Hello Traders!
This week has been huge for me as I have passed both phases for my funded account challenge from FTMO!
It took me one week to pass and I’ll show you how I did it.
(Tools I have used this week are featured at the bottom of the blog, including discounts!)
Trading Performance
[Info: I risk 2% per trade and my take profit is at 3.3R)
Monday – No trades
Tuesday – 1 loss, 1 win
Wednesday – Missed this session due to a poor nights sleep
Thursday – 1 loss (but phase 1 passed 👀)
Friday – 1 win, 1 missed win (phase 2 passed)
You may be wondering how I managed to pass phase 1 with a losing trade and I will share with you.
Because of the result on Tuesday, my phase 1 for the funded account challenge went to 0% profit to 6.6%. The profit target for phase 1 of the challenge is 10%, so I only needed 3.4% to pass it.
As I am risking 2% per trade, I only needed a 1.7% win in order to pass. So, I targeted what I needed and fortunately, price hit my take profit but only went a few pips further before turning around. This means that had I targeted my original take profit of 3.3% I would have had a loss and wouldn’t have passed on Thursday.
For Friday, I managed to pass my phase 2 by doing a similar sort of thing but I would have been fine if I stuck to my take profit rules anyway.
These are the only times I will risk 2% and not stick to my take profit rules.
Those of you who know FTMOs rules, will say that I still need to meet my minimum trading days to actually pass my phase 2, but there’s nothing wrong with celebrating it now because the ‘hard part’ is now over.
Once I get my funded account for real then I will drop my risk back to 0.5% and stick to my 3.3R target for each trade.
Why did I risk 2% per trade?
My mentor recently dropped a YouTube video which you can watch here and that will explain it.
Essentially, based on my data for my strategy, and what I was willing to risk / pay for in order to pass the challenge, 2% was the optimal number.
Don’t copy me just because I passed it in a week, your system and strategy could require a totally different approach.
Phase 1
(close time is 2+ hours from actual)
Phase 2
Certificate (to show I am real haha)
Mindset
I mentioned above that on Wednesday, I missed this session due to a poor night’s sleep.
I was awake from 3am till 5:45am so there was no way I was going to force myself to get up at 7am and stare at the charts.
Yes this does go against the plan in theory but it’s the ultimate power move in the real world.
When you’re tired, you are much more likely to go against your trading plan and/or make a stupid trade (such as guns blazing, placing trades left, right, and centre because price is moving impulsively to the upside).
It’s just better to let your body regain what it lost that night and continue the next day.
No big deal, it is what it is and we keep moving forward 🙂
Key Takeaway for the Week
This all shows the power of backtesting and letting the maths run its course over a period of time.
We get the data, we understand the strategy, we test it live, and then we execute without hesitation, and overtime we pass challenges and get consistent pay outs.
It should also be said that when we pass the phases and challenges, that they should be celebrated. Yes mental equilibrium is what we want when trading, but that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying the moment (just don’t bring it and your ego to the next session!)
I am extremely proud of myself for all the work I have put in over the 3 years and 9 months and I always knew it would pay.
“It’s not about if, it’s about when”
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As promised, here are the tools I have used this week and a discount code for Magic Keys:
- Magic Keys (for 25% off, use code: MKMETEORTRADINGFX)
- TradingView
- FTMO (funded account challenge)
Check out the Tools page for more info
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post, it means a lot to me.
See you next week and happy trading!
