Can you hold long and short positions at the same time on Apex?

What changed in March 2026

Under Apex's legacy ruleset, two separate but related rules blocked hedging strategies. The No Hedging rule prohibited holding long and short positions simultaneously on the same or correlated instrument. The One Direction rule extended this to require that at any point in time, a trader could only hold positions in one direction, either long or short, never both.

Together, these rules made a wide range of legitimate trading strategies impossible on Apex. Pairs trading, spread trading, intraday hedging of a position against correlated risk, and any strategy that involved offsetting exposure within the same account were all prohibited. The community criticism of these rules was consistent and widespread: they were seen as unnecessarily restrictive for experienced traders and incompatible with strategies that had nothing to do with the exploitation Apex was trying to prevent.

The March 2026 4.0 restructure removed the One Direction rule from the 4.0 ruleset. It is listed explicitly in Apex's own 4.0 change log as a removed rule. Holding simultaneous long and short positions on the same instrument within a single 4.0 account is now permitted. This was one of the most impactful changes in the 4.0 launch for strategy-diverse traders.

What hedging is still prohibited on 4.0

The removal of the One Direction rule does not make all hedging strategies compliant. Two specific forms of hedging remain clearly prohibited, and a third area requires direct verification with Apex before executing.

News hedging

Placing orders on both sides of the market in anticipation of a news event, with the intent of profiting from the directional move regardless of which way the market breaks, remains prohibited on all account types. This is sometimes called a straddle or bracket-news strategy. The intent is to have both a long and a short live at the same time around a catalyst, so that whichever side moves first generates a profit while the other is stopped out.

Apex's prohibited activities page lists this explicitly. You can trade during news events using your normal directional strategy. What you cannot do is exploit the binary outcome of a news event by holding simultaneous opposing positions as a mechanism for capturing the breakout in either direction.

Cross-account hedging

Hedging across multiple Apex accounts simultaneously is prohibited on all account types. You cannot run a long position on one Apex account and a short position on another Apex account on the same instrument at the same time. The 20-account limit is designed for parallel same-direction trading and copy trading, not for creating a net-neutral position across accounts. This prohibition is actively enforced and applies regardless of whether the accounts are on the same or different platforms.

Correlated instrument hedging: verify before executing

The status of correlated instrument hedging on 4.0 accounts, for example holding a long ES and a short NQ simultaneously within the same account, is not clearly resolved in Apex's official documentation as of May 2026. Apex's Prohibited Activities page and the Hedging and Correlated Instruments Rule page both continue to state that hedging or offsetting positions across correlated instruments is not permitted. These pages have not been updated with 4.0-specific carve-outs. Until Apex explicitly confirms a change in this rule for 4.0 accounts, executing correlated hedge strategies carries compliance risk. Contact Apex support directly before running any multi-leg correlated strategy on a live account.

Legacy vs 4.0: a direct comparison

Legacy accounts are all evaluations purchased before March 1, 2026. They operate under the legacy rules indefinitely and cannot be converted to 4.0 accounts. If you hold a legacy account and want access to the 4.0 rule changes, you would need to purchase a new evaluation under the 4.0 model.

Practical implications for different trading styles

Same-instrument hedgers

Traders who use simultaneous long and short positions on the same contract for intraday risk management now have a clear path on 4.0 accounts. The One Direction rule removal is confirmed and applies to same-instrument within-account positions. Each leg requires its own bracket order at entry.

Pairs and spread traders

The removal of the One Direction rule opens a potential door to correlated instrument strategies on Apex 4.0 accounts. However, Apex's official Prohibited Activities page and Hedging and Correlated Instruments Rule page both continue to list correlated instrument hedging as prohibited as of May 2026. Some third-party sources interpret the 4.0 changes as extending to correlated instruments, but this is not confirmed by Apex's own published documentation. Traders planning ES/NQ or similar correlated pairs strategies should contact Apex support directly and obtain written confirmation before executing on a live account.

Intraday risk management

Traders who add a short position to cap the downside on an existing long while waiting for confirmation, using the same instrument, can now do this on 4.0 accounts. This was impossible under the legacy One Direction rule. The bracket order requirement applies to each individual entry within the position.

News traders

The news hedging prohibition requires clarity. You can trade through news events directionally. You can hold an existing position through a news release. What you cannot do is enter a pre-positioned straddle with the intent of capturing the breakout regardless of direction. The line is between normal directional trading that happens to occur around news, which is permitted, and an explicit strategy of exploiting the binary nature of the news outcome by holding both sides simultaneously, which is not.

Legacy account holders

If you are on a legacy account, none of the 4.0 rule changes apply to you. The No Hedging rule and the One Direction rule remain fully active on legacy accounts. To access 4.0 permissions, a new evaluation purchase is required.