The Trader Prop Firms Banned For Being Too Consistent - Alex Ruiz

The most famous trader in Spain, running the same strategy for the last 12 years profitably, and has an audited track record to back it up.

A person who dismisses something in trading is a person who doesn't understand what trading is about, or is trying to make you confused, or make you buy a course. Because if you have an edge, something that works for you, and you have back-tested it, and you have your confidence in that situation, everything works.

Introducing Alex Ruiz, Spain's most recognized trading name and former bank analyst, who built his reputation the old-fashioned way. One strategy, 12 years, and no shortcuts.

In this episode, Alex reveals the exact step-by-step system he's traded year on year. Why prop firms banned him for being too consistent, and the one thing he did differently that changed everything.

"You have an impulse, a pullback, and you don't have a fast continuation. Something is happening. Sellers are trying to keep the price down, and buyers aren't able to continue the trend. So I don't want to be involved in a trend that has problems."

An example of that is not clearly. Now we have the World Cup. If you say to every team, "Hey, would you like to win the World Cup? Doesn't matter how you win. Do you want to win, or do you want to do things good but you lose?" Every team will say, "I want to win." Because in life, we are taught to win. We are taught to the result because we are attached to what, not attached to how. And in trading, it's not the same. In trading, we have to attach to how. How are you trading, not what's the result of your trades? Because if you have an edge and you are focused on how you are trading, in the long term, you will win."

"Most traders spend their entire career just trying to get a profit. Finally achieve it after maybe years of trying. One thing is that, and that's a big enough goal, of course. But then the next part of a trader's journey is how to compound and grow. Because as you were saying before, it's one thing is profitability, another thing is to live from your trading and earn enough. Let's talk about this word compounding, to go from €500 a month or €500 a year to like, 'Okay, now I'm making good money consistently, and I can now build a real empire and wealth.'"

"What I did when I started is maintain..."

Ladies and gents, welcome back to another episode. Alex, thank you for being here today. So, it's a very unique journey that you have, and you're going from a bank and the experience that you had there, and it was more stocks and different kinds of price action reads, I suppose, to now individual currency retail trading. I'm curious to know about that transition, and if there was a new journey that took part when you became retail, or you were taking pieces from your knowledge at the bank.

I've always been trying to improve, to be a better trader. And I think that all the different experiences you can have, in that case, in the bank, are profitable to improve your skills, are interesting to understand more, to connect with different people, different assets, different mentalities, different things in general. And I took that two years in the bank like a good experience to understand that there was something more that I could do. There was something more that I could focus on. And I took that stock trading, that cryptocurrency trading, and that day trading skills to improve different things about money management and gain confidence to leave the bank and dedicate only on trade by myself in my house.

Okay, very nice. And when you were in the bank, I'm just curious to know, transitions, it was more swing trading or investing, and it was price action-based, or it was usually the banks, it seems, are more fundamentals-based?

We had a wealth management section where investors or clients wanted to leave their capital to us, and we had to invest or to trade. It was depending on what risk perception the client had. And we did different things. First of all, value investing. I was not in that section because I didn't know, but I learned some things about value investing. Then we had swing trading on stocks mainly, and then we had day trading, but this was only for some clients who accepted the risk and understood that the volatility is more. So, these were the three main options we had.

From the outside looking at the banking world, a few things that I think stand out is, number one, their priority is these clients. The wealth management clients, they're already wealthy, so their goal is not to become wealthy, it's more to preserve of the capital. So, usually, it's protect the downside, and the upside is not, they're not trying to get 100% in a year. I think they're very happy with 10, even 15 is seen as phenomenal.

Did you take those philosophies into your own trading, or was it a new approach because now you have less capital and you've got to focus on the returns?

Yes, this was six years ago, more or less. I was already profitable trading by myself. But I understood the importance of long-term investment because I was only focused on trade, trade, trade. And understanding that my trading numbers were more profitable than just investing in S&P 500, for example. And there, I understood with really professionals from the sector, some of them came from JP Morgan, that it was important to diversify and to just buy something monthly, weekly, in a year, on a yearly basis, and diversify your exposure to the market and take another source of income more than just trading, because you never know if you will trade forever, or you never know what can happen to you, or you can have a bad streak of losses. And diversify with long-term investment was important.

For the last maybe six months, most of my guests on the show have been from the US, and the trend I see in the US is obviously they are more into the futures and stock side, options as well. However, the reputation it is that currency is a scam, or currency is something to avoid, or is more difficult. So, it's just getting this concept online of a bad stigma. And I was curious to know because you've built a career, not only previously in the bank but also now in your own trading career for many years, all in currency, when you've had exposure to the others. What was the advantage of focusing your career on currency and not futures, options, stocks, etc.?

Yeah, a good question. Because as a trader, I respect every style, every asset, every strategy, everything. Because if the other person has an edge, you are nothing, or you are nobody to ask about their edge, or say, "No, your edge is not," or "This type of trading, no." So, I'm focused only on what I think I'm profitable in, what I know I'm good at. And for me, Forex and cryptocurrencies also, because I trade some cryptocurrencies, are the perfect style, the perfect asset. I have a track record on these assets. I've been trading that for 12 years now. And I adapt everything of my strategy to that type of asset. So, I understand that somebody who now tries to trade Euro dollar, for example, maybe has different problems or different depths. But my own strategy is adapted to that movement, to that volatility, and my risk management too, etc. So, for me, it's what means perfection. But I understand that there are other styles who can be more profitable. Why not? I don't question it.

Over 12 years, have you noticed, because I'm also trading Euro dollar and GBP dollar, I've been doing it for around a decade, close to yourself. I'm curious to observe, over the years, have you had to modify your strategy a lot, or you know, change your approaches, or has it been kind of the same throughout, the same principles?

Yeah, the principle itself is the same. I try to look for trend change, pullbacks, continuation in different time frames. But I've understood that the trend is not the same when it's finishing, that when it's in the middle of the term, or when it's starting. And you have to adapt what or how you trade, where do you set your stop loss, your take profit, when you can add more positions, when you should go out earlier or later. And the philosophy is the same, but I don't trade the same if the trend is starting, for example, than if we have three or four pullbacks and we are in a long way now.

Okay, this is just so we can build a foundation for the episode. If we can do some quickfire building blocks of your strategy. So maybe we can just do yes or no, or a quick explanation.

So, you are on the lower time frames for entries. It's usually M5, M1.

Correct.

And you're more so scalping, would you say, or day trading?

It's more day trading.

Okay. And trend is important, trend, counter-trend, or you do both?

No, trend and counter-trend sometimes, because maybe I only want a little pullback.

Okay. Yes.

