“Adjust position size based on the volatility of a stock and scale into the positions.”
Dan B., 31 years old, from the United States.
Dan has successfully passed our Mini Buying Power program, and he is now TTP’s funded trader managing a $20K account, or as we call it, he is a true “Stock Star”.
Every time he reaches 5 consecutive winning days, we will boost his buying power and max exposure.
We spoke with Dan about his trading plan, insights, and lessons gained while trading in the markets and our platform as a funded trader.
Watch The Interview With Dan
Dan’s evaluation statistics
Q&A’s With Dan
Tell us a little bit about yourself
I am 31 years old and now live on the central Coast of California after moving around the globe for a good chunk of my life.
A friend of mine showed me what stocks were when I was 16 and I’ve been hooked ever since, always following the markets and trying to learn new strategies even at times when I didn’t have the means to actively trade.
How long have you been trading?
I’ve been trading on and off for quite a few years now but decided to take it seriously and go full time about 3 years now.
Briefly describe your trading plan and how it contributes to your success
Every morning I start by scanning the pre-market for the biggest movers of the day. I mostly trade micro/small cap stocks that have a lot of volume.
One of my main strategies is to find stocks that have had an early morning breakout but are still only at the beginning of their upwards trend for the day. I normally wait for a pull-back off the high of day and look for the retest of that high and how strong the upwards trend was. Once I’ve identified that the chart looks good and there’s significant enough volume I will take the trade.
Share with us a challenge you faced in your trading career and how you overcame it
The biggest challenge for me was what I feel most traders face and that is risk management. I knew I had a good understanding of the markets and the strategies that worked for me but I would enter trades with too much of my portfolio and not a clear exit strategy once things didn’t go my way.
It took me a while to finally understand that I need to set clear profit targets with acceptable win to loss ratios. Based on their volatility and potential for gains or loses I needed to adjust how much I would enter each trade with for each stock rather than enter each one with the same amount each time and set clear win/loss ratios. Once this was established I had a way of entering or exiting trades that was automatic.
How did you adjust risk management to your trading personality?
I started to adjust my position size based on the volatility of a stock, starting off a lot smaller and scaling into the positions instead of going in with all at once.
Describe a key moment in your trading career
Once I become consistent and realized I could do this for a living
How long did it take for you to become a consistent trader, and what aspects did you change for that?
It took over 3 years for me to finally become consistent after I understood risk management and position scaling.
What is your mental/psychological strength, and how did you develop it
Persistence. Once I want something I don’t give up, no matter how many times I fail. And I’ve failed a lot with trading but I want to be successful at it more than anything.
What was your strategy for successfully passing the evaluation phase?
Scaling into the positions, adding to the winners. Let the market dictate what you should do. During this time I shorted a lot more than I usually do.
How is trading for Trade The Pool different from trading by yourself?
You’re not risking your own capital, that alleviates a lot of the pressure, along with the built in stops and drawdowns it helps prevent major account blow ups.
What would you recommend to someone who is just starting with us?
Spend time getting used to the platform and how the stops work.
Share online resources that were/are significant in your trading development. Names and links are appreciated.
1. Trading View
2. Webull
3. Chat with traders podcast
If you liked this post make sure to share it!
