Earn2Trade vs Topstep vs Apex Trader Funding — Which Futures Prop Firm Wins in 2026

If you trade futures and want to use someone else's capital, three prop firms dominate the US market: Earn2Trade, Topstep, and Apex Trader Funding. They all offer similar headline products — pay a monthly fee, pass an evaluation, trade a funded account — but the mechanics underneath are very different. Which one is right for you depends on questions the marketing pages don't ask, so we're going to ask them here.

TL;DR for people who don't want the full breakdown:

• Pick Earn2Trade if: You want a scaling ladder that takes you from $25K to $400K without re-challenging, you prefer EOD drawdown (not trailing), and you value a firm that publishes its pass rate publicly.
• Pick Topstep if: You want a 90/10 profit split on funded accounts, you've used TopstepX before, and you prefer their trader education ecosystem.
• Pick Apex Trader Funding if: You want 100% of your first $25K in profits, you want the lowest evaluation fees, and you're comfortable juggling multiple active accounts for better odds.

The side-by-side matrix

All data verified April 2026 from each firm's public pricing pages.

Feature	Earn2Trade (TCP50)	Topstep ($50K Combine)	Apex ($50K Eval)
Monthly evaluation fee	$190 ($95 during Apr 14–24 promo)	$165 (one-time, promos to ~$49)	$167 (one-time, promos to ~$33)
Billing model	Monthly subscription	One-time evaluation fee	One-time evaluation fee
Profit target	$3,000	$3,000	$3,000
Max drawdown	$2,000 EOD	$2,000 Trailing Max	$2,500 Trailing Threshold
Drawdown type	EOD — updates at close	Trailing — updates intraday on peak	Trailing — updates intraday on peak
Daily loss limit	$1,100	$1,000 (soft)	None during eval
Minimum trading days	10 days	2 days (Combine)	0 days
Maximum contracts	Up to 6 (laddered)	Up to 5	Up to 10
Funded profit split	80/20 trader keeps 80%	90/10 trader keeps 90% (after first $10K)	100% first $25K, then 90/10
Scaling ladder	$25K → $400K automatic	$50K → $150K manual	No explicit ladder — multiple accounts instead
Platforms	Tradovate, NinjaTrader, Finamark	TopstepX, NinjaTrader, Tradovate	Rithmic, NinjaTrader, Tradovate, Quantower
Published pass rate	8.89% (2025, public)	Not published	Not published
US-accessible	Yes	Yes	Yes

The three things that actually decide this comparison

1. Drawdown type — EOD vs Trailing

This is the biggest single difference between the three firms, and most traders under-appreciate it.

Earn2Trade uses End-of-Day (EOD) drawdown. The max drawdown line only updates after the close, based on your locked-in account balance. If you have an unrealized spike during the day, the drawdown line doesn't follow it. You can't fail on an open position that winds up and back during the session.

Topstep and Apex both use trailing max drawdown. The drawdown line updates intraday, in real time, based on your highest equity point including unrealized P&L. If you're up $1,500 midday and give back $1,200, a trailing drawdown counts that as $1,200 of risk — and you can fail on a net winning trade, because the high-water mark moved while you were in the position.

For scalpers and day traders who take frequent small profits, trailing drawdown is trickier than it sounds. For swing-traders who let winners breathe, it's brutal. Earn2Trade's EOD approach is the most forgiving drawdown structure on the market.

2. Scaling ladder vs multi-account strategy

This is the second biggest philosophical difference.

Earn2Trade has an explicit scaling ladder: pass the $25K TCP25 once, and your account automatically grows through withdrawals to $100K → $150K → $200K → $400K. You never re-challenge. One pass unlocks the entire ladder.

Topstep has a softer scaling path — you can request account upgrades after hitting certain milestones, but it's manual and gated. You can also run multiple Combines at once to diversify.

Apex doesn't have a ladder at all. Their strategy is aggressive account stacking: they explicitly allow you to run up to 20 accounts simultaneously, and many Apex traders pass multiple evaluations to diversify their chances. Lower profit split up top, but the shotgun approach works for some traders.

Earn2Trade is the right pick if you want a single clean path to a large account. Apex is the right pick if you want to run a portfolio of smaller accounts and optimize for the odds that at least one keeps producing.

3. Monthly subscription vs one-time fee

Earn2Trade is the only one of the three that uses a subscription model. Your $190/month (or $95 during promo) continues until you pass, cancel, or change plans. That's a cost risk and also a discipline mechanism — you can't "pause" the evaluation and come back in a month.

Topstep and Apex charge a one-time fee per evaluation attempt. If you fail, you pay again for a new evaluation. If you need a long time to pass, that's cheaper. If you need multiple attempts, Apex's $33 promo pricing becomes very appealing compared to Earn2Trade's $95 monthly.

