The Sacrifices No One Talks About in Trading: Reuben's Story

Reuben's trading journey went from GameStop to crypto to forex, from a 1-minute support and resistance model that took 20 losses in a row to a set-and-forget swing system trading only two pairs, only 7 times a month, from the weekly chart down. He still has a full-time job. He spent years in his bedroom with no holidays, no social media, and no shortcuts. His advice to anyone starting out is the same: be prepared for the sacrifices and don't trade signals.

Watch the full interview on YouTube

How it started: GameStop, crypto, and a mate on holiday

Reuben did not come from finance. He came from curiosity and GameStop.

During COVID, he watched the short squeeze unfold and threw money in. He made some. Bitcoin was making headlines at the same time. He found himself, like a lot of people at that moment, learning what a candlestick was by drawing it in a notepad. He bought courses on crypto. He tried to understand it.

Then on holiday with a friend, someone mentioned forex. Less volatile than crypto, more structure. Reuben came back from that holiday and decided to give it a serious go. He had just moved from Manchester to Leeds, and he began to grind.

"If it's possible for anyone, and it is possible people have been trading candlestick charts since they existed - then if you put your mind to it, you can do it."

20 losses in a row on the first prop firm account

Reuben's first proper attempt at prop trading used a support and resistance strategy on the one-minute chart on GBP/JPY. He had back-tested the idea and written it up in a document. He took it live.

He took 20 losses in a row.

"That was a signal: we need to go back to the drawing board."

The issue was not just the strategy it was the timeframe. A one-minute entry model requires instant decisions, fast execution, and a mental tolerance for watching price move in and out of setups in seconds. One loss compounds into another. By the time a big win comes say an 11R trade after a 20-trade losing streak the psychological damage done along the way makes it almost impossible to execute cleanly when it matters.

Reuben recognised this and changed direction entirely. He moved up the timeframes.

The strategy evolution: from 1-minute to weekly

After the 20-loss run, Reuben started exploring SMC - Smart Money Concepts. Fair value gaps, order blocks, liquidity, points of interest. He was still uncomfortable on the lower timeframes, so he kept moving up. One minute became 30 minutes. 30 minutes became the 1-hour. The 1-hour led him naturally toward swing trading without him even realising that was where he was heading.

"I was like, this is intraday. No, it's not. It's intra-week. It's swing trading."

He also stopped trading counter-trend entirely. For years he had taken counter-trend trades, made money on some of them, and kept taking unnecessary losses on others. Eventually the back-testing data made the decision for him: the gray area was not worth it. Follow the trend until a weekly signal tells you the trend is changing. Not before.

Now the full system looks like this:

Weekly analysis on Sunday. Reuben identifies the current trend using weekly fair value gaps, buy-side and sell-side liquidity, and overall structure. He will stay bullish until a weekly fair value gap is broken, sell-side liquidity is taken, or a large engulfing candle signals a reversal. Until one of those things happens, he does not look for sells.

Limit orders placed Monday morning. Based on the weekly bias, he marks higher time frame levels daily or weekly where price is likely to react. He places limit orders at those levels with a specified stop loss and take profit, set to close by Friday.

Daily confirmation. If he needs an active entry rather than a limit, he waits for a daily confirmation an engulfing candle in his bias direction and enters on a 1-hour price lag with a fib entry.

Set and forget. Once the orders are placed, Reuben leaves them. He is not watching screens during the day. He has a full-time job. He does not want to be mixing work and trading, and he does not want to replace a desk job with another desk job.

"Things will just happen. Just got to trust the universe."

Two pairs. Seven trades. That's it.

Reuben trades EUR/USD and GBP/USD. Only those two. He has been asked about adding more pairs. His answer is always the same.

"The back-testing data over four years shows me what's working on these two pairs. I don't need more. Adding something else would just distract my analysis from what I know is working."

He takes roughly seven trades per month. Stop losses range from 30 to 100 pips depending on the higher time frame structure. Risk per trade on evaluation accounts is 1 to 1.5%. His back-tested win rate sits around 50%.

"That's all you need. If the back-testing data is profitable and you execute consistently, you should be profitable. You just have to wait."

He is not trying to catch every move in every market. He is not looking for exotic setups. He found two instruments that his back-tested system works on, and he trades those two instruments. That is the whole thing.

The insight nobody talks about: buy your evaluation after a losing streak

One of the most practical insights Reuben shares is counterintuitive.

He noticed that he tends to go through win streaks and losing streaks in predictable cycles. The natural instinct after a win streak is to buy a new evaluation and ride the momentum. But that is exactly when the losing streak is most likely to start and now the new evaluation is three or four percent down before it has a chance to recover.