You know, I use the three different time frames to be clear. Daily, where I want to see where we're going to go the next two or three candles, using price action movements or price action rules.

So, just to interject here, the daily time frame, usually I see people doing a top-down analysis, starting on the daily or weekly, and they are trying to find the daily trend, the daily points of interest, which I guess has its reasons. But you're more focusing on the daily candles recently?

Yes.

Not, let's say, a supply zone from six months ago.

No. I try to understand where the daily chart is going to be in the next two or three days. If I have a clearly vision of that, I can go one time frame down and look for the trend on one hour. If I don't have a clearly vision of the daily chart, I will leave and go for another asset, or go for another day. It doesn't matter to me.

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How do you start to get this understanding of where the daily could go from the daily time frame? Is it momentum in the last few candles, or where we are in the overall zones? How, how are you using the daily chart but not doing a typical top-down analysis?

No, I try to see where the daily chart is in terms of support resistance areas, areas where I understand the price could go down, maybe to start a daily trend, I don't know, or maybe only to just do a little pullback, or maybe it's in a trend, the daily, and it's approaching one moving average or one Fibonacci level and it's trying to continue the trend. I really want to know where the daily is, and what can I take from that daily chart with basic structures like price action structures.

Got it. Have you found any correlations? I'm curious on this because it seems you're doing daily time frame a little bit different to most. So I want to spend a bit of time. Have you found any correlations between, let's say, the last three days are three strong bullish candles versus just three green candles but not aggressively bullish, or let's say bullish, bearish, bullish, any kind of patterns you've observed here from the last few candles to predict to the next daily candle?

I don't like to use only to be very precise in one thing like studying or trading candlestick. Some trading philosophies which tries to understand the candles itself. Yes, the bottom, the short part, the percentage of the other body, etc. I only want to understand where I have different tools in charts, and I want to use them to understand when or where the daily is going to move. So charts, candles is one of them. Moving average, support and resistance, momentum or lower momentum. If I see a resistance and I see how the daily chart is decreasing the momentum, I understand that maybe I can take something from that. You understand?

Let's say one example is you have a Fibonacci and a moving average in a similar area, and you're starting to get rejection on that level. You're finding support on the moving average and a bullish rejection. Now that you've, let's say, confirmed the bias is bullish for today, is now the idea locked in, or are you now going down to reconfirm the idea, or is it bias on the daily and then execution on the lower?

Then that's a correct point. I have the confirmation or the probability the daily will go up, for example. Now I need the trend. I trade the one-hour trend. Daily is only to confirm the momentum in a higher time frame, but I want to go down to the one-hour chart and look for the trend. I need a clear trend, and then if the trend is okay and fits with what I want, then I can go down the last time frame to execute the trade.

Trend is the, you know, traditional higher highs and higher lows. We're talking about this?

Yes.

And therefore, you're using supply and demand types of structures to find the right zone to get in?

Uh, no. I look for moving averages. I want the price to go when I have the trend. One condition for the trend is an upside trend when the moving average is below the price, and the opposite in a downside trend. So, when I have the trend, maximum minimums, etc., I want to see a pullback, a clearly pullback to the moving average, because this is my objective condition to understand the trend can continue.

With the term moving average, I know institutions are built upon this going back historically on moving averages. But in the retail world, at least online perception, it gets down to moving averages don't work, moving averages are lagging or slow. It seems like it's a cornerstone or a big pillar of your philosophy. Why have you chosen to be with it, or what are your ideas to people that dismiss moving averages?

A person who dismisses something in trading is a person who, in my opinion, either doesn't understand what trading is about, or is trying to make you confused, or make you buy a formation, a course, etc. Because if you have an edge, if you have something that works for you, and you have back-tested it, and you have your confidence in that situation, everything works. So, why I use moving average? Because it's like an objective condition to understand what is happening. I'm not, I don't have to say, "I prefer this five value gap," or "I prefer this other five value gap," or "this Fibonacci level," or "this order block," because there are a lot of order blocks, all Fibonacci levels, etc. So, I see this moving average, I'm looking at that moving average, I set a condition for that moving average. I only have to set different rules, backtest the rules, and trade the rules with the edge in the long term.

It makes a lot of sense. Even in my earlier days, when it was, let's say, talking about profit targets, you could be like, "I want to do to the 5-minute higher high," or "the daily higher high," or "the weekly higher high." Then you have supply and demand, then you have support and resistance, Fibonacci, and you end up with like 20 lines on your screen.

And then you pick one based on your emotion on the day. If you're feeling greed, or if you're feeling fear, you're going to act accordingly. So, I like this idea of being objective.

What about, typically, I see moving averages being used in twos, and then the cross, etc., etc., is the signal. You're using only one?

Only one. Yeah. 50 moving average, exponential moving average.

Okay. And when it, let's say, we found the daily, you forecasted it as bullish. You're now looking for buyers. The one-hour, you found the market structure bullish, and then you're coming towards your 50 moving average on the one-hour time frame. The execution is now a limit with a stop loss at the low of the... No.

Okay. I don't like limits because I have time, and I can stay in front of the screen and take the bottom. And I prefer to take the bottom because my personality says I prefer to win, earn less, but protect my capital. With a limit, you can earn more because the risk-reward is bigger, but the risk is bigger too. So, I prefer to wait and understand what confirmation I want, and when that confirmation comes on 5 minutes or 15 minutes, I will take the bottom and buy market or sell.

Yeah, I think it makes sense because you're confirming the rejection, not just confirming the zone.

Yes, exactly.

What kind of rejection profiles do you like upon this type of entry on the moving average?

I want the same, a trend change on 5 minutes. How I can find a trend change? Waiting for the cross of the moving average to the upside, if the trend is to the upside. So, it's again an objective condition to take the trade. It's not, "Okay, it's breaking this height," but there is another height before, then what is the height? But this is not a confirmation. But this is yes/no. If the moving average is broken, I will take the trade. If not, I know.

It seems like a lot of your system is boiled down to the moving average. I'm curious, does price action itself, the candles themselves, give you an advantage, or could you, in theory, trade only the moving average and remove price action?

I could trade only the moving average. I could. But I prefer to combine with the price action itself, with in that case, candles. If I can see a break of the structure of the moving average, a close, and the next candle is confirming that movement, I prefer that than wait only for the cross of the moving average and take the trade, and maybe this candle goes to the down and takes you out directly from the trade. So, I have a combination. I could trade only the objective way with the moving average. Yes, I like to combine.

