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This interview features Karim Yousfi, founder of London-based Audacity Capital, on how his prop firm backs real traders with live capital from day one and a traditional, risk-first approach. Karim explains why they skip demo “challenges,” run an interview-and-strategy review instead, and fund profitable, under-capitalized traders who can manage risk, adapt, and stay disciplined. You’ll also hear how the firm grew from an in-office trading floor into a remote, global network while keeping institutional-grade execution and oversight.
In this piece, you’ll learn the exact rules and structure Karim uses to protect capital and scale performers: start at $15K live, double the account every time you hit +10%, same-day profit splits, and tight guardrails like no high-impact news trades and no weekend holds without approval. We’ll unpack what Audacity looks for in a trader (clear edge, strict risk, emotional control), why MT4 with deep-liquidity routing matters for fills and costs, and how character and expectations separate winners from gamblers. If you’re a consistent trader who’s short on capital—and you want a straightforward path to larger size—Karim’s playbook shows what to prepare, how to present your strategy, and the day-to-day habits that keep you funded and growing.
Karim Yousfi Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
What Karim looks for before allocating your living capital
Karim Yousfi funds traders the old-school way: an interview, a risk review, and then real money—starting live, not demo. He and the risk team probe your edge, risk parameters, track record, and expectations before making an allocation decision. If approved, you typically start at $15K and can grow from there.
- Be ready to explain your strategy, instruments, timeframes, and risk settings in plain English.
- Bring a verifiable track record and be transparent about any past margin calls or blow-ups.
- Expect a phone/Zoom interview followed by a 24-hour thumbs-up or down from the talent/risk team.
- If you align with the firm’s risk profile, you start live at ~$15K with a clear path to scale.
Core risk guardrails you must respect.
Capital preservation comes first. Karim cares less about how often you’re right and more about how small you are when you’re wrong and how consistent you are when you’re right. These are the non-negotiables that keep you in the seat.
- Do not trade high-impact news; stand aside around releases (e.g., rate decisions, NFP). A 30-minute buffer after the news is enforced.
- Keep losses contained: treat ~5% max daily loss and ~10% absolute drawdown as hard stops on funded profiles.
- Respect position limits and exposure caps; never exceed the lot size allowed for your tier.
- No “gambling” behavior: no oversized revenge trades, no rule-bending to chase a move.
Scaling & lot-size progression
You grow by proving consistency under risk. Karim’s model doubles in size at performance milestones and increases permissible lot size stepwise, so your sizing scales in tandem with your edge.
- Start live at $15K; scale to $30K → $60K → $120K as you hit targets and maintain controlled drawdown.
- Expect lot caps to expand with each tier (e.g., ~0.5 lots at $15K; ~1.0 at $30K; ~2.0 at $60K; ~4.0 at $120K).
- Treat +10% profit as a common scaling trigger to double the account on funded profiles.
Trade selection & timing (no guessing around news)
The firm’s default is: if the catalyst can gap you, don’t touch it. Weekend risk is managed by explicit approval, not hope. Your job is to pick clean, liquid setups away from binary events.
- Skip trading during major releases; wait ~30 minutes after the print before considering entries.
- Close Friday positions by default; weekend holds require a written request and explicit risk-team approval.
- Favor instruments and sessions where spreads and slippage are predictable; avoid thin crosses around catalysts.
Psychology & professional conduct
Karim selects for character as much as charts. He wants traders who adapt, learn daily, accept losses fast, and stay realistic about outcomes. Show discipline and measured expectations—every day.
- Accept you’ll be wrong and cut losses mechanically; treat “being wrong” as routine business cost.
- Adapt and iterate: review trades daily and refine entries/exits without changing your core edge.
- Keep expectations grounded; ignore “get-rich-quick” narratives and focus on a steady process.
Daily execution checklist
Run a tight, repeatable routine. Karim’s team looks for consistent behavior across lot sizes, trade duration, and active days—patterns that signal professionalism over luck.
- Pre-market: mark key levels, planned instruments, catalyst times; decide “trade or pass” around news windows.
- During session: keep lot size consistent for comparable setups; avoid impulsive size jumps.
- Risk log: track daily loss, open risk, and exposure vs. tier caps before placing any new order.
- End of week: if you must hold, email risk by Friday with pair, rationale, and protective plan; otherwise, flatten.
Platform & operations (how you’ll actually trade)
Expect institutional routing on familiar retail platforms, regular payouts, and a London-based operation that’s been around for years. Keep your process professional to earn size increases and faster withdrawals.
- Trade on MT4/MT5 with institutional liquidity; focus on liquid FX majors and top indices/metals.
- Plan for bi-weekly payouts when in good standing; don’t let withdrawal timing dictate trade selection.
- Operate like a desk pro: document entries, exits, rationale, and risk so scaling reviews are effortless.
How Karim decides to size you up (beyond the numbers)
Performance matters, but behavior is what unlocks bigger tickets. Karim’s team increases allocations when your drawdown is small, decision-making is disciplined, and you respect limits without babysitting.
- Keep drawdown shallow relative to gains; low pain for high output gets you bumped faster.
- Show you can cut losers and close winners with intent, not emotion.
- Never force trades to hit targets before a review—consistency and rule-following are the real green lights.
The “no-nonsense” operating rules Karim expects you to internalize
This is the behavior that keeps traders funded for years. Embed these into your day-to-day so risk never needs to chase you.
- News discipline: don’t touch high-impact releases; wait it out, then reassess.
