That's the beauty about Trade The Pool.
Because you can trade
without that negative energy
that we traders have, which is,
we can’t accept that
we are losing,
we cannot focus on our strategy
because
the money is the most emotional thing
that that we have.
So basically,
when you limit your risk
or don't have a risk when you're trading,
then not focusing on on the money wise,
like you said,
you actually can focus on the real stuff,
basically executing right
risk management.
Welcome everybody
to another funded trader of Trade The pool.
Today John is with me.
A new funded trader
with $20,000 of
buying power that he traded.
How are you doing?
Thanks for coming.
Hello. Hello. Hi, Michael.
Hey.
So, let's start from the beginning,
because you did a few attempts, right?
You tried a few attempts
of the evaluation until you passed right?
So let's talk a little bit about that,
and then we'll dive into your trading.
How was it like, you know,
I had one attempt
and, I was feeling super comfortable
the first two days. Three days.
And then I was not taking
it seriously, to be honest.
And then I, I slowly blew up the
the account.
Then I start again.
I have to wear these
I had two bad days.
and then I focused and start taking it seriesly
because if this is what what you want,
You have to take it seriesly
at least as a business.
Yeah. Hundred percent.
And this is something
that always repeat itself.
I see it happening with other traders,
you know, getting used to them,
maybe the platform,
tweaking their strategies
or also the
the focus part,
as you mentioned, you know,
you got to do it like it's real.
Exactly, exactly.
If you are here
just to play with, with the software,
just to play with you
or with your emotions,
you will not be able to pass it.
So how long you been doing that?
How long you've been trading when?
I been trading since 2017.
Oh, so that's enough time to get experience.
So up
until today
did you traded on your personal account
with a broker? Yes.
Yes I have Interactive Brokers
and some others brokers as well.
And I've been trading since 2017,
been profitable since 2019.
Very nice.
So, how does it feel to go from
your personal account,
risking your own money
and not doing that on Trade The Pool?
that's the beauty about Trade The Pool.
Because, you know, you can trade
without that negative energy
that we traders have, which is,
we can’t accept that
we are losing,
we cannot focus on our strategy
because
the money is the most emotional thing
that that we have.
And, so basically,
when you limit your risk
or don't have a risk when you're trading,
then not focusing on on the money wise,
like you said,
you actually can focus on the real stuff,
basically executing right
risk management.
For me
it's just like
do it like a video game
or something like that.
You just have to play the the playbook
and follow your rules
and you will make it.
If you can do it, if not, maybe
you have to try again. Yeah.
So let's
because you said
you have a lot of experience.
So let's talk a little bit about that.
You know,
Take us., the guys that listening right now
take us from your beginning
until you found your niche,
you found your rhythm.
And then
you know, the process
that you went through.
Okay.
So I started,
like everyone with penny stocks,
and I still trade penny stocks,
but not that often.
And then I was seeing in 2017,
I remember BPTH,
which was like trading at
maybe $2
and went to 80 something dollars.
In a day.
And then I blew my first account $500.
I blew it immediately.
And then,
I started researching a lot
and came across with the,
the bigger caps.
I like to trade like Apple, Tesla,
Nvidia, the Sagnificant Seven.
I like to trade it.
Yeah, they are slower.
They are safer.
And I can predict easier.
The patterns there.
Actually it's much easier
for me to trade.
I like to trade penny stocks.
I like to short it with Trade the Pool
Because you don't have to borrow shares.
Amazing.
So the thing about the
that you like I'm going
back to the large cap. Right.
The Nvidia
the Tesla that you like to trade.
You said
it's easier to find the patterns.
Yes yes yes.
For me it's easier
sometimes you have that period
like two weeks ago on the
the second week,
January 2025 this year.
Yeah, yeah.
We, we have that that week.
which nothing moved, just ranged.
Everything was ranging, the bigger caps.
That there is a very stressful time
for me because I cannot predict it.
If I do like to trade breakouts,
I say it, I like to trade breakouts.
And you, you go for a breakout.
Stocks doesn't breakout.
You go for the next one
and just range, range.
And you will be trapped like ten times
if you don't pull your,
you playbook.
Yeah, that's for sure.
Especially when it comes to a range in
a day or,
or a period of time
when the market is rangeing breakouts.
won't work so easily
in those cases
when you're
when you understand
there is a range day or,
or a period of time,
do you, looking for a different strategy?
Are you trying more pullbacks, reversals?
I just try to find
a good reversal
or just try to,
to focus on a penny stock reversal.
Okay.
So, so yeah,
it is important
to have at least
two strategies in your arsenal
in order to navigate
between different times,
the different market times basically.
Nice one.
So John, I'm going to jump into your hub
and show the guys at home
how it looks like.
For those of you
not familiar.
We basically have a hub for each trader.
So his on dashboard or her,
and you can track your stats
and see the progress.
We are looking at right now the $20,000
of buying power
that, John traded, profit
target that you need to reach, max loss
and, daily pause
and some other, stats here.
Very nice 66% success rate.
This is mostly
when you traded breakouts?
Yes, yes.
Usually I do like to trade breakouts.
And if and I like to, to give it, break
even as fast as I can. But, breakeven.
Because usually what I see is
if the breakout happened,
the stock will continue to go up.
That's why
I like to try
and to the to trade the trends as well.
Yeah.
So the stock usually
when it goes up, it goes up.
If it reverses and stops me out
that's okay.
Probably that's not the trade.
That's not the breakout I want. Yeah.
And the fact that you put
in your stop loss
to breakeven, fast
also gives you that extra for,
success rate.
It is a lot of the time.
On on breakouts.
