👀 Apex finally unveils live program, backlash erupts

Hi everyone, a holiday shortened week due to the Memorial holiday in the US, so let’s get straight into it.

Over the past few months, many profitable Apex traders have had their accounts paused and been told they would eventually be transitioned to live accounts. Until now though, Apex had provided very little detail about how the live program would actually work. This week, that finally changed…

Apex did push back a bit, but did not clarify its plans any further. I think the backlash sent a pretty clear message though, so it would not be surprising to see further adjustments.

📢 Key Announcements

• FTMO officially launched TradingView integration, allowing traders to execute directly from TradingView charts while keeping existing layouts, alerts, and indicators.

• LucidTrading rolled out new rule violation technology focused on Terms of Service enforcement and compliance monitoring.

• Funded Futures Family rolled out a new cart checkout system, allowing traders to stack multiple evaluations in one purchase.

• Alpha Futures continued compensating users following platform issues, extending subscription billing dates, resetting breached accounts, and teasing V2 mobile apps coming within two weeks.

• See all announcements → x.com/promojunction

• Set alerts for your favourite firms → promojunction.io.

Here are the firms who paid out the most over the last 7 days 🏆️.

🔥 Monitor prop firm payouts LIVE on Payout Junction - https://payoutjunction.com.

🕜 Red Folder News

Here are this week’s red folder news events. Very quiet on the calendar. The biggest data releases will be US preliminary GDP and Core PCE Index numbers on Thursday.

It appeared that events in Iran were coming to an end yesterday, but overnight there appears to have been US strikes, so the situation remains fluid.

📈 Markets

8 green weeks in a row

Last week delivered another positive week for the S&P500. That’s 8 in a row now. Market participants still not getting excited though. The fear and greed index has actually ticked down a bit, so lots of people are still sitting on the sidelines likely waiting for a pullback to buy. Futures red this morning.

S&P 500 Earnings

Earnings season is over and it was another huge one. A massive +23% jump year on year. Pretty crazy as many of these companies are now worth over $1 trillion.

Earnings outlook for 2026 & 2027

In short, massive growth expected.

Hedge Funds went all-in on AI in Q1

With such incredible growth expected, it is unsurprising to see hedge funds pouring money into AI stocks at historic levels. Q1 saw the largest quarterly increase in hedge fund flows into the IT sector on record. Lets just hope we don’t get a black swan event in AI, cos the selling would be epic.

OK you’re all caught up, it’s gonna be another big week, so stay risk managed and have a good one!

Kieran

Enjoy trading related newsletters? Try the Market Journal 👇️ 

Monitor prop firm payouts LIVE on Payout Junction 🔥 

Real-time prop firm discounts, flash deals and announcements 👇️