Table of Contents
In this interview, the Words of Wisdom podcast sits down in Dubai with Khaled, the CEO of Funding Pips, to unpack how a trader-led prop firm scaled fast, survived platform chaos, and kept payouts flowing. Khaled (a trader first, operator second) walks through the firm’s origins, why being “built by traders for traders” matters, and how leadership, resilience, and real risk controls turned a community project into a serious operation.
You’ll learn the practical strategy behind running and trading with a prop: how to think in probabilities, stay patient, and build processes that hold up when markets (or platforms) get messy. Expect takeaways on crisis playbooks (getting back online in days, not weeks), payout discipline, sustainable pricing, and why growth mindset beats quick wins—insights any trader can apply to their own strategy and risk management.
Khaled (Funding Pips) Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
Core Philosophy: Trade Probabilities, Not Predictions
Big moves come from stacking small edges, not hero calls. Khaled treats every trade like a repeatable business decision: define the scenario, price the risk, and execute the plan the same way—every time.
- Define your edge in one sentence (e.g., “trend pullback into liquidity with momentum confirmation”). If you can’t, don’t trade it.
- Aim for asymmetric payoffs: minimum 1:2 R multiple; plan the scale-out map before entry.
- Treat uncertainty as a cost of doing business—position sizing absorbs uncertainty; stop-loss placement enforces it.
- Journal the hypothesis, not just the outcome: “If X, then Y; if not-X by time T, I’m out.”
Instruments & Timeframes: Stay Liquid, Stay Consistent
Liquidity keeps spreads honest and execution clean. Pick a small basket of major FX pairs or index futures and learn their rhythms rather than chasing every market.
- Trade a fixed watchlist (e.g., 6–10 liquid majors/indices). No ad-hoc symbols mid-week.
- Choose one decision timeframe (H1/H4) and one execution timeframe (M5–M15) and stick to them.
- Block out session windows (London/NY). If your setup relies on one session’s volatility, don’t force it in another.
- Skip illiquid times and platform maintenance windows; “no fill” risk is a real cost.
Set up Criteria: One Play, Many Reps
Khaled’s bias is to standardize. One or two high-probability plays done thousands of times beat a new “holy grail” every month.
- Pre-define one “A+” setup with checklist gates: structure (trend or range), level (HTF zone), trigger (break/reject), and confirmation (momentum or failure test).
- Require multi-timeframe alignment: HTF context agrees with LTF trigger; if they disagree, pass.
- Only take fresh levels (first/second touch). The more taps, the lower the edge.
- If two or more checklist gates are missing, the setup is automatically disqualified—no discretion override.
Risk & Position Sizing: Survive First, Compound Second
The prop mindset is survival math: you can’t scale if you blow risk limits. Risk is capped before the chart is opened.
- Fixed fractional risk per trade (0.25%–0.5% of equity) until 3 consecutive winning weeks; only then consider 0.75% on A+ setups.
- Daily loss cap = 1.5× average risk per trade; hit the cap and you’re done for the day.
- Weekly loss cap = 3× daily cap; if hit by Thursday, the week is over—review, don’t revenge.
- Initial stop goes beyond the invalidation structure (not “X pips”). If invalidation is wide, reduce size; never widen stops post-entry.
Entries & Exits: Rules That Fire Automatically
Execution should feel boring—because the rules do the hard part. Let the market “pull you in” rather than chasing.
- Limit entries at pre-marked levels with a confirmation trigger (e.g., wick rejection or micro-structure shift).
- If the price tags the level during low-liquidity minutes (rollover, news minute), wait for the next candle close to confirm.
- First target at 1R to pay risk; move stop to breakeven only after structure confirms (e.g., HL/LH print).
- Trail behind structure swings, not fixed pips. The final target sits at the HTF opposing zone or measured move.
Trade Filters: Fewer, Better
Most equity curves are saved by what you skip. Khaled’s approach favors ruthless filtering when conditions degrade.
