I spent a couple of interesting days in London last week, working with traders at different stages of their development and having some worthwhile conversations about what it takes to build a sustainable trading business.
On Friday, I delivered our VTP Stage 4 Trader Performance Programme to six traders who were working on improving their performance and developing a more structured approach to their trading. Then on Saturday, I was speaking at the London Prop Trading Expo, where my presentation was titled Beyond Passing: What Comes Next for You?
My thanks to Simon for inviting me to speak, to everyone who attended the Expo and my presentation, and to those who came over for a chat during the day. I enjoyed hearing about your experiences and ambitions, and it was good to see so much enthusiasm for trading.
Simon had suggested the theme of the presentation, encouraging a few of us older, more experienced traders to share some of what we’d learned over the years. The idea was to help people think beyond passing their first prop trading challenge and consider what comes afterwards. Having spent more than twenty years involved in the markets, I thought that was a conversation worth having.
Passing a Challenge Is Only the Beginning
One of the things that struck me about the Expo was the amount of attention given to passing challenges, securing funded accounts and achieving payouts. There’s nothing wrong with celebrating those achievements, and prop trading has certainly created opportunities that weren’t readily available when I first started.
However, there’s a considerable difference between passing an evaluation and developing a trading business that can sustain you over the longer term. The skills and behaviours required to pass a challenge are important, but they’re only part of what you’ll need if you’re planning to make trading a significant part of your future.
One question I encouraged people to ask was what they actually wanted trading to provide. For some, it might be an additional source of income, whilst others may want to build their own capital, become full-time independent traders or eventually explore opportunities within professional trading.
The answer will be different for everyone, and it may change as your experience develops. What matters is recognising that trading can involve more than one account, one firm or one way of generating income.
Learning to Manage the Reality of Trading
Something I’ve learned over the years is that trading income is rarely linear. You can have an excellent period followed by several weeks when the opportunities are limited, or when your trading simply isn’t producing the results you’d hoped for.
That becomes particularly challenging when you’re relying on those results to meet your everyday financial commitments. The pressure to make money can easily influence your decisions, encouraging you to take trades you wouldn’t normally consider, increase your exposure or interfere with positions that should have been left alone.
During the presentation, I described independent traders as EWOKs, which stands for Eat What yOu Kill. It’s a slightly irreverent reminder that, unlike somebody receiving a regular salary, we’re largely responsible for generating our own income. That’s why I believe building financial resilience, maintaining a strategic reserve and having a sensible plan for income and capital growth are essential parts of developing a trading business.
But resilience isn’t simply about money. Trading can also be an isolating occupation, particularly when you’re spending long periods working alone. Over time, it’s easy to become so absorbed in the markets that your health, relationships and interests outside trading begin to suffer.
I’ve always believed that how we live outside the markets influences how we perform within them. If we’re serious about improving our trading, we need to pay attention to the person making the decisions, not just the trades appearing on the screen.
Developing Yourself as a Trader
What made those two days in London particularly interesting was the connection between the work we were doing on Friday and the conversations I was having on Saturday.
The six traders attending VTP Stage 4 were taking time to examine their preparation, decision-making, execution, risk management and the personal behaviours that influence their performance. They were also thinking about the sort of trading businesses they wanted to build.
At the Expo, I was encouraging people to consider those same issues, perhaps at an earlier stage of their development. Whether you’re working towards your first funded account or have been trading for years, there’s value in regularly examining how you operate and whether your approach is helping you achieve what you want.
It’s also worth remembering that you don’t have to work through every challenge on your own. Having access to experienced traders, coaches, mentors and other professionals who can challenge your thinking and help you recognise what you might be missing can make a considerable difference.
Getting the Right Support for Your Trading
This is much of the thinking behind the performance coaching I provide through TradingBeliefs, although the support someone needs will depend on where they are in their trading development.
For traders who recognise that something isn’t working and want help addressing it now, I’ve developed Turnaround Your Trading (TYT). It’s a focused six-hour coaching programme, beginning with a detailed two-hour examination of your current trading, followed by four individual one-hour sessions where we work on the main areas identified.
The objective is to understand what’s happening, identify the changes that matter most and begin implementing them over a relatively short period.
You can find out more about the programme here:
For experienced traders who already have their own methodology and want to invest in their development over a longer period, I’m also introducing DECS 27 Trader Performance Mentorship.
This is a twelve-month programme providing individual performance coaching, experienced mentoring and accountability throughout 2027. We’ll work with your existing trading approach rather than trying to replace it with mine, examining how you prepare, make decisions, execute, manage risk and respond to pressure.
You can explore the programme here:
DECS 27 — Trader Performance Mentorship
Both programmes reflect the same underlying philosophy that has guided much of my work over the years. Improving trading performance isn’t always about acquiring more market knowledge or finding another strategy. Often, it’s about understanding how you operate, recognising where your behaviour and decision-making can improve, and then doing the work required to make those changes.
If you’re unsure which approach might be appropriate, or simply want to discuss your circumstances, you’re welcome to arrange a complimentary 15-minute Trader Performance Conversation. We can explore where you are in your trading, what you’re trying to achieve and whether working together would be useful.
Book a complimentary Trader Performance Conversation
Beyond Passing — The Bigger Picture
I enjoyed the opportunity to speak at the Expo and meet so many people who are enthusiastic about trading. My thanks again to everyone who attended and took the time to have a conversation.
If there’s one thing I’d encourage traders to think about following the presentation, it’s the bigger picture of what they’re trying to achieve. Passing a challenge or receiving a payout can be an important milestone, but building a trading business that supports the life you want to lead requires a much broader approach.
I’ve explored these ideas in more detail in a longer article on the TradingBeliefs website, including the importance of financial and personal resilience, developing the right support around you, and the different ways traders can approach their ongoing development.
Read the full TradingBeliefs article — Beyond Passing: The Trading Business You’re Trying to Build
October 27, 2026
Trading Performance, Trading Psychology