The best advice I ever got was from a smart friend who wasn't even a trader. I showed him a trade I made and said "It was good but I could of made much more if I held it" and he just plainly said "Yeah but it's irrelevant because you didn't know" like it was obvious. Even though it's so simple, now every time I miss out out on a bigger move I just remind myself it's irrelevant because I didn't know that in the moment. Being upset about missing even bigger profits can lead to revenge trading because you feel like you should have what you missed out on.
Your comment directly correlates to the old Wall Street saying "No one ever went broke taking a profit". You are on the right track with that thought process.
@@DanielInskeep I had that problem and experimented with only entering through orders. This way even though you may miss some trades you want, when you do get the trade, your stop loss is in a more reliable place because the entry is better
@@DanielInskeep happens to me all the time. Every time I don’t take profit and decide to hold on for bigger target I get stopped out only for it to go in the right direction. Nothing worse than getting stopped out for no reason
Man day trading has been by far the most difficult thing I have ever done. My first year I lost 50k, wanted to die. 2nd year I made 13k not happy, but I learned a lot. My 3rd year I made well over 350k in profits, and now I am entering my 4th year. You literally have to change as a human being to be a good trader.
@Xasuo I started in late 2019, I just saw a reddit post about some guy making 500k on tesla and jumped in. I got my ass handed to me, I was following twitter people, discord chatrooms all that shit. Then I realized nobody knows where the market is going, and I should only be taking my ideas because then I can have conviction to hold. The rest is market experience, when you wake up every single morning looking at the charts you develop a sense of intuition, now I trade on pure auto pilot from all those hours well over 5000+ hours of chart staring by now, and focus on a few strategies, learned risk management in order to keep the gains, because ultimately trading is about how much of the gains you keep, not whether you're right or wrong.
Dude, that was a MAJOR improvement in your futures trading compared to the other 3 videos. Day trader next door has said....if you can get to around a little profitable in futures or even break even...you're damn near there to being full on profitable, so you are pretty much there man. Keep going! great editing, as always love the transparency...don't lose your confidence you are almost there bro.
As a European who is a fulltime trader i notice a common thing among alot of american traders who trade Nasdaq, S&P and the like , risk management. It always best to risk the same amount per trade instead of having variable losses. For example being risking $100 dollars every trade so you're keeping losses the same and targeting a fixed risk/reward so that if you're edge is working that you will be profitable in the long term and the bigger losses wont be holding you back, instead of having sometimes 3 or 400 hundred dollar losses. Best of luck with your trading Daniel
Two things stand out for me in analyzing your performance: #1 When your first trade is a loss, your day tends to get worse. When your first trade is a win, your day tends to continue to improve, peaking around your 2nd/3rd win. Might try stopping day if first trade is a loss, or after 2-3 trades if first trade is a win. #2 you put a lot of pressure on your self in missing home run trades, but you never make any home run trades so that doesn't seem to be your strength, so just focus on small-medium base hits as your strength. Centralize around your strengths and expand on them. Those 300-400 dollar plays see if you can expand those to get 400-500 out if context allows. Those 100-200 dollar plays, try expanding those out to 200-300 if context allows. I think the combination of these two points could see your stats move towards your winning days being 2:1 your losing days which will create a healthier, consistent pnl curve. Great job!
The thing about these Funded Challenges is that we are not trying to get this big account to trade and then suddenly make a lot of money. The expectations need to be realistic and the goal needs to be thought through a little more for most people. The goal of working for a Funded Company like TopStep is to use their money to make a business out of your trading. If you pass the challenge, suddenly you have enough money to maybe consider trading full time. Longevity in the markets is the goal. Making enough money to maybe pay for your food for the month or some bills you have to pay, and then gradually making more as you get more experience. Most people lose these challenges and in trading in general because they want to get rich quick and their emotions take over their trading. The goal is not to pass the challenge for the Prop Firm, but to last in the markets for many years to come.
the pressure will kill your success and this goes for any sport, pressure comes, logical thinking goes out the window, survival mode kicks in. Calm under pressure is the peak performance of athletes. There are also some simple tricks they use to be "calm under pressure"..
I've been in the market for 25 years and the best piece of advice I've gotten is: "if the stakes are affecting your trade, reduce your size until they aren't." This is one of those easier-said-than-done situations, but it's true. If the amount you have on the line is affecting your psychology, reduce the amount. If that means going back to paper-trading, then you go back to paper-trading. Fantastic video, Daniel. Keep it up.
I'm really impressed with how much you've improved since the last videos, it's really fun to watch! I'm also currently going through an prop evaluation so I'm right there with ya.
Dude, your trading has LEVELED up! We're basically adapting at similar rates, using similar tools (Bookmap, etc...), and have roughly the same general strategy (targeting supply/demand zones). This was a major inspiration and got me seriously considering TopStep (and similar programs). Well done. I've recently switched over to ES as well; seems to respond to lvls more reliably than NQ/MNQ. Lastly, don't beat yourself up - Late Dec thru mid Jan were ABSOLUTELY brutal as far as weak volume, market reaction to economic reports, etc. Please try again soon. P.S. I can't speak for you, but constantly adjusting your SL to allow for more drawdown makes me cringe, personally. The more consistent my stops are, the better my entries get over time.. swear to God. Sometimes I stop out and reinter instantly if levels are still looking good; usually I'm able to spot where the original entry mistake was made (even if it was off by just 2pts tops).
I got my first funded account after failing 17 combines. All I can say is be patient and learn from your mistakes. You only really fail when you give up!
I am on the same no 17 fails so far rn on 18th passed phase 1 on phase 2 went 50k to 46800 took break of 3days came back and now at 50574 need 1986 more to get funded
hey man , i trade full time and have a little tip for you when moving your SL. dont sell everything at once when the move is in your favor, move the SL and sell like 20-60% and take some profits, then you can sit tight with no sweat and get big moves like that. idk but just a tip i learned that always works for me (keeping me out of stress and catching the bigger moves)
I was $600 away from passing the 100k step 1 but one of the key bad habits at least for me is being nicely green let’s say $1,500 on the day and still over trade the greed takes over so I will use this weekend to reset and analyze my mistakes, best of luck to you my man 💪🏼
First thing's first: I admire your tenacity, 98% of us would have walked away after the first few experiments, but you kept grinding. That is why you are where you are! Secondly, I will take the leaves on your back patio if you're looking for a yard work guy 😁. Excellent content my man!
You're doing great! Not giving up after all these years is key. I struggle with impatience and exiting trades prematurely as well, for me it helps if I enter a trade, set my stops and just ignore the trade until it closes, staring at it as it goes adds a lot of suspense and anxiety.
Keep at it man! I found with my trading that clearly defining how I wanted to enter, exit and trail my stop was extremely helpful for dealing with uncertainty. Scaling out 25%-75% of the position on a target order and trailing a stop beyond swings on the remainder will allow you to both lock in profit and catch the bigger market trends move. Make sure the current swing has sufficiently tested the prior extreme before trailing your stop to that level, lest you be stopped out on a two legged pullback just before a continuation. Happy trading!
Try having the 1st contract take profit the same distance as the stop. Say your stop is 3 points then 1st scale is 3 points. That way you are risk neutral and don't have to move your stop to break even. IF scaled you will make $0 on the trade if market comes back to your stop. Ideally your stop location would be out of the noise and your runner target is far enough away to make it worthwhile. Take stats on your trades to see how often you take a full stop/Scaled then stopped/Scaled + target hit. By becoming risk neutral you can allow it to work and it easy on your mental. Good Luck!
great video man. appreciate the transparency. and also getting to witness your progress. feels like you’re right there. stick with it and don’t put too much pressure on yourself. you got this!
