In this interview, Vladislav discusses his trading journey, how he became a trader, his trading style, how he found OneUp trader, the features of OneUp, how OneUp is better than all other prop trading companies, and more. You can listen to him speak through this link.
How he became a trader
When asked how he became a trader, Vladislav said he had always been interested in the topic of investing since his school days, but everything started from forex trading. First, he moved to the Russian Futures Market but felt there was a lack of volatility there. So, then he moved everything to the American Futures Market.
Regarding how he describes himself as a trader, he said, he would consider himself a conservative trader. He always takes into account the possibility of a market move and in general, this is all he thinks he can say about himself as a trader.
His trading style
To this question, Vladislav says, his trading style is definitely not a technical analysis, but it is more like trading based on experience with certain indicators. Besides, he says he also passed training courses provided by ProfitUnity Trading Group, and now, he can trade specifically based on their indicators. And as for his trading style, he concludes that it is conservative.
How he found out about OneUp Trader
He came to OneUp Trader because of his interest. Firstly, he was interested in traders’ tournaments as it is referred to in Russia. His first experience of engaging in a trader’s tournament was when he joined the ProfitUnity traders company. He first participated with the company and understood how it worked in the Russian market. At the moment, he trades on the American market. He dislikes the Russian market due to its low earning yield.
As a result of this, he started to research the internet for prop trading companies and found two companies at the top – Topstep Traders and OneUp Traders. In the end, he decided to choose OneUp Trader and he is happy with his choice.
Why chose OneUp and not Topstep?
When asked why he chose OneUp and not TopStep, he said that with OneUp, first of all, you pay a less monthly service fee for the possibility to trade compared to the higher amount you pay at Topstep.
Again, he says, OneUp’s terms, as far as he can remember, are more pleasant than those of TopStep traders. He further mentioned that Topstep’s evaluation occurs in two steps and that he didn’t like the second step at all. He dislikes the second step because Topstep hides the information about that on their official website. “They adjust it themselves after the trader passes through the first evaluation step”, he says. In order words, Topstep has less transparent rules.
Comparing Topstep rules to that of OneUp, he says, OneUp has everything unified and all the information is presented on OneUp’s official website. He concluded that because OneUp has presented all the information on their website in a more transparent manner, he decided to join OneUp Trader. And according to him, since OneUp’s service fee is cheaper, he decided he will try the OneUp’s platform.
The second step in Topstep that he didn’t like
The second step he dislikes at Topstep is the control of risks which he thinks is quite severe. In this level, he says, Topstep fixes a maximum drawdown for the trader’s account. They usually make the maximum drawdown much lower than what is indicated in the program itself or on the funded account that the trader is applying for.
Explaining further, he says, in order words, if the trader’s maximum drawdown is 1500 for 50,000 dollars account, to pass the evaluation for 50,000 dollars account, Topstep would shorten the value of the maximum drawdown. However, he says that it depends on the trading style of the trader, as of course, everything on the site is chosen individually. That’s why he thinks Topstep doesn’t publish such information. But, he says, according to internet users, the fact that they shorten the drawdown to 400 dollars or 300 dollars means there’s no space to move.
How the process from evaluation to funded account went for him
Vladislav says that the transition at OneUp Trader from the evaluation account to the funded account didn’t make him wait too long. He passed through the evaluation process quite quickly. He opened the evaluation account with a 50/50 profit split which he didn’t manage to pass within one week. When he failed the first evaluation, he immediately registered for a new evaluation account with an 80/20 profit split. After he paid this second time, he was successful. So, he passed through the evaluation stage and moved over to a funded account. For him, the process from evaluation to funded account was generally easy enough, but he says it was also the market that gave him such possibility. He explains this was possible because he entered the market at the right time. Overall, everything is very reasonable concerning the conditions offered by OneUp, and passing further is quite real based on such selection criteria.
How he is planning to get funded again with OneUp
When asked if he plans to get more funding with OneUp, he said, “of course, I will try more with OneUp”. For him, the matter was that as at the time he was trading, no one had micro contracts and micro indices. As long as he particularly trades oil and indices, he will test himself on OneUp’s minimal deposit which he says is $25,000 micro contract trading.
OneUp features he likes
Regarding the OneUp Trader features that he likes, he says that the best thing for him was the funded account that he was eventually provided with. He further says, anyway, it is a certain experience, an essential trading experience for which he was also grateful and he added that the economic calendar is also a good thing. With that experience, he started to work more closely with the economic calendar in the process of trading.
How useful were OneUp Trader’s features for him for Risk Management?
To this question he says, generally, he is against any restrictions in trading, but when asked how he thinks these rules exactly influence trading, he believes big news appearing on the economic calendar is a useful rule.
