TL;DR: Leonardo is 21, from Germany, and has traded for about 18 months. After signal groups and EAs failed, he built a swing process on EUR/USD and GBP/USD using DXY bias, ICT weekly expansion, and order blocks / fair value gaps. He reports ~100K with Alpha Capital, 11 performance fees (~$5K) over roughly five months, and ~150K total across firms, while still working a 9-to-5. His evaluation rule: 1% risk, one A+ trade per week.

Watch the full interview on YouTube

Trader Stats

Leonardo sat down with Pep for an Alpha Capital Group trader interview, signal-group losses, denied performance fees at other firms, debt, then a patient 25K evaluation pass and 11 performance fees with ACG. We asked him about swing trading with a full-time job, his ICT-style process, and why he trusts Alpha Capital's rules and payout rhythm. If you are new to evaluations (what many traders call prop firm challenges), start with how prop firms work before you buy.

How it started: loss, dropshipping, and signal groups

Three years ago Leonardo's mother died. He was on his own overnight with no plan. YouTube showed traders making money online without a boss. He tried dropshipping first, some sales, but PayPal held funds and the stress was not worth it.

A friend showed him $400 profit on gold on his phone. That stuck.

"I went home, watched YouTube, and the beginning was very stressful. I didn't have confidence to trade on my own."

For eight months he followed signal groups and EAs, losing every account. He started on small 5K evaluations, which limited the financial damage but not the bad habits.

In January 2024 he stopped copying and traded his own analysis.

Rock bottom, the 25K pass, and the first ACG performance fee

Five or six months later he passed his first evaluation, then had his first performance fee denied at a firm that no longer exists.

"I blew every account. I lost all my money in prop challenges. I worked three jobs, was in about €3K debt, and couldn't pay my phone bill."

With $100–200 left, he bought a 25K Alpha Capital evaluation and gave himself one rule: A+ setups only, one to two months, 1% risk, one trade per week.

He passed in two months. Two weeks after qualifying he requested his first performance fee with Alpha Capital, still sceptical after the earlier denial.

"I thought they wouldn't pay me. Two days later at my 9-to-5 I got the email. The money was actually in my bank account."

Over the next two and a half months he reports ~22% profit on that account without aggressive overtrading. February turned slow; he lost the account and evaluations bought with prior fees. April was a comeback; May brought more performance fees but ~$3K denied elsewhere.

"Don't purchase challenges from influencer firms. They look for every reason not to pay you out."

Swing trading around a full-time job

Leonardo still works a 9-to-5 and checks charts about one hour per day.

"Swing trading is the best thing you can do when you have a full-time job. Take one to two setups a week, then chill and enjoy your life."

Weekend prep is non-negotiable: economic calendar, monthly → weekly → daily → H4, frame bias for the next weekly candle, and respect bank holidays and NFP weeks (skip messy Mondays; frame midweek when needed).

He will not go full-time until he earns $10K/month minimum, partly tax timing, partly greed control.

"If you rush full-time and lose every account, you can still owe taxes on profits you already lost on new evaluations."

The strategy: DXY, weekly AMD, fractal entries

Leonardo spends ~90% of his analysis on DXY, "the key of every major asset."

He looks for ICT weekly expansion (AMD): e.g. Monday weekly opens bullish, he may look for conditions that develop into a bearish weekly candle. That read flows to weekly high/low → daily → H4 order block or fair value gap, aligned with the economic calendar, then entries on H1, M30, or M15 depending on the size of the move.

He marks the New York midnight open, bearish bias watches manipulation above it; bullish looks below.

He moved away from 1-minute guru content after FX Replay on the 4-hour showed an ~80% win rate in replay that did not survive live scalping. He traded gold heavily when it was bullish; now he focuses EUR/USD and GBP/USD.

Risk: 1–1.5% on swings, 1% on scale-ins. On evaluations he used 1% once per week. He reinvests performance fees into small accounts, rotates one trade per book, and expects to pass ~50% of evaluations he buys, probabilities, not perfection.

The GBP/USD trade that passed phase one

In the interview Leonardo walks through a GBP/USD short: cable bullish for days, DXY melting down, bias 50/50 until he was happy with the high of the week.

Entry at an H1 order block with a 2R target. Scale-in at an H1 fair value gap after reaction. At 0% profit on the evaluation he risked 3% on the first leg and 2% on the add, roughly 10% account profit with about 1% drawdown on the trade. It passed phase one that week.

His stop is invalidation only. He does not move to break-even on news if structure still holds.

Mindset, Discord, and why Alpha Capital

Leonardo's biggest win is not one payout, it is reflection.

"You need to master your personal life before you master trading, because trading doesn't help you when you can't help yourself."

He journals personal thoughts, not just stop-loss screenshots. His recurring leak: seeing $2K floating profit on a funded account and mentally spending $6K on a holiday before the trade closes.

With Alpha Capital he reports performance fees in ~48 hours, clear rules, tolerance for scale-ins and ~3% risk on funded accounts, and no full account breach when a single request is denied, behaviour he describes differently at other firms.

Support: "10 of 10." Discord helped early for rules and payout proof; now he mostly checks announcements and warns against comparison culture and sharing setups in chat.

12-month goal: $1M in combined funding. "Payouts are not really my goal. When you achieve $1 million in funding, the payouts also follow."

FAQs

What strategy does Leonardo use?

Swing trading on EUR/USD and GBP/USD with DXY bias, ICT weekly AMD, H4 order blocks / FVGs, and H1–M15 entries. Weekend prep, one to two trades per week.

How did Leonardo pass his Alpha Capital evaluation?

After debt and blown accounts, he bought a 25K evaluation with his last $100–200, traded 1% risk and one A+ setup per week, and passed in two months.

Can you swing trade while working full time?

Leonardo works a 9-to-5, preps on weekends, and spends about one hour per day on charts. He targets one to two setups per week, not ten scalps per day.

How many performance fees has Leonardo taken with ACG?

Self-reported: 11 requests, ~$5K total, over roughly five months. Individual results vary; nothing guaranteed.

Why does Leonardo recommend Alpha Capital?

Fast performance fees, published rules, scale-ins allowed, and denied requests that do not automatically breach the whole account, plus support he rates 10/10.

Ready to start your Alpha Capital evaluation?

Leonardo's story is not a shortcut. It is slow passes, small consistent fees, and discipline that outlasts any signal group. The evaluation structure gave him a framework to prove the process after years of expensive noise.

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. Leonardo'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.