Forget P&L and Focus on Good Decisions: 4 Questions with a Funded Trader

Like most of our traders, Topstep wasn’t the first place that David C. in Valle del Cauca, Colombia came to trade futures. In fact, in a recent interview, he said that he has been trading for a year, but only entered the Trading Combine® after blowing up his second brokerage account.

Since joining Topstep, David has shown an ability to learn from those losses, demonstrating that he can profit and manage risk well.

In two months as a funded trader, David has withdrawn $7,715 in profits – gains racked up while demonstrating incredible risk management. In 38 trading days, David was profitable on 25. But David also minimized his losing days. His largest daily loss was $306.82, while on the average losing day, he lost just $167.69. Comparatively, on his average winning day, he made $395.81 with a largest gain of $1,263.79. 

We recently connected with David to talk about his journey trading and what advice he might have for other traders. 

Topstep: David – thanks so much for talking today. You’ve been off to a great start as a funded trader, piling up withdrawals of $7,715 in the past two months. But what really strikes me is your consistency – 66% winning days and winning days that average $395.81 in P&L. Overall, you are averaging gains of $203.04 each day you trade. 

What has recently clicked with you in markets?

David: To be successful in markets, I have learned that I have to forget about the money and focus on making the best decisions, regardless of whether I am winning or losing.

Like a lot of traders, I found Topstep after I blew up a trading account – losing all of my money for the second time. A friend recommended the Trading Combine to me, in part to instill Topstep’s rules into my trading. Those rules helped me become more disciplined and took my trading to the next level. 

Topstep: How do you identify the “best decision”? Can you tell me a little about what you look for in markets?

David: As I started trading, I spent so much time in the past year backtesting strategies. I would say that I spent eight to 10 hours a day, including weekends, on it. 

I primarily trade Emini S&P 500 ($ES) and Nasdaq ($NQ) futures. I look at the price action and compare it to some indicators I like, including Simple Moving Averages (SMA), Exponential Moving Averages (EMA), and the Moving Average Convergence / Divergence (MACD).

For some news releases, I will also trade the Australian Dollar ($6A), British Pound ($6B), Canadian Dollar ($6C) and the Euro ($6E).

Topstep: It sounds like you really hammered out a trading plan with strategies that differ across markets and events. Are you focused on implementation or also working on some other things?

David: As a trader, you have to constantly work on your trading strategy. At the moment, I have had osme success, but I am also working on improving my trading technique and my own psychology.

I am also working to identify strategies that allow me to increase the number of lots that I can trade in order to take advantage of leverage in my account as it grows.

Topstep: Great. Closing out – what are three pieces of advice that you would have for another trader, whether going through the Trading Combine or trading on their own?

David: I trade my best when I focus on making the best decisions and control my risk. So that is what I would tell any other trader: the best way to trade well is to focus on making great decisions. From there, if you add on top of that a good risk-to-reward ratio (1:2 or higher) the money will take care of itself.

You can’t expect to earn fast money. Trading takes a lot of time.

The final point that I would stress is that if trading is not one of your passions, you will never be profitable. It takes a lot of work. 

Topstep: Thanks for the time David. Best of luck for continued success!