very well done - good to see! 
(my information on this subject is gradually getting to be out of date - i had not heard of SFT at all! 
)
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Thanks.
One of the co-owners is Riz from the Words of Rizdom podcast. Nonetheless, they have been in operation for less than twelve months so it’s probably wise to be cautious especially with everything going on in the prop industry at the moment.
I’m only doing one of their smaller challenges. I’ll fund a bigger one with the eventual payouts from this small account. Basically, I need to make about 10-12% once I’m funded with them for enough to be able to finance one of their $100K skilled challenges. From there it’s all gravy 
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Dan, I was hoping that things were not too bad for you health wise when I can across you other thread. But sorry to hear that is not the case. Wishing you the best and will be watching out for any further updates on your progress on both counts. Best regards
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“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” - Abraham Lincoln
Time for an update . . .
As you all know, I like to keep it real.
Not good news unfortunately . . .
I blew the $5,000 SFT challenge.
Even worse, I also blew my funded account without making a single withdrawal!
No excuses, I took a few losing trades and went on tilt. My plan then disintegrated and I was soon on a hiding to nothing.
That’s the bad news . . .
The good news is that I have now refined my strategy to such an extent that I am confident I can now pass any prop firm challenge in just a few weeks. Bold claims! How can I be so sure?
Well, as some of you will know, I have been teaching my wife to trade. In preparation for a writing project that I have been working on, I taught her the basic principles of putting together a winning strategy designed to beat any prop firm challenge.
Three months ago she didn’t even know how to add an indicator to her charts, much less use a position size calculator or actually place a market order. Yet just before Christmas she managed to pass not one but two challenges using a strategy that she developed herself based on the concepts I taught her. Not bad for someone who didn’t even know what trading was six months ago!
I would say that it is always good, of course, to skill up and improve your knowledge of the markets and various trading concepts but my theory is that, just as you don’t need to understand how electricity works to flip a light switch, you don’t need to understand the full mechanics of the market in order to develop a profitable trading strategy.
The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. I have failed around a dozen challenges to get to this point. To be fair, they were mainly small challenges that I was only really undertaking for research purposes but, nonetheless, my wife now has the bragging rights in our house - she has only taken two challenges and passed both. In January, she is about to start a $200,000 FTMO challenge which I also fully expect her to pass. I will, of course, post her results here along with the verified certificate if she passes.
Having just lost my first funded account without making a single withdrawal it may seem like I’m going backwards and living in Cloud Cuckoo Land. In reality, I have been getting ready to achieve something quite remarkable, hence the quote at the top of this post. Trust me, the year ahead is going to be epic. So epic, in fact, that I have now doubled my prop funding target to $2,000,000.
In 2023 my refined strategy produced 118 trading opportunities with a 1:1 reward to risk and an average win rate of 74%.
The live results this year will probably not fare quite as well of course but, even so, that’s more than profitable enough to pass $2,000,000 of prop firm challenges and achieve my small account challenge. All I need to do is manage my risk and stay disciplined.
Putting my money where my mouth is, this is a broad outline of my plan for 2024:
Quarter One: Achieve maximum funding with FTMO ($400,000) & start my small account challenge
Quarter Two: Achieve my first five figure month
Quarter Three: Increase total funding to $2,000,000 across various prop firms
Quarter Four: Complete my small account challenge
It’s going to be an exciting year for me and my wife and I want to bring you all along for the journey so I’m going to be posting after each and every trade so you will have a blow-by-blow account of how this is unfolding. Let’s do this!
In the meantime, all the best to all of you for 2024 and beyond!
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Well done all around, congratulations to Alessandra and your mentoring.
I hope you both have a great year!
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"Whatever you dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
So, I have bought my first $100K FTMO challenge for 2024. I will be looking to purchase another $300K of challenges with them by the middle of February in order to complete my objective of achieving maximum funding by the end of Q1.
I don’t think January is going to be an especially busy month for me trading-wise but, nonetheless, this is my first evaluation challenge of the year and, as you can read over on London’s Small Account Challenge I have also deposited a hundred bucks ready for my audacious attempt to flip $100 to a $1,000,000 in a year or less.
