Propfirm Journey by Dan Cheung

FTMO $105,898.27 Payout PROOF (通过交易赚取10万美元)

The Milestone and FTMO's Status

• Achievement: Dan has crossed a total of $105,898.27 in payouts from FTMO.
• FTMO Confirmation: The creator states this solidifies FTMO as the number one prop firm and that he trusts them as he has been denied a $5,000 payout by another firm recently.
• Total Career Payouts: His career payouts from prop firms total around $400,000, with $2.5 million funded at one point.

Key Mindset and Strategy Shifts

The creator shares two major lessons he learned that contributed to his success:

1. Focus on the Number of Trades, Not Monetary Value

• The Shift: Instead of thinking about the large dollar amount or percentage needed to pass a phase (e.g., "I need to make $10,000"), he focuses on the number of winning trades required.
• Example: To achieve a 5% profit target with a 1:2 risk-to-reward ratio and 1% risk per trade, he only needs 2.5 winning trades, which he rounds up to three winning trades.
• The Benefit: This makes the goal more tangible, less emotional, and easier to focus on.

**2. Scale Down, Not Up **

• The Problem with Scaling Up: When a trader sizes up, they get used to larger numbers and begin to disrespect smaller, consistent profits (e.g., thinking "$2,000 is not a lot of money"). This leads to unrealistic expectations and inconsistent trading.
• The Solution (Scaling Down): He chooses to size small and focus on compounding consistency. He would rather make $2,000 consistently five times than chase a single $10,000 trade and face two months of losses.
• The Goal: Scaling down leads to a smoother equity curve and consistency, which is what helped him get on the FTMO leaderboard and secure payouts.

Reflection on the Trading Journey

• Money's Role: Money does not change who you are; it merely emphasises it. Good people have more money to be good with, and vice-versa.
• Enjoy the Journey: He encourages viewers to enjoy the challenge and struggle of the journey, as having everything instantly would make life boring

Reference Link:

FTMO Mental Lessons of Trading (After 100+ Payouts)

Key Mental Lessons and Insights

The creator walks through his FTMO payout history to share psychological lessons:

1. FTMO as a Trustworthy Partner
   • The creator promotes FTMO as the "number one most established" prop firm, noting that they have paid him every single time without "silly excuses".
   • He confirms that anyone who gets funded and trades within the rules will be paid out.
2. Being Funded is the Start, Not the End
   • A major mistake is believing that getting funded is the retirement or end goal.
   • Getting funded is actually the start of the trading journey. Many people blow their funded accounts due to greed and emotion because they are now trading with real money .
   • Since passing Phase 1 and 2 is the hard part, success in the funded stage comes from sizing down and accumulating small, consistent gains.
3. The Danger of Chasing Big Money (Greed)
   • The creator admits to losing an early potential payout of $21,000 from overtrading due to greed.
   • The problem in the prop firm space is that traders use a small amount of money to start but play with a large amount of money, which leads to chasing trades based on emotion.
   • He suggests setting realistic, smaller expectations, like $500 to a couple of thousand dollars per payout, to make the goal more attainable and realistic.
4. Sizing Down for Consistency
   • The golden gem lesson he learned is that it is better to size down than to size up when you start making money.
   • Sizing down reduces the emotional impact of losses and wins, allowing the trader to trade with higher confidence and conviction.
   • This leads to a longer but more consistent process and allows the trader to control the equity curve on a professional basis.
5. Long-Term Vision and Scalability
   • The creator's ultimate vision has now shifted from a $100K payout certificate to a **$500K payout certificate**, and he is fine if it takes five or ten years to achieve.
   • He is currently on a mission to max allocate to $2 million in funding, as 10% profit per quarter would lead to $800,000 in payouts per year.
   • He personally considers $250,000 per year from trading to be enough to live his desired lifestyle.

Book Recommendations

The creator highly encourages traders to read or watch content on three books:

1. The Compound Effect: Focus on compounding small wins to reach big numbers.
2. Trading Your Way to Financial Freedom: Helps understand the importance of R/R (Risk-to-Reward) and accumulating wealth through a rule-based system of numbers.

Reference Link:

How I Got Maximum Allocation With FTMO

The Current Funded Landscape and Goal

The creator (Champ) regained max allocation with FTMO just 30 days after losing $300,000, $200K of which was with FTMO. He emphasises that this comeback was built on learning from past mistakes.

• Current Allocation: $400,000 with FTMO, $100,000 with Funded Next, and $100,000 with Alpha Capital, totalling **$600,000**.
• Next Goal: Reaching the $1 million funding mark by max allocating with Funded Next and Hollow Prime.
• Long-Term Goal (2026): To secure $2 million in total funding. Making a consistent 10% on this capital twice a year would result in $400,000 in annual income from prop firms alone.

Lessons Learned and New Trading Approach

The creator's new strategy for retaining his funded accounts is based on two key tips:

1. Strict Risk Management and Company Rotation
   • Keep Risk Consistent and Low: He will maintain a slow, consistent approach, avoiding over-leveraging and over-risking.
   • Low Risk Percentage: He plans to risk a very small amount, between 0.25% to 0.5% per trade, to ensure the longevity of the account.
   • Rotate Companies: Instead of rotating accounts within one firm, he will rotate entire companies (e.g., FTMO, Funded Next, Hollow Prime). Once an account hits a profit cycle (e.g., 4% profit), he will park it, wait for the payout, and trade a different firm's account.
2. Withdraw Smaller Profits (Build a Buffer)
   • The creator's previous mistake was withdrawing all profits ($30K-$40K), which left him with no buffer when he hit a down period.
   • By withdrawing only a portion of the profit (e.g., not all of a $20,000 gain), he retains an equity buffer in the account. This allows the account to weather drawdowns without forcing the trader to reduce risk prematurely, which would diminish the impact of winning streaks.

Prop Firm Recommendations

• Funded Next: Offers a 120% refund with code wx.
• Hollow Prime: A newer firm offering forex, futures, and crypto on multiple platforms, with a 40% discount on the first two purchases using code wamp fx.
• My Forex Funds: The creator mentions they are "making a comeback" and he plans to trade with them.

Reference Link:

I LOST $300K FTMO FUNDING 😭😭😭😭😭

The Root Cause of the Loss

The creator identifies the primary mistake that led to the account loss, despite having been net positive (he had previously withdrawn $22,000 from the account):

• Dynamic Risk Approach: The issue was not bad market conditions but a flawed risk management strategy. When the account went into a drawdown, the creator reduced the risk size.
• Ruining the Edge: By reducing the risk, the subsequent winning streak did not generate enough profit to recover the previous losses. He illustrates this with an example: if you lose two trades at $1,000 risk (total loss: $2,000), but then win two trades at $500 risk (total gain: $2,000), you are only at break-even. The reduced risk prevents the winning streak from building back the necessary buffer.
• The Yo-Yo Effect: The dynamic reduction and subsequent scaling back up meant the account was constantly playing a "yo-yo" game, preventing long-term accumulation.

New Strategy for Long-Term Success

The creator learned two key solutions to avoid this trap:

1. Maintain Reduced Risk Until Profit: If risk is reduced after a drawdown, the trader must keep that reduced risk until they are back in profit, then scale up—not when they are only at break-even.
2. Start with Lower Risk: The safest approach for a funded account is to start with a consistently low risk size. This allows the trader to trade for a longer period of time and keeps the account on a longer-term basis, focusing on compounding a few percent every quarter.

Future Plans and Scaling Goal

• Buying New Challenges: The creator plans to buy new challenges totalling $1 million in the next few days.
• Target Prop Firms: He is focusing on FTMO (200K), Funded Next (300K), and Holler Prime (250K) to achieve a new total funding goal.
• New Motivation: The loss served as a motivational push to fully understand an extra edge and to look at the entire scope of the CFD markets for accumulating more funding.

