The 2026 Futures Prop Squeeze: Topstep Tightens, Apex Rebuilds
Topstep moves to 90/10 and adds funded-account commissions; Apex 4.0 deletes six rules. What changed in futures prop in 2026, verified firm by firm.
The futures prop industry entered 2026 with its two largest names moving in opposite directions. Topstep spent the first half of the year tightening the economics of its funded accounts — a thinner profit split, lower payout caps, and commissions charged even after funding. Apex Trader Funding tore up its rulebook entirely and relaunched as Apex 4.0, a rebuild openly aimed at the payout-trust complaints that have dogged the sector. Around them, a group of younger firms is competing on exactly the terms the incumbents have made contentious. Here is what is verified, what is attributed, and what it changes if you are picking a futures firm this year.
Topstep Tightens the Terms
Three changes define Topstep's 2026, and all three are documented on the firm's own help center.
First, the profit split. For accounts created after 12 January 2026, Topstep pays 90/10 from the first dollar of profit. Accounts created before that date keep the older arrangement: traders retain 100% of their first $10,000 in lifetime profits before moving to 90/10 (Topstep payout policy, help.topstep.com, retrieved June 2026).
Second, payout caps on Express Funded Accounts. The standard path now caps each payout request at $2,000 on a 50K account, $3,000 on a 100K, and $5,000 on a 150K; the consistency path allows $3,000, $4,000, and $6,000 respectively. Live Funded accounts remain uncapped (same source). Secondary write-ups at Tradecovex and Funded Futures Family describe these caps as a spring 2026 reduction — down from roughly $5,000 to $6,000 per request on the 50K tier. The current numbers are primary-verified; the before-and-after comparison rests on those write-ups.
Third, commissions. Topstep now charges per-contract commissions across the Trading Combine, Express Funded Accounts, and Live Funded accounts: $0.50 per side on e-minis and $0.25 per side on micros, which the firm's fee schedule shows as an all-in round turn of about $3.80 on ES (TopstepX commissions and fees, help.topstep.com, retrieved June 2026). Secondary coverage dates the introduction to spring 2026. For a funded scalper, that is a cost line sitting between the trader and the new 90/10 split.
Two counterweights arrived alongside the cuts. On 1 April 2026, Topstep announced its acquisition of The Futures Desk; TFD co-founders Josh Schwartzberg and Brian Ford join Topstep, and TFD's technology is slated for integration into TopstepX (GlobeNewswire, 1 April 2026). Then on 2 June 2026, Topstep introduced a limited-time offer doubling payout caps for traders who add a Daily Loss Limit to their account (Topstep payout policy, retrieved June 2026).
Community reaction to the cap cuts has been overwhelmingly negative, according to the trader-facing write-ups tracking the changes — a sentiment reading from those communities, not a verified fact about the firm's conduct.
Apex 4.0: A Rebuild Aimed at Payout Trust
Apex Trader Funding launched Apex 4.0 on 1 March 2026 — a full product replacement for new accounts rather than a rule tweak, per multiple independent industry write-ups and reflected in Apex's own help center, which now splits documentation into legacy and current tracks.
The headline changes:
The most telling element is the positioning. Apex markets 4.0 as the end of discretionary payout denials, with the removal of manual payout review as the concrete mechanism. The firm's own framing acknowledges that payout trust was the problem 4.0 was built to answer.
The Challengers Compete on Simplicity
Choosing a Futures Firm in 2026: The Questions That Now Matter
The 2026 pattern is legible: the largest firms are earning more per funded trader through caps, splits, and commissions, while challengers compete on payout speed and rule simplicity. That reshapes the comparison checklist:
PropDNA's Trust Score carries dedicated payout-reliability and rule-stability components for exactly this reason — rule changes deduct points, and payout behavior is weighted from verified trader reviews rather than firm marketing. You can line up Topstep, Apex, and the challenger firms side by side on those components on their PropDNA firm pages before committing an evaluation fee, and if you are not sure which structure suits your style, the Trader DNA assessment matches your profile to the firm archetypes that tend to fit it. This report describes verified changes; it does not tell you which firm to pick.
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Trading carries substantial risk of loss. Prop evaluation fees are typically non-refundable and the majority of traders do not pass first attempts. This article is for information only and does not constitute financial advice. PropDNA is an independent comparison and information service.