- No new positions 15 minutes before high-impact releases on your instrument; resume 10 minutes after the initial volatility burst.
- Skip trades when the spread > average by 50% or slippage shows on two consecutive fills.
- Cap simultaneous correlated exposure (e.g., only one USD-major at a time unless independent structures exist).
- If two signals trigger within the same minute, take the cleaner one by HTF confluence and cancel the other.
Scaling & Pyramiding: Earn the Right to Add
Add to winners only when the market proves your thesis again. Each add is a fresh trade with fresh risk math.
- Only pyramid after the first partial at 1R and a new LTF structure break in your direction.
- Each adds risks, half the initial risk; total open risk never exceeds the original per-trade risk post-reduction.
- Move the composite stop to just beyond the most recent confirmed swing after each add.
- No adds within 30 minutes of session close or into obvious HTF supply/demand.
Session Routine: From Prep to Post
A consistent loop beats sporadic genius. Same prep, same checklist, same review—daily.
- Pre-market (30–45 min): mark HTF zones, draw only today’s key levels, write two if-then scenarios per instrument.
- During market: alerts at levels, DOM/spread check, execution only on pre-planned triggers.
- Post-market: screenshot winners and losers with notes, tag mistakes (impulse, late entry, stop-move), and log stats.
- Weekly: prune levels, update metrics (win rate, avg R, expectancy), and set one improvement target for next week.
Metrics That Matter: Expectancy Over Ego
What gets measured gets improved. Khaled’s operator mindset means tracking the business stats of trading.
- Track expectancy: E = (Win% × AvgWinR) − (Loss% × AvgLossR); push AvgWinR up via partials and trails, not by moving stops.
- Monitor time-in-trade and time-to-fill; if average holding time keeps shrinking, you’re likely overtrading noise.
- Maintain a “setup integrity” score (0–5) per trade; only scale risk after 20-trade rolling average ≥4.0.
- Separate “A+” from “B” setups in the journal. If B setups give sub-1.2R expectancy over 50 trades, drop them.
Psychology: Boredom as an Edge
Calm execution is a moat. The goal is emotional neutrality, not constant hype.
- Pre-commit to maximum trades/day (e.g., 3). After the cap, you can only log charts—no exceptions.
- Use a 5-minute cool-off after any stop-out before re-arming hotkeys or tickets.
- Turn off P&L during live trade; monitor structure and checklist, not dollars.
- If you break a rule, stand down for the session and document the trigger, emotion, and environmental cue.
Prop-Firm Discipline: Pass, Keep, Scale
Running or trading with a prop requires extra guardrails to protect accounts and payouts.
- Keep drawdown buffers: never let equity drop within 30% of the daily or overall limit.
- Withdraw a fixed % of monthly profits (e.g., 30–40%) and leave the rest to compound; label withdrawals as “salary,” not “reward.”
- Sync your risk template across all accounts; no “YOLO” variance on smaller accounts.
- If the platform or liquidity provider shows anomalies (gaps, rejected orders), go flat and wait—platform risk is real risk.
Crisis & Continuity: When Tech or Markets Break
Systems occasionally fail; plans shouldn’t. Khaled’s operational mindset treats outages and extreme volatility as scenarios to pre-plan.
- Maintain a written “halt” protocol: criteria to stop trading (platform errors, spreads >2× normal, repeated slippage).
- Keep a backup broker/feed for charting confirmation; trade only after both data sources align for 15 minutes.
- During outages, convert the day into a review block: tag missed setups, refine levels, and prepare orders for re-open.
- After any tech incident, trade half-size for 24 hours while monitoring fills and spread stability.
Continuous Improvement Loop: Small Changes, Big Compounding
Edge compounds when processes improve a little each week. Treat trading like a product you ship and iterate.
- Each week, promote one micro-change (e.g., tighter level marking, stricter add-on rules) and measure its effect on expectancy.
- Automate recurring tasks (alerts, screenshots, journaling templates) so discretion is saved for analysis.