- Weekend discipline: flat by Friday unless the risk approves the hold.
- Risk discipline: obey lot caps and daily/absolute loss limits without exception.
- Process discipline: consistent lot sizes and trade timing across the week; minimum active days to show continuity.
Size Risk First: Cap Daily Loss, Earn Right to Scale
Karim Yousfi is blunt about priority number one: protect capital so you can keep showing up tomorrow. He wants traders to predefine a daily loss cap and stop trading the moment it’s hit—no exceptions, no “one more” trades. That line in the sand keeps you from compounding mistakes and preserves the psychological edge that consistency requires. In Karim’s world, you earn the right to add size only after you’ve proven you can survive the slow days without breaking rules.
The simplest path is mechanical: fixed fractional risk per trade, a hard daily loss limit, and an absolute drawdown that triggers a cool-off. Karim Yousfi emphasizes that scaling is a reward for boring discipline—steady execution, small losers, and clean records—not a shortcut to bigger P&L. Keep lot size constant until your metrics validate an increase, then step up in planned increments rather than jumping three tiers overnight. When the focus is on capping risk and sticking to process, growth becomes a byproduct, not a gamble.
Trade the Setup, Not the Forecast: Mechanics Beat Predictions
Karim Yousfi pushes traders to stop guessing direction and start executing repeatable behaviors. He treats every trade as a checklist: context, trigger, entry, stop, and scale plan—done the same way regardless of opinions. By anchoring to a defined setup instead of a narrative, you cut noise, shorten decision time, and reduce the emotional swings that wreck consistency.
According to Karim Yousfi, prediction invites bias while mechanics enforce discipline. Your advantage is the rule you can run a hundred times, not the one “hunch” that happens to land. Track how faithfully you follow your entry and exit rules, not just P&L, and grade each trade on process quality. If the setup isn’t present, skip it without debate; if it is, execute exactly as written and let the odds play out.
Diversify Smart: Instruments, Session Windows, and Holding Duration
Karim Yousfi teaches diversification that actually reduces risk, not the kind that just adds noise. Start by spreading exposure across uncorrelated instruments—think a major FX pair, a top index, and a metal—so one theme doesn’t sink your day. Match setups to session windows where liquidity is best for that instrument; London and New York overlap is not the same as late Asia. If spreads widen or a session goes thin, stand down rather than forcing continuity.
Diversify by time as well: mix intraday plays with occasional higher-timeframe holds, each with distinct risk, targets, and monitoring rules. Karim Yousfi stresses capping total correlated exposure, so you’re not effectively tripling the same bet across related pairs. Keep a simple “heat map” of exposure by instrument, sector/theme, and holding duration to avoid stealth concentration. When you diversify with intent—instrument, session, and time—you smooth the equity curve without diluting your edge.
Let Volatility Dictate Lot Size, Targets, and Stop Distance
Karim Yousfi wants traders to treat volatility as the steering wheel, not an afterthought. When ranges expand, you cut size; when ranges contract, you can step up—position sizing should move inversely with ATR or recent true range. Stops must live outside routine noise, so your distance expands in high-volume markets and tightens in quiet markets. Targets flex too: aim for realistic multiples of that same volatility measure instead of fixed-pip wishful thinking.
Karim Yousfi also emphasizes keeping risk per trade constant in cash terms even as stop distance changes, so a wider stop automatically means smaller lots. Recalculate your stop and target each session from fresh volatility, not last week’s numbers, and avoid entries when intrabar spikes signal unstable conditions. If volatility regime shifts mid-trade, manage it: trail behind structure in calm periods, scale partials faster when momentum is wild. Above all, let the tape’s actual movement set the boundaries—your size, your stops, and your exits should always match the market you’re trading today.
Weekend and News Discipline: Flatten Risk When Gaps Can Hurt
Karim Yousfi treats gap risk like a tax you don’t have to pay—if you plan. He insists traders mark every high-impact event on a daily calendar and pre-decide: trade, reduce, or stand down. In major releases, he prefers flat or micro-sized exposure with wide stops strictly avoided; the goal is to eliminate the “one print ruins the week” scenario. If you must re-engage, wait until spreads normalize and the first impulse leg clears before taking a structured setup.
For weekends, Karim Yousfi’s baseline is simple: be flat by Friday close unless a hold is explicitly justified and protected. That means documenting the thesis, defining worst-case gap size, and adjusting position size so a surprise open doesn’t exceed your absolute drawdown rules. If the risk can’t be contained—don’t hold; roll the idea to Monday with a fresh read. Discipline around calendars and closures isn’t conservative for its own sake; it’s how you keep the account alive long enough to compound.
In the end, Karim Yousfi’s message is refreshingly simple: treat risk like inventory, process like a checklist, and capital like a privilege you earn each day. The traders who last are the ones who set hard daily limits, size inversely to volatility, and refuse to chase narratives when their setup isn’t there. Mechanics beat opinions; clean execution beats clever predictions. When you focus on doing the same right things over and over—entry, stop, size, review—you make randomness work for you instead of against you.
He also makes it clear that consistency is built on structure. Diversify with intent—by instrument, session, and holding duration—so one theme can’t wreck your week. Respect the calendar: stand aside for high-impact news and head into the weekend flat unless a hold is explicitly sized for gap risk. Scale only when your drawdown stays shallow and your behavior proves you can be trusted with more. If you internalize those rules the way Karim Yousfi expects—risk first, mechanics always, discipline everywhere—you don’t need luck. You need repetition.
