Home › Market News › Meet Funded Trader Ed H. From Australia
In this week’s funded trader interview, Topstep Performance Coach Dan Hodgman went down under (not literally) to get some insights from a trader in Australia. Meet Ed H., who started his first Trading Combine® back in July of 2020 and has since moved through the Pro Account and into a Funded Account.
Ed’s approach to the markets is simple; he “only hunts one rabbit,” meaning he only trades one market exclusively. The market Ed has chosen to spend his time mastering is the E-Mini Nasdaq-100 futures (NQ), and so far, it has been working out well for him.
Following the “Top-Down” model, Ed’s daily prep starts with looking at higher timeframe charts and moving down to the lower timeframes. He also swears by Fibonacci levels, which he says the NQ loves to trade around. Then, to round it all out, Ed throws a few moving averages up to help him stay on the right side of the trend. He’s not clogging up his charts with a lot of indicators, and that helps to give him a more clear picture of the market.
Ed doesn’t get surprised by the big swings in the NQ anymore. By focusing on just one market and looking at higher timeframe charts, he has effectively learned to slow down his trading so he doesn’t get caught up in all the “noise” of the crazy little moves.
During his time at Topstep, Ed has learned one of the most valuable lessons; to cut your losses before things start to get out of control. Pushing too hard and convincing yourself that you can make a comeback doesn’t typically work out when your trading capital is restricted to a certain amount.
Maintaining focus and recognizing when you’re having a bad trading day and it’s time to walk away is one of the hardest things for a trader to come to terms with when they’re down money. This is where discipline comes into play. Building healthy and sustainable habits can bring consistency to your trading.
Trading isn’t a job for the faint of heart. You’re going up against the largest financial institutions on the planet daily, and second chances are few and far between. The point being, you have to be a student of the markets and a constant problem solver. Never stop learning and trust the process.
Trade Well!