It’s a bold title, we know. But the information shared in this article is meant to help you achieve just that, when followed through to the end. The majority of traders fail well before they begin to see any signs of consistency in their results… let alone going on to acquire live capital via prop firms and private investors so that they can truly realize the large payouts they dream of receiving. Having now worked with and coached well over 8,000 traders since our inception in 2020, we have a very good understanding of where traders go wrong in their journey and what separates those who win and go on to see massive success from those who give up. In this article we’ll let you in on everything we’ve learned so that you can carry on with confidence knowing your time will come… so long as you follow in the footsteps of the winners before you.
Setting the correct mental frame.
First off, we want to dispel any belief that achieving success in trading will be “easy”, because it won’t be. BUT, when is or was anything worth doing “easy”. Every major accomplishment whether it’s climbing the ranks in a career, starting a business, becoming physically fit, raising a family, etc. None of it is “easy”. It all requires discipline and the management of emotions and expectations throughout. For you to go into your trading journey expecting it to be quick or for it to come with little effort will be like shooting yourself in the foot on day one. It’ll make the whole journey far more difficult than it needs to be. INSTEAD, know that it will require consistency of you. You’ll need to show up and put in the time to master the skill like you would learning how to do anything else. Trading is no different in that regard. It’s common for people to put trading into a category of its own… when in fact it like anything is simply a skillset to be developed. Once developed, you can pull profits from the markets regularly with confidence. This is where we want ALL of our traders, but it begins by setting the correct mental frame we’ve just discussed. For more on setting the correct mental frame, check out this recent article we wrote on trading psychology.
Unhealthy time horizons are your own worst enemy.
This is a big one. The get rich quick nature of the trading industry. A large part of it is due to the marketing aspect of the industry and so we understand that it’s something we all must face and work to correct on an ongoing basis! We here at the Phantom team have been through this ourselves! In our learning journey, we were sold that trading was something we could master in 90 days and we’d be off traveling the world with just our laptops for a few easy payments of $997 and a few minutes a day invested. Unfortunately, those claims as we all know are completely out of touch and we had to work through that just as you likely have. The industry is at a stage now where most people know deep down that things take longer than they’ve been sold… BUT parts of us still hold onto those claims believing it should be happening FASTER than it is for us because we are constantly bombarded by claims and successful case studies on a daily basis.
If we aren’t making money and acquiring new capital and traveling the world and buying nice cars like these people we see on social media, we assume we’re doing something wrong, that these people we’re watching have it all figured out, and that we need to change something if we’re ever to reach those same heights. Nothing could be more inaccurate. TIME is required to get good at anything. You have to spend time practicing the thing you’re trying to become great at… there’s simply no getting around it. Find one mentor and do as they do UNTIL you get to their level. That’s it. At Phantom we break it down to consuming the content in the program, testing it on the charts (practice), and then getting help from the coaching team and community whenever you have questions or feel stuck, confused, unsure… so that you can continue practicing and progressing.
There’s a time element involved here though. No one becomes an expert at something in days, weeks, months. It often takes years for you to REALLY join the ranks. So what are we suggesting? Expand your time horizons. REMOVE a time frame or expectation you hold on yourself for when you’ll get that funded account. Don’t hold a firm date for when you’ll be trading X capital. Just focus on daily progression and improving at what you do. Give yourself room to breathe and to make mistakes and be in the trenches learning through trial and error! It’s these expectations you hold over yourself that make the journey way harder than it has to be.
We see it time and time again… week after week in the Phantom community. Traders with SO MUCH potential who drop off because they said they’d be trading 6-figures in capital by X date… and because they fell short of that goal, they “must” be doing something wrong and so they’ll rework their edge, change the pairs they trade, try something else entirely… when under review they were SO CLOSE… and simply needed to take another swing or put more time on the charts honing their edge. To summarize this, life is long. You’ve got time. Don’t hold yourself to such a high standard and then be surprised when you fall short. You’re human like the rest of us. You experience ups and downs, ebbs and flows, good days and bad… not everything goes exactly to plan. Just know that if you never give up, you WILL get to your goal of trading consistently. You just have to give the process the time it requires, so your target of consistency + capital can come to fruition.
The ONLY real shortcut to trading success.
