Verified Trader: I Made $936,000 In 25 Days Following Only One Setup!

Finance-Focused Summary (Trading / Prop-Firm Investing Context)

High-Level Claims & Performance

• The guest (Kevin Desi) describes verified trading / proprietary-firm outcomes:
  • Over $900,000 in ~25 days and ~$2M in prop firm payouts (as stated by the host; the guest later clarifies payout timing).
  • A major prop payout period: August → November.
  • Key milestone loss/worst period:
    • Just before a large payout, he reported being “10 days from the sixth payout” with ~$390k–$400k total profits.
    • He then took consecutive losses that erased account profitability.
  • Record payout cited:
    • Host wording: ~$936,000.
    • Guest references being “900 something” and locking it in before pushing further.
  • Payout timing:
    • The guest says the “big payout” occurred in November 2025, after an August drawdown.

Instruments / Tickers Mentioned

• NASDAQ/NQ (Nasdaq futures; repeatedly referenced)
• ENQ (appears repeatedly; likely an auto-substitution for NQ)
• MNQ (Micro E-mini Nasdaq futures)
• ES (E-mini S&P 500 futures; said he rarely trades it)
• Options, including 0DTE / zero DTE (same-day expiration options)
• Prop-firm platforms mentioned (not market instruments):
  • Apex
  • Mentions interpreted as prop-firm contexts: Lucid, Tradeify, T, TBT, and “tops…” (exact names as heard)

Key Numbers / Risk & Returns (Prop-Firm Framing)

Risk-to-Reward / ROI Focus

• The host summarizes the guest’s reported results as roughly:
  • “Almost a 1 to 100 risk-to-reward evaluations to payouts.”
• The guest confirms $10,000 spend during the August → November window.
• Payout cycle vs evaluation cost:
  • Spend: ~$10k–$12k
  • First payout mentioned: $40,000 (presented as covering evaluation cost “mentally”)

Total Spend vs Total Payouts (Lifetime Estimate)

• After the big payout, the guest stopped tracking precisely but estimates:
  • Total payouts: ~$2.1M–$2.2M
  • Total spend: ~$250k–$300k

Daily Consistency / Stopping Rules

• Emphasis on small, consistent gains:
  • $100–$200 “days” compounding meaningfully over a year.
• Psychological lockout / risk control concept:
  • He claims that if a trader locks out daily around ~$250 profit, they should be profitable by year-end (framed as a guarantee).

Trade Sizing & Stop Distance Examples

• Futures sizing adapts to stop size and daily range:
  • NQ daily range cited as approximately 500–700 points.
• Example sizing rule:
  • If risking ~$400 per trade, use ~1 micro (based on stop sizing context).
• Example prop constraint:
  • Apex drawdown figure mentioned: $2,500 drawdown per account.

Options Risk

• For 0DTE, the full-risk per trade is described as typically:
  • ~$30k–$40k, sometimes ~$20k–$25k, and lower in worse conditions.
• He notes a key difference from futures:
  • With zero DTE options, he does not use the same stop-loss concept as futures because sizing is calibrated to expected risk.

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Methodology / Step-by-Step Framework (As Described)

Asset & Setup Constraints

• Trades primarily NQ/ENQ only; ES is rarely traded.
• Uses an ICT-style approach:
  • “Inversion for value gaps” (described as a core method)
  • Top-down process:
    • monthly → weekly → daily → 4H → 1H → intraday execution on 1M/5M (often 1M and 5M; also references 15M)

Bias Alignment Gate

• If the higher-timeframe bias does not align with lower-timeframe confirmation, he does not take the trade that day.

“If-Then” Conditional Checklist

• Uses conditional rules to reduce discretionary drift after staring at charts too long.
• Core concept:
  • Identify a higher-timeframe magnet zone (e.g., fair value gap / order block / rejection block),
  • Then choose direction only after rejection/confirmation occurs.

Magnet-Zone Planning

• Marks higher-timeframe areas (weekly/daily), such as:
  • Fair value gaps
  • Order blocks / rejection blocks
• Waits for price to enter these “hot zones.”

Execution Trigger

• On intraday confirmation (e.g., 4H/1H), he looks for:
  • An inverse fair value gap for the reversal/continuation case, or
  • Sell setups using bearish fair value gaps after a sweep/rejection.

Stop Loss Placement

• Stops are placed at:
  • The low (or reversal invalidation point),
  • Specifically at “the low that we created.”
• He avoids placing stops “under” areas that would cause wicking into the gap.

Take-Profit Structure

• Baseline targets:
  • Typically ~1R to ~1.3R / ~1.5R.
• Partial profit-taking:
  • Often 30%–50% taken off near the first pocket.
• Runner expansion:
  • Letting the trade continue toward external liquidity (session highs/lows, prior week highs/lows, etc.)
  • Potential expansion to ~2R to 3R.

Trend-Day Management

• Recognizes “trend days” early:
  • Stops are managed relative to 5-minute and 15-minute fair value gaps.
• Stop adjustments:
  • Move stop to break-even only after TP1 is hit (not earlier).
  • Then trail using prior liquidity/gap violations.

Daily Risk / Overtrading Control

• Hard rule:
  • After two losses in a row in a day, he shuts it down (no third trade).
• If he wins:
  • He may continue for additional wins, but losses trigger a stop.

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Cautions / Anti-Patterns Emphasized

• Overestimating short-term results
  • Many people chase big outcomes in 1–2 months but underestimate what consistency can produce over a year.
• Avoid “living or dying by one trade”
  • If a person loses and their account “blows,” they’re likely trading impulsively or oversized.
• Avoid negative R trades
  • He strongly dislikes entering trades with negative R; prefers structure/probability rather than forcing participation.
• Third loss / overleveraging tilt
  • Failures are attributed to overleveraging around the 3rd/4th/5th trade when early losses accumulate.

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Macro / Investing Context (Lightly Touched)

• No explicit macro thesis (rates, inflation, GDP, sectors).
• The “investing” angle is mainly:
  • Treat the trading / prop phase as capital generation,
  • Then allocate profits to long-term investing outside active trading.

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Disclosures / Marketing & Finance Disclaimers

• No explicit “not financial advice” disclaimer was noted in the provided subtitles.
• The video includes frequent prop-firm and sponsor promotion (e.g., discount codes, profit splits, payout speeds).
  • Framed as promotional content rather than a market recommendation.

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Presenter / Sources Mentioned

• Kevin Desi (guest; futures/options trader)
• Tyson (host name referenced: “Hey Tyson…”)
• Sponsors / prop-firm platforms discussed:
  • Ola Prime
  • Alpha Capital
  • Alpha Futures
  • “Titans Inner Circle” / “Titans of Tomorrow” branding
• Mentioned traders / psychology analogies:
  • Jade, Kane, Lanto, Cristiano Ronaldo (used as a psychology/comparables reference)