Apex Trader Funding Activation Fee in 2026: Every Amount, Explained

Written and fact-checked by the Funded Futures Family team against the firm’s published help center. Last reviewed September 4, 2026.

Apex Trader Funding charges a one-time PA activation fee when you pass an evaluation and move to a Performance Account. For products bought on or after March 1, 2026, the fee is $59 on every Intraday Trail size and $119 to $159 on EOD Trail sizes, or $0 on the No Activation Fee evaluation variant. Legacy accounts pay $125 to $300. Figures are from Apex’s site as of September 4, 2026.

How the Apex activation fee works

Apex describes the PA Activation Fee as “a one-time payment per account. It is not a subscription and does not renew.” You pay it once, after the evaluation is marked as passed, and it is not refundable. Apex gives you “7 calendar days from the moment the Evaluation is marked as Passed to complete the PA Activation Fee.” Source: PA activation process and deadline.

The amount depends on which product generation you hold and which drawdown type you chose. Apex now runs two generations side by side: “New” products (EOD Trail and Intraday Trail, purchased on or after March 1, 2026) and “Legacy” products from before that date.

Legacy also lists 250K at $250 and 300K at $300; new products come in four sizes only. Sources: the pricing configurator on apextraderfunding.com and the legacy PA activation page.

The free variant is a real option

Apex sells a “No Activation Fee” evaluation for both Intraday and EOD Trail. The card shows “One-Time Activation Fee FREE.” The evaluation costs more up front, so you are choosing between a cheaper eval plus a fee at the end, or a dearer eval with nothing owed later. New-product evaluations are one-time purchases with no recurring billing, so the comparison is a simple sum.

Worked example on a 50K account

Take a 50K EOD Trail Standard evaluation. The card Apex displays reads “One-Time Activation Fee $139 Activation Deadline 7 Days From Eval Pass.” If you pass with $3,000 in profit, you pay $139 within seven days and the Performance Account opens. On the 50K Intraday Trail Standard the activation would be $59; on the No Activation Fee variant of either type, nothing is owed. The fee is separate from payout rules: on the new 50K EOD account you still need a balance of at least $52,600 and five qualifying days before the first payout request.

What changed

Before March 1, 2026, Apex offered a monthly PA fee alongside the lifetime option on legacy accounts. That is no longer the case for recent purchases. The help center states that “Legacy accounts purchased on or after March 1, 2026, are only eligible for the One-Time Lifetime PA Activation Fee option. Monthly PA Activation Fees are not available for these accounts.” New products never had a monthly option; every fee is one-time. Legacy evaluations still sit on recurring billing until canceled, so a legacy path costs the monthly eval charge plus the lifetime activation fee. If you hold an older legacy account, your dashboard is the authority on what you were offered.

Firms that do not charge this

Funded Futures Family has no activation fee on any plan, no daily loss limit, and a 90/10 split across all plans. The Prime plan is $129 per month for a 25K account with 1 day to pass and no consistency rule on the evaluation, though a 40% consistency rule applies on the funded stage, with the calculation reset after each approved payout. That is a higher monthly price than Apex’s one-time eval model on some sizes, so compare total spend over the months you expect to trade. See the Prime plan page and the no activation fee explainer.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Apex PA activation fee refundable?

No. Apex’s help center answers this directly: “Is the PA Activation Fee refundable? No.” It is a one-time payment tied to a specific account and does not renew, so there is nothing to cancel later. Decide before buying the evaluation whether you prefer the Standard variant with a fee at activation or the No Activation Fee variant with a higher eval price. Once paid, the money is committed even if the Performance Account is later lost.

How long do I have to pay the activation fee after passing?

Seven calendar days. Apex counts from the moment the evaluation is marked as passed, so a Friday pass gives you until the following Friday. Weekends count. The window is the same for Intraday Trail and EOD Trail products, and for the No Activation Fee variant there is nothing to pay, so the deadline does not come into play. If you expect to be away from your desk after passing, plan the payment before the final day of the window.

Does the activation fee differ between Intraday Trail and EOD Trail?

Yes, and by a wide margin. On new products the Intraday Trail activation is a flat $59 at every size from 25K to 150K. The EOD Trail activation scales with size: $119 on 25K, $139 on 50K, $149 on 100K, and $159 on 150K. Both types offer a No Activation Fee variant where the fee is $0 and the eval price is higher. The gap reflects the drawdown style: an end-of-day trailing drawdown is generally more forgiving than one that trails intraday.

See FFF plans and pricing