Apex Trader Funding profit target explained: how it works, what counts, and how passing is confirmed.
A verified breakdown of the Apex Trader Funding profit target for EOD and Intraday evaluations, covering target amounts by account size, the 30-day time limit, what profit counts, the passing mechanic, and what happens after you reach it.
What the profit target actually is
The profit target is the minimum amount of net closed profit your evaluation account must reach for the challenge to be marked as passed. It is a single threshold, not a daily requirement. You do not need to hit a minimum every day. You need to accumulate enough closed profit to cross the target at any point within the 30-day access window, while keeping the account above the trailing drawdown threshold throughout.
The target applies equally to EOD and Intraday trail types. The same $3,000 target applies to a $50K EOD account and a $50K Intraday account. The drawdown model you choose changes how the threshold trails behind your balance, but it does not change the profit target amount. The full breakdown of how those drawdown models differ is in the Apex EOD vs Intraday guide.
One widespread misconception worth addressing immediately: many traders believe there is no time limit on the Apex evaluation. This applied to legacy accounts but not to 4.0 accounts. Both EOD and Intraday 4.0 evaluations have a strict 30-day access period. Missing it means starting over with a new purchase.
Profit target amounts by account size
All targets represent 6% of the account's starting balance. This ratio is consistent across all four sizes and both trail types. There is no size where the target is easier or harder as a percentage of the balance.
| Account size | Profit target | As % of balance | EOD max drawdown | Target-to-drawdown ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $25K | $1,500 | 6% | $1,000 | 1.5x drawdown |
| $50K | $3,000 | 6% | $2,000 | 1.5x drawdown |
| $100K | $6,000 | 6% | $3,000 | 2x drawdown |
| $150K | $9,000 | 6% | $4,000 | 2.25x drawdown |
The target-to-drawdown ratio is a useful planning metric. On the $25K and $50K accounts, you need to earn 1.5 times your maximum drawdown in profit to pass. On the $100K and $150K, that ratio increases. You must earn twice the drawdown (or more) to cross the target. This means the larger accounts demand proportionally more from your strategy relative to the risk you are allowed to carry.
What counts toward the profit target
Only closed profit and loss counts toward the profit target. Unrealized gains from open positions are not included in the calculation at any point during the session. A trade that is currently up $500 does not contribute $500 toward your target until it is closed.
This distinction matters most for traders who run wide targets and hold positions for extended periods. A position up $2,800 on a $50K account is not two trades away from passing. It is zero progress until the trade closes. If that position reverses and closes at breakeven, no progress was made toward the target regardless of what the unrealized P&L showed during the session.
The practical implication: your closed P&L at the end of each trading day is what Apex reviews, not your peak intraday balance. Trading sessions that produce large unrealized gains followed by reversals can feel productive while delivering no measurable progress toward the target.
Does the consistency rule apply during evaluation?
No. The 50% consistency rule does not apply during the evaluation phase at all. You can pass the entire evaluation in a single trading session with one large profitable day. There is no requirement that profit be spread across multiple days or that any single day remain below a percentage threshold. Consistency rules only apply on Performance Accounts, starting from your first payout request.
Does scaling apply during evaluation?
No. Contract limits are fixed throughout the evaluation and do not increase as your balance grows. A $50K evaluation allows 6 contracts from day one to the last day of the access period. Scaling only applies on Performance Accounts. This also means there is no DLL that scales during the evaluation. The EOD evaluation DLL is fixed at the amounts set at purchase: $500 on $25K, $1,000 on $50K, $1,500 on $100K, $2,000 on $150K.
The 30-day time limit: what it means in practice
Both EOD and Intraday 4.0 evaluations provide 30 consecutive calendar days of access from the date of purchase. The 30 days includes weekends and market holidays, so the number of actual trading sessions available is typically 20 to 22 depending on the month and any market closures within the window.
The 30-day period cannot be extended under any circumstances. There is no reset option on 4.0 accounts. There are no reset fees. If the access period expires before the profit target is reached, the evaluation closes permanently and the balance does not carry over. A new evaluation must be purchased at the full evaluation fee price to try again.
If you reach the profit target on the final day of your 30-day access period, the evaluation is still marked as passed. You still receive the full 7 calendar days to activate your Performance Account even though the evaluation itself has expired. The activation window runs from the moment the evaluation is marked as passed, not from the purchase date.
Platform-specific behaviour: Tradovate evaluations trail indefinitely
On Rithmic and WealthCharts evaluations, the trailing drawdown threshold stops moving once it reaches the profit target balance. For a $50K evaluation, the threshold locks when it reaches $53,000 (starting balance plus the $3,000 profit target). From that point, the threshold stays fixed for the remainder of the evaluation. This means a trader who builds early profit cannot be dragged back toward the threshold by subsequent losses beyond that lock point.
On Tradovate evaluations, the trailing drawdown does not lock. It continues to trail upward with every new peak balance for the entire 30-day access period, regardless of how much profit has been accumulated. A trader who reaches $4,000 in profit on a $50K Tradovate evaluation has a threshold at $52,000, not at the $53,000 lock that would apply on Rithmic. The absence of a threshold lock means the drawdown remains live throughout the evaluation on Tradovate, which is a material operational difference for traders who are close to the profit target and managing a large open position.
The platform you connect your evaluation to is selected during the setup process and cannot be changed after the account is created. If threshold locking is important to your strategy, verify which platform behaviour applies before connecting.