Hi Daniel, just recently found your channel and im loving it! I really respect that you are so transparent. On a totally unrelated note, you have a great voice, its very soothing. You could probably make good $$ narrating stories for people with anxiety, no joke. I have it, and have found myself just listening to your videos when I need a calming distraction from my overactive mind. Something to consider? Regardless, thanks much for all your doing on your channel. Wishing you great success and happiness.
Daniel I have just started to learn trading and am already many many hours deep into studying into the fundamentals of trading. You have been a great help with your honesty and also your calm personality in your videos. You have been a great resource for myself and many others I would say. Keep the videos flowing and I will keep watching you. Thank you !
One of the main issues with this strategy is the amount of size he has on. 2 ES minis is $100 per point move, you have only $2,000 to work with before failing the account. That gives you only 20 points of being wrong. If he was trading micros, then he could scale some out & let the others run. He could even add onto the position, if price comes back to his entry area. I would recommend Apex Trading since they give you a $2,500 drawdown & have 80% off sales. They recently did a 90% off New Years sale, meaning a 50k eval account only costed $18, along with a 1 time payment for their Performance Accounts. Again this is just advice for those struggling to pass these eval accounts.
Good Luck Daniel!! Been resetting for a few months now. The old 'mistakes' : greed, revenge trading, chasing, arrogance after winning days of +2000$, .... you name it. Taking it slow now, 1 contract at a time, aiming at 500$ unless I can let t run..... with my FUNDED account :)
I would give you a few pieces of advice: -Find a strategy based on indicators and backtest it to see it works. (Eg. Email crossing + rsi) -Do not EVER move your stop loss. Place your trade and go have coffee, walk away from your computer and come back later to see how it played out. -5 minutes or 15 minutes time timeframes give you more time to analyse and place your trades, 1 minute just makes you anxious so I would suggest trying 5 or 15min. -Don't give up and maybe start with a demo account/100 euros to be less emotional and get good habits
Hey Daniel! I can relate to this video so much. I've been trading for 2 years, luckily I have a dayjob that gives me the freedom to trade all day. But it's the hardest thing I've ever learned and the mental battle is the real background. I'm still not profitable, but getting better and better. I've also started to trade futures the last 8 months with APEX, but I have lost way more than I passed. I've only passed twice so far and each time loss the PA account the next day. That really breaks you. I'm currently working on getting funded again. I lost my Dad and my brother last year and also my Mom is sick. So I need to succeed. I don't have any other choice! You'll get there brother! Keep your head up :)
@@Peter_Potato exactly,in a job the money part is already taken care off less stress, where as in trading it's all about money,the moment you attach any emotions to it, the markets will hit you like a rock.
hi Josh lets try a 200 daily stop and 400 daily profit for the day and see how that goes for 20 days . if you win just 50% of the days u will be good. this will build discipline . keeps the stress down. best wishes brother !
Hi Daniel. Some advice: trade something where you might have an edge, or at least a greater understanding than the median player in the market. You have no edge trading an index, particularly day-to-day. You are not a macroeconomist. Trade something you know well, which I presume is an individual company or a narrow sector. You can do it , but you need a specialty.
Something I see on these youtube videos where traders try to get funded is the desire to hit a small $ profit target each session. I understand it looks like you should break the final target down to small chunks but it's only the potential drawdown that should affect you when in a trade. Daniel, you have good strategy and it's great that you can take losses quickly but as you yourself noted - trade the plan. Follow your process the profits will come. Keep charts of those trades you took profits too early, or your stop was too close. Reflect on them. Note where you could have held to target. Note where you could have tightened your stop(s) and even aggressively added to your position. Visualize yourself following your process as you'd prefer to do.
@@DanielInskeep Agreed. IMHO, your "goal" each day, each trade should be to follow the plan to the letter for a minimum of 20 trades. Examine your results, and then and only then make a tweak to the plan. Then run another sample size of 20 trades minimum. Robotic / mechanical trading. Subjective trading is best left to those with 10,000 hrs of experience inside trades.
Daniel, I have been doing the same stuff moving stops. I have started walking away from my computer after I enter a trade and it helped a ton! Too many weeks of getting stopped break even and then it moves. Love the videos!
Just partially close your position after you hit a 1 :1 risk reward. The other half can go and do its thing, while you already have half of it in profits. Keep making great videos and good luck with future endeavours!
You should try other firms like FTMO, MFF / MyForexFunds, and TFT / TrueFundedTalent. I really don't recommend going with TopStep because their business plan is made to make you fail. Read their contracts. Also, on TopStep you need to pass the accounts 3 times and the third challenge is where they typically "fund" you but really they don't because they don't mention that it is mandatory to make 5% with a deadline that they don't also mention and then you get the real account.
You're bound to hit the target sooner or later with that kind of leverage. The problem is keeping it. Some private community surveys suggest that 80% of funded traders lose their funded account within 6 months. Divest yourself of all forms of technical analysis, and trade small. It's not flashy, but it's much more sustainable.
What can give you more confidence in the trade would be more confidence in your plan. Seeing the same thing happen enough times can give you the confidence you need to execute fearlessly
Man definitely see improvements. That first week you where following your trading plan. You just got in your head. It’s all good. Try to work with fixed stop losses and take profits. Go for a 1.2 or 1.3 ratio for your setups, that way you even if you take a loss your winner will always make up for it. Good trading man each trade is a lesson
Well I’d like to say thank you. I have been finding it pretty challenging to stick to my strategy and stay confident in it. However, I think this video is what I needed. I wrote some stuff down and I plan to stick to it. I will update y’all when I pass step one! (Which is hopefully in two days)
@@luisffpf Well it seems I still struggle to trust myself, but that is to be expect I know it’s going to take some time. Again I will keep you all posted and hopefully I’m past step one by the end of the week!
It seems my biggest issue is taking profits prematurely, and I think that is a good issue to have. I also think once I trust the rex oscillator a little more I should have some pretty well timed exits.
@@F1Trades you having these problems before you don’t have a clear strategy that’s why you take profits prematurely because your strategy isn’t clear and also you should backtest your strategy 500-1000 times and you will no if your strategy profitable and it will take away the nerves I’ve a six figure trader btw.
Loved the honesty and quality of the video. 2 years of trading sounds enough but the psychological shortcomings to overcome take quite some time. Your patience behind the screen is admirable tho. Some people give some effort to even reach that point, 'ahem' like me.
Great video man, one thing I will say which I will say is follow your plan to a tee, yes that may sound easier said that done however towards the end of 2022 how I dealt with trading emotions is, my plan is black and white, my plan does not have trading emotions written in it, it is a if then process > if i see this then i do this, then i do this etc..... my plan does not have anything based on emotion. So if my plan is tested and I have data to back up my edge then check the boxes and dot the i's. It is as simple as that. Constant reminders that my plan does not have emotions helps me. What I would also suggest which may help is review your trades taken on the challenge where you actively managed them and log how did they play out if you had no management at all. Another emotional trigger "i closed here because i didnt like this", it may be in your plan to do so but if it is not then you shouldn't. It can be beneficial to see if your management is actually hindering your performance. I suggest this be done over a years worth of trades taken rather than a handful to get a clear indication
I have done really well and I have blown up my account multiple times. One thing I have learned if you’re in a trade set up a five day EMA and when you’re in the trade, use a five minute time frame. If it breaks above or below depending on what you’re doing for two solid candles. That’s time to exit. Hope that makes sense. If not, I will explain it better.
