Apex Copy Trading Rules 2026: Your Own Accounts Yes, Bots and Other Traders No

We are a competing prop firm, so read our comparison at the end with that in mind. Everything before it is Apex Trader Funding’s own documentation, linked at the bottom.

Yes, Apex Trader Funding allows copy trading, but only across your own PA accounts, under your personal name and your business name, up to 20 active PAs per household. Every copied account must trade the same direction. Bots and algorithms are banned, hedging on correlated instruments is banned, and copying trades with other traders is strictly forbidden.

Does Apex Trader Funding allow copy trading?

Yes, between your own accounts. Apex answers it on the page that sets its account limit, in one sentence followed by its condition:

Copy trading across PA accounts under your personal name and business name is allowed. However, the hedging rule still applies; all PAs must trade in the same direction and not hedge against correlated assets.

Apex Trader Funding help center, How many paid/funded accounts am I allowed to have? (updated 15 April 2026)

Two things are worth reading closely. The permission covers PA accounts, the funded stage. And it covers accounts under your personal name and your business name, nobody else’s.

Apex’s Legacy PA compliance page reads differently. It says PA and Live accounts cannot be “managed or influenced by any other party, person, system, automated trading bot, copy trading service, or trade mirroring software”. Yet the same page adds that “the results from the use of any trade copiers or external programs are the sole responsibility of the trader listed on the account”, so Apex expects copiers to be used. Read next to the limits page, which is the more specific one on copying, we understand it as a ban on someone else’s copy service trading your account, not on copying between your own PAs. If your setup sits close to that line, get Apex’s answer in writing.

Whose accounts can you copy to?

Yours: personal and business PAs. Apex’s prohibited activities page closes the door on everyone else:

The sentence that matters: “Sharing MAC addresses, computers, IPs, credit cards, or trade copying with other traders is strictly forbidden.” Violations bring account closure, forfeiture of funds and possible audits.

The spouse case is the grey one. Apex’s own example puts a “wife/husband/significant other” inside the household limit of 20, so their PAs share your quota. But the account must be traded by the person listed on it, and copying with other traders is forbidden. Our reading: counting in your household does not make their accounts yours. Ask Apex support before connecting them.

How many Apex accounts can you copy trade?

Up to 20 active PA accounts, and the count is wider than most traders assume.

The 20 counts every person in the same house, every company and every connection, on Rithmic, Tradovate and WealthCharts combined, and it includes Legacy, EOD and Intraday PAs together. Apex’s example: an LLC with 5 PAs, 3 on your personal Rithmic, 4 on your personal Tradovate, and up to 8 for your spouse.

Evaluations have no limit. The cap only bites when accounts pass. That is where a large copy grid runs into trouble: pass 25 evaluations at once and you cannot hold all 25 as PAs.

The one-direction rule: what a copier must never do

This is the rule that catches copy traders at Apex. Copying is allowed precisely because it keeps every account on the same side. The general rule is short.

Under the heading “No Hedging of Any Kind”, Apex allows directional trading only:

Holding both long and short positions simultaneously on the same or correlated instrument is strictly prohibited.

Apex Trader Funding help center, Prohibited Activities (updated 31 July 2026)

The Legacy PA compliance page then lists the cases, and they all apply across accounts, not just inside one. The current EOD and Intraday PAs fall under the same limits page rule: all PAs in the same direction, no hedge against correlated assets.

Apex’s wording leaves no room: all accounts must be traded directionally and “never be both long and short concurrently in the same account or in other accounts”. In practice, a copy setup breaks it in three ways:

• A follower misses an exit. The leader closes and reverses short; one follower is still long. Two accounts, opposite sides.
• A manual override. You flip one account by hand while the copier keeps the others running.
• Different setups per account. Long NQ on some accounts and short ES on others is a correlated hedge, even if each trade made sense on its own.

Copier yes, bot no

Apex separates the tool that copies your trades from the tool that decides them. The decision has to be yours.

On automation the rule is flat. The prohibited activities page says “No Automation or Algorithm Usage allowed”, because rewards are meant for human traders. The Legacy PA compliance page lists what that covers: AI, autobots, algorithms, fully automated systems or software, HFT, and set-and-forget trading, with closure of the PA or Live account and forfeiture of funds as the sanction.

A trade copier is treated as a tool you answer for. The same page says Apex “strongly encourage[s] the submission of your software for approval before use”, and that the results of any trade copier or external program are the sole responsibility of the trader listed on the account.

That is the opposite of Lucid Trading, which permits automated systems and copiers in writing. Our Lucid Trading copy trading guide covers that side. At Apex, the copier repeats your manual trades and nothing more.

Topstep sits in between: bots are allowed through its API on the Combine and the Express Funded Account, but not on its Live account. Our Topstep copy trading rules cover where that line falls.

Which platforms and copiers work with Apex?

Apex PAs run on three platforms: Rithmic, Tradovate and WealthCharts, the same three its account limit counts across.

