At ATFunded, we are dedicated to bringing profitable traders into a trading career rather than just being a prop firm built for payouts. While payouts are good, the long game is better, and more payouts will flow if you trade professionally.
Here are some tips to make the most out of your ATFunded accounts.
1. Take your time
The days of prop trading firms having time limits are long gone, and good riddance. Unfortunately, however, pass rates did not increase with the removal of time limits. Traders need to understand that without time pressure, it may be a better route to use that to your advantage. Don’t feel forced to pass your phases, and do not feel forced to take trades that may not be your best setup. The trades will come with time.
2. Keep your risk low
Taking your time and keeping your risk low exist hand in hand. Making sure that you are not putting your account at risk, whether it be by the daily or overall drawdown rule is important. Brokerage customers who utilize larger portions of margin on their account tend to be the fastest to lose their account. The same is applicable to Prop firm traders as well. Take it slow, utilize sound risk management, and if your strategy is successful, you will reap the rewards. Investors tend to lean towards investment opportunities that have a low risk and a moderate reward, consider this when deciding on your position size.
3. Journal, journal, journal
Celebrating the victories and learning from the mistakes is always the best way to learn what works and what doesn’t. Having a trading journal kept up to date helps a trader’s thought process and enhances the ability to rectify mistakes.
4. Stop, backtest
If you find yourself struggling at any stage of your ATFunded account, it’s ok to stop, take a breath, do some backtesting, and come back to things with a fresh mind and fresh ideas. Sometimes, taking a moment to backtest a solution to mistakes is a no-cost solution to proving a theory correct. If things aren’t going well backtest, paper trade if necessary, and come back to your account fresh and ready for impact.
5 Don’t over-trade
One of the most frequent mistakes any trader makes is to give in to the feeling of needing to be in the market. After all, you gotta be in it to win it, right? Wrong, not being in a trade is a trade itself, and the most successful traders are generally taking fewer trades than those who are burning through accounts. Taking your time and keeping your risk low is all well and good, but to be successful, you should consider not over-trading as well. If you are over-trading, your risk and time are irrelevant; you will lose your account – it is a statistical surety.
If your idea didn’t work, don’t chase the next one, wait for it to come.
