My Approach to Props
I think as retail traders, most of us are not used to being held to a set of rules when we trade. Even when we have our own rules and attempt to follow them, we might only abide by a portion of it, and inconsistently, at best. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with us as humans, we’re just not built naturally to do this. So, let’s stop being unreasonably and extremely hard on ourselves. Furthermore, most of us don’t have the capital or at least a meaningful amount to allow us to trade with enough cushion for making lots of mistakes to learn and improve without losing our savings and hard-earned money. And even if we do have enough capital, there’s always the mental and emotional aspects to manage because at the back of our minds we are always thinking “what if” I lose it all? How can this not affect our ability to think clearly and focus on trading well?
I’ve traded my own capital and had my rules for trading for 10 years. I also lost so much money, and it was painful. I first learned about these online funding type of prop firms since around 2022 but didn’t really get involved with them until recently. I only wish I had started with them sooner. I recognize that the online prop firm space faces significant criticism, particularly regarding their rules and business models. It is known that payouts to successful traders are funded largely by evaluation fees. Since most traders fail and often re-enter by paying new fees, higher failure and re-entry rates ultimately generate more revenue for the firms—revenue that helps pay the “winners.” Another common critique is that we’re trading in simulated accounts, which some argue makes the trading “not real.”
I understand the criticisms and where it comes from—especially given the history of certain questionable prop firms that are no longer in business. That said, as someone with an entrepreneurial mindset, I’ve never fully agreed with all of the criticisms because there are also many legitimate prop firms. And in my view, there’s nothing else in the trading space quite like the opportunities we have now. For me, the pros far outweigh the cons—especially when it comes to the advantage of leverage. But every trader has to do their own due diligence and do what’s right for them. There are rules and fine prints for every prop firm, so you must read it. When I approach this from a business perspective, it makes total sense to pursue this opportunity. My only fear is if these opportunities go away for whatever reason.
I’ve done a lot of research on prop firms to find what works for my needs, and currently I am in an active evaluation phase with Trade The Pool and Apex Trader Funding. I am more focused on my Apex accounts right now because I feel that I am gaining some traction. Despite Apex’s “stricter” rules, the fact that I can have up to 20 accounts is what drew me to their business. Why so many accounts? I prefer to trade a “portfolio” and give myself some flexibility in how I want to approach a set of accounts. That way, I’m not so dependent on just one or a few accounts. To me, I think it helps with the mental and psychology aspects. Another advantage, I can also use the copy trading feature to copy a trade that I do in one account to my other accounts, if I choose to.
To be transparent, I blew up my first set of 20 Apex accounts. So, what I’ve been sharing in the blog is my second set of accounts. The first set, I blew up pretty fast, partly because I was learning to trade futures for the first time. I was learning and experimenting, but I also wasn’t following my trading plan and made all the mistakes that traders do. So, with this second set, I am taking a very conservative and non-rushed, slower approach to trading. I am trading in the evaluation accounts “as if” I have already been funded. I choose to visualize that this is “real money” during the evaluation phase. The evaluation phase gives me time to practice and refine for when I actually get funded. When I’m funded, the idea is for me to trade mostly the same way I did during my evaluation—because that’s what got me there.