About what he learned from the rules of OneUp’s evaluation account, he says, generally, he thinks the only benefit of these rules are restrictions. Concerning other benefits, he says, it is quite a conservative rule that 3 profit days must be equal to 80% of the best day of net profit. The matter is that it is a conservative rule; whereas it is, in fact, a good enough ratio.
So, for other rules, in general, he thinks they are the same as that of Topstep and are typical for all prop companies. These rules are the list of contracts and the similar numbers of instruments represented for futures trading. And according to him, there is also an addition to a position depending on your capital and other things.
He added that it is a quite helpful rule and he missed it – that restriction put by OneUp concerning adding to a position in order to prevent the entry of a considerable number of contracts because such a manner of trading is not desirable or acceptable if you don’t want to lose the entire deposit. Furthermore, he says, ” these rules will be a good way to teach beginners how to distribute better, when and with what contract quantity to enter the market, and at which moment of the trader’s capital growth. So, generally, that’s all.
Vladislav as a trader before and after OneUp and how it helped him to grow as a trader
To this question, he says, he assesses himself as a trader. Generally, he assesses traders by 5 levels. And after passing the evaluation and moving over to a funded account, obviously raised his self-esteem a bit like when passing to a new level as a trader, he says. He concluded that OneUp helped him in this, but that at the moment of the transition from the evaluation account to the funded account, it didn’t happen.
What he meant was that he didn’t have any kind of substantial change at that point, except for the self-esteem and self-confidence, of course. He further said OneUp helped to position him on the fourth level of his trade hierarchy when he started trading with OneUp. This happened after he passed the evaluation and got the funded account. He traded with only one contract because of the high risks which he thinks correlates with his trading strategy.
He understood what drawdowns are and worked to see how he could fit into the maximum drawdowns put by OneUp on the deposit. Finally, it worked for him on the $50,000 account.
He mentioned that it was reasonable to trade with just one contract, although, this scale is established by OneUp’s rules that allow traders to trade with several contracts with the levels of this particular deposit growth. But then, he explains that it is better to rely on your own risks and to choose a correspondent strategy and not to focus on this particular rule. However, Vladislav said the rule helped him to pass to the third level to become a professional trader. After that kind of practice, he was able to look at the market to add to the position or distribute the assets when he plays for quite a long position. So, concerning this, he says, OneUp really helped him.
His own definition of the 5 levels of traders
To this question, he illustrates the first level as the standard level, which means a novice trader or newcomer. His main goal is not to lose money at the market and to enter into those statistics of 10% out of 100 % and of course to trade with one contract, one lot. For OneUp Trader, he says, “it is a natural rule. We have futures contracts, we have no lots. So, we enter only into one contract”.
According to him, the next level of traders is the beginner. Here, the trader equally trades with one contract, but the basics are learned, such as what a futures contract means and so on. On this level, the trader must be familiar with the charts and would trade with one contract while making profits step by step.
The third level is the professional trader who can trade with a number of contracts, to foster himself with some fundamental news. According to him, what it means is to work with many contracts. So, naturally, it means to make a profit step by step.
The fourth level of traders is that of an experienced trader with his properly established system. He can enter with one contract or a number of them, but anyway, a trader comes to this step from the third level. And on the fourth level, he starts to take into account his own point of view about the market which he trades at. He knows where it is comfortable for him to trade, which market, and which instruments to trade exactly. He can take into account his own opinion, regardless of some signals from his strategy.
As for the fifth level, he says, it means a magister. It means being able to feel a particular instrument even when the trader’s activity looks esoteric. At this level, he says, you feel the instrument you trade with. If the market wants to go up or down, you feel it.
In summary, these 5 levels of traders, therefore, include the novice, the beginner, the advanced beginner, the professional trader, and the fifth which is the magister or master. At the moment, he says, he is on the fourth level.
The registration process and connecting
To this, he affirmed that the process of receiving the password was simple enough. As soon as he signed up, he investigated his personal cabinet and looked more precisely at how it worked. He learned more about it with the help of the OneUp support team and quite promptly after he made his payment.
He paid through PayPal and got the details on the same day he made the payment or the next day. These included the password and installation instructions for the platform offered and for the one he had chosen. But he learned the entire preliminary requirement beforehand.
So, he just kept the instruction nearby to connect everything quickly. And he says, it was not difficult at all because even inside the OneUp’s FAQs tab, everything is described in detail, how to connect, and so on.
His experience with the OneUp Team
To this question, Vladislav says, “OneUp’s support team is good but not perfect. They provided answers to all his questions. It usually took 24 hours. So, I can tell that the support team is good, he says. Moreover, they speak Russian.
