Do you just want to beat prop? Or do you want to be a trader? Here’s the secret 👇 I lead trader risk at @TakeProfitLLC. And yes, I understand the prop game. My credentials: Prior to TPT, I traded prop on and off. In the past year, I had $200k in payouts from one of the leading firms in the space. Fees of $66k during this time. Profits of $134k, all withdrawn between November and April (haven’t traded prop since then). All the while, I held a full-time job not affiliated with trading. First, let me state the obvious. Withdrawals are great. We’re all in this to grow our personal balance sheet. A lot of discussion over the past few days has centered on what it means to be a profitable trader. Yes, being successful in sim is great. But back to my first question: do you just want to beat prop? Or do you want to be a trader? If you want to be a trader, you have to trade live. Period. During my time trading prop, I was profitable live trading. My live trading account was opened December 9 (when the balance was transferred out of my sim account) and lasted through at least March 16 (when I took my last payout). At the time, this prop firm would transfer your sim balance to live. I had $90k transferred to live. I ended up withdrawing $129k from that account after that date – meaning I was net profitable ~$54k live (adjusting for my profits + the 10% profit share the prop firm took). 60% gains in three months. Not too shabby. (Don’t believe me? Receipts below from getting a performance bonus for crossing $45k in live-market gains.) How did I do it? One thing helped immensely that many live traders don’t employ. A $3,000 daily loss limit. Let’s be clear. I hated the DLL. Every time it would trigger, I’d be pissed off. But I can also say that the $3,000 daily loss limit saved my account. Unfortunately, there’s no Trade Report from the live side for this firm (or at least wasn’t then) so I can’t see my stats exactly, but if my memory is right, only about 1-in-3 days were profitable for me. Maybe even less. But because of the DLL, my losses were capped… and the market was so good during this time that when I saw the market correctly, it really worked out. The winning days far exceeded the losing days. For the 2-in-3 days, I would lose $3,000. And then on the one day, I would make like $10,000. So for three days using this math, I’d grow my account by $4,000. But none of this would be possible if the platform didn’t liquidate and close my account for the day when I hit $3,000 in losses. I know myself. And I for sure would have just kept trading. Some days I would’ve dug myself out and profited. But overall, I would have lost thousands and thousands more. The accounts never would have survived 3+ months, and I wouldn’t have been net profitable. Ultimately, my account closed because I kept taking max payouts when my account was eligible, and eventually the balance got so low that a few $3k days losses wiped me out. So why don’t traders use daily loss limits? It sucks. I get it. But we have to train our lizard brain to ignore what feels good in the moment for what is good in the long term. I’m mentioning this now because after last week, I am confident that this market is about to get VERY EXCITING. This is going to be some great trading heading into the next few months. This is the time to be trading prop. But if you don’t have a hard daily loss limit that closes trades and shuts you out for the day in your trading platform, you are not setting yourself up for success. I guarantee it will help you. (Insert shameless plug for takeprofittrader.com, the best prop in the game right now, and code NOFEE40 for the best deals.)