Home › Market News › [VIDEO] Meet Topstep’s Funded Trader Power Couple
John and Tasha Manning are a husband and wife duo from Pittsburgh who has been trading side-by-side for the better part of a year. Building off of John’s prior trading experience, they spent months studying the markets together to develop a strategy based solely on technical analysis and indicators.
Utilizing their newly acquired trading knowledge, they set their sights on the Trading Combine®. Trusting in each other’s skills and guidance, they passed through with flying colors and became the first married couple to earn a pair of Funded Accounts at Topstep. In this week’s Funded Trader interview, Dan Hodgman sits down with John and Tasha to discuss their trading careers’ evolution.
John Manning is no stranger to Topstep. He has been trading for roughly three years and has attempted the Trading Combine quite a few times. It wasn’t until November 2019, when Tasha expressed an interest in learning more about trading, that they finally put their heads together to tackle the markets.
After teaching Tasha his strategy, they took some time to think about why John hadn’t been successful up to that point. As it turned out, he was facing the same roadblocks that countless other traders have also run into; discipline and trading psychology issues. He even considered giving it up altogether, but after a conversation with our very own performance coach, John Hoagland, he decided to dust himself off and get back in the game.
Together, John and Tasha developed a trading strategy rooted in discipline and patience that has garnered consistent returns and taken their trading to the next level.
They admittedly don’t put much stock in the fundamentals. Their strategy consists mainly of chart patterns, moving averages, momentum oscillators, volume profile, and, most importantly, timing.
Each morning starts with framing their charts; drawing trendlines, highlighting previous opening, closing, and settlement prices, and identifying possible support and resistance points. Anything that could become a target or reversal area gets drawn out—from there, it’s all about looking for high probability setups, finding the best entry and exit points, and practicing proper risk management.
John and Tasha have found success in working together. They credit the Trading Combine for molding them into better traders; the rules are there to help traders, not hinder them.
So, what’s their best advice for aspiring traders? Figure out what kind of trader you are; that’s the key to finding consistency. If you can identify the areas where you need help or need to work on, then you’re halfway there. Don’t quit and put in the time to continuously improve yourself.
We couldn’t have said it better, and we look forward to following up on John and Tasha’s trading success!
Trade Well!