What OneUp Trader helped him with
Concerning trading, he says, no offence to OneUp, but OneUp hasn’t helped him with anything at the moment, besides providing him with the opportunity and experience. And in general, he determines what tools he wants to use for trading. OneUp only helped him to specify or ascertain his opinion and what he would like to trade with those futures contracts. That is it!
Instruments he trades and what account he would be interested in with OneUp?
He was trading on minis when he had the funded account with OneUp because he was trading with the $50,000 account that fits trading indices with mini contracts. And for the oil, he says, it fits as well at the moment. But, he would prefer to use the $100,000 account to trade mini contracts on the oil or on standards like the British Currency Fund for those who are interested in Currency Futures contracts.
He mentioned that personally, he had passed to micros because he needed a lower deposit, and as you know in Russia, they don’t have such monthly big salaries. Therefore, to save like $3,000 to trade normally with the minis is quite difficult. As far as the risk heightens, the deposit needs to increase its limits.
So, he is now not speaking about using the $50,000 account to manage the risk. But he says, it is an individual matter and that what he described is just his own vision according to his strategy. It is how he feels comfortable trading. Of course, he says, anyone that chooses can use the $25,000 account to trade minis.
However, as a trader, you must understand the time frame you are trading in, but you should also understand that after 5 to 10 loss-making transactions, you’ll reach the drawdown. And if this happens, you will not manage to trade further which is not acceptable from his point of view. And he says, that is why it is best to choose a OneUp evaluation account according to your trading strategy.
His advice for traders starting on OneUp Trader
To this, he says, in general, he would advise beginners to choose an evaluation account, not accessing it from the point of profit or risks. They should just concentrate on how they feel comfortable trading through the chosen account. It is impossible to think about whether you will fit that maximum drawdown or whether you will fit in the drawdown of intraday trading. All you just need is to choose a comfortable evaluation account where there will be no doubts that you will fit that estimation, that drawdown.
So, he advises traders to choose trading account solely based on the points of their own comfort, not on how much profit you could make and so on. He says that is what he would like to advise the beginners and for sure, he would like to advise them to trade with one contract, no need of many.
Did you meet any trader from OneUp?
Yes, he says. He mentioned that he saw that OneUp Trader has its own social platform where traders publish their own opinions, forecasts, and generally their opinions on OneUp and about the evaluation account as well. But he says, he didn’t get acquainted with anyone because he fully plunged into the trading, and generally, he is a person who doesn’t communicate a lot. He is a tongue-tied person.
A trader he admires
To this he says, it is his teacher who is an American that he admires. Bill Williams who wrote a number of books like, “Trading Chaos”, the “Trading Chaos 2” and the “ New Trading Dimensions”. He says, he was taught by his daughter, and he thanks them a lot for their contribution and for showing him the trading path. It was a long path that took him 3 years to move from forex to a real market (Per Aspera ad Astrum).
Will he recommend OneUp Trader to others and why it is the best?
He says, yes, he would recommend OneUp Trader to his friends because OneUp gives traders the possibility after paying for the evaluation account. He says for just $100, you get the opportunity to be funded with a minimal account of $25,000 under your management. And to make money out of this money, let’s say, $100 per day or per 2 days or at least per week, will pay off.
He further says that generally, he would highlight and recommend OneUp Trader among all other trading companies because the terms are acceptable. And for him, he likes OneUp Trader also because they offer a wide range of evaluation accounts from $25,000 account to $250,000 account. So, he admonishes traders to come and trade via a deposit that you feel comfortable with or follow your profit goals. “It is up to you”, he says, but there are those who choose an account based on profit goals. He concludes with these words, that’s why he recommends OneUp based on his experience. When he looks at the comment on the web, some of them say that there are prop trading companies that didn’t pay money. OneUp always pays. So, generally, he says, there is no pitfall with OneUp.
Also, Vladislav adds that OneUp provides all information in the section, “How it works” and if you have relevant questions, you can always ask the support team and they will explain everything to you. No pitfalls as you’d obtain with other similar prop trading companies.
What software, computer, or monitors he trades with
To this, he says, yes, he has software from the ProfitUnity Trading Group. All software such as Alligator, Super AO, and Fractals are open to the public and by the way, from 2019 they provided him with the tools and by 2020, they started to provide platforms among their tools. Definitely, it’s a Ninja Trading, as well as Metatrader platform, he says. “Of course, these indicators or software are not original, but you can trade with them and make money”, he added.
Vladislav pointed out that he currently has one monitor, but when he was trading with OneUp, he traded with a laptop. The laptop had an Intel Core i5 processor, although it was of the 7th generation. The main idea is that he used to trade via the laptop which he can take with him to trade everywhere he goes. However, currently, he trades with a PC and one monitor is enough for him, he explains.