When I speak to a lot of the futures traders, a big advantage it seems like throughout all of them is they want to trade the market open. And I saw a statistic somewhere basically saying that 90 or 80, the majority of the major moves of the day usually begin in the first couple of hours. So, I guess in futures, timing is very important. Now, one of the selling points or USPs of currency, or Forex, is that you can trade 24 hours a day. You have the Asia, you have the London European, and then you have even Frankfurt open, then you have New York session, etc., and the overlaps, which could be heightened liquidity. Anyway, that can sound very confusing. It can also sound like I could trade all the time, and then people get addicted to the button pressing. Curious to know, do you find any advantage of time of day correlated to price action or rejection?

No, I have my own rules. I can choose now. When I was younger, I remember staying until 4:00 AM waiting for a trade. But I think this is experiences that every trader can have, and you can enjoy it. Now, I have different rules based on, okay, if it's 5:00 PM on London time, I need a very, very, very clear entry because I day trade. I will need to hold the trade almost three, four, five hours. So, I don't want to be in a trade at 10 PM. I want to go to my bed and wait for the next day.

Related to volatility changes at these hours, or you're just mentally you don't want to be in it?

Mentally, I don't want to be there. I don't want to be there because it's now. When I was only trading at some point, it was funny, okay. But it's not worth it. And now that I have different things, like being here with you in a podcast that I like so much, I want to take care of myself, and I can't be on at 10 PM waiting for an entry or managing a trade. Also, because I wake up at 5 AM, so it's not worth it for me.

Okay, very interesting. Waking up at 5 AM because you want a pre-market routine?

I like to wake up early. I like, and I like to drink my coffee. I like to upload a video for YouTube for a free analysis for the community. I like to see the market. I like, and I wake up early, and I'm more productive in the morning than at night.

Typically, when are you executing your trades? Is it usually the London Open, or it could be anytime during the day?

The exit.

The execution, or the exit?

The execution. Yeah, I have more trades taken in the London session statistically. But as I told, if I have to take a trade at 5 PM, if it's okay, if it's worth it, the price action, and it's a setup, I will take the trade. But I'm more, I'm more able to take the trade in my morning.

Because you are trading with the lower time frame entry confirmation. I guess your stop loss placement is not that big. It's going to be, if it's based on one minute or five minute, it might be 10, 15, 20 pips.

It's very tight. Yes, it's very tight. I like the, I want to know very fast if I'm wrong or if I'm not wrong.

And in two, three hours, I want to set the break-even or hit the take profit or hit the stop loss. I don't care. But I want to know it as fast as possible because I want to take the trade with my advantage, with my setup, and move on to the next thing, next trade, next meeting, next thing I have to do. But don't care. But I want to be very precise with the entry because with the, if I'm very precise, I can take the stop loss, I can take the take profit, and that's the reason why I have a 57% win rate. And I can trade 0.5, 0.85, 85 risk-reward because my win rate is big, but also my wins are less or lower than other traders.

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Oh, that's very interesting because now your, if your entry and your stop loss is 20 pips, let's say, the average movement of Euro dollar or GBP dollar in a day is around 50. So even if you just find the right entry at the low of the day, just the volatility of the day could give you a one to two risk reward or one to three just for one day, not even following the trend and holding for days. Why cut it early at around or just below one to one risk reward?

I don't care about pips. I care about zones or areas in the chart. So maybe sometimes it's 20 pips, and sometimes it's 60 pips or 80 pips.

I only want to protect and take the trade out at the top or at the bottom of the trend because I don't want to be involved in one long trend. I want to take the trend in the moment I see, I see that it's turning to the principal direction and go out. If the trend continues, okay, it will hit my take profit, and maybe it will continue. Okay. But I prefer one to one risk-reward ratio than taking a trade where I will need to stay two days more or less.

The target, let's say, is 20 pips. That can happen in one hour, especially if it's the London Open, it can be the immediate move.

Therefore, is it a qualification or disqualification criteria how fast it goes to your targets? Because we could reach the 20 pips slowly and have an impulse and then retracement and eventually end up there by the end of the day, but it seems like you're trying to get the impulse of the moment and when you catch it, you exit quickly. So therefore, how, how price is moving once you've entered, will you exit based on the momentum, or do you leave it to run? And if it takes one hour or the rest of the day, it doesn't matter to you.

A trend is a trend. So, if you have an impulse, a pullback, and you don't have a fast continuation, something is happening. Sellers are trying to keep the price down, and buyers aren't able to continue the trend. So, I don't want to be involved in a trend that has problems. So, if I see a range in the first one, two, or three hours, I will move very fast my stop loss and I will take 0.5 risk off the table.

And if the trend continues, perfect. I will be able to set the break-even. And if it continues more, I will take the take profit. I find that approach very unique and interesting, and I think I agree with it because the common sentiment for traders is that once you've done your analysis, you've got to believe your analysis and not change it. And I know why it comes in, because people then in the trade get emotional and they make decisions based on their emotions, not based on price action itself. But I think there is a lot of power in saying, "I entered because of XYZ. I didn't see the momentum I needed. Therefore, my analysis has changed a bit. So, therefore, I'm going to modify accordingly."

In being said, break-even, what is the purpose of break-even here? Because a lot of traders also say you've got to give room for the trade to breathe, and you know, you've got your analysis, you've got your invalidation. What is the purpose of the break-even then?

My main focus on trading is not to lose money. I'm trying to protect my capital as soon as possible. I think that a trader, or in my case, can live different moments. When you are, you need to risk the less as you can, because you need to stay in the market enough time to stop doing stupid mistakes. You trade, you take 10 actions, and nine of these 10 actions are mistakes, not stop-loss or take-profit mistakes.

So, at the beginning, you have to protect your capital in order to understand how to trade, in order to take some numbers, statistics, trading plan, etc., etc. Then, when you have profitable, you can risk more, I think, because you know what you can, what you do, you know what are your numbers, you know what are your mistakes, etc., and you can scale your risk in order to win more. But when you have, or you reach some point, in my case, five years ago, I think you need to protect again your capital, and you have to understand that I can win 55,000 in a month. Yes. But if I want to win 55,000 in a month, I have to understand that I can lose 55,000 in the same month. I want to lose 55,000? No. So, I have to take the risk in a way that the clemency is okay for me.

It also makes sense from your background in traditional finance that it's about preservation first. It's a contrast for me because yesterday I spoke to some guys who are focusing on penny stocks. So for them, it's all about volatility, kind of riding the pump and dump. And therefore, for them, their entire edge, it seems like, was get it at the right time. Sure, that's important, but what was more important is getting really extreme risk-to-reward because they just trail the stop and they don't know when it's going to end. They just ride it. It's not about predicting because when you're at all-time highs, there's nothing on the left. How do you predict? Yours is the opposite, where it's like it's small wins, small wins over time. Why have you not considered just you're with the trend when your entries are with the daily moments and the one-hour trend, and then even your five-minute has switched. You have trend alignment instead of doing a one-to-one, you could do a partial at one and then let a 50% of your position run. And if it goes back to break-even, it doesn't matter. That approach I've seen a lot. Why is that not your philosophy?