Hey Daniel, noticed you haven't posted here in a while. I come back to this video every now and again. One thing I've personally picked up since I first saw this video and something I think might help you as well (especially trading ES) is to enter a trade with multiple contracts and scale half off at say 2pts, that way you can move your stop to 2pts on the remainder of the trade and it's risk free while also giving you breathing room around your entry. Love the videos and looking forward to the next post!
I just got my funded account after a few months of trying. I definitely won't try to ever trade the last 2 weeks of December anymore 🤣 What helps me not to do thing outside my strategy is my backtesting data over a decent amount of time. It takes me a few weeks to finish testing a single system. If I were about to do something outside my system, I would have to test it first for a few weeks again(which I don't want to do). The best trading book in my opinion is Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom by Van Tharp.
Great video Daniel. It took me a little while to pass step 1 but worth the patience and time spent learning. During step 1 I would cut the risk in half trading 5 micros until I reached $150-$180 and then switch to minis and only risk what I made. It took longer but it got me through. Good luck and looking forward to the next video.
Day trading is so subtly intense that I was getting nervous watching. I've failed one or two Topstep combines and can relate with everything you said! When I get some more time I can't wait to try again.
Very Nice Daniel. That's a huge improvement over your previous trading videos. When you started with Day 1 I thought you weren't going to do any better, but the days following that were a huge improvement. It's inspiring to see as I'm consistently working to try to understand this game out better. One thing that I've felt with stop losses, is I don't put in automatic stop losses - somehow I feel that the algo's see those sitting there waiting and they intentionally hit them to stop out retail traders. I continually monitor my position and manually close the trade at as the trade turns against my original thesis or against the indicators I'm using. Maybe it would help to not get stopped out and then watch it continue in your favor had you still been in. Keep up the great work. I've been watching you guys for years from Mango Street.
if you are getting stopped out a lot, its because you are placing your stops where the majority places its stop. The algos or market makers dont care about your stop
I just started getting the interest of day trading and wanted to say that I appreciate your honesty! You don’t fake things and show the good side of it but also the bad. Your my fav day trading youtuber for sure. Hopefully you can teach us how to use that platform you used in this vid!
You flip a coin, win $60, loss $50. Your expected value is $60*50% - $50*50% = $30 - $25 = $5. That means every time you flip a coin, you win $5. That is because your first try, you win $60, then you loss $50, so your balance is $10 after 2 tries, $5 per try. But when you flip a coin, and you win $60, you dont say "good! i won $5". That is what happens to you. When you win, you win big, but the next day, you correct your balance with a big loss. And the other way. You flip a coin, win $50, loss $60. Your expected value is $50*50% - $60*50% = $25 - $30 = -$5. So, everytime you flip a coin, with the same winrate, your balance will decrease by $5. Doesnt matter your discipline, how well you play, your preparation. And the worst thing is that, the first try, when you win $50, you are happy! because a profit is a profit, right? So, what happens here. When you move your SL, you change your winrate, but also, you change your RR. There is no free lunch here. So, this is important: every setup has a different SL. Maybe you risk only 30 ticks for your trading plan, but in that particular trade, with the current market conditions, the correct SL is at 60 ticks. You are not aware, and you take the trade, but in that case, in that particular trade, your winrate will drop. You have a 80% chance to loss your risk because the current volatility is high. So, your expected value is different. In that case, you have to increase your TP to compensate your tight SL and your low winrate. Also, to make this harder. If your expected value is low (as you are experiencing here), you need to trade more times, to reach the target. But if you only place 2-3 trades per day, that means that you need more weeks to reach the profit target, and every month, you have to pay the fee. You can calculate how many weeks you need to pass the test. Also note that, with a low expected value, increasing your position will increase the risk of the max drawndown. Hope this helps you to improve your trade management.
Hey Dan, Keep in mind, regardless of what your funded account states, it is only as big as the max draw down allowed - for instance: 100K account with a max draw down of 10% should be treated as a 10K account. Why does this matter? Risk! If you risk 1% on a trade with only 10% draw down allowed, the reality is your actually placing a 10% risk per trade. No Bueno.
This is Important! Ist makes the whole offer of being funded useless or at least completely incomparable to trading with your own funds. So this might work for learning purposes but not in terms of making profits longterm. Essentialy - just trade your own demo account without these additional costs
@@Wupper91 I wouldn't say useless. First of all, it creates liquidity for traders that know what they are doing. Secondly, if you accept the risk and understand that if you were trading your own 10K account and had a 10% drawdown then while you wouldn't have blown up the account, it would be 1k in DD. By contrast, a 100k funded account costs approx less than half of that (450) so you would be better off still and better leverage.
right, but that calculation works out only in isolation. If you consider the fact that you are basically forced to always pay again for trading on their demo account again after every drawdown there is a significant additional cost to this service in the long run. And even very good traders will certainly run into these kinds of drawdowns of 10% quite "regularly". Moreover Level 2 of the challenge forces you into some additional challenges giving you certain requirements every time your funded to be eligible for a withdrawal from your account. I don't think that the positives outwheigh these negatives in the long run.
There is nothing wrong to trail stops to break even; however, you have to keep in mind that stopping out doesn’t mean the trade idea is over. Stopping out = reassess. If the trade idea still valid, get in back!
ICT changed my life. If you don’t know ICT, he provides completely free and comprehensive mentorship’s on his various strategies. I’m a funded trader because of his channel. Regardless, just keep pushing. You never know how close you are to succeeding.
First time in top step I am $90 away on step one day 4, I had to slow down so I don't break the rule by making more profit than desired in those number of days...….ALL GREEN DAYS WITH $250 MAX DRAW DOWN. I have spent the last three month studying, watching countless hrs. of videos on TH-cam, reading books, perfecting my chart / indicators and working on my psychology and emotions...….seems to be paying off. For the first time in almost three years, I am actually trading and not gambling. Been following you for a while and I can say you inspired me to be a better trader, I had reasons to quit but I already had my mind made up on been a trader, ready to put in the work and nothing will stop me. I think I got the missing piece......i am fired up.
@@DanielInskeep Made $255.10 in one last trade after hrs...….Done with step one in 5 days, all green days. Check out these guys on TH-cam called The trading geek and Patrick Wieland. This two guys and over three years of countless hrs of watching trading videos on TH-cam prepared me for this task. You can and will do it bro.
Great video and thanks for sharing. You need to stick to your trading rules. Looking at the P/L whilst in a trade is a big mistake. Another big mistake is to worry that your stop is going to get hit which leads us on to proper position sizing. With a plan in place you don't need to worry yourself about P/L because the real win comes from sticking to your trading rules. Losses are part of trading. When you stick to your own trading rules the overall P/L is just the outcome of those rules. The rules comes from the gut and the deep learning and back-testing. Going against the rules is gambling and that is why you will be plagued with emotions. Keep going. You'll get there :-)
Great video dude, love seeing you in the TBM stream chat too. I used to and still do struggle with the stop-loss taps that take you out at b/e right before the trade goes your way but something that really helped was learning to set my stops at points of invalidation (ie. when the trade clearly was no longer following my thesis) & not touching them (I know, way easier said than done). Korbs has a great video somewhere on his channel going over the entire psyche concept of "being afraid of losing money" and that's why its so mentally satisfying to set the stop at b/e but in the long term all that does is ruin your r/r.
I used to have problems with moving to break even as well. I started paying attention to when price breaks major number levels, 00s and 50s. Has really helped, give it a shot and don't give up Daniel!
