ive been gradually removing indicators from my chart. started with 4 (moving averages, RSI, MACD, volume), now down to just price + 2 reference levels.

the experience: harder to make 'instant' decisions, but my decisions are more deliberate when i make them. trades are less frequent but win rate up significantly.

for naked chart traders: did you make this transition deliberately? whats the longest you went all-in on price-only and what did you learn?

in stocks volume is real, every share trades through an exchange. in forex theres no central exchange so what is my platform even showing me when it plots 'volume'? is it tick volume, is it useless, or is there a sensible way to use it?

im 11 weeks into a drawdown. down 14% from peak, well within my historical range but mentally getting heavy. system is doing what its supposed to (long drawdowns happen with my style), but staring at red weeks consecutively wears on you.

for those who have weathered extended drawdowns: what kept you sticking to your system without overriding or quitting?

setup question. ive been doing analysis on tradingview (premium tier) and executing on mt5 because my brokers are mt5-only. the workflow feels clunky - i mark up TV charts then have to recreate the same levels in mt5 for trade execution.

options im weighing:

1. fully migrate to TV (but execution depends on broker partner availability)
2. fully migrate analysis to mt5 (but mt5 chart tools are noticeably worse)
3. accept the dual-platform clunk and optimize it (currently doing this)

whats your setup and why?

been profitable on prop accounts for about 2 years. accumulated enough personal capital to start trading a meaningful personal account. making the shift from funded prop to trading my own money full-time.

curious from people who've made this transition - what changes psychologically and practically, and what surprised you most about trading your own capital after a prop background?

spent 8 months on a detailed narrative format - writing paragraph-style entries about each trade, the setup, my thinking, emotions. it was useful but slow and i found myself avoiding journaling on busy days because it felt like homework.

just switched to a simple structured template: setup type, entry reason, emotion score 1-5, result, one-line lesson. wanted to share the experience since i've seen people debate formats a lot. and also curious if others have changed formats and whether they regret it.

for years ftmo was the default name people pointed newcomers to. with so many firms launching since, is it still the benchmark for reliability, or are people only naming it out of habit while newer firms offer better splits and conditions? looking for current views from people trading these accounts now, not reputation from years ago.

been trading a 10k account for two years, now moving to 100k with the same strategy. keeping the same broker. curious whether execution quality actually changes at this account size or whether retail is retail regardless of how much you deposit.

also whether brokers treat larger retail accounts differently in any practical sense - priority routing, dedicated support, or anything else that actually matters.

mt5 supports custom timeframes beyond the standard m1 m5 m15 m30 h1 h4 d1 etc. i've seen some traders talk about using things like 2h, 3h, or even tick charts. curious whether custom timeframes actually provide any edge or if it's mostly preference and novelty.

moving from discretionary toward a fully mechanical, rules-only system so my emotions stop wrecking my trading. before i sink months into it, what are the mistakes that kill people building their first system? id rather know the landmines now than rediscover them the expensive way.

ive been logging entry, exit and profit or loss for a while and its basically just a transaction history, it hasnt taught me anything. clearly im missing the parts that actually generate insight. what do you record beyond the raw numbers that turned your journal from a ledger into something that improved your trading?

just got my first funded account after passing a challenge. expected to feel more confident with 'someone else's money' but it's the opposite. every trade feels like i'm about to get kicked out. even good setups feel risky in a way they didn't on the challenge.

trading my own demo or small personal account felt fine. now with $50k funded i'm overthinking everything and missing obvious setups. is this a common phase and how do people get through it?

the textbook says flags and pennants have a measured move target equal to the flagpole. i've been testing this and the target gets hit less often than advertised. wondering if i'm applying the pattern wrong or if the measured move rule is just optimistic.

anyone who actually trades flags/pennants for real - how reliable is the measured move target in your experience?

i've heard two completely opposite takes on correlation trading. one school says understanding correlations helps you avoid overexposure (don't be long eurusd and long gbpusd at the same time since they move together). the other says you can use correlations actively to identify divergences and trade the mean reversion.

which application of correlation is actually useful for retail traders?

everywhere online i see either 'you can make 100% per month' from gurus or 'most traders lose money' from academics. there's no middle ground. what are genuinely realistic performance benchmarks for someone who takes trading seriously, practices properly, and approaches it as a skill to develop over time?

considering allocating a small portion of capital to copy trading while i continue developing my own skills. the platforms make it look straightforward but i've seen some warnings about slippage on copied trades and signal provider incentive problems.

what are the non-obvious risks in copy trading that the platform marketing glosses over?

tried setting up the tradingview screener for forex pairs but it feels like it's generating so many signals across so many pairs that i can't process it. wondering whether screener makes sense for forex specifically or if it's more useful for equities where you're scanning a large universe.

how do people use the screener productively in forex without drowning in false signals?

trade about 250 standard lots per month across mostly majors. pepperstone keeps emailing me about their volume rebate tiers. on paper it looks like i could shave 0.5-0.7 pip off my effective spread once i hit the next tier.

but i hear the tier requirements jump steeply once you actually start hitting them. and theres a 30 day reset which feels like a trap.

anyone actually in the higher rebate tiers there? is the rebate real and stable or does it shift every quarter?

the forum mantra is keep it simple, simple strategies win. but it sometimes feels like cope from people who couldnt master something more sophisticated. is there genuine substance to simple beating complex, or is it a comforting saying? i can see arguments both ways and want the real reasoning, not the slogan.

asked this question in the main prop discussion sub but got very different answers. one person said 3 days is standard and anything beyond is suspicious. another said 10 business days is normal. seems like expectations vary a lot.

what's the actual realistic standard for prop firm payouts in 2026, and at what specific point is a delay a red flag versus just slow admin?