Apex’s help center documents two built-in copiers. WealthCharts has a built-in trade copier for executing across multiple accounts. Tradovate has Group Trade, which Apex calls a limited trade copier, enabled automatically for any Apex user with more than one active Tradovate account; it does not allow bracket orders (ATMs).

A copier inside one platform only reaches the accounts connected to it. To trade Tradovate and Rithmic accounts at the same time, Apex’s Tradovate FAQ points to a copier running on NinjaTrader.

Market close and news: two more limits on a copy grid

• Close before the market closes. Apex lists holding positions through the market close among its prohibited activities, with forfeiture of the accounts as the sanction. A follower that missed the leader’s last exit is exposed on every account it holds.
• News is allowed, gambling on it is not. Trading during news is fine for your normal strategy. Strategies that chase the market or place orders on both sides to gamble on the outcome are not, and on a copy grid that mistake is repeated on every account.

Copy trading on an Apex live account

The grid does not follow you to live. Apex’s live program FAQ states that a trader cannot hold live and simulated accounts at the same time, and moving to live is Apex’s decision, not an automatic step.

The same limits apply once there, and one is tighter: the live FAQ states that counter positions, hedging and group trading are not permitted. Automation remains banned on Live accounts, and copying trades with other traders remains forbidden.

Apex vs Phidias on copy trading

Both firms allow copying across your own accounts, and both leave the copier’s failures to you. Apex allows more funded accounts. The difference is where they lead.

On account count, Apex is ahead: 20 PAs against our 15 across three families. If your plan is the widest possible grid of simulated accounts, that matters.

Where we differ is the destination. On Express to Live, you reach the target on the CASH account, click Switch to Live, and the fixed bonus payout converts the account to a LIVE account. That conversion is an Express to Live rule; on our Fundamental and Premium accounts, moving to LIVE is discretionary. If you copy trade on Phidias, our DeepCharts trade copier guide walks through the setup.

See Phidias accounts and pricing

Test: is your copy setup safe on Apex?

Four questions on whose accounts you copy to, how many PAs the household holds, whether they always trade the same side and who places the leader’s trades. No email.

Apex copy trading: frequently asked questions

Does Apex Trader Funding allow copy trading?

Yes, between your own accounts. Apex’s help center states that “Copy trading across PA accounts under your personal name and business name is allowed”, with one condition: all PAs must trade in the same direction and never hedge against correlated assets. Copying trades with other traders is strictly forbidden.

How many Apex accounts can you copy trade?

Up to 20 active PA accounts across all people in the same house, companies and connections, whether the accounts are on Rithmic, Tradovate or WealthCharts. Apex sets no limit on evaluation accounts. Going over 20 PAs makes you ineligible for payouts and can lead to forfeiture, closure of all PAs and a ban.

Can I copy trades onto my spouse’s Apex accounts?

Apex counts a spouse’s PAs inside the household limit of 20, but the account must be traded by the person listed on it, and trade copying with other traders is forbidden. Our reading: your spouse’s accounts are another trader’s accounts, so copying your trades onto them is not covered by the permission for your own personal and business PAs. Ask Apex support before setting it up.

Does Apex allow bots or algorithmic trading?

No. Apex’s prohibited activities page states “No Automation or Algorithm Usage allowed”, and its Legacy PA compliance page bans AI, autobots, algorithms, fully automated systems and HFT on PA and Live accounts, with closure and forfeiture as the sanction. A trade copier is treated differently: Apex encourages submitting software for approval and makes the trader responsible for the copier’s results.

What counts as hedging at Apex?

Holding long and short positions at the same time on the same or a correlated instrument, in one account or across accounts. Apex’s examples: one direction on minis and the other on micros, long ES and short YM, short NQ and long ES. Non-directional bracket orders left on both sides of the market are prohibited as well.

What happens if you hedge on Apex?

On both EOD and Intraday PAs, Apex states that hedging violations result in immediate account closure. Its prohibited activities page adds forfeiture of funds, and Apex can also place a trader on probation or run additional audits.

Is the Apex Trade Copier made by Apex Trader Funding?

Not directly. The Apex Trade Copier is a NinjaTrader 8 copier sold by Apex Investing Institute, the trading education company founded by Apex’s CEO Darrell Martin before Apex Trader Funding. Apex’s Tradovate FAQ says it can trade Tradovate and Rithmic accounts at the same time when connected to NinjaTrader. Apex also documents the copier built into WealthCharts and Tradovate’s Group Trade. Whatever tool you use, the results are your responsibility.

Can you copy trade on an Apex live account?

Apex’s live FAQ states that counter positions, hedging and group trading are not permitted, automation is not allowed, and copying trades with other traders stays forbidden. Moving to live at Apex is discretionary, and Apex states that a trader cannot hold live and simulated accounts at the same time, so a grid of PAs does not carry over as is.

How does Phidias compare on copy trading?

Phidias allows copy trading within its account limits: up to 5 CASH Premium, 5 CASH Fundamental and 5 Express to Live accounts per person, company or internet connection, with third-party copier software at your own risk. Apex allows more funded accounts, 20 PAs per household. On Express to Live, the payout at the target converts the account to a LIVE account.