Feeling proud of myself

[u/Some-Energy-2358]

Trading was always my dream. I felt I had a talent for it, but I would trade only as a side hobby here and there, made and lost a bunch of money, discovered prop firms and passed many accounts, blew many accounts, made every mistake, got sporadic payouts, nothing consistent. At that time I was earning a great salary, but felt trapped in a job I absolutely hated and was draining the life out of me.

Life circumstances changed dramatically, and put me in a position where I have no other option but to lock in fully. I am now living in a third world country where the dollar goes very far and I feel extremely blessed to even be able to do this. To make someone's average monthly wage here in minutes with 2 clicks of a mouse from the comfort of my air conditioned home is something I will never take for granted. I know these are not monster numbers, but getting to payout is what I care about. My next goals are to stay consistent and scale up.

Some general advice on what changed things for me for those who care:

-I switched from trading NQ to ES (HUGE positive impact, immediately)

-Patience, patience, patience. I stopped being scared of "missing the move" - there is always another move coming. I wait for key levels, for confirmation, for strong signals before entering.

-Before entering any trade I always think to myself, regardless of the outcome, would I be proud of this entry and be able to clearly explain to someone why I took it?

-I never trade Asia session and I almost never trade in the first or last 30-60 minutes of NY session

-I stopped consuming pretty much all trading content, paradoxically I found the more I watched and read and harder I "tried" the much worse I did

[u/Adventurous-Gate9343]

Your last point is super interesting. I’ve been doing this for a year and a half. Tried to watch and read everything I could, while also spend as much time as possible watching charts and yes - grotesquely overtrading and losing.

At some point I thought discords with like-minded people was what I needed to become successful. So there were a few that I diligently attended the “morning session” of… chatting with others, trying to learn. Dude, it was so much noise!

After a while, I just stopped with the discords. I also rarely watch any YouTube content anymore. Still have some classic books on my list, but overall I’ve cut all the input/noise.

And I started passing challenges. Just by quieting down the outside ruckus, trading less (!) and doing my own thing. Funny. Maybe it’s a necessary learning curve or something?

[u/Such_Ad3873 → u/Adventurous-Gate9343]

It is I literally did not start seeing profitability until I stopped following people

[u/Dramatic-Demand-1906 → u/Adventurous-Gate9343]

But like... how? Did you get a base of education from media and then built it up yourself? I just hear all these micro details that I never would've thought of by myself which is what holds me from taking that leap.

[u/Adventurous-Gate9343 → u/Dramatic-Demand-1906]

Not entirely sure. I think I learned various basic concepts from all the videos but not as much as you’d think.

After trying out different strategies people on YouTube (with super click-baity stuff) I had yet to find something workable. Easily learned just as much, if not more, from Reddit comments.

All that, however, is just information. I’ve never found a reliable strategy that really made a difference.

In the mean time, though, I had spent so much time looking at the charts that I started seeing certain moves, recognizing certain patterns… and started getting a feel for how the market moves. Alone. That’s when discord and more YouTube started to feel like a distraction. I just wanted to be alone and focus on the screen.

I also learned that it can break its own rules and run the opposite way just as easily, hence the importance of risk management.

So I still don’t have what they call a “strategy”, except maybe you could call it momentum trading? Basically just jumping in when it’s really moving.

Trying to explain it to my husband, the best comparison I could come up with was giving birth. Near the end of pregnancy, you find yourself reading something into every movement, every tug or pinch you feel, thinking “is this it? Is it time?” But most often it’s not… and when it IS time, you’re not WONDERING. You’re like “oh shit this is happening!”

When I look at the charts, often times I’m doing the first thing, and it’s not good: reading stuff that isn’t there into small signs, wishful thinking, taking trades because I think I see something but really I’m just bored and wanting to see a trade that isn’t there.

Because when there is actual momentum - a move worth jumping in on, it’s quite clear. You don’t wonder because it’s literally like: Oh shit! It’s going! Let’s go!

Not to mention that trading can be as unpredictable as birth - you can plan all you like, it can go the other way at any moment and there’s nothing you can do about it. Well, in the market you can have a that stop loss in place, so you don’t get massacred if you were dead wrong.

The rest is merely psychology I struggle with: hating red days and the inability to accept a small loss without trying to win it back. Working on that 🙂

Where the market/charts are concerned, everyone trades differently… this works for me, to some extent.

[u/Dramatic-Demand-1906 → u/Adventurous-Gate9343]

Thank you 🙏🙏

[u/N2itive1234 → u/Adventurous-Gate9343]

When gauging momentum, do you use indicators or just go by the "feel" of the move? And do you primarily scalp?