Reference Link:

This Mistake Cost Me $1 Million

• The biggest mistake: The speaker identifies the biggest mistake that cost him money and led to more stress was not knowing when to "take the foot off the gas" and take breaks.
• The difficulty of taking breaks: Traders are often conditioned to work incredibly hard and be obsessed with the markets. Once a high level of skill is reached, the temptation is to keep "doing 10 cups in a day," which can lead to overtrading, revenge trading, and constantly adjusting strategies.
• Trading is delayed gratification: Profitable trading is a long-term game, not about a one- or six-month sample. It's about adapting to changing market conditions over years.
• Financial Impact: The speaker estimates that by not taking breaks years ago, he gave back around $150,000 to the market.
• Setting a Baseline: Once you hit a profitable level, the key is to be content and try to stay there, as the downside is absolute (zero or negative), while the upside is infinite.
• Actionable Advice (Taking Time Off):
  • Schedule Non-Negotiable Breaks: The speaker personally takes December off entirely, noting that the markets are usually "terrible" then. He is working toward taking three or four months off annually.
  • Analyse Your Data: Review your trading data to determine which months are historically not profitable for you, and schedule breaks during those times.
• Benefits of Taking Breaks:
  • More Time/Freedom: Taking time away aligns with the goal of trading, which is to have more freedom in life.
  • Mental Recoup: It allows your brain to rest and recover from the exhaustion of making constant, high-stakes decisions.
  • Discipline: If you have the discipline to walk away, it demonstrates you have the discipline to manage your trades.
• Fund Manager Rule: The speaker shares a story about a fund manager who enforces a mandatory three-week break for his traders on two conditions: after a huge winning streak (to prevent overconfidence) or after a huge losing streak (to rebuild confidence and reset).

Reference Link:

RESTRICTED by EVERY Prop Firm

1. The Specific Restrictions by Firm

Dan explains that because of his high profitability (e.g., $180,000 from FTMO alone), firms have flagged him as a risk and imposed specific trading limits:

• 5ers (Five Percenters) : Restricted to risking no more than 1% per trade per hour. If he loses 1% in an hour, he must stop. They also reduced his leverage to 1:2, making it difficult to even open a 1% risk position.
• FTMO : Also has the 1% risk rule, along with lot size restrictions. These limits were applied across all his accounts, including his 400k account.
• Funded Next : Imposes a 1% loss per hour rule and a 30% margin rule, which Dan admits is "brutal" and has caused him to lose an account previously .
• Funding Pips : Currently limited to 1% risk per idea. He received a warning after passing a phase using 1.5% risk.
• Hollow Prime : Currently the only firm where he has no restrictions, though he expects they will eventually impose them as he continues to scale.

2. Why Firms Impose These Rules

• Risk Management: Firms don't want traders "gambling" or making hundreds of thousands on a single trade. They view high-payout traders as a liability to their business model.
• Manual Reviews: Dan notes that for successful traders, payouts are often delayed (e.g., 5-day delays at 5ers) because accounts are manually reviewed for "one-sided betting" or aggressive gambling.

3. The "Anti-Entitlement" Mindset

Dan’s core message is to stop complaining and start adapting:

• Accept the Rules: He argues that since prop firms provide the capital, they have every right to set the parameters. Traders are not "entitled" to anything.
• Control the Controllable: Instead of being a "keyboard warrior" and moaning about rules, he focuses on adjusting his trading plan to remain profitable within those constraints.
• Profitability is Possible: Despite the 1% risk restriction, he still made $100,000 from FTMO in a single month, proving that the restrictions are not an excuse for failure.

4. Advice for Traders

• Persistence: If one firm denies a payout or puts you on a restrictive review, just "go again" with another firm. One of them will eventually pay out.
• Focus on Skill: Invest in knowledge and mentorship because once you have the skill, no one can take it away, regardless of what rules a firm imposes.

Reference Link

I LOST -$50,000 Before becoming a millionaire day trader

I. Step 1: Strategy (The Foundation)

A trading strategy is essential, but it must be proven and internalised.

• Strategy Must Work: The most critical factor is ensuring the strategy has a proven track record, either from a credible mentor who can trade live or through verified evidence.
• Execution & Personalisation: Once the fundamentals are learned (e.g., top-down analysis, entry requirements), the trader must backtest the strategy and make it their own. A strategy that works for one person may not work for another due to different backgrounds and ways of seeing the market.

II. Step 2: Psychology (The Self-Control)

Psychology is about setting your mind up for success and handling the emotional toll of trading.