I just started day trading forex and man, with a full time job it's tough and exhausting. I managed to pass my funded trading but so far December as bad and so far it hasn't gotten too much better. You'll be fine, you're positive and at the end of the day that's all you're looking for set your trade and leave it. It's gonna do what it's gonna do. I've learned the more you mess with the formula, the more your results suffer
I understand the message you are trying to convey and I applaud your efforts. Current and future investments are needed to lift people out of poverty and fight inflation. There are many benefits to investing, especially when it comes to making the right investments, which requires thorough research, especially when choosing a relevant broker to invest in. Educational videos like this one help to raise investor awareness. I appreciate the effort YOU put into creating this content, thank you.
The process of investing isn't always easy; There are times when brokers don't deliver the results we are looking for and there are times when TH-cam videos are ineffective. But as an investor, I'm not giving up. I wish we could solve all our investment problems.
Unfortunately, not everyone can understand TH-cam videos, and most of us are too busy to learn effective investing techniques. Most of us have fallen victim to bad investments. Without a doubt, we need professionals or good brokers; But how can we identify one?
@@lawrencevictoria3643 Having a coach in this red market is key, My advisor is MELISSA SPALINGER You can easily look her up, she has years of financial market experience.
It is really refreshing to see a comment about Melissa Spalinger..I got a chance to benefit from her services few months ago and it has been a very smooth experience..
Build the system. Test the system. Prove the edge. Adhere the system. No fiddling around. I personally prefer very rigid systems where there is no room for consideration precisely because it keeps our bad habits in check. People have a strange tendency to think they are fortune tellers.
Gotta formulate rules that work for you and stick to them consistently no matter what and take the emotion out of it. Very hard to do. But the only way to find success.
Wow Daniel, I am impressed. Your trading improved a lot ! These challenges are not difficult seen from outside. But the hardest part is the psychology and the pressure behind it. Thanks again for this good content !
one thing i learned trading futures is dont move your stop until scale into something. but if youre doing a single contract then its either it will hit your target or hit your stop. you already predefined your lost on the trade so let the trade go. its either will make you money or not.
Also, I want to add that if your stops are getting hit most of the time then your target is too big for your risk esp if you're chasing the price move in your direction.
I've been trading for a couple years now and one thing that really helped was giving up on trying to go long and short. Focus on one side and make that your career skill. Don't feel the need to trade every single day as well.
Daniel I would like to thank you for these videos. I love your honesty, the fact you show your losses as well as the wins is hugely helpful. I have always stayed out of trading. Lately the urge to trade has gotten strong again. Having never traded, videos such as yours are very important, to show its not all glitz and glamour, and the fast buck in general a fallacy and that you can loose your shirt in short order. Thanks once again. I'm following your journey.
Prop firms basically work like insurance companies. All of the evals and account resets act like premium payments. The very few customers who are actually profitable, which is like less than 1/10th of 1%, are like the accident payouts. You aren't actually trading a live real money $50k funded account. You're trading some sort of sim account. They just pay you 90% of what you earned when you withdraw, which ends up being a fraction of all the funds collected from. Just look at Top Steps own stats. $7.2 million in payouts over the last 2 years on an average of 600 monthly funded accounts. That's an average of $6,000/year per FUNDED account. Those are accounts actually making money. The AVERAGE funded trader is only making $6k/year. And ALL those people are already in the top 1/10th of 1% trying. Just think how good you have to be to earn a living.
I think the feeling of having to force the trade is inside your head. Sometimes a nice reset is just not trading until zen setups are there to trade. If an order goes unfilled that nobody makes does it stop a market? You rock, and you are a lot better trader than you should think you are.
Hey Daniel! Thanks for posting all your trade videos. I like also haven’t been very profitable, but with every loss I learn valuable lessons. I can see that the same is happening with you too! Continue the grind
Broooo, when u took the loss from 1700 to 800 dollars on day 8, i felt ur pain!!!😭🥶, It's so real!! Love the process. Very relatable video, thanks for the transparency.
I almost quit trading. Now have my own stream. It’s about being patient and having more then plain candle sticks, moving averages and trend line. It changed when I learned to read interaction at levels.
Been keeping up with your series here. Love the progress. Actually had my first full year trading last year and ended the year green! Small green but looking to exponentially improve with more experience coming in. Cheers
I would suggest: trade micros, increase number of contracts and take out contracts as you go into profit. There is something about scaling out of trades that makes staying in the trade easier. Mark douglas did this too
can you make a video on how you take trades, like explaining general things to look for when you are entering a trade . kind of a general strategy video.
Thank you for sharing your amazing journey. You are moving in the right direction and you are growing in so many ways. It’s a mental game so always pat yourself on the back and say great job. Practice self love and forgiveness (I know it sound cheesy) no matter if it’s red or green. ❤✊
I appreciate your vlog on this topic. I know my thoughts may rub you the wrong way but I have to say that while you are very careful with your trades, you are also much too timid. You have to realize that the other side of your trade is either a cold blooded shark or a program written by cold blooded sharks who are experts at exploiting every weakness. You do recognize your weaknesses, but you are having problems learning from them and not repeating them. Make up your mind to become bold and ruthless or find something else to do.
the ultimate new years resolution: hitting the thumbs up button on all of my videos.
u have questionable morals sir
i love the current series, i remember there was a dropshipping teaser for the next video LOL, still eager for that : )
I love your trading videos. It’s a pleasure to watch you trade always!
Happy New Year!
Liking the sticktoitivness.
You’re getting better.
The best advice I ever got was from a smart friend who wasn't even a trader. I showed him a trade I made and said "It was good but I could of made much more if I held it" and he just plainly said "Yeah but it's irrelevant because you didn't know" like it was obvious. Even though it's so simple, now every time I miss out out on a bigger move I just remind myself it's irrelevant because I didn't know that in the moment. Being upset about missing even bigger profits can lead to revenge trading because you feel like you should have what you missed out on.
agreed. my main issue with it is when i move my SL, get knocked out, and then my target hits. *that's* when it's most frustrating.
@@DanielInskeep Hey nice vids, I think your stop loss are too tight....have you tried putting stops based on atr value or something.
Your comment directly correlates to the old Wall Street saying "No one ever went broke taking a profit". You are on the right track with that thought process.
@@DanielInskeep I had that problem and experimented with only entering through orders. This way even though you may miss some trades you want, when you do get the trade, your stop loss is in a more reliable place because the entry is better
@@DanielInskeep happens to me all the time. Every time I don’t take profit and decide to hold on for bigger target I get stopped out only for it to go in the right direction. Nothing worse than getting stopped out for no reason
Man day trading has been by far the most difficult thing I have ever done. My first year I lost 50k, wanted to die. 2nd year I made 13k not happy, but I learned a lot. My 3rd year I made well over 350k in profits, and now I am entering my 4th year. You literally have to change as a human being to be a good trader.
it is the most difficult thing i have ever done as well.
Would love to hear what changes you made as well. I'm 2 years in and getting better, but still not consistent
@Xasuo I started in late 2019, I just saw a reddit post about some guy making 500k on tesla and jumped in. I got my ass handed to me, I was following twitter people, discord chatrooms all that shit. Then I realized nobody knows where the market is going, and I should only be taking my ideas because then I can have conviction to hold. The rest is market experience, when you wake up every single morning looking at the charts you develop a sense of intuition, now I trade on pure auto pilot from all those hours well over 5000+ hours of chart staring by now, and focus on a few strategies, learned risk management in order to keep the gains, because ultimately trading is about how much of the gains you keep, not whether you're right or wrong.
@@yaboy5515 what do you trade most ? i have traded USOUSD WTI crude oil alot and tried master that for trading
@@yaboy5515 have you tried to pour your experience in an EA?