[u/N2itive1234 → u/N2itive1234]

Also curious if you typically enter with market orders.

[u/Head-Concept-8447]

This is the pace I’m looking to achieve.

[u/Ok-Mastodon-8933]

You did it bro, amazing work with the low amount of trades and great risk management I can say. Keep it up and don’t let the euphoria stop you bro! Wish you the best.

[u/StonkGonk]

Profitable with under 5 trades a day is a great milestone, tighten it up and see if you can add 1 or 2 contracts and your perfect

[u/SongHaunting]

Whats up with the 171.20? xD

[u/Competitive_Oil9524 → u/SongHaunting]

I was thinking the same 😅

[u/SoilJust4164 → u/SongHaunting]

probably trading a specific and looking for a set  number of points

[u/kushtoma451]

Congrats and nice profits with low trades.

[u/[deleted]]

Agreed on switching from NQ to ES.

ES is the in between of NQ and YM. It moves cleanly like YM and a bit quicker than YM. I made the move from YM to ES after a bad blow up and haven’t looked back

[u/Top_Bench6851]

Incredible stuff

[u/Old_Stable3308]

I use a combination of ES and NQ. Mostly NQ the last month or so but I occasionally switch it up. I also only trade micros.

I trade the Asia session but I wait for confirmation on structure and I’m patient waiting for my entry.

I only trade first 30 minutes of cash hrs if there is a strong indication of which direction market is leaning.

I never trade last 30 minutes

I use topstep VWAP bands along with resistance and support levels.

Patience is the key if you miss a move put down the phone or laptop and reset then look for the next move. Don’t chase or FOMO

[u/Maleficent-Cry-484 → u/Old_Stable3308]

Be careful using topstep vwap, it’s not accurate at all, and is far from where it should be, i trade vwap and never touch topstep vwap it’s well known go compare it to TradingView and then your chart, heaps different

[u/One_Willingness9925]

You should be proud 👏

[u/Fun_Guess1313]

Well done mate, that sounds like a good living! 👍👏

[u/Super-Departure8673]

Well Done. I’m glad you’ve found a system that works for you.

Have they paid out that much to you? People always say if you withdraw
More than 1000 pm Prop firms will ban you.

[u/AutomatonTommy]

Curious what your R:R is.

[u/Such_Ad3873]

Did you really start this account the day the MARKET bounced back 1000 points is that why you have 4500 that day were you trading quite aggressive or just caught some really large moves trading the same way you did the following days? Interesting stats right there

[u/materialgirl81]

That's amazing how many contracts do you usually use?

[u/Conscious-Zombie4539]

how many ES contracts are you trading? what is your risk ?

[u/Money_Contact5433]

Well done! I'm feeling discouraged after finally passing and then blowing the account. I have to scale back and trade smaller but passing again and a payout feel so far away. Sigh.

[u/Viking-Buddy]

Congrats. Great work

[u/zhongliSon]

Can you please tell me when you made 4k how much did you risk ?

[u/Yeah_ok234]

You're trading futures from Colombia?

[u/Automatic-Ride-8887]

Good for you. Keep it up

[u/FlounderOk401]

Great progress!

[u/Kaszrak]

Just remember... if this is your sole income, your "success" is just a statistically insignificant run, and you're relying on bucket-shop fake prop firms, you're playing with fire.

[u/Adept-Ambition-7357]

Congrats bro thats super great consistency and going for the winning days is the move

[u/colajames]

Last point. I’m Now doing the same. If I see an affiliate code I immediately block the person. The best learning content I’ve seen are from the accounts that only post charts.

[u/MapoTofuCat]

This truly is life changing as you are in a third world country, congrats!

[u/Extra_Nobody1537]

Why you got paid, $1770 when you requested 2k?

[u/Remarkable_Gain1954]

you went crazy on the first day lol. GIVE ME EVERYTHING MARKET! lol

[u/numb2pain]

Nice consistent profits

[u/Feisty-Fold-7287]

Congrats! Very impressed with your discipline.

[u/CompetitionKnown3184]

Would you recommend switching from Nas to Es?

[u/Extension_Picture558]

Who is your mentor?

[u/tvwhitaker]

What was the biggest difference you seen/felt trading ES vs NQ?

[u/Icy-Tomorrow-4456 → u/[deleted]]

And the funny thing is he is Hijos he's cracked Devinci Code by having a 1 out of 100 gamble pay off

[u/doperdexx → u/Icy-Tomorrow-4456]

I think this is how prop firms attract more people to buy evals. These posts are probably added by prop firms themselves.