• Self-Understanding: A trader must understand their own emotions, especially their tolerance for specific profit or loss numbers (e.g., how a $1,000 loss makes them feel).
• Alignment: Since the mechanical strategy can be copied, the variable that causes most failure is the individual trader. The mind must cognitively align with the strategy to ensure proper execution.
• Mindset Focus: Psychology involves managing the funded mindset, compounded consistency, cost of opportunity, and handling drawdowns (e.g., knowing what to do after 10 losing trades in a row).

III. Step 3: Becoming Profitable (Consistency)

Becoming profitable is about consistent, persistent, and resilient action, turning a dream into a reality.

• The Dream-to-Reality Formula:
  • Dream + Plan (Strategy + Psychology) = Goal
  • Goal + Consistent Action = Reality (Profitable Trader)
• Key Actions for Consistency:
  • To-Do List: Condense all strategy and psychology into a simple, actionable checklist.
• Reps (Repetitions): Consistently doing repetitions to understand the entry and strategy more proficiently.
• Journaling: Journaling is the number one thing in trading and life; you can't manage what you don't measure. This includes using tools like TradeZella to track and understand tilt.

Homework/Checklist for Success

The presenter offers a to-do list for immediate action, which he also uses in his own trading and course:

• Strategy Write-Up: Write a full paragraph outlining your complete trading strategy (e.g., looking for a continuation on the upside, based on 4-hour and 30-minute alignment, and executing on a 10-minute pattern).
• Tick Boxes: Create a checklist of all entry requirements and confluences that must align before clicking the execute button.
• Trading Mantra: Develop a mantra to "hypnotise yourself" and maintain emotional control, reminding yourself that a losing period is part of your trading edge and that success is measured over a career (thousands of trades), not a single day.
• Journal Setup: Have a clear journal setup (e.g., TradeZella, EdgeWonk, or a daily report card)

Reference Link:

Passing $200k Challenge in 3 Days doing this

Current Portfolio and Mindset

The creator (Champ) is restarting his scaling journey after a period of poor performance and a bad experience with another prop firm that denied a payout.

• Current Allocation: $400,000 max allocation with FTMO, plus a personal trading account .
• Past Experience: He had a two-month losing streak and lost money in his FTMO accounts, requiring a slow recovery. He realised he should have taken time off, as he typically has a three-month losing period over the course of a year.
• Key Strategy: He believes in Account Rotation—if he is having a massive losing period on one account, he rotates to the next to ensure his incoming winning streak compounds on a fresh account that can be paid out.

Rationale for Choosing a One-Step Challenge

The creator previously found success with One-Step challenges, which accounted for 30–40% of his rapid $2.5 million funding and $85,000 payout in one month.

Challenge Type	Profit Target	Drawdown Limit (Funded Next)	Comparison
One-Step	10%	6%	Faster to get funded. Skips Phase 2.
Two-Step	13% (8% in Phase 1 + 5% in Phase 2)	10%	Gives a larger overall drawdown buffer.

• Speed: A One-Step challenge is faster, allowing him to get funded quicker and capitalise on the winning period he anticipates soon.
• Capitalising on Wins: Because his FTMO accounts are in recovery, he needs a new account like the Funded Next One-Step to secure profits and stack payouts accordingly.

Rationale for Choosing Funded Next

The creator's number one criterion for selecting a prop firm is the certainty of a payout.

• Reputability: Funded Next is an established firm that is consistently ranked in the top three.
• Confidence in Payout: He has the confidence they will pay him out, citing personal knowledge of traders who have received large payouts ($99K, $72K, $52K).
• Conditions: He is willing to trade with their conditions because he has faith in their payment process [07:42]. This will allow him to quickly pass the challenge and focus on consistent payouts, while his FTMO account is restricted to a 1% risk.

Advice to Other Traders (Diversification)

His biggest piece of advice, stemming from his experience losing $1.5 million in funding due to firm insolvency, is to diversify your allocation.

• Split Capital: Do not put all of your capital with one firm. For a $400K allocation, split it into four $100K accounts or two $200K accounts across different reputable firms.

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