Dude, that was a MAJOR improvement in your futures trading compared to the other 3 videos. Day trader next door has said....if you can get to around a little profitable in futures or even break even...you're damn near there to being full on profitable, so you are pretty much there man. Keep going! great editing, as always love the transparency...don't lose your confidence you are almost there bro.
exactly, if you are a BE trader , you're doing better than 90% of traders.
i appreciate it - thanks for the kind words!
Patience, Green is Green! Love the video Daniel. You can tell your trading is looking great!
He’s better than you lol
Matt is here!!
@@Bad4Good2 checkout his channel.
@@shantanu925 I have.
@@Bad4Good2 👍
As a European who is a fulltime trader i notice a common thing among alot of american traders who trade Nasdaq, S&P and the like , risk management. It always best to risk the same amount per trade instead of having variable losses. For example being risking $100 dollars every trade so you're keeping losses the same and targeting a fixed risk/reward so that if you're edge is working that you will be profitable in the long term and the bigger losses wont be holding you back, instead of having sometimes 3 or 400 hundred dollar losses. Best of luck with your trading Daniel
Hi mate, I'm from the UK and want to start trading, any European or UK platforms u could suggest that you use?
Which platform do you use? Also in Europe and I wanna try another plat.
@@ltuedits4427 I personally use metatrader 4
@@brunomacedo8213 i use metatrader 4
@@arjan8113 I trade the FX market. I
only trade EURUSD as it is the most liquid pair
Two things stand out for me in analyzing your performance: #1 When your first trade is a loss, your day tends to get worse. When your first trade is a win, your day tends to continue to improve, peaking around your 2nd/3rd win. Might try stopping day if first trade is a loss, or after 2-3 trades if first trade is a win. #2 you put a lot of pressure on your self in missing home run trades, but you never make any home run trades so that doesn't seem to be your strength, so just focus on small-medium base hits as your strength. Centralize around your strengths and expand on them. Those 300-400 dollar plays see if you can expand those to get 400-500 out if context allows. Those 100-200 dollar plays, try expanding those out to 200-300 if context allows. I think the combination of these two points could see your stats move towards your winning days being 2:1 your losing days which will create a healthier, consistent pnl curve. Great job!
i appreciate your analysis, thanks!
The thing about these Funded Challenges is that we are not trying to get this big account to trade and then suddenly make a lot of money. The expectations need to be realistic and the goal needs to be thought through a little more for most people. The goal of working for a Funded Company like TopStep is to use their money to make a business out of your trading. If you pass the challenge, suddenly you have enough money to maybe consider trading full time. Longevity in the markets is the goal. Making enough money to maybe pay for your food for the month or some bills you have to pay, and then gradually making more as you get more experience. Most people lose these challenges and in trading in general because they want to get rich quick and their emotions take over their trading. The goal is not to pass the challenge for the Prop Firm, but to last in the markets for many years to come.
yeah, solid insight 👍🏻
I'm right there with you dude. It's amazing how much harder trading gets when there's something at stake.
the pressure will kill your success and this goes for any sport, pressure comes, logical thinking goes out the window, survival mode kicks in. Calm under pressure is the peak performance of athletes. There are also some simple tricks they use to be "calm under pressure"..
A guy can beat you at billiards for days on end until you bet a beer on the game, then he will fold like a cheap suit.
@@id10t98 what is Bullards
I've been in the market for 25 years and the best piece of advice I've gotten is: "if the stakes are affecting your trade, reduce your size until they aren't."
This is one of those easier-said-than-done situations, but it's true. If the amount you have on the line is affecting your psychology, reduce the amount. If that means going back to paper-trading, then you go back to paper-trading.
Fantastic video, Daniel. Keep it up.
I'm really impressed with how much you've improved since the last videos, it's really fun to watch! I'm also currently going through an prop evaluation so I'm right there with ya.
Dude, your trading has LEVELED up! We're basically adapting at similar rates, using similar tools (Bookmap, etc...), and have roughly the same general strategy (targeting supply/demand zones). This was a major inspiration and got me seriously considering TopStep (and similar programs). Well done. I've recently switched over to ES as well; seems to respond to lvls more reliably than NQ/MNQ. Lastly, don't beat yourself up - Late Dec thru mid Jan were ABSOLUTELY brutal as far as weak volume, market reaction to economic reports, etc. Please try again soon.
P.S. I can't speak for you, but constantly adjusting your SL to allow for more drawdown makes me cringe, personally. The more consistent my stops are, the better my entries get over time.. swear to God. Sometimes I stop out and reinter instantly if levels are still looking good; usually I'm able to spot where the original entry mistake was made (even if it was off by just 2pts tops).
I got my first funded account after failing 17 combines. All I can say is be patient and learn from your mistakes. You only really fail when you give up!
I am on the same no 17 fails so far rn on 18th passed phase 1 on phase 2 went 50k to 46800 took break of 3days came back and now at 50574 need 1986 more to get funded
@@anmolsharma433 hope it goes well! wish you the best of luck :)
hey man , i trade full time and have a little tip for you when moving your SL. dont sell everything at once when the move is in your favor, move the SL and sell like 20-60% and take some profits, then you can sit tight with no sweat and get big moves like that. idk but just a tip i learned that always works for me (keeping me out of stress and catching the bigger moves)
I was $600 away from passing the 100k step 1 but one of the key bad habits at least for me is being nicely green let’s say $1,500 on the day and still over trade the greed takes over so I will use this weekend to reset and analyze my mistakes, best of luck to you my man 💪🏼
I ruined the 100k challenge for 300$ and hit the daily drawdown
Goodluck 🍻 brotha
First thing's first: I admire your tenacity, 98% of us would have walked away after the first few experiments, but you kept grinding. That is why you are where you are!
Secondly, I will take the leaves on your back patio if you're looking for a yard work guy 😁. Excellent content my man!
love the dedication you're putting into becoming a better trader
You're doing great! Not giving up after all these years is key. I struggle with impatience and exiting trades prematurely as well, for me it helps if I enter a trade, set my stops and just ignore the trade until it closes, staring at it as it goes adds a lot of suspense and anxiety.
Keep at it man! I found with my trading that clearly defining how I wanted to enter, exit and trail my stop was extremely helpful for dealing with uncertainty. Scaling out 25%-75% of the position on a target order and trailing a stop beyond swings on the remainder will allow you to both lock in profit and catch the bigger market trends move. Make sure the current swing has sufficiently tested the prior extreme before trailing your stop to that level, lest you be stopped out on a two legged pullback just before a continuation. Happy trading!
this is excellent advice.
Try having the 1st contract take profit the same distance as the stop. Say your stop is 3 points then 1st scale is 3 points. That way you are risk neutral and don't have to move your stop to break even. IF scaled you will make $0 on the trade if market comes back to your stop. Ideally your stop location would be out of the noise and your runner target is far enough away to make it worthwhile. Take stats on your trades to see how often you take a full stop/Scaled then stopped/Scaled + target hit. By becoming risk neutral you can allow it to work and it easy on your mental. Good Luck!
you got this shit dude, keep at it, lots of us right along side you in this journey, its certainly a skill worth mastering. Don't give up.
thank you
great video man. appreciate the transparency. and also getting to witness your progress. feels like you’re right there. stick with it and don’t put too much pressure on yourself. you got this!
What a great video. Amazing editing and patience while recording this. Max respect. You motivate me.
I love these videos man!
Looking forward to Part 2.
thank you sensei 🙏🏻
love your videos sir rosato 🙏 you’ve helped me out a ton
You can tell your trading has improved since the other videos man
7 year trader here: can tell you been putting in work to learn man. good shit. keep pushing
Hi Daniel, just recently found your channel and im loving it! I really respect that you are so transparent. On a totally unrelated note, you have a great voice, its very soothing. You could probably make good $$ narrating stories for people with anxiety, no joke. I have it, and have found myself just listening to your videos when I need a calming distraction from my overactive mind. Something to consider? Regardless, thanks much for all your doing on your channel. Wishing you great success and happiness.