How his trades are taken
To this question, he says, those who have read the books, “Trading Chaos” or “Trading Chaos 2” would realize that for trading in general, the important thing is the psychological moment. What’s your attitude towards it? Trading is 90% of psychology and 10% of technical indicators because if you are nervous after a mere market move, you will start selling or buying right off, and it won’t bring anything good except the need to pay huge fees to a broker.
So, his attitude is not about a strategy he says. It is an appeal to be more easy-going about it, to feel comfortable trading. And when you’re easy-going and feel comfortable, you automatically see where and when you should enter and so on without any extra tension. And when you get nervous about whether to enter or not, such a transaction is a no-win from the beginning. Even if it brings a profit, you will have an incorrect emotional start. You will constantly swing from this position to another and doubt whether to fix the profit or leave it. But these swings will lead only to losses. So, his attitude is more psychological than any sort of indicator.
What trading means to him and how he trades now
He says, at the moment and generally, trading is his favourite business. Trading is what he loves to do and each trader as well should understand trading as his or her work of love. If you don’t love it, the performance will not be good at all as with any work. If you don’t like something, you’ll have no desire to do it and the performance will be low. But if you like it, love it, you will perform well. At the moment, he says, he continues trading, but he does it from time to time because when he has money, he puts them to trade in micros. However, now, most parts of his assets are in cryptocurrency. That’s why at the moment, trading for him is more of a hobby than a professional activity.
His profit per year from trading
He says, generally he can say his annual return in percentage is about 100%, but it depends. Sometimes, he makes 80 to 100% return, but not less than 50% annually for sure. On average, it is about 80 per cent or 80 to 90 per cent or something like that. Currently, he trades from time to time and his annual income percentage is only 34%.
What is needed in order to be successful in trading?
He says overall, he would say one more time, “in order to achieve success in any occupation, you need to love it. Don’t turn away from the path. Pursue your goal until the end. As I pursued my goal for three years going through turns of losses and so on, try to find the proper instrument, your market where it will be comfortable for you to trade”. This is essential because he says, he also doesn’t like all tools offered in the futures market in terms of their behaviour. He feels uncomfortable with some of them. Another advice he has for traders is to basically choose an appropriate trading timeframe. “There is no need to put yourself at any limit. Try and experiment because without practice in trading and with only just studying theories, you will stand still or will move too slowly”, he noted.
“So, you should try things out. Make experiments. At least, when you fail an evaluation account, you can make conclusions for yourself that this is not comfortable for you or maybe, it is not the market you needed. If you want to trade further and make profits step by step, I would summarize and say, the main advice is to experiment, to practice, to search for yourself at the appropriate market that you have some sort of connection with. That’s all”. Listen to him speak here.
He recommends traders not to trade in forex
One more piece of advice he has for traders is to forget about forex because for those who don’t understand forex, it is a very manipulative market. There are two separate lines that create two separate markets; the market of the buyers and the market of the sellers which are separate. This is because of the spread. This means that the price doesn’t move where there is an agreement in price or disagreement in the value, but with the help of the spread, it moves to a completely different seller.
So, he says, if you buy, he will raise it more and that is why the forex market is very manipulative. It can beat support levels with the help of the spread, but it wouldn’t beat them on the real market and consequently, it would produce a false signal. So, it is where the forex manipulative character derives from. He says, he thinks forex is not good. His best result in the forex market was 10%, but usually 0% because of the spread. Follow this link to listen to the interview.
He recommends conservative traders to try stocks
He recommends stock trading for conservative investors who prefer to buy and then holds for a long time, plus it has quite low volatility. And he says, but in the moment of the Corona Virus crisis, the volatility has significantly improved, but still, the profit per investment is much lower in the stock market than on the futures market.
The futures market is the best for trading
And on the futures market, you don’t have to know the maturity date when the dividends are paid off. In order words, in the futures market, there is no need for a lot of information because everything is quite simple. The margin deposit on the futures market in the Russian market is called a “security deposit”. However, they are actually the same and on average make up a credit leveraging of 1 to 30 ratios from the extended price of a futures contract. And he says, that’s all the tools you need to buy and sell a particular contract. Furthermore, no commissions are charged on this loan as on the stock market. Also, the market is always volatile and the indicators on profit per investment are much higher on the futures market.
All experienced traders know that with a small capital on the futures market, you can greatly increase your capital even within a year compared to the stock market. It is not like you buy and then keep it for 10 years at least as Warren Buffett used to say. That is why he recommends the futures market to everyone. In conclusion, Vladislav says, “also try to make experiments, look for yourself and your market”.
You can follow this link to listen to him speak during the interview.