His conclusion: buy your evaluation during or after a losing streak, not when confidence is at its peak.

"Think of it like an investment. You don't buy high, you buy low. Start an evaluation when you've just gone through a losing streak. That's when the tables are going to turn."

He admits he has not fully put this into practice yet. But the logic is sound, and it is the kind of insight that only comes from years of watching your own patterns.

Alpha Capital Swing: the only account that lets him trade the way he trades

Reuben's first evaluations were with firms that no longer exist. He came to Alpha Capital when it was growing fast and conditions for finding a legitimate, properly run firm were getting harder.

His criteria were specific. He needed an account that allowed him to hold limit orders through news events, trade over weekends, and let the market take its natural course without interference from daily loss caps on individual news events. For a swing trader with positions that can run for days, those rules matter.

"I find it difficult to find a firm now that has the conditions and enabled rules to trade the way I trade. The Alpha Capital Swing account is the only one apart from FTMO that gives me what I actually need."

He has been in an evaluation for six months before passing it. He has no interest in rushing. One loss on a 1% risk trade when you only take seven trades a month barely moves the needle. He just waits.

The sacrifices

Reuben's one piece of advice for anyone starting out:

Be prepared for the sacrifices.

He spent a long time living in his bedroom. Weekends were working days. There were no holidays. No social media, he stays off it deliberately to keep the noise out of his analysis. He built his strategy through years of back-testing, loss, refinement, and patience.

"Trading is not a walk in, make money space. You are going to have to devote a lot of time to it. And when you get an idea you think is going to work, give it six months. Don't chop and change."

He also has a final note for anyone tempted by shortcuts:

"Don't trade signals. Never done it, never will."

The other side of those sacrifices, when they pay off, is freedom. Reuben is building toward leaving his day job. He already spends 30 minutes on charts in the morning, sets his orders, and gets on with his life. That is what all those years in the bedroom were pointing toward.

FAQs

What is Reuben's prop firm trading strategy?

Reuben uses a set-and-forget swing trading system on EUR/USD and GBP/USD. He does his analysis on Sunday, identifies weekly bias using fair value gaps and liquidity levels, places limit orders on Monday morning, and leaves them to run until Friday. He uses daily confirmation candles and 1-hour fib entries when active entries are required. He takes around 7 trades per month with a back-tested win rate of approximately 50%.

How long did it take Reuben to become a profitable trader?

Reuben has been in the financial markets since early 2021 and has been in forex specifically for around two years at the time of this interview. He went through multiple strategy iterations from 1-minute support and resistance to SMC to swing trading before finding a system that worked consistently.

Why does Reuben only trade two currency pairs?

Reuben's back-tested data shows his strategy works on EUR/USD and GBP/USD. He does not want to add more pairs because it would introduce analysis he hasn't validated and could create confusion between setups. His view: if the back-testing data is telling you something works, stay with that.

What is the Alpha Capital Swing account?

The Alpha Capital Swing account is designed for swing traders who need to hold positions through news events, trade over weekends, and operate without the standard news-time restrictions found on most prop firm evaluations. For traders like Reuben who use higher time frame limit orders, the standard account rules would regularly interfere with trades.

What are the biggest sacrifices in trading that nobody talks about?

Reuben's answer: years of working weekends, no holidays during development, staying off social media entirely, and living with the reality that your equity curve will have losing months sometimes multiple in a row before the overall trend is upward. Most people see the end result and miss the years that built it.

Should you trade signals from prop firm traders?

Reuben's view: no. His final piece of advice in the interview was unambiguous never trade signals, never will. His reasoning throughout the conversation makes it clear why: you need to understand and trust your own edge to execute properly, especially through losing streaks. Trading someone else's signals means you cannot make that case to yourself.

Ready to prove your edge? Start your Alpha Capital evaluation.

Reuben's system is not glamorous. Seven trades a month, two pairs, 30 minutes of chart time a day, and years of work done in private before any of it was visible. Alpha Capital's evaluation structure is designed to reward exactly that consistency, risk management, and a strategy that holds up over time.

Start your Alpha Capital evaluation today

Alpha Capital Group is a proprietary trading firm based in the United Kingdom. All accounts operate in a simulated trading environment with simulated funds unless a specific product states otherwise. Performance fees are based on eligible simulated trading results and outcomes are not guaranteed. Reuben's story describes his individual experience on simulated programmes and is not a forecast or guarantee for future traders. Always confirm live rules, pricing, eligibility, and evaluation requirements on alphacapitalgroup.uk and help.alphacapitalgroup.uk before purchasing an evaluation.