$150K Funded Trader Withdrew $42,841 While Scaling His Account Twice

We spoke with Waqar about his trading plan, insights, and lessons gained while trading in the markets and our platform as a funded trader.

Click here for more inspirational lessons and interviews with our professionally funded traders.

Watch Waqar’s Interview

Waqar’s $100K High-Stakes Funded Account

Waqar’s $125K High-Stakes Funded Account

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I am a married man who started trading in 2021 but began doing it professionally in 2024. Currently, I am a full-time trader living in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. I am very passionate about trading and believe it has great potential for my future plans.

How long have you been trading?

I have been trading for 4 years.

Briefly describe your Trading Plan and how it contributes to your success.

Please share a challenge you faced in your trading career and how you overcame it.

At the beginning of my trading journey, my biggest issue was overtrading. I was trying to trade too many asset classes, including indices, metals, and forex. However, through backtesting and focusing on self-improvement, I addressed these challenges and developed a disciplined pattern for my trading hours.

One major challenge in trading is psychology, and I believe this is true for every trader. To new traders, I would advise that if you don’t develop a trading style that suits your psychology, you won’t succeed in the long run.

You will eventually become exhausted at some point during your journey. It’s important to learn from various sources, but ultimately, you should create your own trading style and concentrate on just a few assets.

How did you adjust risk management to your trading personality?

The hardest part to address is greed, which is a fundamental instinct for humans, especially for traders. When making money in trading becomes easier, the level of greed tends to increase.

As you progress in your trading journey, it’s essential to organize your psychology and develop yourself to become a better trader. I aim to stick to a risk level of 0.5% to 1% at most, and most of my trades target a risk-reward ratio of 3:1 according to my trading plan and style. I believe in maintaining a more capital-efficient approach with a lower risk ratio, which is why I appreciate the 5%ers program and strive to scale my account to reach my target.

Describe a key moment in your trading career.

A key moment for me was when I decided to focus on just one asset class and began developing my own trading style, which made a significant difference in my journey.

I faced continuous struggles, especially since people around me would often laugh at me for spending so much time on my computer, questioning how I could possibly earn money that way.

However, I remained hopeful. In my country, there aren’t many traders, and most people are unaware of what trading really entails. Today, I am thrilled to be featured on 5%ers YouTube, where I can share my story with the world. I want to show that hard work, when directed in the right way, truly pays off. Looking back, those were tough times for me before 2024.

How long does it take to become a consistent trader, and what aspects did you change that helped you become consistent?

I started trading in 2021, guided by a friend during a bullish season for Bitcoin. While I gained a little and lost a lot initially, the experience taught me valuable lessons.

I then began learning from several mentors, using YouTube and advice from friends to develop my own trading knowledge. In 2023, I was inspired by ICT, Michael J. Huddleston, and learned a great deal from his YouTube channel.

I worked on developing my own trading style, incorporating elements from retail trading, Smart Money Concepts (SMC), and much from ICT. By combining these three schools of thought, I have been satisfied with my results.

My primary asset class for trading is indices, particularly the Nasdaq and the New York AM session, which account for 95% of my trades. I believe in achieving a minimum risk-reward ratio of 3:1, which allows me to be successful even with a win rate of 40 to 50%. I have been consistently trading since August 2024.

I find that trading psychology is the hardest part of the process, as I believe it is for many traders. I think psychological maturity takes time to develop. Now, my primary source of income comes from trading, and I primarily use the 5%ERS platform. I believe that maintaining a positive mindset and staying physically fit are crucial for success in trading.

What is your mental/psychological strength, and how did you develop it?

My mental strength is to focus on my trading style, trust in myself that my trading method has worked for me in the past, and know that if I am on a losing streak, soon I will be in profit – if I stay focused and controlled.

After the loss of 2 continuous trades, plan to stop trading and take a fresh start the next day.
Stay away from news manipulation, stay away from the day before major news—basically, stay away from low liquidity in the market. Wait for good areas. Stay cautious during high resistance runs, higher or lower. Always search for trendy days on Nasdaq and hunt for low resistance days.These are the mental strengths I keep in mind when I am losing—that tomorrow or the day after tomorrow I will be in profit, if I stick to the above rules.

What was your strategy to successfully pass The5ers’ evaluation?

Patience, discipline, my classic 3RR profit rule, and 0.5% to 1% max risk.
New York AM session, avoiding low liquidity days, one asset class.

What would you recommend to someone who is just starting with us?

I would say it’s a marathon race, not a 100m or 200m run, so first of all, build your stamina, focus, and endurance by practicing a lot of charts and screen time.
Try to become a horse of the long run—slow and steady wins it.
Create your own trading style. Learn from everywhere, but build it for yourself according to your personality, because no one knows you better than yourself. Focus on your weak areas and develop a psychological way to fight them.

Trading style, strategies, methods are only 20%—it’s your 80% psychology
that turns that 20% of your method into 50 or 60% of your win rate.
Always stay patient and focused. Focus on your mental and physical health, eat healthy, and practice as many charts as you can. It will take 3 to 4 years minimum to be consistent, so don’t rush. Take it slow and you will see the results.

👉 If you want to receive an invitation to our live webinars, trading strategy, and high-quality forex articles, sign up for our Newsletter.

👉 Click here to check our funding programs.

Follow us: 👉YouTube 👉 Linkedin 👉 Instagram  👉 Twitter  👉 TradingView

Share: