Proprietarytrading
GBP/USD printing a new record history low!Prior GBP/USD:
GBP has now reached record lows against the USD, as USD continues to soar. The obvious mark that most trader are now looking at is 1.0000. If trends continue long term we may even see lower prices than this.
1.1200 is a strong level of resistance for this pair now and it may look for some rest bite as we head into the later stages of 2022. Unless we see any significant movements, the overall bias is still strong bearish.
Prop-firm Challenges (FTMO) Risk ManagementProp-firms tell us to come trade for them so that they can take trades off our ideas. In reality they make their money on relying on the fact that 95% of traders are unprofitable and will fail either the challenge or verification stages of their trading.
People fail because either they do not have a real edge on the market, they cannot control their emotions, or some combination of the two.
If you only have a 10% total loss before you lose the account, why are you risking 1% per trade? why are you risking 1% with only 2% left? The short answer is because you cannot manage risk. And if you cannot manage risk you with either fail immediately, or fail in time.
This is a risk profile guide for attempts at FTMO or any other prop firm. The basic premise is to begin at 1% and raise it while in profit, and lower it while in loss. A new theoretical 0 point can be established even within profit in order to protect your gains.
You must understand that no single trade is that important. If you are hoping for a trade to change your life you are going about this the wrong way. What is important is compounding profitable trades that outweigh the losers.
Lets talk prop firms❗Its the buzz words and hot topic of the moment! PROP FIRMS
Before I start on this topic I want confirm I am a funded trader. This post isn't to promote this style of trading or prop firms.
I am writing this post for those who may not understand what a prop firm is and to share my own experiences on the route to being a funded trader.
What is a prop firm?
Proprietary trading is where a firm trades for its own financial gain instead of earning commissions for clients.
What is a prop trader?
A prop trader is someone who uses that firms money to trade with and in exchange receives a wage or a percentage of the profits.
Now those two statements above probably ring more true for those who work for financial institutes on trading floors all around the world.
The propriety trading firms I want to talk about are the retail prop firms that usually for a subscription or a challenge fee will allow you as a trader to trade funds provided by them.
Any profits you make on that account you as the trader will receive a share of the profits. Usually 70-80%.
The business model has drawn a lot attention some good and some bad.
So this seems a good starting point to discuss what we know of the business model.
To become a funded trader with these companies you must either pay a subscription or take a challenge.
You rules and conditions of which you have to abide by in order to gain and keep funded accounts.
Subscriptions model
This route to prop funding tends to be a monthly reoccurring payment. You are then given an account to trade with stipulations attached.
For the subscription model the rules on the account tend to be very tight/strict and the fee can be quiet hefty.
Challenge model
This route to funding is where the trader pays an entry fee in to a challenge to prove their trading credentials.
The trade will be set targets to meet over one or two phases in order to secure funding.
The account will have rules and stipulations applied for example 10% overall draw down.
If funding is secured then most companies refund the entry fee and you then as a funded trader earns money of any profits made on your funded account.
So that's the options to becoming a funded trader.
The retail prop firm business model has been criticised because some of these funded accounts are demo accounts once gained.
Some say these companies only make money off failures and that's why even their funded traders who have passed are only ever trading demo accounts.
Some prop firms on completion of challenges give you real accounts. But do we truly know they are real or does it just say real?
A prop firm most definitely makes money from failed challenge attempts as part of it's business model. No one will ever know for real if they copy trade their top funded traders either.
But in my opinion they would be daft not to copy trade consistent performers that take payouts of these firms every month because they exists.
Prop trading pros and cons.
Their is pro and cons to any choice in life and prop trading is no exception.
I'll cover my personal pro and cons to the prop world below.
PROS
-For traders who are consistent and proven but only have small capital available, Prop trading is a good route to potentially larger trading pots.
-Most prop firms have scaling plans
-Prop firm gives trader the opportunity to funding most would never of got if they didn't exists. Most would never get an the opportunity to trade for a big institute. Prop firms bridge that gap.
-Given the amount of firms popping up a consistent trader could soon find themselves with a diverse portfolio of accounts giving some life changing chances and monthly profit opportunity.
-Most prop firms have favourable commissions and spreads with some having no commissions what so ever.
-Reduced personal risk . Worse case scenario for a funded trader is losing the account rather than massive personal losses.
CONS
-Even when funded you have to adhere to rules and terms of the prop firm
-You could spend big money getting traded
-The health of the prop firm you trade for is unknown and one prop firm has already dis-appeared.
-In reality the targets set are gain the funded account is quiet high at 8-10% in 30 calendar days.
-Violation of rules ends in account loss.
Summary
I can only speak of the journey I have taken myself.
For me the pros out weighed the cons when it came to seeking funding via these prop firms and the opportunities they offer.
I personally don't mind paying a fee to enter challenges as you need some emotional attachment to the challenge in order for you to play your best trading game.
If these were free to enter then everyone would just go big and all out to get funded then would do exact same if managing to get funded. That would be sustainable for no one.
That's not what trading is about it's about risk management and emotional control which helps lead to consistent trading results.
For a 100k challenge most prop firms charge between £400-£500 that is still a fair amount of money for anyone and you should be treating it as a serious venture if your not then you are simply gambling.
