{"id":668152,"date":"2025-10-03T11:20:48","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T09:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ftmo.com\/10-kroku-stranou-co-nedelat-v-prop-tradingu\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T13:34:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T11:34:18","slug":"10-biggest-mistakes-in-prop-trading-and-how-to-avoid-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ftmo.com\/en\/10-biggest-mistakes-in-prop-trading-and-how-to-avoid-them\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Biggest Mistakes in Prop Trading and How to Avoid Them"},"content":{"rendered":"
Trading can bring freedom and fulfilment<\/strong>, but it can just as easily lead to frustration<\/strong> and loss<\/strong>. The difference often comes down to discipline and whether you learn from the most common errors that traders repeat. Both beginners and seasoned professionals fall into the same traps, often paying with wasted capital, time and energy.<\/em><\/p>\n Here are the ten biggest mistakes in prop trading and, crucially, how to avoid them.<\/strong><\/p>\n Your trading plan is your roadmap. Without it, you hand control over to the market and your emotions. Even experienced traders sometimes open positions based on gut feeling or the latest YouTube tip.\u00a0That isn\u2019t trading.<\/p>\n How to do it right: <\/strong>Create a detailed plan with clear entry and exit rules, strong risk management, and conditions for when not to trade. Test it, refine it, and most importantly, stick to it. Never trade blindly.<\/p>\n Many traders dismiss demo accounts as \u201cunrealistic\u201d because they lack emotional pressure. That\u2019s true, but it\u2019s also their greatest strength. Demo accounts allow you to practise strategy execution in a safe environment, building skill before emotions and real money enter the picture.<\/p>\n How to do it right:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022 Practise entries and exits until they become automatic.<\/p>\n \u2022 Treat your demo account with the same seriousness as a paid FTMO Challenge<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2022 Focus on consistency, not profits.<\/p>\n Without records, you can\u2019t learn properly from your mistakes. Memory is selective, and you\u2019ll either forget details or distort them. A trading journal provides objective feedback, helping you identify patterns that work and behaviours that repeatedly hurt you.<\/p>\n How to do it right:<\/strong> Record trade data along with your thoughts, hesitations and emotions. Over time, recurring patterns will emerge that you could never have spotted otherwise. Your journal is your most honest mirror.<\/p>\n Profits can be more dangerous than losses. After a series of wins, traders often increase position sizes, break their rules, and convince themselves they\u2019ve found the holy grail. The market quickly proves them wrong with painful drawdowns.<\/p>\n How to do it right:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022 Keep your position sizing consistent, no matter the outcome.<\/p>\n \u2022 Remember that five winning trades don\u2019t prove anything.<\/p>\n \u2022 Stick to your rules through both gains and losses.<\/p>\n Every trader goes through a phase of constantly switching strategies in search of the perfect one. But the holy grail doesn\u2019t exist. Almost any strategy can work in the hands of a disciplined trader.<\/p>\n How to do it right: <\/strong>Choose one strategy that suits your mindset and schedule. Commit to it, refine it, and resist the temptation to jump to the next \u201csecret system\u201d whenever you hit a losing streak.<\/p>\n Technical skills alone won\u2019t make you successful. Fear, greed, ego and revenge shape your decisions far more than most traders admit. Those who believe they can \u201chandle emotions\u201d without a plan often only realise their mistake after heavy losses.<\/p>\n How to do it right:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022 Be conscious of your emotions and acknowledge them.<\/p>\n \u2022 Act according to your rules, not impulses.<\/p>\n \u2022 Treat trading as the mental game it truly is.<\/p>\n Even the most robust strategy can\u2019t protect you from reckless risk-taking. Trading with oversized positions is like driving without a seatbelt.<\/p>\n How to do it right:<\/strong> Define a maximum risk per trade, ideally between 0.5% and 1% of your account. This approach shields you from catastrophic drawdowns and gives you space to learn and recover.<\/p>\n Bored traders are dangerous traders. Without clear signals, they look for trades where none exist, often entering impulsively just to \u201cdo something\u201d. That habit slowly drains accounts.<\/p>\n How to do it right:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022 Set specific trading hours and respect them.<\/p>\n \u2022 If no valid setup appears, don\u2019t trade.<\/p>\n \u2022 Understand that discipline also means knowing when to stay out.<\/p>\n Many traders don\u2019t know their win rate, risk-to-reward ratio, or average drawdown. They believe they \u201cknow what they\u2019re doing\u201d, but without statistics, it\u2019s nothing more than guesswork.<\/p>\n How to do it right:<\/strong> Track your performance metrics consistently. Analysing your numbers reveals where you have an edge, where you\u2019re bleeding capital, and where to focus your improvement.<\/p>\n Going against a strong trend is extremely risky. Without precise timing, strict rules and quick execution, you will almost certainly get swept away.<\/p>\n How to do it right:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022 Always respect higher timeframes.<\/p>\n \u2022 Use very strict criteria and tight stop-losses.<\/p>\n \u2022 Be prepared to cut losing trades instantly.<\/p>\n Every mistake on this list has been made by countless traders. The difference between beginners and professionals is not whether mistakes happen, but whether you learn from them.<\/p>\n At FTMO, after ten years in prop trading, we\u2019ve seen what separates success from failure: discipline, consistency, and honest self-reflection. Master these, and you\u2019ll be further ahead than any indicator can take you. Trading can bring freedom and fulfilment, but it can just as easily lead to frustration and loss. The difference often comes down to discipline and whether you learn from the most common errors that traders repeat. Both beginners and seasoned professionals fall into the same traps, often paying with wasted capital, time and energy. Here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":668640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[670],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-668152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trading-tips"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMistake 1: Trading Without a Plan<\/h2>\n
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Mistake 2: Ignoring the Demo Account<\/h2>\n
Mistake 3: Skipping the Trading Journal<\/h2>\n
Mistake 4: Getting Carried Away by Winning Streaks<\/h2>\n
Mistake 5: Chasing the Holy Grail<\/h2>\n
Mistake 6: Neglecting Trading Psychology<\/h2>\n
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Mistake 7: Ignoring Money Management<\/h2>\n
Mistake 8: Trading Out of Boredom<\/h2>\n
Mistake 9: Trading Without Data<\/h2>\n
Mistake 10: Fighting the Trend Without a System<\/h2>\n
Conclusion: 10 Years of Lessons, 10 Ways to Succeed<\/h2>\n
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