Because I must backtest it, and I don't have now the time or the necessity to backtest it. I've done something different, and it's scalping. So, when I have the trend, and in one hour, I change, and then my biggest time frame is not daily, it's one hour. So, if I have the market wants to continue, and in one hour, the trend is set, I will take another trade with the same strategy, with the same pattern, with everything, but in a scalping. It's a different way to scale results, but not having to do a backtesting, a big backtesting, or something like that, that it's a must if you want to create a profitable strategy. My personal slogan, let's say, or one of my favorite mantras in trading is, "A restricted trader is a profitable trader." And the reason I say this is because you can have two pieces of price action that look very similar optically, they just look similar, but I will take one and I won't take the other. And the reason is, I like to focus not on just my confluences of the reasons I got in, trend and EMA and etc. I think it's very easy to find reasons to get in because especially when you consume so much on the internet, there's always a reason to get in. One day is Fibonacci, the next day is RSI, the next day smart money concept, that you will always find a reason to get in. So, I found more results in focusing why I didn't get in. Hence, restrictions. And therefore, for me, I really like to focus on time of day. Even if I have a good setup that looks good, but it's in the Asia session, it's not my plan. I have 10 boxes ticked, but I had one that's a big cross invalidation. Curious to know, what kind of invalidations do you have in your own philosophy where you might have the daily as you like, you might have the one-hour trend and the EMA cross with price action on M5, but you still didn't take the trade? What would be an example of that?

An example of that is a not clearly one-hour trend. So, I need one of the two biggest time frames, perfect, or daily or one hour. If one of them is not perfect, I need the other one to solve the problems than the first one. Okay.

So, maybe daily is not perfect, but in one hour, I see a very clear setup, and I could take the trade if everything is perfect, like I want, based on my plan. Other things is lack of interest, because low volatility. You can set different indicators and you can see the volatility or the intention of the market. Other one is if there is any news. I don't want to trade if there is ICP or something like that.

And these are my main crosses that...

Your technicals seem pretty easy to understand. I think I've got already a good picture on how you're doing analysis.

Would you say this is a system that, I'm sure you've shared it on YouTube, and therefore you've had many people that have found success, and a lot of people that have also struggled, same inputs but different results? Would you say the difference in results is down to psychology, or maybe something else?

Are based on experience and on adapting everything to me. I mean, the pattern, my pattern is very basic, but it's like most patterns: impulse, pullback, and continuation. Only changes the rules you apply to that pattern. In my case, the rules are very flexible to adapt to your personality, or your interest, or your time frames, or your time zone, whatever. And I think the secret is not to do anything I can. So, I could, as you said, leave and wait for a bigger trend. Yes, I could. It's worth it. Yes. But it's not aligned with myself. So, I will take or could the earnings at the top or at the bottom. Another person who is more aggressive, why not, he can leave the price go up or go down and take more win or more earn, but it's not my case. So, my secret in that point is to adapt everything in what I'm doing. So, I'm 100% aligned to my actions, my daily actions in trading.

Is the reason for adapting your technicals to, I guess, help your psychology? I'm trying to understand why you're connecting these two.

Yeah, for sure. For sure. Being in peace with what I'm doing is perfect for me. I don't have to rush, open the chart at the London aperture, or at the New York aperture. I don't like, I don't want, and I don't have to. If someone imposes you and says, "Hey, you have to stay here at 2 PM or at 9 AM, yes or yes, because if not, you can't trade," it's something that maybe doesn't go with you.

And it's something that will make you mistakes, will make you a bad daily routine, will make you stay hungry, I don't know. And this is seduction in losing money at the long term.

I had a guest on the show. He's an author, and in his book, he called it the eight deadly emotions. So, it was greed, fear, which I think are the big common ones. Then it was anger, revenge, stubbornness, ego, and two others. I forgot them exactly right now. Desperation and one more. Anyway, the first five, I think, are very commonly understood: anger, revenge, greed, fear, and let's say, even a bit of identity and ego. If you were to give, let's say, a lethality index, which one is the most problematic in your trading? Because I'm sure all of them, everybody experiences. We're all human. We all have the same emotions, but some of them are probably more of a problem in trading than others. Which emotions do you think you would focus on as the big, big issues for most traders?

I think everyone is different. So, the problem is not the emotion. Emotion is a consequence of what you are doing or what you are misunderstanding. So, psychology, we agree, it's crucial. And maybe a bad way to take that important part of trading for me is overtrading. And for you, it's left trading for 10 days. But all are different emotions, which means a bad understanding or a misunderstanding of what's important. Psychology is about. And I think everyone should understand that we are not prepared to trade. I mean, our brain is prepared to survive. Our brain is prepared to create a state of us when you see a threat and go ahead or survive at this threat. So, I don't know, 100 years ago, it was a lion trying to chase you in the jungle. But now, we still see threats that are not threats that can make us not to survive. But we understand them like threats, like, I don't know, you broke your car, you're angry with your friend, you have a problem with your girlfriend, I don't know, they don't invite you to a wedding. This for you is a threat, and your brain reacts the same way as 10,000 years ago. And this is the thing. Understand that, because later, the emotion maybe will be different for me. If you don't invite me to your wedding, maybe it's anger. And for others, it's, I don't know, another one. No. But the problem is not the emotion itself, it's the misunderstanding of everything before that emotion.

Do you think that, because the word you chose is misunderstanding, understanding? So, you have a stimulus. Let's say, in the past, it was a lion in the jungle, and now it's a losing trade, $500. Now, you're not going to die because of the $500, but the chemicals in your brain are feeling the same.

So, when you have a misunderstanding of the stimulus, then your emotional response, do you think the solution is to just understand it better, or is it protocols to have in place to protect you from the emotion, or avoid the emotion?

We are emotional beings. So, it's not possible to block the emotion unless you are a person who doesn't have emotion. So, you should go to a psychologist or seek a robot.

A, yeah, exactly, a robot, and you can block the emotion. So, you have to understand that emotion is part of you, but it's the first response of your brain, but it's not the good one. The good one is the logical and the rational one. So, everybody knows what should do or what must do, in a better way. But the emotion carries on the situation and imposes the logical part. I think that this is important to understand that the emotion, it's okay, it's here, but you have to be logical. For example, I'm here, but for me, it's difficult to be here because I have to speak in English. And when we talked three or four days ago, my brain said, "No, say no. It's better you say no because you are better in your home, comfortable, than you fly to New York, etc., etc." My brain said this to me. But I thought, "I would like to be here. I would like to meet Walker. I would like to experience that situation. I would like to be here talking in English." So, I'm here now.

Well, you're doing a great job. It's, I'm having a lot of fun so far. I want to explore this topic a lot more because it seems like you have a good experience or understanding of it. In fact, I watched one of your videos on the way here. I don't know if you remember, but it was, you were sharing an analogy about flipping a coin or bets, and it was regarding something about $1,000, but a 50/50 chance to win $2,500. Do you remember that example? If you could share that with us, because I want to build a question off this.

Yeah. At the end, you have to understand, I think you said that, at the end, you have to understand that a trading strategy is something that is created by a pattern where you add some rules, and these rules create a mathematical edge that in the long term creates you wealth, for example. Okay. But you need to trade this mathematical edge in the long term. The long term is part of the definition of trading. So, the example of the coin, it's easy because in a coin, you have two sides, and you have 50% of probabilities to take one side or to take another side. So, if you flip the coin 10 times, maybe nine times you see one side, but it's 90% versus 10%. But this is not the correct one. The correct one is 50/50. So, you need to flip the coin 1,000 or more in order to see the real probability. And this is the same with trading strategies.

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I like this idea because I think a big mistake of beginner traders is wrong behavior that they know is the wrong behavior leads to a winning trade. So, for example, you took a loss, you took five losses, you feel angry, and you think, "Let me just take a trade, a YOLO trade," and you take it without the trend, without your rules, you just enter because you were angry in the moment, and then that bad decision, you made money. So, now you have a feedback loop in your mind, at least, that is, "Every time I did that, I made money." So, as you're saying, when you flip the coin, which is supposed to be 50/50, but this time, in this 10-win, 10-flip window, it was nine times on heads, let's say, you might start to believe that this coin is more like this, or you know, you might have certain beliefs. How would you avoid or train this to not be following your impulses and following the recent performance to be skewing you away from the long-term data?

But traders are attached to the result. They want to...

win. We always want to win, but they are attached to the result. If they have a good trade or a win, they think they are good traders. If they have a loss, they think that, uh, bad traders. Good traders, we are on the right side of the probability because we understand the training definition. We know what's what's our edge, and we only want to do the things good. And do the things good is stay on the probability side. It doesn't matter if I win or if I lose because it's not my my problem. I know that with that edge on a long term, I will win. And this is a problem that most traders don't don't understand.

Now, we have the the World Cup, football World Cup. I every team would like to say, if you say to every team, "Hey, would you like to win the World Cup?" Doesn't matter how do you win? Do you want to win or do you want to do the things good but you lose? Every team will say, "I win to, I want to win." Of course, because in life, we are taught to win. We are taught to the result. We have to win that football match to win that competition. We have to take that, uh, driver lessons. We have to win that PlayStation game with our friend because we are attached to what, not. We are attached to how. And in trading, it is is is not the same. In trading, we have to attach to how.

"How are you trading?" Not what's the result of your trades, because if you have an edge and you are focused on how are you trading, in a long term, you will win for sure. In a short time, it's different.

"Yeah, you're right, because I think trading is maybe only one of the places where it's a paradox. You do the wrong, or you get the wrong outcome, but you're supposed to change nothing. In school, if you fail an exam, yeah, you go study more. Or you didn't get the promotion. Okay, work harder next time. But in in training, it's like you lost, and it's okay as long as you're following the plan."

"Yes."

"I I like this as well because I like to draw parallels with our old mind, let's say a thousand years ago, when there's a lion in the jungle, because that same mind is still here today. We just have, you know, new technologies in a modern world, but it's the same prehistoric brain. And there is a lot of parallels. So let's say the core emotions I found is survival, it's reproduction, that's a human trait. Can I procreate? Can I pick the woman that I want? Uh, and then it's status. We are tribal creatures. So whether it's money to get status or your physicality to get status, but these are, let's say, three big emotions. And money is actually a way to access all of them. Money helps you survive, money helps you procreate, or, you know, all of these things. Status can also be linked to money."

"So therefore, our primal instincts are coming out into the markets because of the attachment or relationship to money. So, I was very curious because I understood this idea of loss, as you're saying that it's the loss, even though it's only $500, can feel like a threat to our survival because we think subconsciously, it's going to affect my status, my security, and my ability to procreate. So, when I understood all of these psychology books, all I could see was the negatives, the downsides, the how psychology is firing up because of these these elements. But then I also understood one unique thing, which was..."

"When we are in the wild, you know, a thousand years ago, we hear a noise, we run, fight or flight. We we see a threat, our goal is to survive. But then occasionally, the goal was men come together and we hunt. So we, our goal is to attack a a predator or an animal to kill it. So we take a huge risk, we potentially risk our life to achieve one meal, or so that our community can eat. So there is a moment where our brain changes its state, where we go from a survival fight or flight and and very reactive to threats, to ignore the threat and focus on the goal. And and this moment, and I was like, 'I'm going to risk my life and hunt for the tribe because if we catch this lion, we all eat.'"

"So a bigger risk for a small win."

"Yes."

"So when I understood this one, it was very interesting because now I understood the the history in our brain to go for revenge trading. Because if we all focus on the downside, capital preservation, and psychology, then why do we have 10 losses in one day? Why do we chase the price action when we know it's a threat and it's not the right thing to do? I think as we enter this state, I wonder if you have any thoughts on this."

"I think that, well, it's an amazing definition. Congratulations. But I think that, um, when the the tribe go together to and risk their life to kill a lion, for example, to eat, it was in a survival instinct because they need to kill to in order to eat. So the risk is the risk-reward. Okay? It's like if you don't kill, you don't eat. And if you don't eat, you you you die. But in trading, it's different because the people doesn't need, don't need in general trading to to survive, don't need trading to to live. They take in unnecessary risks, but because, yes, because gambling, or because they want to earn money, or they think they need, or or want that profit, or they want to buy this, or buy that, or impress other people's, or take the the picture to for Instagram. And it's a different way to to perceive the the risk."

"Okay. So back to what you said earlier about, let's say, the football team, the goal is always to win. The objective is the outcome. And therefore, even in trading, the reason most people got into trading was to better their life or have more money and lifestyle and all of these things. It's not about survival. So therefore, if most traders are not trading from a place of survival, they're trading from a place of desire, or hope, or greed. Would you say like this?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, I think most traders, and it's not the fault of the the people. Is the fault of the industry itself. But most traders perceive trading like an easy way to to win, or easy way to change their life, or achieve that goal, respect, material goal, anything. And it's a wrong way because you understand perfectly that trading is the opposite. It's a very difficult way to live. It's a very difficult way to earn money. Maybe you can master trading skills, etc. But at the beginning, if your goal is, 'I want that watch, I want to change my life, I want that,' it's not the correct way to earn that money, or fast money will be the opposite."

"How would you define or separate the difference between a trader and a gambler, specifically? Because I like the framework that is most people focus on outcomes in life because it makes sense. We have a goal, we try and achieve it. If we don't, we focus on what we do different. Where in trading, is you focus on the process, and the outcome should follow over time. A gambler would also have these kind of philosophies, or a mix between the two, but either way, we are traders are trying to not be a gambler. So I was wondering, what is that line or the separation?"

"Yeah, a gambler is a person who who doesn't have an edge. It's it's very easy for me, or for my understanding of that. When you trade, you are risking, you are speculating, but you can speculate with an edge. The definition of speculation is that you don't have certainty about what's going to happen. But if you have an edge, you can control or scale what the result will be on a long-term basis. But if you don't have an edge, you are a gambler. It's similar."

"I I like it because the casino has an edge. The roulette wheel is 50/50. Seems 50/50. But when you have one or two, the green ones for the casino..."

"That small 2% 4% difference is the edge. And they just rely on volume. And if a trader, or sorry, a gambler comes in and bets his house and wins, the casino doesn't care. If he bets the house and loses, the casino doesn't care. Perfect. Now, the the reason I mentioned this is because the house in the current trading world, the house of the casino is the prop firms. And the prop firms make money when traders are losing money. And therefore, they've created rules in a certain way so that traders do keep failing, but keep coming and playing the the game, or keep gambling. How can a trader relying on prop firms, when the rules are maybe skewed in the favor of the prop firm, still have an edge? Is are we setting up to fail, or is there a way to navigate correctly with prop funds?"

"Of course, there is a way to navigate properly. There are a lot of traders who leave from, uh, funded, uh, firms, and it's a, it's a good way to to receive money if you don't have money. But the problem is, do you have a real edge? Do you understand what means, uh, try an exam in a prop firm? Do we understand that that prop firm will try to make you lose the account because you need to pay again, and it's his business model? In first of all, you need to be profitable. You can't try to, uh, win money, earn money with a funded account if you are not profitable with your own strategy or your own concepts. You can accept that money or that not that fake money, yes, but it will not be worth it on a long term because you are not prepared to to use this money or use these rules. So for me, I've been banned from different, uh, accounts on on prop firms, and for me, that is not a problem because I have my own capital, and I only use that accounts to to improve my strategies, to try different things, etc. But if you are only focused on win money or earn money with that funded accounts, you have to understand that there's an interest conflict because if you win, they they lose. So it's a good way to to earn money, to live from trading, 100%, but you have to understand what is in front of you."

"Why did these few prop firms ban you?"

"Uh, they they told that I was using, uh, a bot or automatic strategy that wasn't allowed. But at the end, uh, the the thing was that last year and beginning of this year has been very profitable, and I only lose one month of the last, uh, 14 or 15. And at the end, they told me, uh, 'What's happening here? This is not allowed. There is no reason. You have you are using, uh, this one and this one bot.' There wasn't bots at the end, and we have different rules. The last rule is, we can do whatever we want, whenever we want. So the the account is is blown up."

"In this case, was it a mistake of picking the wrong prop firm, or was it more a case of this is a tool, eventually everybody's going to face some sort of issue like this, but the goal is to just use the tool for now until you cannot?"

"I I don't think the mistake was the prop firm because I was trading with with that prop firm during, I don't know, two years, more or less, and I had no problem. I think the the problem is, it's not a problem because I I knew before, you you are not, if you are profitable, you are not welcome to to the prop firms. That's the reason why. And they prefer to ban you than use your strategies to earn money. That's the a big thing because the, that means that they win more if I have to pay another exam for probabilities of of failure than what do they could win if they copy my strategies. Do you understand? And is is a big thing to understand."

"If if the goal is start off with prop firms because most people don't have enough capital, use them for a year or two years, however long until eventually it doesn't make sense anymore, or you get banned, or whatever happens to a lot of people. A lot of people, the mistake therefore becomes is you use the prop firm income as your lifestyle. And especially when traders gone in for the reason of materialism, better life, whatever. The moment you get that money, which you've been fighting for for many years, you finally get it. The impulse is to spend. What would be a better approach to think about longevity in 10 years or 12 years in the markets?"

"I I am a big trust of reinvest, reinvest everything. Because I I you can buy something if you feel you deserve it. It's good for your brain too. But taking the habit to, okay, maybe you are fighting for one year to to the first payout. Okay, don't, it's not a problem if you spend it in Louis Vuitton if you if you want. It's like, um, something good for you for your brain. Okay. But taking the habit to wait for that payment to spend your payment in Louis Vuitton is the problem. And I think that the most intelligent thing we can do as traders, as as investors, is to reinvest. Because what are you doing? You are investing your time. You investing your your knowledge, your things to earn money. The payment is the money. But why don't you reinvest more? The snowball will be will be bigger."

"Something that's coming to my mind right now is because you mentioned that you wake up every day at 5 a.m. So when I think about all of the people that I look up to on on the internet, whether it's Alex or Mosi, whether it's a David Goggins, a common theme amongst all greats in any industry is always the word suffer. Now, suffer can be also delayed gratification. You know, don't buy the Louis Vuitton today, buy it in the future when you've reinvested. But it's always from a place of suffer now to have a better future. And I think a lot of people in their careers, they suffer for a year, two years before you see results. But I think trading is one of those few places where you could suffer in theory for 10 years and make no results and and actually be doing the wrong thing. So therefore, I think this word suffering, or even delayed gratification, or hardship, it serves most people in most arenas, but in trading, it doesn't always lead to a better outcome. So what would you say is a better word, or or better mindset to have apart from delayed gratification and suffering and these kind of typical online terms we see?"

"I think the, you you you have to understand what do you want. I mean, if you want to be retired at 40s, all your 30s, you will have to do something in order to achieve that that goal. So you can't buy in Louis Vuitton if you have a payment, that simple. If you only want to enjoy life, because life is short. If you only want to buy things, give presents to your parents, to your friends, to yourself, it's okay. But it's your goal. Today, nowadays, we live in a in a world where everybody tells what do you should do, what do you must do. But you are a unique, a unique being. So you have to understand first what are your goals? What do you want to achieve in everything? and act in consequence. It's that simple."

"It's very nice because I was listening to an audiobook last night before I slept, and it was called The Psychology of Money. And they were talking about the one example they gave is there is no right or wrong way to spend money because it's all linked to what kind of a childhood we had, which was the frame they used."

"Or background we have. And they said, uh, let's say buying a Lamborghini for a guy who, uh, comes from the hood, and he's seen his favorite rappers, and his whole goal, his poster in his bedroom was a Lamborghini. That for him is like a symbol of success. It's a trophy. It's a proud moment. And then you have another family that is a traditional Spanish family, old money from generations, who have gone to private schools, and all of these upper-class things. Uh, a Lamborghini can be seen as distasteful, or kind of too flashy, or something."

"Same purchase, same price, different perception. So therefore, there's no right or wrong way to spend. Nonetheless, the the perception to money, or the attachment to money, or, you know, our relationship to money has an effect on not only how we earn, but how we keep or invest and spend."

"Do you think that is a topic to discuss when it comes to trading? Because I wonder if, if you've noticed, but it seems like most traders who are entering the markets these days are not 40-year-old ex-bankers and professionals. It is 18-year-olds that hate school. And I wonder if that correlation has a reason for the negative 90% of traders lose."

"Yeah, I I started 12 years ago learning trading. By that reason, I wasn't happy with my my situation at school. I didn't know what I wanted in my future. I didn't wanted anything in general. I didn't liked any degree, university degree. And I thought that investing, not trading, investing. I didn't know what was trading about. Investing was the the solution. And was only because money, because I didn't know what what I wanted. This is not the problem. The problem is that if you try to maintain this this situation, or or hold this situation in the future, you can go to trading for money. Okay, it's normal because the industry tries to sell you easy money, and we are what we see, and marketing is in that way. But then you have to to do an effort to understand really what trading is about. Because people does don't like trading. People like money. But trading has no barriers to try to trade, and they trade because there is no barriers and there is fast money. If you understand very fast what is trading about, then you can choose, okay, I want to do the efforts I need in order to achieve my trading goals, or anything, or I don't want to do. So the problem is not this hype for money. The problem is don't open your your eyes, your eyes. And that's the reason why 80% 90% of traders..."

"...aren't able to to earn money."

"The reason I kind of took the conversation here is because I want to bring it back to the colleagues you had in your in your banking days, where most people in the retail is, as you said, no barrier to entry, usually young and focused on the money and and the lifestyle, whereas in the traditional finance sphere, it's about good university, good degree, good education, good grades, be academic, be corporate, climb the ladder, get a promotion, get a bonus. And therefore, even though it is about money, it seems like it's more about the process, and it's more professional-based. Have you noticed that? Therefore, it's not about the strategy that the banks are using or the individual is using. It's more about the perception or mindset or goal, or is it actually the strategy as well?"

"We are in different, um, leagues. So you you don't need, or it's not a must to have a statistical degree, or maths degree, or a value investing degree, or anything. You don't need in order to earn money from trading. But you have to understand that, and I saw in the bank, you will fight versus people with better degrees, better technology, better information, better psychology, better lifestyle, more money, etc., etc. You you will not fight one-to-one, but it's like you will be in the same ball. So it's important to understand that if you are not prepared in different ways, you will lose. It's it's 100% not because they are very good. They are very good, but also because you are nothing. So you need to solve these currencies you have versus that professionals in in other directions."

"Mhm."

"There's two words that I find are quite misunderstood, and I want to hear your opinion. Number one is ego. And obviously, people say, 'I have an ego in the market.' The ego is a bad thing, and ego making me overtrade or keep adding to a losing trade. But then ego can also be self-worth, self-preservation. And if we are not going to school and university and following the traditional path, we took another route that is harder and less certain and so forth. Ego can be like, 'I'm a narcissist.' Ego can also be, 'I deserve more, and I'm going to go fight and get what I deserve.' Uh, so ego can be this misunderstood word. Also intuition. Now, intuition is also a big one because, you know, you have this thing of like a gut feeling, or 'I don't know the answer. Let me sleep.' And when you wake up, you you have the answer sometimes because your intuition, your subconscious bought something. But then people also use this intuition in the markets and like, 'I felt this trade was going to win, and therefore I doubled the size,' but it was not based on data and information. I want to hear your dynamic with these two words, ego and intuition."

"Yeah, ego for me, it's good. It's we need ego in order to achieve things because we are here in part from ego. It's a good ego. Yes, but we are here from ego. And later, maybe you have another podcast also for ego, and then I go to New York for ego, but a good ego. It's not a bad ego. The problem with ego is when you try to be, um, better or more than the others, and you say, 'Hey, the others doesn't know anything. I'm the best,' etc., etc. This is the bad ego, and this is the thing you have to avoid in the market because you are not better than anything. You are you, you are a nothing in this world, and you have to try to do your best in order to achieve anything. And ego for me, it's important. And I think the the word ego is misunderstood because people relates ego with bad things or bad persons. And no, the a good ego, a normal ego, it's necessary in the world. And then the intuition, I I don't know how to describe, but I believe in that. I everybody, I I think you you maybe you are able to read the the information or to have access to when the intuition is coming, or maybe not. But there are signals every day, every day in everything we do. If you have experience, if you have preparation, if you have skills in something, you will be able to understand and to read this in these signals called intuition. If you don't have this experience, no. That there is this intuition."

"I I agree with you. Intuition exists. It's definitely a feeling. It's definitely something we could act upon."

"My my more question was, should we listen to it? Because everybody has a feeling every morning like, 'I feel like price is going to be bullish.'"

"And sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But the the mind is always going to be like, 'I had an intuition.' Every time I was correct, I focus on that. And every time my intuition was wrong, I ignore it. I pretend it didn't happen. So over time, you feel like your intuition is a superpower when maybe it isn't."

"I'm not arguing if it exists or not. I'm not, I'm wondering more, does it have a place in the markets? If it does, when do we listen to it? Because someone with one month of experience may feel intuition, but probably shouldn't listen to it, because the intuition could be greed looking like a superpower. So what is the right way to use or harness intuition, or should it be something that we are aware of, but usually ignore?"

"Intuition is something subtle in my case, or when I experience it, it's something subtle, some feeling, small feeling. It's not like going to a casino and say, 'Hey, my intuition is it's red.' No, this is not intuition, this is gambling. I mean, trading is the same. If you wake up and you say, 'Hey, I think Euro Dollar today is up,' this is not intuition. Intuition is something that arrives to you, you are not, you know, don't force that feeling or that situation. Intuition arrives to you. Then, when this feeling or this subtle situation arrives to you, everybody needs to to know how much wants to believe, how much wants to follow that intuition or not. I'm not, it's not something for me that works every week or every month. It's not something that I can force. It's something that in my case arrives, and when it arrives, I I learned to to follow. I learned to to say, 'Okay, I'm not trying to do this, but something tells me that this is okay, I will follow.' In every aspect of my life, in my company, in trading, in my relationships, in everything."

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"Do you decide? Because you can have an intuition on your entry. You can have an intuition on direction, intuition on risk. Maybe this is a better opportunity, risk more. There can be intuition on every step of a trader's journey. Um, but there can also be intuition of like, 'I don't like this trade, or market doesn't look right.' So intuition can be to like, go or go more, or go more aggressive, or it can also be intuition to not go and and sit back and skip today, etc. Would you use intuition equally, or is it more on one side or the other?"

"I I I don't, I I will follow an intuition telling me, 'Hey, take this trade,' or, 'Hey, buy Apple.' I don't know. Um, I will follow more in in that terms you you mention it, like, 'Today it's better not to trade.' 'Today I feel it's better to to stay focused on cryptocurrencies,' for example. It's more in that in that way."

"In the avoid side."

"Yes. May because my strategy itself, it's it's like a plan. It's like a different rules, and I follow the rules, and this blocks the intuition. You know, when you are open to receive that intuition or that source of information..."

"...is when it comes and when you can read it. If you are blocked in your trading, in my case, it's different, but I don't care if a dollar or maybe GBP dollar, if I have to take one trade or the other one, maybe the trend is very similar, but the intuition says, 'Hey, GBP dollar.' Why? I don't know. The setup is almost the same, but later it turns in a better decision."

"What do you think intuition is, or where does it come from? What is this feeling we all feel?"

"By something in no no material things, but our self, our the bottom of ourselves. I I when I was younger, I read different books, Seth Speaks, I don't know if well, it's books related to that, not paranormal, but your, it's difficult for me to say in English, but, like situations that that where we from where we go, what happens when you you are not here in the material world, you know? And this builds me to understand a little bit how to approach the intuition, why we are energy, why we are not material. And and I have that experience from from years ago, meditating also. And now I'm not a very spiritual person, but I have very a good skills about it."

"On this topic, a very famous thing that you see all successful athletes, even let's say Conor McGregor, you see him often speak about it, is obviously energy, intuition, subconscious wiring, convince, or let's say hypnosis in a way, convincing your mind to do things you don't want to do. It all connects to also law of attraction. I wonder if this has a place for you in your journey."

"Yeah, for sure, for sure. I mean, and if you do all of these things, nothing will say that you will achieve anything. That's a real situation. If you want to be a trader, or you want a Lambo, you want, you maybe you want very hard, but it's not guaranteed that you will achieve. But if you don't do this, I think that it's, or if you do this, it's not something that will make you worse. So I prefer to to believe in that, to think in that, to to create that things to see."

"And and later, well, I will do my best, my 100% to achieve something. But later, maybe I don't achieve. But nobody will say me, 'Hey, you leave that on the road,' or 'You could take a better path,' or something like that. So I I feel in that things, and I believe very hard in this, and in my case, um, have had worked all of this."

"The area I want to end the conversation is one thing is most traders spend their entire career just trying to get a profit, you know, make the edge, find a bit of expectancy, and finally achieve it after maybe years of trying. One thing is that, and that's a big enough goal, of course. But then the next goal, or the next part of a trader's journey, is how to compound and grow. Because as you were saying before, it's one thing is profitability, another thing is to live from your trading and earn enough. Now, obviously, capital is one part of it. But let's talk about this word compounding, to go from $500 a month, or $500 a year, to like, 'Okay, now I'm making good money consistently, and I can now build a real empire and wealth.'"

"I what I did when I start is maintain another job. I was working in a hospital in a reception. So I worked there on weekends, and I trade on on during the week. So I was, uh, keep increasing my trading account only with my reception salary. Yes. And that's something that educated me to understand that I need to grow my account. Grow my account. Grow my account. And if I wasn't able to grow it with my trading skills, because I was starting, minimum, with another salary, which maintains my my account growing. So I started with $500, because it's what I had in that period. And I think that something that it's okay, it's it's that trying to grow your account with other sources of income. Then you always will be will have time to leave your job and focus only on trading. But at the beginning, it's very easy to to keep increasing your account with this."

"When when you're in a position where you've got a few hundred thousand in funding, and you've you have 100k in payouts, it might take a time, but let's say you're at that situation now. You have prop firms as a tool you can use. You can get a million dollars in funding, but also now you have 100k of your own money that you can now trade. I'm more curious to say how do you use both personal capital versus prop capital? At some point, should you just ignore it, or always use it the relationships to let's say grow and compound once you've already hit a good milestone?"

"Yeah, in my case, it's reinvest, reinvest, reinvest, and create different sources. I have, uh, algorithmic trading. I have my own manual trading. I have some prop firms, but only to try things. I have my investment in investment account. So I create like a portfolio, which allows me to decide and to manage my my capital and be exposed to any situation and understand that in the future, happens what happens, now I will have money, uh, for sure, and I will can decide where this money can can go. So it's what I do."

"The last part I want to say is advice for traders because your background was not, uh, through social media. It was traditional finance, and then maybe use social media to to grow and learn. Nonetheless, 10 years ago, 12 years ago, the social media world of trading was completely different to as it is now. More people, more flashy, more more information also, which can be good or bad. How would you encourage a new trader in 2026 to navigate the social media trading world?"

"To nowadays, we see that first, the the new traders try to create an Instagram profile and then try to trade, and this is a a grown perception. Now, um, we have experience in social media, we have experience in trading, but the first was trading. I mean, when you know how to trade, you can focus on create, if you want, a social media or a podcast or whatever you need, or whatever you want. But trying to start at the same point, two things, it's not a good way. And in that situation, trying to discover new traders, discover new strategies, new indicators with social media, at some point, it's okay. But there will be a point where you will find that everybody wins money, everybody uses a better strategy than yours, everybody have a new indicator, a new trading style, and you will get lost for sure on that social media because it's not something, maybe it's worth it, maybe it works, maybe it's a good indicator or anything, but you have to focus. You have to try what do you want to to do? If we start studying English, and at at first three months, we leave we left English and we start studying Spanish, and three months you leave Russian. In two years, you will take different languages, but you will not be able to talk in any of them."

"So..."

"I like that analogy. There's that famous saying of like, 10,000 hours to mastery."

"But the problem is, you spend a year here, a thousand here, a thousand here. You did 10,000 hours, but not in one thing. So you actually achieved nothing."

"Alex, wonderful episode. I really enjoyed it, and thank you for coming down here today."

"Thank you for my man. Boom."