You in most cases,
you want to have higher success
rate, right?
A lot of the breakouts are a failure.
But when you put it on breakeven,
definitely it works.
And, but your risk reward
ratio is a bit lower than, than normal,
let's say.
How do you
how do you plan to attack it
on your funded account?
So I will just focus on that
on my two strategies
because, in, in this challenge, you know,
so in this challenge,
I, I made a few mistakes
on the beginning.
As you can see,
I was from
I went from zero to almost 700,
I believe -100.
And then I started to go up.
I have a very good day.
When when I,
when I have a good day
and I,
I make a cushion on that day,
I usually I get more aggressive.
Then it was a very good day.
But always obviously my strategy played
the the last for four days
exactly from February,
from February 11th to, I believe 15th.
So it took you like,
Yeah. Like two weeks to pass.
Yeah, exactly.
In the beginning,
I was not following the rules,
to be honest. Yeah.
And this is why, you saw this drawdown.
Almost, terminated the account.
The max loss on this account
is 900. You reached 700 almost.
And, And, yeah,
I like the fact
that you mentioned the cushion,
because a lot of the times,
traders at the beginning
of the evaluation
trying to be very aggressive,
but you actually need to be need to do
the opposite.
You start small buliding that cushion
and then
and then you can,
become a little bit more aggressive.
Exactly. Nice one. You need to be very careful.
Looking over,
looking a bit over your trades.
I see a lot of NVDL.
Baba, Apple, TSLL.
So, so, like you said, it's a lot of
big names, stocks
that in most cases
will be on the radar
and there is a lot of volatility
For me at least,
they are very predictable.
I trade TSLL and Nvidia
because they are led ETF.
because they are leveraged ETF’s.
So do you remember the
the trade that you made here on TSLL?
I do remember actually
before I,
I made the trade I was on Baba for
for a reversal
because Baba gapped like 15%
I believe that day.
And, I was just keep pushing my, my break
even point a bit lower.
I was shorting a bit lower
and then I got stopped out,
but finally
it went to my target
and I would complete
the challenge with the trade, but I.
But then I saw,
I saw, Tesla for the breakdown.
It was 350. Yeah.
For the breakdown of 350.
And then you just braked immediately.
I got my target and then it just pulled back.
Amazing.
you were
you were quite aggressive there on
yeah yeah on TSLL
Yeah.
1000 shares
Yeah I, I had a very good cushion
and I was in for me
I said or
I get like
-100 for the day
or I will be able to complete
the challenge.
Sometimes you have to
to well and and play with the odds.
to play with the odds.
Yeah. That's that's for sure.
As long as you keep the risk management.
correct.
It's awesome
because you have the, the 300 stop.
Yeah.
tell us a little bit about the,
how you handle your, your profit.
How do you take your profit?
Basically, on any given trade.
There are certain rules or
how do you do that?
Usually I want to play everything for 1
to 3, 1 to 4 is not
It’s not
what the
what is there on the trading terminal
because you are seeing 1to 0.8
risk to reward
But usually I'm taking trades one
that I know
that can go to 1 to 4, risk to reward
because I set the important levels
And I like to, to play with that.
If, if the trades are just 1 to 1,
I will not take it
because usually
you will never get that one to four
one to three
But you have to play with that
to have that
that cushion for me to cushion.
When I see trades like that.
And, and when you say
you're not going to take a 1 to 1
or you're looking for 1 to 4,
what does it mean exactly?
I mean, you look at the chart? yeah.
I’m looking at the chart, for example.
Let me think happen. Apple.
No. Apple.
No,
let let me just pull
a trading view chart now
so I can remember exactly the numbers.
One. Yes.
For example,
Apple on Friday the 14th, February
I saw the break of 242, for example, 242.
And I, I do know that
if it runs, it can go to 250
or 245, at least.
And that's for me.
It's a very good trade
because I can get my stop very tight
and play with that breakout of 242.
And if it goes to 245,
that would be a very good trade.
That's an example.
And that day actually it went to.
Yeah to 245. Exactly.
It went to 245.
And this is because of the
liquidity levels that you looking for?
exactly that liquidity level.
The psychological level,
usually the bigger caps trade like that.
They go from one level
to another very easily.
For example, it go to if it breaks,
240, maybe it can go to 245
or and if it breaks 245,
the next level will be 250. Okay.
So yeah, tons of range
that you can trade there.
Amazing, John.
It was a great one.
And I'm sure the guys that listen,
really enjoy that as well.
Maybe before we finish here,
two more questions
that I want to ask you.
One is,
you know, you tried a few attempts as,
as you mentioned, and then you passed.
How was that feeling?
Yeah, for me, was
my girlfriend was with me,
and I was just.
Yes.
Finally, I, Yeah,
this a very good sensation.
And now I have to
just play slowly, as you said,
Start slow and just
follow the rules,
that's the most important thing
Yeah.
And, for the guys that listening
maybe just started the evaluation.
Right.
What will be
the one tip
that will get them to the next level?
Yeah.
For me is just accept your loss
because sometimes I do not gain and
set my loss.
But that's one thing
that I have to change.
Accept your loss.
Cut risks immediately.
If the stock starts to go against you,
just get out it.
There’s no
there's no point in being there.
So mostly fixing your
your stoploss
or your risk,
like you said, break even very fast.
So you would
have higher success rate,
maybe a little bit lower risk reward.
At least say I'm following the rules.
Nice. Yeah.
Amazing. John, I appreciate the time.
And for the guys
that want to check us out,
go to TradeThePool.com.
Hopefully you will be the next interview
and will be in touch.
Best of luck. Yeah. Okay. Bye.