Daniel I have just started to learn trading and am already many many hours deep into studying into the fundamentals of trading. You have been a great help with your honesty and also your calm personality in your videos. You have been a great resource for myself and many others I would say. Keep the videos flowing and I will keep watching you. Thank you !
One of the main issues with this strategy is the amount of size he has on. 2 ES minis is $100 per point move, you have only $2,000 to work with before failing the account. That gives you only 20 points of being wrong. If he was trading micros, then he could scale some out & let the others run. He could even add onto the position, if price comes back to his entry area. I would recommend Apex Trading since they give you a $2,500 drawdown & have 80% off sales. They recently did a 90% off New Years sale, meaning a 50k eval account only costed $18, along with a 1 time payment for their Performance Accounts. Again this is just advice for those struggling to pass these eval accounts.
yeah, i agree that i was over-leveraged.
Man. You are for me one of the most authentic TH-camrs out there. I really enjoy watching your videos. Thank you!
i appreciate that!
Thanks for keeping it real, Daniel. There's no doubt your trading has improved. Keep it up, bro!
Good Luck Daniel!! Been resetting for a few months now. The old 'mistakes' : greed, revenge trading, chasing, arrogance after winning days of +2000$, .... you name it. Taking it slow now, 1 contract at a time, aiming at 500$ unless I can let t run..... with my FUNDED account :)
I would give you a few pieces of advice:
-Find a strategy based on indicators and backtest it to see it works. (Eg. Email crossing + rsi)
-Do not EVER move your stop loss. Place your trade and go have coffee, walk away from your computer and come back later to see how it played out.
-5 minutes or 15 minutes time timeframes give you more time to analyse and place your trades, 1 minute just makes you anxious so I would suggest trying 5 or 15min.
-Don't give up and maybe start with a demo account/100 euros to be less emotional and get good habits
Hey Daniel! I can relate to this video so much. I've been trading for 2 years, luckily I have a dayjob that gives me the freedom to trade all day. But it's the hardest thing I've ever learned and the mental battle is the real background. I'm still not profitable, but getting better and better. I've also started to trade futures the last 8 months with APEX, but I have lost way more than I passed. I've only passed twice so far and each time loss the PA account the next day. That really breaks you. I'm currently working on getting funded again. I lost my Dad and my brother last year and also my Mom is sick. So I need to succeed. I don't have any other choice! You'll get there brother! Keep your head up :)
it is the most difficult thing i have tried to do. best of luck to you
Trading is something you should avoid given your personal circumstances imo
@@Peter_Potato exactly,in a job the money part is already taken care off less stress, where as in trading it's all about money,the moment you attach any emotions to it, the markets will hit you like a rock.
hi Josh lets try a 200 daily stop and 400 daily profit for the day and see how that goes for 20 days .
if you win just 50% of the days u will be good.
this will build discipline .
keeps the stress down. best wishes brother !
Hi Daniel. Some advice: trade something where you might have an edge, or at least a greater understanding than the median player in the market. You have no edge trading an index, particularly day-to-day. You are not a macroeconomist. Trade something you know well, which I presume is an individual company or a narrow sector. You can do it , but you need a specialty.
did you not watch the vid? it's clear Daniel has an edge. he's in the top 20% of traders already. the rest is psychology
Something I see on these youtube videos where traders try to get funded is the desire to hit a small $ profit target each session. I understand it looks like you should break the final target down to small chunks but it's only the potential drawdown that should affect you when in a trade. Daniel, you have good strategy and it's great that you can take losses quickly but as you yourself noted - trade the plan. Follow your process the profits will come. Keep charts of those trades you took profits too early, or your stop was too close. Reflect on them. Note where you could have held to target. Note where you could have tightened your stop(s) and even aggressively added to your position. Visualize yourself following your process as you'd prefer to do.
thanks, i appreciate it. i try not to have the “daily target” goal mindset because it lends itself to forcing trades in low probability conditions.
crazy good advice thanks pete
@@DanielInskeep Agreed. IMHO, your "goal" each day, each trade should be to follow the plan to the letter for a minimum of 20 trades. Examine your results, and then and only then make a tweak to the plan. Then run another sample size of 20 trades minimum. Robotic / mechanical trading. Subjective trading is best left to those with 10,000 hrs of experience inside trades.
Nice improvements and lessons learned. Hands off that stop!! Cheers Daniel, rooting for ya to get that funded account. GGs!
thanks, i appreciate it!
Daniel, I have been doing the same stuff moving stops. I have started walking away from my computer after I enter a trade and it helped a ton! Too many weeks of getting stopped break even and then it moves. Love the videos!
nice, best of luck with your combine!
Just partially close your position after you hit a 1 :1 risk reward. The other half can go and do its thing, while you already have half of it in profits. Keep making great videos and good luck with future endeavours!
You should try other firms like FTMO, MFF / MyForexFunds, and TFT / TrueFundedTalent. I really don't recommend going with TopStep because their business plan is made to make you fail. Read their contracts. Also, on TopStep you need to pass the accounts 3 times and the third challenge is where they typically "fund" you but really they don't because they don't mention that it is mandatory to make 5% with a deadline that they don't also mention and then you get the real account.
You're bound to hit the target sooner or later with that kind of leverage. The problem is keeping it. Some private community surveys suggest that 80% of funded traders lose their funded account within 6 months.
Divest yourself of all forms of technical analysis, and trade small. It's not flashy, but it's much more sustainable.
What can give you more confidence in the trade would be more confidence in your plan. Seeing the same thing happen enough times can give you the confidence you need to execute fearlessly
Man definitely see improvements. That first week you where following your trading plan. You just got in your head. It’s all good. Try to work with fixed stop losses and take profits. Go for a 1.2 or 1.3 ratio for your setups, that way you even if you take a loss your winner will always make up for it. Good trading man each trade is a lesson
Well I’d like to say thank you. I have been finding it pretty challenging to stick to my strategy and stay confident in it. However, I think this video is what I needed. I wrote some stuff down and I plan to stick to it. I will update y’all when I pass step one! (Which is hopefully in two days)
So, how is it going? :)
@@luisffpf Well it seems I still struggle to trust myself, but that is to be expect I know it’s going to take some time. Again I will keep you all posted and hopefully I’m past step one by the end of the week!
It seems my biggest issue is taking profits prematurely, and I think that is a good issue to have. I also think once I trust the rex oscillator a little more I should have some pretty well timed exits.
@@F1Trades you having these problems before you don’t have a clear strategy that’s why you take profits prematurely because your strategy isn’t clear and also you should backtest your strategy 500-1000 times and you will no if your strategy profitable and it will take away the nerves I’ve a six figure trader btw.
Loved the honesty and quality of the video. 2 years of trading sounds enough but the psychological shortcomings to overcome take quite some time. Your patience behind the screen is admirable tho. Some people give some effort to even reach that point, 'ahem' like me.
I just like the fact that you keep trying and learning.
