The blog: ICT trading, prop firms and the job itself
What I wish I had read when I started: concrete articles on the method, prop firm funding and what the job is actually like.
FTS Arena is open: same candles for everyone, may the best trader win
A real market session. The same candles for everyone. A leaderboard every day, leagues every week, and your friends to challenge. Welcome to FTS Arena: the place where you learn to read a chart by playing, and finally find out who trades best. Here is how it works, and why I built it.
End-of-day or intraday drawdown: what it changes for a prop firm challenge
Two prop firm accounts can show the same $2,000 drawdown and still leave you different amounts of room. It all depends on when the loss threshold moves up: at the close, or at every new high, open profits included. A worked example, the real figures from my Apex account, and what it changes in the way you trade.
From risk in % to a number of MNQ contracts: the calculation step by step
“I trade 5 contracts” is not risk management, it is a habit. The right number of MNQ contracts follows from three figures: what you accept to lose, the distance to your stop and the value of one point. The calculation, a worked example, and the traps that skew it.
Fed minutes of October 7, 2026: what they said, and how I trade around them
On Wednesday, October 7, 2026, the Federal Reserve released the record of its September meeting, the one where it raised rates. The Nasdaq slipped and long-term yields hit highs. What the document says, what the market did, and why my session was over well before it came out.
Break-even: when to move your stop, and when not to
Putting your stop at break-even feels like trading without risk. On day one of my challenge, that reflex took me out of a trade that then went on to its target without me. What break-even really costs, and the rule I now apply with my indicator.
Indicator challenge: where it stands after two sessions
So far, the challenge is going well: after two sessions, the Apex account stands at $52,284.76, with $715.24 left to pass the evaluation. The two sessions in brief, and why two days prove nothing.
Trading journal: how it works, from the Tradovate import to your statistics
A trading journal is not for counting your wins. It is for seeing what you keep repeating without noticing. Here is how the Freedom Trading School journal works, screen by screen, and how to get something out of it in five minutes per session.
Liquidity sweep trading: how to spot it and wait for confirmation
A liquidity sweep is neither a random wick nor an entry signal. It is a liquidity grab followed by rejection, and only becomes actionable with context and clear confirmation.
Choosing a broker as a beginner: what actually matters
Comparison sites rank brokers on headline spread and how good the platform looks. Those are the two least decisive criteria for a beginner. Here are the four that actually matter — including one almost nobody checks, which nonetheless decides whether you can apply sound risk management at all.
How long does it take to become profitable at trading?
Nobody can give you a date, and anyone who does is selling you something. What can be described precisely is the stages everybody goes through, in what order, and how you recognise that you have moved to the next one. That is far more useful than a deadline.
How much do you need to start trading?
The question comes up in every first conversation, and it is the wrong question. The real cost of entry is not counted in euros but in months — and the amount that actually matters is not an absolute figure, it is the ratio between your capital and the smallest position your broker accepts. Here is why.
ICT or classical technical analysis: what actually changes
Triangles, head and shoulders and RSI on one side; order blocks, liquidity and killzones on the other. The difference is not fashion, and it is not tribal: it is a difference in the question you ask the chart. And it has very concrete consequences for how you place a stop.
Anatomy of a London killzone session
Between 9 and 11am Paris time, roughly the same thing happens every day — and almost never in the order a beginner expects. Here is what that window looks like from the inside: the preparation, the trap in the first thirty minutes, and the days when the right call is to do nothing.
Passing a prop firm challenge: what actually decides it
Most candidates fail, and almost never because they read charts badly. They fail on rules they had not read, on position sizing computed backwards, and on rushing. Here is how to approach an evaluation so that your method decides the outcome, not the rulebook.
Trading tax in France: flat tax, reclassification and prop firms
Trading for your own account is perfectly legal in France. Tax is another matter, and it turns on a distinction many discover too late: between a private individual managing savings and someone carrying on an activity. Here is the framework, the criteria, and why your own case will not be settled by an article.
Is trading legal and taxed in Switzerland?
Trading for your own account is perfectly legal in Switzerland. Tax, however, depends on a distinction many discover too late: managing your private wealth versus professional securities dealing. Here is the framework, with the official criteria — and why your specific case cannot be settled in an article.
Learning to trade: the options, honestly compared
Self-taught, online courses, in person, mentoring: five possible routes, none universally best. I run a trading school, so I have a stake in this comparison — all the more reason to say what each option does well, and who it is wrong for.
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