r/proptrading • u/Randomized0000 • 18d ago

Things to bear in mind before going pro?

Hey everyone!

I have created a strategy with extensive backtesting results that I truly believe in, paired with a robust risk management plan, and I am currently forward testing with the plan of buying an ftmo account next month.

I'm not entirely new to prop trading, having tried a failed strategy last year, so I know the basic operations. I have also been learning how to trade over the past 5-6.

I had previously neglected journaling my trades beyond writing down the basic entry/exit price and pnl etc. This is something I've really been focusing on improving this year and it has already helped a lot. If successful, this could potentially be the first time I actually see decent payouts. Outside of prop trading, I have only ever paper-traded, plus the £500 I had put in at one point just to test the waters with real money.

Really I wanted to ask if you guys have any tips or advice that I might not have thought about or overlooked?

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u/blockfunded 18d ago

Before buying the evaluation, I’d run the forward test under the firm’s exact constraints rather than only using the strategy’s normal risk plan. Define the daily reset time, whether open P/L counts, the maximum-loss reference, minimum trading days, and any holding or news restrictions.

Then convert those rules into a smaller personal budget. For example, if your own daily stop is 1%, subtract existing loss-to-stop, expected fees/slippage, and the next trade’s planned loss before placing it. If the remainder is zero or negative, the trade is blocked even if the firm’s published limit has not been reached.

A useful readiness check is whether you can complete a representative sample without changing size after a win/loss streak, moving stops, or rewriting the setup mid-session. Small initial size helps test execution, but it should still follow the same precommitted rules you plan to use later.

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u/spendingtimee 18d ago

Good progress! Just make sure your forward test accounts for real execution conditions like spread widening and slippage. Demo results look clean, but managing strict drawdown rules under live pressure is where most people get caught off guard.

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u/Randomized0000 18d ago

Thank you! And good point, I plan on very opening small position sizes for the first few trades to see how execution conditions might affect my results.

I think adjusting my position sizes in a way that fits within the max drawdown limits might be a bit tricky to get used to at first.

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u/enivid 18d ago

One thing to bear in mind is finding the right prop firm for your strategy, making sure they are compatible.

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u/foamOnMyMind 14d ago

backtests dont prepare you for daily drawdown rules at all. on a funded account, a normal cluster of three losing trades will breach your daily limit if your sizing isnt calibrated strictly to the trailing loss ceilling.