People talk all the time about the secret to success or their “hacks”… what we’ve found more often than not is that it’s just standard advice wrapped up to make it sound a lot more novel and exciting than it is, again… marketing strategy. Want to know the only real “shortcut” to success? Even though we don’t like using that word either? It’s mentorship. Not all that new and exciting I know… BUT it really is where you can get the upper hand over those who choose to go it alone. Finding someone who’s walked the exact path you’re trying to walk… and following in their footsteps to a T, is how you can really cut the learning curve. For most traders who walk the path solo and try to learn via random youtube content and books, it takes YEARS to find your footing in the market, if ever.
Under proper guidance, you can start to see results much sooner. We’ve recently started collecting feedback and running polls here at Phantom and based off those collected results, we’ve been able to conclude that those who are seeing consistency and who go on to collect capital funding via our various prop firm partners, often see such results between months 6 and 12 of being with us. This means on average members are becoming consistent and acquiring capital in the ranges of $50k to $200k in less than 12 months following our process / roadmap. That’s incredible!
Now, to be completely transparent about those stats, these are always the students who put in the required time and effort and who follow the 12 month roadmap we have laid out inside the course. Content study, regular practice via demo accounts and prop firm challenges, and who actively ask for help and get answers to their questions week in, week out so that they can continue progressing forward. If there ever was a “hack” to success… it’s following a proven process provided by those who have been where you are and ARE where you want to be. If others have done what you’re trying to do, you can do it all the same. Period.
Shutting out the noise.
This is an important one. We know you experience the buzz of social media and constant distractions too. We all do. The ability to focus is the great challenge of our generation. We’ve written a handful of articles now covering focus in greater depth, like our guide to staying focused for FX traders. The reason we bring this up now is because your ability to get more out of your work sessions is what will get you to your end goal of consistency and funded capital. Anyone can show up and stare at a chart, draw some lines and watch a few videos and assume they’re learning. It’s those who are able to shut out all distractions and remain head down focused for an hour or two per day who will see true progression in their trading skill and who will undoubtedly go on to join the top 1% of those who trade 6 and 7 figures consistently month after month. Keep focus top of mind. When you catch yourself getting distracted during your dedicated study sessions or trading sessions, remind yourself of your goals and what’s required to get there. We all fall off from time to time so don’t beat yourself up when it happens. Be your own boss and direct your lost attention back to the task at hand and get back to it!
The roadmap to consistent profitability and acquiring funding.
So what does it take? Dispelling all the claims and the myths about trading… what’s actually required of you? Honest answer, time and effort. Sounds vanilla doesn’t it? But it’s the answer you want, trust me… because it’s something you can actually do! The main issue we see amongst those who throw in the towel and give up, is that they had an expectation that it would be easy, it would come quick and that they’d be rolling in cash in a matter of weeks or months. Those who ACTUALLY go on to live that reality, keep at it for years. They CHOOSE to make trading their path. Their zone of genius. The thing they want to master and have domain expertise in. Those who go on to trade 6 and 7 figure capital and who ACTUALLY go on to live the luxurious lifestyle you see on Instagram… they aren’t treating trading like a get rich quick or like a hobby. It’s their BUSINESS. It’s their everything. This isn’t a side hustle. It’s not an ATM machine. It’s a real skillset to be developed and one to be treated with respect.
The best of the best did not get there with minimal effort. To join the top 1% and achieve top 1% results, you need to give it a top 1% effort. Done long enough consistently over an ample amount of time… and you’ll get there. Plain and simple. Just don’t give up and you’ll get what you want. Oftentimes it just may take a bit longer than you’d originally hoped it would. BUT that doesn’t mean it can’t happen or that it won’t happen for you. All great accomplishments take time to see through. Trading is no different. You want to win? Follow in the footsteps of those who’ve walked the path before you and do as they do. If it’s been done before by another human being, it can be done by you all the same.
You can access our full Phantom Trading 12-Month Funded Trader Roadmap here. Follow it! It’s produced 100s of funded traders to date and is currently being followed by thousands of others. Utilize it! We created it to help you.
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Robert Castillo
@coldwaterfx
FX Trader & Analyst
Writer & Editor
Rob is a funded trader from Toronto, Canada, and has been trading currencies, commodities, stocks, and cryptocurrencies for over 7 years. Outside of trading, he enjoys making music, boxing, and riding motorcycles.
