What an evaluation is

An evaluation (challenge) is a paid program. You trade a simulated account, try to reach a target without touching the loss limits and, if the company accepts you, move on to an account with profit sharing.

Each company sets its own rules: target, daily loss, total loss, minimum days, news and weekends. They change from one company to another and from one program to another.

Here are the sector's key facts in short. Every figure carries its source and date.

What is simulated

The five companies in this section describe their evaluation accounts in their terms as simulated, with fictitious funds; several add that the company does not act as a broker.

According to those terms, your trades are not executed in the market: the result is a number inside a simulation.

The reward on the funded account is paid by the company under a separate contract. Companies describe that stage in different ways, and the contract is offered after the evaluation is completed.

How the business makes its money

Evaluations are paid for with a fee. With FTMO's 2023 figures, what was paid to traders was about 35% of what was invoiced, which suggests that fees are the main source of income (APEX reading).

Besides the fee there are resets, add-ons and platform charges. For example, FundingPips sells resets separately, FundedNext charges USD 25 to use cTrader and The5ers charges USD 10 more to use it.

If you are not paid, the fee does not come back. Once you start trading, all five companies say the fee is not refunded; some return part of it with a later payout, depending on the program.

The fine print that repeats

In all five companies, the rulebook lets the company decide what counts as a prohibited practice. Several can cancel trades, withhold a payout or end the account after their own review.

Reaching the target and respecting the limits does not by itself create a right to be paid. All five companies review each request and may withhold, reduce or deny the payout under their rules.

All five companies reserve the right to change their rules. FTMO gives at least 7 days' notice; others publish the change and apply it from then on.

In four of the five companies, the contract for the account that follows the evaluation is offered after completing it, and its full text is not published.

Identity verification (KYC) arrives when you complete the evaluation or request a payout: a document, proof of address and, at one of the companies, an interview with a 5-business-day deadline; if the deadline is missed, payouts and accounts are lost.

Several companies can apply a sanction to all your linked accounts, and one also sets a contractual penalty of USD 25,000 per prohibited practice.

All five companies prohibit sharing access, copying trades with other people and using a VPN to get around country restrictions. The companies' texts do not mention read-only analysis apps; before connecting a company's account, read its terms.

Each company sets the law and courts of one country: the Czech Republic (FTMO), Dubai (FundingPips), Ajman in the United Arab Emirates (FundedNext), Israel (The5ers) and England and Wales (Alpha Capital).

Some companies publish different rules on two of their own pages (for example, the daily cut-off time or the inactivity days). When that happens, APEX shows both versions and says so.

What APEX Flow does

APEX Flow measures your trading with your own history and with each company's public rules, each with its date and link. It is information to decide with, not a company recommendation.

Your money and your password stay with your broker; APEX only reads. APEX Flow does not sell evaluations or receive commissions from any company.

Know the rules before you pay.

Three questions before you pay: at what time does this company cut the day, and from which balance does it measure? Which rules change when the funded account arrives? What does the contract signed afterwards say?

Measure my evaluation

See each company's rules