Great video man, one thing I will say which I will say is follow your plan to a tee, yes that may sound easier said that done however towards the end of 2022 how I dealt with trading emotions is, my plan is black and white, my plan does not have trading emotions written in it, it is a if then process > if i see this then i do this, then i do this etc..... my plan does not have anything based on emotion. So if my plan is tested and I have data to back up my edge then check the boxes and dot the i's. It is as simple as that. Constant reminders that my plan does not have emotions helps me. What I would also suggest which may help is review your trades taken on the challenge where you actively managed them and log how did they play out if you had no management at all. Another emotional trigger "i closed here because i didnt like this", it may be in your plan to do so but if it is not then you shouldn't. It can be beneficial to see if your management is actually hindering your performance. I suggest this be done over a years worth of trades taken rather than a handful to get a clear indication
I have done really well and I have blown up my account multiple times. One thing I have learned if you’re in a trade set up a five day EMA and when you’re in the trade, use a five minute time frame. If it breaks above or below depending on what you’re doing for two solid candles. That’s time to exit. Hope that makes sense. If not, I will explain it better.
Yo i’ve watching you for a while love your content man keep up the good work
Hey Daniel, noticed you haven't posted here in a while. I come back to this video every now and again. One thing I've personally picked up since I first saw this video and something I think might help you as well (especially trading ES) is to enter a trade with multiple contracts and scale half off at say 2pts, that way you can move your stop to 2pts on the remainder of the trade and it's risk free while also giving you breathing room around your entry. Love the videos and looking forward to the next post!
I just got my funded account after a few months of trying. I definitely won't try to ever trade the last 2 weeks of December anymore 🤣
What helps me not to do thing outside my strategy is my backtesting data over a decent amount of time. It takes me a few weeks to finish testing a single system. If I were about to do something outside my system, I would have to test it first for a few weeks again(which I don't want to do).
The best trading book in my opinion is Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom by Van Tharp.
love the authenticity and keeping it real, also great editing
Great video Daniel. It took me a little while to pass step 1 but worth the patience and time spent learning. During step 1 I would cut the risk in half trading 5 micros until I reached $150-$180 and then switch to minis and only risk what I made. It took longer but it got me through. Good luck and looking forward to the next video.
Mes is the way for 50k. good thinking half size your position. over leveraging kills.
i like it.
Exactly, I am in the boat of "Earn your size" then increase it . That way if you lose you are right were you started for the day.
Day trading is so subtly intense that I was getting nervous watching. I've failed one or two Topstep combines and can relate with everything you said! When I get some more time I can't wait to try again.
Very Nice Daniel. That's a huge improvement over your previous trading videos. When you started with Day 1 I thought you weren't going to do any better, but the days following that were a huge improvement. It's inspiring to see as I'm consistently working to try to understand this game out better. One thing that I've felt with stop losses, is I don't put in automatic stop losses - somehow I feel that the algo's see those sitting there waiting and they intentionally hit them to stop out retail traders. I continually monitor my position and manually close the trade at as the trade turns against my original thesis or against the indicators I'm using. Maybe it would help to not get stopped out and then watch it continue in your favor had you still been in. Keep up the great work. I've been watching you guys for years from Mango Street.
if you are getting stopped out a lot, its because you are placing your stops where the majority places its stop. The algos or market makers dont care about your stop
Thanks Daniel for your transparency !!!
I just started getting the interest of day trading and wanted to say that I appreciate your honesty! You don’t fake things and show the good side of it but also the bad. Your my fav day trading youtuber for sure. Hopefully you can teach us how to use that platform you used in this vid!
Happy to have you back! Missed the videos!
You flip a coin, win $60, loss $50. Your expected value is $60*50% - $50*50% = $30 - $25 = $5.
That means every time you flip a coin, you win $5. That is because your first try, you win $60, then you loss $50, so your balance is $10 after 2 tries, $5 per try.
But when you flip a coin, and you win $60, you dont say "good! i won $5". That is what happens to you. When you win, you win big, but the next day, you correct your balance with a big loss.
And the other way. You flip a coin, win $50, loss $60. Your expected value is $50*50% - $60*50% = $25 - $30 = -$5.
So, everytime you flip a coin, with the same winrate, your balance will decrease by $5. Doesnt matter your discipline, how well you play, your preparation.
And the worst thing is that, the first try, when you win $50, you are happy! because a profit is a profit, right?
So, what happens here. When you move your SL, you change your winrate, but also, you change your RR. There is no free lunch here. So, this is important: every setup has a different SL. Maybe you risk only 30 ticks for your trading plan, but in that particular trade, with the current market conditions, the correct SL is at 60 ticks.
You are not aware, and you take the trade, but in that case, in that particular trade, your winrate will drop. You have a 80% chance to loss your risk because the current volatility is high. So, your expected value is different. In that case, you have to increase your TP to compensate your tight SL and your low winrate.
Also, to make this harder. If your expected value is low (as you are experiencing here), you need to trade more times, to reach the target. But if you only place 2-3 trades per day, that means that you need more weeks to reach the profit target, and every month, you have to pay the fee. You can calculate how many weeks you need to pass the test.
Also note that, with a low expected value, increasing your position will increase the risk of the max drawndown.
Hope this helps you to improve your trade management.
Hey Dan,
Keep in mind, regardless of what your funded account states, it is only as big as the max draw down allowed - for instance: 100K account with a max draw down of 10% should be treated as a 10K account. Why does this matter? Risk! If you risk 1% on a trade with only 10% draw down allowed, the reality is your actually placing a 10% risk per trade. No Bueno.
This is Important! Ist makes the whole offer of being funded useless or at least completely incomparable to trading with your own funds. So this might work for learning purposes but not in terms of making profits longterm. Essentialy - just trade your own demo account without these additional costs
@@Wupper91 I wouldn't say useless. First of all, it creates liquidity for traders that know what they are doing. Secondly, if you accept the risk and understand that if you were trading your own 10K account and had a 10% drawdown then while you wouldn't have blown up the account, it would be 1k in DD. By contrast, a 100k funded account costs approx less than half of that (450) so you would be better off still and better leverage.
right, but that calculation works out only in isolation. If you consider the fact that you are basically forced to always pay again for trading on their demo account again after every drawdown there is a significant additional cost to this service in the long run. And even very good traders will certainly run into these kinds of drawdowns of 10% quite "regularly". Moreover Level 2 of the challenge forces you into some additional challenges giving you certain requirements every time your funded to be eligible for a withdrawal from your account. I don't think that the positives outwheigh these negatives in the long run.
There is nothing wrong to trail stops to break even; however, you have to keep in mind that stopping out doesn’t mean the trade idea is over. Stopping out = reassess. If the trade idea still valid, get in back!
Your futures trading has definitely improved Daniel! Look forward to the next installment
Brooo! Your cinematic videos and audio quality is refreshing to watch and hear. 😄
ICT changed my life. If you don’t know ICT, he provides completely free and comprehensive mentorship’s on his various strategies. I’m a funded trader because of his channel. Regardless, just keep pushing. You never know how close you are to succeeding.
Hey man I respect the Grind and Im glad to see the improvement! Best of luck getting funded!
First time in top step I am $90 away on step one day 4, I had to slow down so I don't break the rule by making more profit than desired in those number of days...….ALL GREEN DAYS WITH $250 MAX DRAW DOWN. I have spent the last three month studying, watching countless hrs. of videos on TH-cam, reading books, perfecting my chart / indicators and working on my psychology and emotions...….seems to be paying off. For the first time in almost three years, I am actually trading and not gambling. Been following you for a while and I can say you inspired me to be a better trader, I had reasons to quit but I already had my mind made up on been a trader, ready to put in the work and nothing will stop me. I think I got the missing piece......i am fired up.
amazing, great to hear!
@@DanielInskeep Made $255.10 in one last trade after hrs...….Done with step one in 5 days, all green days. Check out these guys on TH-cam called The trading geek and Patrick Wieland. This two guys and over three years of countless hrs of watching trading videos on TH-cam prepared me for this task. You can and will do it bro.
