifespans. There is no Apex fee available for a like-for-like price comparison. Apex purchase fees cannot be refunded, transferred, or changed; most Topstep fees are non-refundable.

Open profits can raise your loss floor

Apex Intraday drawdown allowances are $1,000 on 25K, $2,000 on 50K, $3,000 on 100K, and $4,000 on 150K. There is no evaluation daily loss limit. The floor follows peak equity, including open profits, and never falls. If a position gains value and then reverses, the higher floor remains even though you never banked that gain.

Apex EOD recalculates its floor once per trading day from the highest closing balance. Its daily loss limits are $500, $1,000, $1,500, and $2,000 across those sizes. The published 50K example has $2,000 maximum drawdown; the pages read do not state a complete EOD drawdown schedule. End-of-day updating avoids raising the floor solely because of a temporary intraday profit peak.

Topstep’s regular Combine allows $2,000 maximum loss on 50K, $3,000 on 100K, and $4,500 on 150K. Its floor rises with end-of-day balances and locks at the starting balance. Loss-limit monitoring still includes open losses: touching the maximum loss limit triggers a violation and immediate liquidation. An optional daily loss limit instead forces a session break, not a rule violation; a checkout-selected limit cannot be changed later.

Topstep Labs Static has a floor that never moves: the 50K version has a $2,000 maximum loss limit, $1,000 mandatory daily limit, and $4,000 profit target. Freedom has $10,000 end-of-day trailing drawdown and a $5,000 mandatory daily limit. Apex’s Rithmic and Wealthcharts Intraday evaluations stop trailing at the target profit balance; its Tradovate rule says trailing continues indefinitely. Confirm the platform-specific rule before choosing an evaluation.

Payout eligibility is separate from passing

Apex Intraday Performance Accounts, or PAs, require at least 5 qualifying trading days before a payout request. The minimum request is $500. Approved PA payouts receive a 100% split, but a request is automatically denied if the balance falls below the required minimum afterward. Intraday PAs close after 6 payouts; another evaluation is required for a new PA. The pages read do not state EOD payout timing.

Topstep states that funded traders can request payouts in as little as 3 days, but its Standard payout path requires 5 winning days of at least $150. These statements describe different eligibility wording; confirm your payout path rather than assuming the shorter wait applies. The listed split is 90% to the trader on qualifying payouts. After the first Express Funded Account payout, its loss floor becomes $0.

Apex’s separate Live Prop Trading Program pays a 90% trader split, permits daily requests, and sends approved profits to payment processing within 48 hours. Those are not the Intraday PA payout rules. The published Topstep facts do not state processing time, and the Labs facts do not state a separate payout split.

Check consistency and unstated permissions

Neither firm’s pages read state news-trading, weekend-holding, or EA and automated-trading permissions. Missing wording is not permission. Confirm each before relying on a strategy that trades news, holds through weekends, or uses a bot.

Apex EOD has no evaluation consistency rule. Apex Intraday PA rules prohibit a single profitable day from accounting for 50% or more of profit since the last approved payout. Topstep’s regular Combine limits the best day to a Consistency Target percentage, but that percentage is not stated in the pages we read. Both Labs programs list 55% consistency targets.

Apex prohibits passing evaluations by hedging them against each other. An Intraday PA closes unless it records at least 2 days with $50 net profit within 30 consecutive calendar days. Apex permits up to 20 active PAs across account types; Topstep permits up to 5 active Express Funded Accounts. Topstep Express traders must also follow CME holiday schedules.