By: William Davies
My name is William Davies, I am a full time trader, public speaker, lifestyle enthusiast.
I have experienced my fair share of ups and downs, both in my trading journey and in my experience with prop firms.
I am a Prop Firm trader and forecasting over $1million in funding by the end of 2025, it has taken me a long time to understand the things I am about to share with you, so here are my top 10 “If I only knew that” I will be sharing with you to not only help you as a trader but to hopefully help you refine your own skills to successfully use prop firms! There is going to be a mixture of psychology and technicals in here so buckle up and enjoy!
- Strategy hopping is destroying your career
Prop firms are hard enough to pass as it is without losing confidence in your strategy! Strategy hopping is one of the most dangerous things you can do in your trading career, the markets are constantly changing due to a number of reasons, most popular being politically (Fundamentals)… I’m sure you have all heard of the markets being described as “seasonal”, what traders mean by this is there are different trading patterns due to the time of the year, this mostly affects commodities but can also have an effect on the currency market. This being said, it is important to know and be aware of the potential changes in the markets, whether they are “Seasonal Plays” or fundamental changes, it is important to have faith in your strategy (ESPECIALLY WHEN TESTING A NEW STRATEGY). So many people lose faith in their strategy throughout their journey, believe me so did I, it wasn’t until I realised that my original strategy that first got me profitable I still use to this day… want to know the only difference? I modified it slightly to keep up with changing markets. That’s right I went full circle and cost myself over 1 year of testing different strategy just to find the winning one was my original with a couple of refinements (e.g timeframe, trading hours / risk) It is so important that you make sure you have the correct amount of data backing your strategy up so you can execute with confidence and you make sure that your risk is low enough that you can identify your strategy is no longer working,and that it’s not just a losing streak, once you have identified this you can work on refining your strat to fit into current market conditions. But from one trader to another PLEASE do not bin your strategy off the moment it stops working! - You have a trading career NOT a side hustle
This is a really interesting one, I have NEVER met a genuinely profitable trader who trades for “fun” or uses it as a “side hustle” That being said there are indeed plenty of traders out there that trade as a second income (I was one of those for a long time) especially once I learned about the prop space it fast tracked my journey of growth, however that isn’t what I am referring to… Being a trader is a state of mind (ignore the cringe) but it’s true, every single profitable trader I have ever met has been profitable due to one main thing that separates them from the rest. Mindset, these traders took their journey seriously, they acted like there was no failing but more importantly they treated trading like it was just as important as their main career. Trading to me was never a side hustle as I wanted to become a full time trader, but I see a lot of traders use the phrase “it’s just extra income” but the way they say it is almost with no care on outcome. Most millionaires on average have 7 or more streams of income and I can almost guarantee you they do not have a “I do not care attitude” towards any of them, they want to refine and build up each as best they can. So treat your trading the same, whether you are trading for your main career or just for some extra cash, remember mentality towards your trading career is what sets the 1% apart from the rest! - Building relationships with reputable companies
I’m sure we all have some form of experience with the prop industry and I’m sure everyone has at least 1 horror story… we must try our hardest to avoid the prop firms which are going to give us a real sour taste in our mouth. How do we do that? Easy, we must
A. Always check the reviews
B. Check their trading conditions (read all the rules)
C. Understand who is the face of the business and who backs it (genuine traders will only back a firm that pays consistently)
But another unspoken rule is treat the prop firm like a relationship with a significant other… a one night stand may be fun at the time but who knows the repercussions that could come out the other end, however getting to know someone and develop trust and communication with will always last longer and be a healthier relationship… Look to marry your prop firm, NOT one night stand it! - Health Is Wealth
In trading a healthy trader is a profitable trader, it is so important to look after your brain and your body outside of your trading, the more you look in on yourself the more you will find a heavy correlation between what has happened in your personal life and how you perform when you get onto the charts. Staying healthy also has a huge part to this, not only does your strategy have to be sharp as a Samurai’s blade so does your mind and body as your body will affect how you feel which will then affect your trading performance, start looking at the source of your trading being your body’s health and how it could make you feel! - Mindset & mentality is EVERYTHING!
This is one of my favourite topics… MINDSET! Manifestation is not “cringe” a lot of people call manifestation “cringe” or “a waste of time” but I am a big believer in acting out who you want to be even before you actually achieve it, what I mean by this is putting into place the actions that the successful you would (e.g if profitable trader Will gets up at 5am to go to the gym before the charts so will unprofitable Will). Mindset is everything, the ability to have 110% trust in your plan
and continue to execute it flawlessly every single day, even when you have setback, even when no one else believes in you… that ability to keep pushing forward comes from a deeper place in your psychology and it’s called your “WHY” Don’t ever share your real reason why keep it close and remind yourself daily!
Bonus JOURNALING
Journaling goes beyond backtesting and logging trades… I challenge you to journal yourself, how you felt, what you ate the night before an AM trading session, what’s going on in your life which could affect your trading and also how you felt during your trades. I know this sounds silly but it’s a game changer that can really help you find where you go wrong in your trading (especially for those moving outside of their plan)
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