How this Trader Became a 400k Funded Trader!
How this trader became a 400k funded trader: “The first thing I would say is don’t rush it. If you rush, you’re going to end up taking 50 challenges before anything happens. Creating a plan and writing things down is also very crucial. If you stay objective with your trading, it gives you mental clarity. You need to treat simulated trading with respect as simulated trading is such a blessing.” – Tommy
This week we take a look at Tommy, one of our newest funded traders who just earned a whopping $400k funded account. We will go through his journey, psychology, and simulated trading habits in this week’s blogpost!
“It helped me when I realized that there are 4 types of trades. There are good wins, good losses, bad wins, and bad losses. If you can shift your thinking to not every win is good and not every loss is bad you will change your simulated trading completely.” – Tommy
What’s your educational background?
I graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in Psychology.
How did you start out in Forex?
Basically, in 2015, I was introduced to trading. A friend of mine, on Facebook, posted some classic Eightcap or Purple Trading SC’s Trading Platform dashboard. All the pairs flying, the virtual profits moving. I was instantly hooked from that point on. I reached out to him and asked him questions. What helped is that he was also a skater, so it was easy to connect, and from there I learned from WallStreetAcademy.
How did you find The Funded Trader?
I found The Funded Trader on Instagram. I was blown away by the sheer amount of capital being offered to traders, so I thought it would be an amazing opportunity.
How long did it take you to become funded?
I started simulated trading in 2015, I traded for a year and a half, and then I took a break for two years. In total, I would say it took me about four years to get fully funded.
What would you tell someone looking to get funded with TFT?
The first thing I would say is don’t rush it. If you rush, you’re going to end up taking 50 challenges before anything happens. Creating a plan and writing things down is also very crucial. If you stay objective with your trading, it gives you mental clarity. You need to treat simulated trading with respect as simulated trading is such a blessing.
A lot of people kind of look at it as some get-rich-quick scheme, but that’s not true. It takes a lot of work, preparation, and a lot of failures to get to the end goal.
My number one piece of advice is to truly understand how you trade. Write everything down, what you look for, and just treat it with respect. With how much you can scale and the sheer size of these account sizes, one little mistake can wipe out your whole career. If you drop a 100 lot instead of a 10 lot and don’t pay much attention to it, your account is gone.
Treat simulated trading like a business instead of a job. Ask yourself, “how am I going to scale this business, and sustain it?” People can “pass” the challenge, with a passing rate of around 7-8%, but very few people can actually hold the account longer than three months.
Is there anything you wish you did differently?
I wish I didn’t take a break from trading. Conscious of my decision that this is what I would want to be doing. Even though I am in a good place right now, I wish I didn’t take that two-year break. I would have had more time to learn further. Sometimes things line up, and it works out in the end.
What motivated you to become a funded trader?
What motivated me the most is freedom, absolutely. Freedom is something that I really wanted. Working a full-time job, 40 hours a week, plus the commute, really adds up.
After realizing the fact that I wanted it so bad, it motivated me to take it seriously and dive deep.
There are people that trade, and then there are people that TRADE and are for real about it. In all fields, there are weekend warriors, and then there are the real ones. Once you step into that, it shifts your entire mindset. It will be difficult, but it will be worth it.
How much time have you dedicated to studying?
At least, 3-4 hours a day. I was actually learning that you don’t want to spend more than 3-4 hours a day on the charts because your brain has this sort of “band-width” that can become overkill when used excessively.
I would say dedicate the morning, 3-4 hours max. Use that time to get better with your analysis.
Do you find yourself setting alerts, or are you sitting in front of the charts?
I actually sit in front of the charts. Sometimes I set alerts for breaks of structure, I pretty much like to be in front of the charts. Unless it’s a limit order, then I can possibly snag a wick, which is always good.
What is a hard lesson that simulated trading has taught you?
The need to always be right. You don’t need to always be right. Just because you think you’re right doesn’t mean you’ll actually be wrong. It’s ok to take losses in life, but it’s about minimizing risk. Be methodical of your process, but get out of your mindset of taking losses seriously.
Trading is itself a probability game, so you will lose. It helped me when I realized that there are 4 types of trades. There are good wins, good losses, bad wins, and bad losses. If you can shift your thinking to not every win is good and not every loss is bad you will change your simulated trading completely.
A bad win is when you open a random trade and it goes in your favor. Yea, you banked some virtual profit but the trade could have reversed on you all the same. Compare this to a good loss which is controlled, managed, position sized accordingly, and you had a stop loss. That was the biggest lesson for me.
When you take a few losses, what helps you come back from that?
I try to understand whether this was a good loss or a bad loss. I need to truly be honest with myself. I try to avoid paper cuts, I’ve noticed my average is maybe 3-4-5 losses in a row.
Something I do is maybe reduce my risk for the next few trades to come back stronger psychologically. I also take some time off to refocus. I make sure I don’t get too withdrawn from the charts, to stay spry. I always make sure I follow my simulated trading plan and get back into it.
What would you say your simulated trading style is?
I would say swing simulated trading with a day simulated trading.scalping entry mentality. I try to get sniper entries but hold for extended periods of time.
What do you believe The Funded Trader will do for this industry and beyond?
I think it’s going to change so many lives. People will become free. It will be life-changing. I plan on retiring my mother, traveling the world, starting a family, etc. You can do so much with trading, it’s truly remarkable. I’m so blessed for The Funded Trader. I want to take full advantage. I hope to grow as much as I can.
How this trader became a 400k funded trader and you can too….