The math gets interesting when you factor in resets. Earn2Trade gives you a free reset on every rebill, plus paid resets ($65 for TCP50) during the month. If you're good enough to reset once and pass, Earn2Trade's subscription + reset economy can work out cheaper than paying for full new Topstep Combines.

Pass rates — the elephant in the room

Earn2Trade publishes an 8.89% pass rate. Neither Topstep nor Apex does. Community data suggests Topstep's pass rate sits around 7–10% and Apex around 5–8%, but those are estimates from forum polls, not audited numbers.

This isn't about saying Earn2Trade is harder or easier. It's about transparency. A firm that publishes its number has to live with whatever that number says. A firm that hides it doesn't — and silence usually means the number isn't impressive.

We have a full breakdown of what 8.89% actually means (it's about process, not skill) in our dedicated pass rate analysis. For the purposes of comparison, understand that all three firms are in the same rough range, and pass rate alone shouldn't be your tiebreaker.

Markets and platforms

All three are futures-only on the big US exchanges (CME, COMEX, NYMEX, CBOT). None allow stocks, options, forex, or crypto.

Platform-wise, all three now support Tradovate — which is the big 2026 news for Earn2Trade (we wrote a full guide on the integration). Topstep has its own proprietary TopstepX platform which some traders love. Apex supports the widest platform list (Rithmic, NT, Tradovate, Quantower).

If you already know which platform you want to trade on, check that it's supported before picking a firm. If you're platform-agnostic, any of the three will give you Tradovate + NinjaTrader.

Profit splits — the least important thing you'll obsess over

Most comparison articles start with the profit split. We put it last because it only matters once you're funded, and only the 8.89% who pass get funded. Optimize for passing first, profit split second.

That said: Apex's 100% first $25K is genuinely better for profitable small traders. If you're running a tight strategy that nets ~$2,000–$5,000/month on a $50K account, Apex will pay you more than the other two until you cross the $25K cumulative threshold.

Topstep's 90/10 is better than Earn2Trade's 80/20 on ongoing splits. Earn2Trade's 80/20 is the "catch" — it's the price of the scaling ladder and the EOD drawdown. Whether that trade is worth it depends on whether you think you'll actually ride the ladder to $400K or stall out at $50K.

Who should pick each one

Pick Earn2Trade if:

• You trade for consistency, not big-day home runs
• You want the cleanest drawdown structure (EOD, not trailing)
• You want to pass once and scale
• You value the honesty of a published pass rate
• You're on a Mac and want browser-based Tradovate (the 2026 integration solves this)
• You have the discipline to treat a monthly subscription as a fixed cost, not a leash

Current promo: 50% off first 2 months via code ToolsTradingHub (auto-applies via our link, Apr 14–24). See our full Trader Career Path review for the complete breakdown.

Pick Topstep if:

• You want a 90/10 funded profit split long-term
• You already use TopstepX or like their education content
• You'd rather pay a one-time evaluation fee than a subscription
• You prefer a shorter minimum trading days requirement (2 days vs Earn2Trade's 10)
• You're OK with trailing drawdown because you trade small stops

Pick Apex Trader Funding if:

• You want to run multiple accounts for diversification
• You want 100% profit on your first $25K
• You want the lowest evaluation cost (especially during promos)
• You're comfortable with no daily loss limit during the evaluation
• You're willing to juggle account management complexity

The honest take

If we had to pick one for someone who's never traded a prop firm before, it would be Earn2Trade's Trader Career Path — specifically because of the EOD drawdown and the scaling ladder. You're less likely to get knocked out of the evaluation by a technical drawdown violation on a net-winning trade, and if you pass, the ladder is a genuine structural advantage that the other two don't offer.

For an intermediate trader who's already passed evaluations before and knows exactly how they handle trailing drawdown, Apex is the value pick when their eval fees are discounted.

For a trader who wants Topstep-specific education or the TopstepX platform experience, Topstep is a reasonable alternative — but the 90/10 split alone isn't enough of a reason to pick them if the other mechanics don't fit.

The best advice: don't pick a prop firm based on profit split. Pick based on whether their rules match how you trade. Earn2Trade's EOD-drawdown and consistency-rule approach rewards specific habits. If those habits are how you already trade, the 80/20 split doesn't matter — you'll pass, you'll scale, and the math works out.

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Ready to start? Current Earn2Trade promo: 50% off Trader Career Path, Apr 14–24 with code ToolsTradingHub (auto-applies through our affiliate link).

Related reading: Trader Career Path full review · Every TCP rule explained · The consistency rule · Tradovate vs NinjaTrader vs Finamark

Affiliate disclosure: TradingToolsHub earns a commission when you sign up for Earn2Trade through the links on this page. This does not change the price you pay. We have no affiliate relationship with Topstep or Apex at the time of writing — this comparison is based on public information about all three firms.