Let’s see what happens . . .
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Happy New Year!!!
I’m always a bit dubious about trading immediately as soon as the market reopens in the new year. However, I spotted a nice little setup this morning and got the year, and my FTMO challenge, off to a fantastic start!
I also took the same trade on my small account challenge swelling my account by almost forty percent. You can check that out over on London’s Small Account Challenge or see the results for yourself over on myfxbook.
Going forward, since I’m copying all of the trades between my small account and my funded challenge accounts, I’ll only be updating my trades on the Small Account Challenge thread. I’ll reserve this thread for prop firm completion and payout certificates and my total funding tally.
Good luck to all of you for the year ahead!
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Good luck to you also, Dan, I am watching both threads with much interest.
Congratulations to your wife and good and better health wishes for you both in 2024.
May I ask what made you choose Black Bull for this? Have you ever successfully withdrawn substantial profits from them before? I will mention openly that I know one person who took out a few hundred $ profit easily a few times but was never paid out again when he later tried to take out a few thousand profit, and I know also of one other person with a very similar story to tell, and I understand that although they claim to be regulated in New Zealand in fact the high leverage accounts are all with the Seychelles branch which is not really regulated at all, so they are actually misleading people about this. I am of course concerned for you that this may make it all a journey of high risk and low reward for you? 
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OMG, you created a monster! haha
Congratulations!
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Hi @maria_fp
Thanks for your well wishes.
I don’t support or endorse any particular broker. I only really chose Blackbull because of their claims to be regulated in New Zealand and the availability of high leverage which is necessary, of course, in order to achieve the kind of account growth I am looking for. Hence, your news is quite shocking to me. I have to say, I have made several successful withdrawals from Blackbull with no problem but they have all been relatively small, especially compared to the million I’m now going for!
Thanks for the heads up. I will now speak to Blackbull and try to get some assurances from them.
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Lol!
You’re not wrong!
She has almost superhuman levels of self-discipline. If and when she passes the $200K FTMO challenge, I am sure that I will never hear the end of it!
I hope I am wrong, of course, Dan (but surely your account cannot possibly be regulated in New Zealand if you have 500/1 leverage?!)
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The Australian broker TD365 uses the same dodge but in the Bahamas (200/1 leverage). However, all client accounts are held in escrow at Barclays bank in London. They are very good all round (as used by Tom Hougaard) - their platform is somewhat terrible though.
P.S Happy New Year to all.
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Ah, there’s the answer to my question in the other thread. Good luck!
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Hi Guys,
Not really much to update you with at the moment.
My $100K FTMO challenge is still ongoing. I am currently in drawdown so it is going to take a little bit longer as Charley Pride once sang. The good news is, I am still completely confident that I will eventually pass the challenge and verification, so confident in fact that I’ll be starting a second $200K challenge with them within the next few weeks.
My wife got her first payout from @The5ers which I will never now hear the last of!
With her refunds for the challenges and the profit split it worked out around £1300 which was nice. She is now the first one of us to receive a payout from a funded account. I can’t complain, she treated me to a nice meal at our favourite Indian restaurant. She is now getting on with a $200K FTMO challenge and already in profit!!!
One reason that I haven’t had as many trades this last week or so is that I have decided to cut GBPJPY trades out. I was reviewing my data and it means that although there won’t be as many trades, the swings will be more palatable.
Anyways, as always, I will keep you updated . . . .
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Glad to hear that. Keep up the great job!
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You’re a lucky man!
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Please accept my deepest sympathies, lol.
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DanLondon, it is amazing how your wife has taken to trading like duck to water as though forex trading is her natural habitat. Congratulations to the both of you. The weather pattern shows strong levels of congratulations pouring in to the both of you in the near future. All the best.
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What an inspiring journey, DanLondon! Your dedication and strategic approach to achieving your funding goals are truly commendable. Congratulations on passing your first funding challenge with The 5ers and becoming a funded trader. Your positive attitude and determination are truly motivating. Wishing you continued success on your path towards reaching $1,000,000 in funding!