Working backward from a $3,000 target on a $50K account across 20 available trading sessions: you need an average of $150 in net closed profit per session to reach the target with no losing days. With a realistic distribution of winning and losing days, the daily requirement increases. A trader who nets $200 on winning days and loses $100 on losing days needs roughly 21 winning days and 9 losing days to reach $3,000 net, which exceeds the 20-session window. Position sizing, strategy edge, and realistic daily P&L expectations all need to be assessed against the 30-day constraint before purchasing.
How passing is confirmed: the exact sequence
Reaching the profit target intraday does not immediately pass the evaluation. The account is reviewed once per day at market close. Here is the exact sequence from hitting the target to receiving a funded account.
Profit target reached intraday
Your closed P&L crosses the profit target amount during the trading session. Trading may continue for the remainder of the session. Reaching the target intraday does not trigger passing immediately.
Market close review at 4:59:59 PM ET
Apex reviews the account at the end of the trading session. If your closed balance meets or exceeds the profit target and no rules have been violated, the evaluation is queued for passing confirmation.
Evaluation marked as passed after 6 PM ET
The evaluation appears in the Passed Evals section of your dashboard after 6 PM ET on the day it passes. Account processing can take several hours. The 7-day activation window begins from this point, not from when you reached the target intraday.
7 calendar days to activate your PA
You have 7 full calendar days to pay the activation fee and open your Performance Account. The activation fee is $79 for Intraday accounts and $99 for EOD accounts. It is a one-time, non-refundable payment. If the 7-day window expires without activation, the opportunity closes permanently and a new evaluation must be passed.
Performance Account created
PA creation is automated and typically completes within 6 hours of the activation fee being processed. The PA uses the same login credentials as the evaluation. Scaling tiers, payout rules, and consistency conditions all begin from the first day of PA trading.
The $50K profit target in detail: a worked example
The $50K account is the most commonly purchased size, so the $3,000 target deserves a concrete worked example. The scenario below shows a realistic path through the 30-day window on a $50K Intraday evaluation.
Starting balance: $50,000 Profit target: $3,000 Max drawdown: $2,000 Access period: 30 calendar days (~20 trading sessions) Contract limit: 6 minis (fixed, no scaling during eval) Min daily profit needed: No minimum -- any closed profit counts Session 1: +$420 (closed P&L: $420, target remaining: $2,580) Session 2: -$180 (closed P&L: $240, target remaining: $2,760) Session 3: +$650 (closed P&L: $890, target remaining: $2,110) Session 4: +$380 (closed P&L: $1,270, target remaining: $1,730) Session 5: -$220 (closed P&L: $1,050, target remaining: $1,950) Session 6: +$540 (closed P&L: $1,590, target remaining: $1,410) Session 7: +$490 (closed P&L: $2,080, target remaining: $920) Session 8: +$380 (closed P&L: $2,460, target remaining: $540) Session 9: +$620 (closed P&L: $3,080 -- TARGET REACHED) Evaluation passes at market close on Session 9. 7-day activation window opens after 6 PM ET.
In this example the evaluation passes in 9 trading sessions, well within the 30-day window. The two losing sessions did not prevent passing. They increased the number of sessions required. The trailing drawdown must stay intact throughout: every session's balance must remain above the threshold regardless of how close the total P&L is to the target.
What can prevent you from reaching the target
Breaching the trailing drawdown threshold ends the evaluation immediately
The profit target and the trailing drawdown operate independently. You can be $200 away from passing the $50K target and still fail the evaluation in a single session if the account balance touches the drawdown threshold. Progress toward the profit target has no bearing on whether the drawdown rule is enforced. The trailing drawdown is always active and always enforced regardless of where your cumulative P&L stands.
The 30-day clock runs during weekends and holidays
The access period is 30 consecutive calendar days, not 30 trading days. A trader who purchases on June 1 and takes two weeks off in the middle of the month has the same expiry date as a trader who trades every available session. Time spent not trading still counts against the 30-day window. Plan your evaluation around your actual availability, not the theoretical maximum number of sessions.
Unrealized profit is not progress toward the target
A session that ends with $1,500 in unrealized gains and $0 in closed profit contributes nothing toward the target. The dashboard shows closed P&L, not peak intraday balance, as the measure of evaluation progress. Traders who hold large positions through the close without locking in profit may feel close to the target while making no measurable progress.
The EOD DLL pauses trading but does not fail the evaluation
On EOD evaluations, reaching the Daily Loss Limit pauses trading for the remainder of that session. The account remains active and the evaluation continues. The next trading session opens with the same drawdown threshold and the same profit target progress. A DLL breach is a session-level event, not an evaluation-ending event. Only touching the EOD trailing drawdown threshold ends the evaluation. The full mechanics of how the two rules interact are covered in the Apex EOD vs Intraday guide.
Before you start: planning your evaluation
The most useful pre-purchase exercise is comparing your actual average net closed P&L per session against the profit target for the account size you are considering. If your average profitable session nets $200 and your average losing session costs $100, work out how many sessions you need across a 20-session window to reach the target. That calculation tells you whether the size fits your current performance level or whether a smaller account is a more realistic starting point.
The full account size comparison, including all four profit targets, drawdown amounts, contract limits, and cost-to-funded figures, is in the Apex account sizes guide. The activation fee structure including what the one-time fee covers is in the Apex activation fee article. Once you have a funded account, the rules that govern payouts from your Performance Account are in the Apex payout rules article.
All four account sizes on both EOD and Intraday trail types are available on the Apex site. Code ONKAGNVZ applies 90% off evaluation fees during the current active sale.
View current Apex evaluation options →What traders also ask.
The profit target tells you the destination. The trailing drawdown and the 30-day clock tell you the constraints. Plan your evaluation around both before you start trading, not after your first losing session.