Apex Trader Funding - The Most Controversial Large Prop Firm
Apex has quite the history. As of 2026, they’ve completely revamped their program, and one of the main selling points is “no more payout denials.” Yes, Apex has been such a historically bad firm that doing the bare minimum (not scamming people) is their marketing strategy. Apex traders have been so mistreated that they are grateful to hear that they won’t be getting scammed anymore. That’s quite the relationship. And, of course, the people who denied the fact that Apex had massive payout-denial issues are now the same ones pushing the new “no more payout denials” narrative. So, if you want to use Apex’s new plans, then go ahead. But, just remember that all of what you see below this is from Apex. And, if you pass the evaluation, Apex’s activation fee makes them more expensive than other firms. Apex is at least a decent beginner firm. Then again, you could just learn those same lessons by simulating the evaluation process on a FREE sim account here.
“I tried to tear them apart and I couldn’t.”
That’s a direct quote from John Skelton in reference to trying to find any way to deny payouts from (3) traders who did nothing wrong. More on that below.
Sourced directly from COURT documents (the document this came from is publicly available, and I’ve attached a screenshot of it below this section).
Blaming their traders and refusing to do the right thing
On June 12th, 2025, there was a connection issue across the top prop firms that caused MAJOR losses for traders (entire accounts wiped). MyFundedFutures and several of the other top firms reversed the losses of everyone whose accounts were negatively affected, yet Apex didn’t do anything. It’s exactly what they did in 2024 when traders experienced the worst connection issues that firms had ever seen. In fact, Apex actually BLAMED the traders for this.
Forcing traders to VLOG themselves while trading just to get a payout!
Apex has sent out hundreds (thousands?) of emails forcing traders who requested payouts to vlog themselves trading just to get their payouts (as well as far more than this). While other firms implement software to make payouts faster, Apex finds ways to deny payouts.
The Apex profitable trader ban
In May of 2025, Apex banned an enormous amount of their profitable traders.
Psychological warfare
Posting the video here will put me in legal trouble, but you can search and find it. The CEO (or whatever he is) was recorded in a private Zoom call talking about how they use emails and other tactics on traders who are doing well to try and mess them up. Sounds like a joke, but it’s not. I won’t help you find it, but it’s out there. It was recorded and published against the CEO’s permission in what was supposed to be a private zoom meeting.
Want to know why their Discord is closed to public chat?
They treat their traders so poorly that my video in June of 2024 made them shut down their entire Discord server. Video here. As of 3/27/26, you STILL are unable to send any messages on that server, and there seems to be no plans to open it back up to the public. Ask yourself why the relationship between a firm and its traders is so unbelievably poor that their Discord server was shut down. You don’t see that at any of the other bigger firms.
The payout-denial problem (plus way more, which is below this)
Apex approves payouts most of the time, but, out of all the top firms, they are without a doubt the most controversial and unreliable. They pay out more than any other firm, and they also deny payouts more than any other top firm. There’s probably a 98% chance that you get your payout approved if you follow all of the payout rules (which again are far more complicated, restrictive, and difficult compared to many firms). But, to the 2% who get denied, they certainly wish that they had just used a different firm.
I have personally been involved in bringing attention to traders who were denied extremely large amounts of money in order to get Apex to pay them ($800,000 just between two of the top ones!)
2 people on my Prop Firm Center Discord have been denied payouts by Apex just while I was creating this page. Want to know Apex’s reason for denying the payout they rightfully earned? They called it “Account Investigation.” WHAT??!?
This is a picture of an email that an enormous amount of Apex traders received after being denied payouts. Most were able to get their payouts after complying with these directions, but this is still insane.
This tactic is just one tool used by Apex to delay rightfully earned payouts to traders.
Apex admitting to doing everything they can to try and deny payouts to traders who did NOTHING wrong.
Taken from a publicly available document in an ongoing court battle.
The Apex Profitable Trader Ban of 2025
In May, Apex banned a huge amount of their traders who were getting payouts.
On top of that, Apex has found new ways to keep you from getting your payouts, banning users for any reason they can come up with, and now forcing traders to do even more work to get their payouts. The screenshot I’ve included here is from the new wave of payout denials, linked below.
https://x.com/CoachDBA/status/1928241251142287847
Here’s a quote from a member of my Prop Firm Discord server: “I got the ban email yesterday morning, saying they're monitoring me for a live account. My last interaction with them was when they denied my payouts last May for "scheming and scamming." So which is it? I'm a cheater or I'm good enough for live?”
Just use a better firm.
There are so many good options now. Stop using a firm where you have to wonder if you’ll get your payout. And, if there’s a connection or platform issue, would you rather use a firm that will fix it or use one that will blame you? Sure, the 90% off deals are enticing, but guess what happens if you actually pass the account? You pay an additional activation fee that makes them more expensive than other firms. Use a free sim account until you’re ready for firms.