Funded accounts being a demo account hasn't bothered me. I get paid when I'm in profit and that's all that matters.
Spreading accounts over different prop firms lowers risk and exposure to losing all your funded accounts.
One well known firm has gone and thankfully I wasn't with them but aiming for a few accounts with different firms lowers risk of finding yourself funded one minute then not the next.
Are they a scam? In ever growing market place bad apples will be operating in the sector.
As traders you have to do own research but plenty have been round for a while now with good reviews to boot.
Trading in general is hard and gaining 8-10% in one month to pass then doing 5% the following is no easy feat.
Get a game plan and strategy together, back test and forward test the live out of it and when consistency is there only then is it worth attempting funding challenges.
Love them or hate them prop firms are here and making some noise.
They offer opportunity a plenty but they do come with mystique attached.
You as a trader and an individual have to judge if they are for you or not.
Simple way I looked at the opportunity
1 Funded 200k account
3% profit per month = $6000
80% profit split= $4800
GBP= £3478
Approx equivalent to 57k GBP a year!
Freedom can be closer than you think.
Thanks for taking time to read my idea
Darren.
FOREX TRADERS: What are you going to do DIFFERENTLY in 2022?FOREX TRADERS: What are you going to do DIFFERENTLY in 2022?
Amongst many many things that we can do differently is crucial to havea CLEAR PATH to follow in our Traders Development. As we are learning in the FOREX COURSE 101 we have the next steps:
This is a simplistic approach for the DEVELOPING TRADER to grasp an understanding about where he or she is in his/her development.
STEPS TO CHECK:
1. Learn technical Anlaysis with the understanding of probabilities;
2. Form a Strategy that is easy to obey, easy to understand and easy to execute;
3. Collect 100 samples = Confirm your Strategy´s EDGE (positive expectancy / av. winner must be bigger than av. loser)
4. ****if you want ***Add a System to your Strategy for Automation
5. Congratulations ! You area TRADER!
6. Give back to the Community or in Knowledge Or in Money!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2022
LOVE
FXP
GBPUSD Entry on M15 to Go shortThe overall direction of the trend is clearly bearish as we can see, there has been a clear liquidity grab or stophunt on the downside taking out sell side traders.. After that market broke structure and started pushing towards the untested orderblock where our point of interest lies, so we go in short at the 50% of our untested orderblock on m15..
Thanks 🙏
Buy GBPJPY Day Trading: Range 148.900 - 148.500Buy GBPJPY in range 148.500 - 148.900
SL: Below the zone and add 10 pips to SL
TP: Resistance levels in Yellow
Technical Analysis Reasons.
1. Entering my Assassination Zone drawn between the ranges given
2. Buying the Pound at its lows and sell high
3. Double Bottom
Follow me and post a comment to know more.
Buy GBPUSD Day Trading: Range 1.361 - 1.358 Buy GBPUSD in range 1.361 - 1.358
SL: 1.356
TP levels:
1.364
1.37
1.38
Technical Analysis Reasons.
1. Entering my Assassination Zone drawn between the ranges given
2. Approaching my Fib Channel 100% level
3. Double Bottom
Follow and Inbox me for further details.
Day Trading ES with Simplicity! Initial Balance VWAP and LevelsHey everyone I thought I can share with you what I see working intraday trading the Futures markets. One size definitely does not fit all. Beware of people that tell you their way or the highway! This may resonate with some traders and not with other traders. Getting really good at identifying the Initial Balance, VWAP and Daily Weekly Monthly Levels for areas of Supply and Demand, (where macro traders sit) you can get a great edge over time with your trading and build a ton of confidence. Check it out for yourself. I also use order flow to actual enter and manage my trade ideas but that is for another topic. Everyone take care out there.
$AMC | Model Suggests Wild TargetsHello Traders,
As a purely speculative exercise on the accuracy of my model, I'd like to publish this idea.
The model tries to identify pressure points in any given market. The pressure points themselves identify the breadth and strength of the move to come. It exists in all time frames and can be applied to any market. The targets are printed as data is fed into the algorithm. The further away from the pressure point, the lower probability it has of attaining such levels and the higher the probability of a correction/reversal.
STOR - Updatetckr STOR : Nothing to add from last weeks update, other than, as predicted last week, the target of leg C has been reached and is now retracing a leg 4. Please note, leg 4 as drawn isn.t a target, it's an abstract point on the graph to indicate that retracement will occur after reaching point C. For further analysis on this stock, drop me a line here, i'll be happy to share. As said, for the rest nothing changes from last weeks analysis update.
GBPCHF POTENTIAL SCENARIOSGiven the recent market moves and macro economic factors surrounding the GBP, we have outlined two potential scenarios for GBPCHF given the current levels that are in play. The 1.22 level has not been broken since September 2019, if we see a bullish weekly close above the level as well as a retest, we can expect price to move (Long Term) to around the 1.27 region with areas of resistance coming it at 1.24.
If price is to respect the 1.22 once again as previously done, we can expect price to push further back down to our 1.19 / 1.18 region once again.
The first entry that was taken at 1.18 has been closed partially at 1.22, with currently 40% of the initial position running. (Stop Loss running at +200pips)