Maybe a weird compliment, but I find your videos so cozy and soothing for some reason. Might be the editing or your laid-back style🤙🏻
you become better, good job, you will make it soon
Great video and thanks for sharing. You need to stick to your trading rules. Looking at the P/L whilst in a trade is a big mistake. Another big mistake is to worry that your stop is going to get hit which leads us on to proper position sizing. With a plan in place you don't need to worry yourself about P/L because the real win comes from sticking to your trading rules. Losses are part of trading. When you stick to your own trading rules the overall P/L is just the outcome of those rules. The rules comes from the gut and the deep learning and back-testing. Going against the rules is gambling and that is why you will be plagued with emotions. Keep going. You'll get there :-)
^this right here.
Just got funded on my prop firm account. Keep it up man!
Great video dude, love seeing you in the TBM stream chat too. I used to and still do struggle with the stop-loss taps that take you out at b/e right before the trade goes your way but something that really helped was learning to set my stops at points of invalidation (ie. when the trade clearly was no longer following my thesis) & not touching them (I know, way easier said than done). Korbs has a great video somewhere on his channel going over the entire psyche concept of "being afraid of losing money" and that's why its so mentally satisfying to set the stop at b/e but in the long term all that does is ruin your r/r.
I used to have problems with moving to break even as well. I started paying attention to when price breaks major number levels, 00s and 50s. Has really helped, give it a shot and don't give up Daniel!
Keep Going! I know back in the days needed the whole 30 days to pass, now i pass within 1 week or less. Keep grinding mate, Patience and discipline!
I just started day trading forex and man, with a full time job it's tough and exhausting. I managed to pass my funded trading but so far December as bad and so far it hasn't gotten too much better. You'll be fine, you're positive and at the end of the day that's all you're looking for set your trade and leave it. It's gonna do what it's gonna do. I've learned the more you mess with the formula, the more your results suffer
How is the trading going?
I understand the message you are trying to convey and I applaud your efforts. Current and future investments are needed to lift people out of poverty and fight inflation.
There are many benefits to investing, especially when it comes to making the right investments, which requires thorough research, especially when choosing a relevant broker to invest in. Educational videos like this one help to raise investor awareness. I appreciate the effort YOU put into creating this content, thank you.
The process of investing isn't always easy; There are times when brokers don't deliver the results we are looking for and there are times when TH-cam videos are ineffective. But as an investor, I'm not giving up. I wish we could solve all our investment problems.
Unfortunately, not everyone can understand TH-cam videos, and most of us are too busy to learn effective investing techniques. Most of us have fallen victim to bad investments.
Without a doubt, we need professionals or good brokers; But how can we identify one?
@@lawrencevictoria3643 Having a coach in this red market is key, My advisor is MELISSA SPALINGER You can easily look her up, she has years of financial market experience.
It is really refreshing to see a comment about Melissa Spalinger..I got a chance to benefit from her services few months ago and it has been a very smooth experience..
All good investors are conversant with this Expert.. She's unique in the field just got to keep to her instructions and you Excel
Build the system. Test the system. Prove the edge. Adhere the system. No fiddling around.
I personally prefer very rigid systems where there is no room for consideration precisely because it keeps our bad habits in check. People have a strange tendency to think they are fortune tellers.
Gotta formulate rules that work for you and stick to them consistently no matter what and take the emotion out of it. Very hard to do. But the only way to find success.
I'm on the same journey, it's hard to wait for the right set up while not hesitating.
Wow Daniel, I am impressed. Your trading improved a lot ! These challenges are not difficult seen from outside. But the hardest part is the psychology and the pressure behind it. Thanks again for this good content !
one thing i learned trading futures is dont move your stop until scale into something. but if youre doing a single contract then its either it will hit your target or hit your stop. you already predefined your lost on the trade so let the trade go. its either will make you money or not.
Also, I want to add that if your stops are getting hit most of the time then your target is too big for your risk esp if you're chasing the price move in your direction.
I love trading futures. I also love Tradovate. If you use a larger time frame for targets it helps.
That's awesome trading Daniel! GGs! 👊🏼
I've been trading for a couple years now and one thing that really helped was giving up on trying to go long and short. Focus on one side and make that your career skill. Don't feel the need to trade every single day as well.
Aren't longs and shorts just symmetric to each other? Not getting your point
@@StefanReichHe means like people who place buys and sells and which ever direction is in profit, that will be the direction you go with.
Daniel I would like to thank you for these videos. I love your honesty, the fact you show your losses as well as the wins is hugely helpful. I have always stayed out of trading. Lately the urge to trade has gotten strong again. Having never traded, videos such as yours are very important, to show its not all glitz and glamour, and the fast buck in general a fallacy and that you can loose your shirt in short order. Thanks once again. I'm following your journey.
Prop firms basically work like insurance companies. All of the evals and account resets act like premium payments. The very few customers who are actually profitable, which is like less than 1/10th of 1%, are like the accident payouts. You aren't actually trading a live real money $50k funded account. You're trading some sort of sim account. They just pay you 90% of what you earned when you withdraw, which ends up being a fraction of all the funds collected from. Just look at Top Steps own stats. $7.2 million in payouts over the last 2 years on an average of 600 monthly funded accounts. That's an average of $6,000/year per FUNDED account. Those are accounts actually making money. The AVERAGE funded trader is only making $6k/year. And ALL those people are already in the top 1/10th of 1% trying. Just think how good you have to be to earn a living.
I think the feeling of having to force the trade is inside your head. Sometimes a nice reset is just not trading until zen setups are there to trade. If an order goes unfilled that nobody makes does it stop a market? You rock, and you are a lot better trader than you should think you are.
Been hyped for this video since our convo in Matts chat. Keep up the grind! Excited for part 2
Really nice to see you doing well, I can see the same issues I face trading on a Demo & Live Account, the Fear and the hesitation.
Your honesty and transparency is so incredible, thank you so much for putting this video up!
Love these videos, cant wait to the next one. Good luck Daniel!
Hey Daniel! Thanks for posting all your trade videos. I like also haven’t been very profitable, but with every loss I learn valuable lessons. I can see that the same is happening with you too! Continue the grind
this is probably the absolute most helpful trading video I have ever watched
Broooo, when u took the loss from 1700 to 800 dollars on day 8, i felt ur pain!!!😭🥶, It's so real!!
Love the process. Very relatable video, thanks for the transparency.
I almost quit trading. Now have my own stream. It’s about being patient and having more then plain candle sticks, moving averages and trend line. It changed when I learned to read interaction at levels.
Great video as always, you make us feel the pain going through all if this, thanks for sharing your journey to be funded
Been keeping up with your series here. Love the progress. Actually had my first full year trading last year and ended the year green! Small green but looking to exponentially improve with more experience coming in. Cheers
I would suggest: trade micros, increase number of contracts and take out contracts as you go into profit. There is something about scaling out of trades that makes staying in the trade easier. Mark douglas did this too
can you make a video on how you take trades, like explaining general things to look for when you are entering a trade .
kind of a general strategy video.
Thank you for sharing your amazing journey. You are moving in the right direction and you are growing in so many ways. It’s a mental game so always pat yourself on the back and say great job. Practice self love and forgiveness (I know it sound cheesy) no matter if it’s red or green. ❤✊
I appreciate your vlog on this topic. I know my thoughts may rub you the wrong way but I have to say that while you are very careful with your trades, you are also much too timid. You have to realize that the other side of your trade is either a cold blooded shark or a program written by cold blooded sharks who are experts at exploiting every weakness. You do recognize your weaknesses, but you are having problems learning from them and not repeating them. Make up your mind to become bold and ruthless or find something else to do.