- Prune indicators that don’t lift expectancy over a 50-trade sample.
- Every 90 days, run a “reset week”: trade only the A+ setup at minimum risk to re-center discipline.
Compliance & Professionalism: Act Like a Desk
Professional habits reduce noise and protect longevity—crucial for any trader aiming to scale.
- Standardize order tickets: prefilled size, stop, target, and notes; no freehand entries.
- Archive trade records and chat logs about decisions; ambiguity is the enemy of improvement.
- Use pre-approved news windows and blackout periods; save aggression for clean tape, not chaos.
- Keep a “no-trade” list (illiquid pairs, exotic hours, recurring platform quirks) and enforce it mechanically.
Position Size Like a Pro: Risk Small, Let Winners Compound
Khaled hammers one idea over and over: tiny risk, scalable edge. He treats each position like a business invoice—predictable cost, uncertain revenue—so the only variable he controls is how small he starts. That means fixed fractional risk per trade, never martingale, and zero “gut-feel” size bumps just because a setup looks pretty. He also ties stop placement to structure, not to round numbers, so the position size flexes around the stop—not the other way around.
From there, Khaled lets math do the heavy lifting. First partials pay the bill at 1R, then he trails behind structure to let the rare outliers compound. If volatility expands, he cuts size and widens stops; if volatility contracts, he tightens both and takes fewer shots. The result is a smooth equity curve built on small dents and occasional leaps, rather than big swings that wreck psychology.
Allocate by Volatility: Scale Exposure When Markets Actually Move
Khaled keeps exposure tied to realized volatility, not feelings. When ranges expand and the tape starts breathing, he allows more participation per idea; when ranges contract, he cuts size and waits for better odds. He looks at average true range and session range percentiles to decide whether today deserves full risk or half risk. This keeps him liquid during dull chop and ready to press when momentum genuinely appears.
Khaled also staggers entries in volatile regimes to smooth fills and reduce slippage. He pre-sets risk tiers—quiet = 0.25%, normal = 0.5%, hot = 0.75%—and never exceeds the tier without a written reason. If a symbol’s volatility spikes beyond plan, he narrows the watchlist and focuses on the cleanest structures only. The result is a portfolio that breathes with the market, letting volatility dictate aggression instead of ego.
Diversify Smart: Mix Underlyings, Strategies, and Holding Durations
Khaled spreads risk across a small, liquid basket so no single theme can hijack his P&L. He’ll pair a trend-pullback play on an index with a mean-reversion fade on a major FX cross and a breakout continuation on gold—different engines, different failure modes. Correlation is policed ruthlessly: one USD view at a time unless structures are truly independent. He also caps idea concentration so no more than a third of daily risk sits on a single narrative.
Duration is a second diversification lever Khaled pulls deliberately. He mixes intraday scalps with swing holds that ride HTF structure, allocating smaller risk to longer holds and letting time diversify entry noise. When volatility compresses, he leans on slower swing frameworks; when it expands, he shifts risk to intraday momentum plays. The goal is a portfolio that always has something working, even when one strategy or market goes cold.
Trade Mechanics Over Predictions: Rules, Triggers, and Repeatable Execution
Khaled doesn’t try to “be right about the market”; he tries to be right about his process. He pre-defines the trade in a checklist—context, level, trigger, risk, management—so execution is a yes/no decision, not a debate. Entries come from triggers he can point to on a chart: a failed break at a marked level, a micro structure shift, or a clean retest that holds. If a trigger doesn’t print, he doesn’t “anticipate”; he cancels the order and moves on.
Once in, Khaled manages by mechanics, not hopes. First partial pays risk at 1R, stop moves only after structure confirms, and trailing follows swing points—not arbitrary pip counts. If slippage, spreads, or anomalies appear, he pauses, screens fills, and resumes only when execution quality returns. The edge isn’t in the prediction—it’s in repeating disciplined, testable actions until the math shows up.
Define Risk Upfront: Stops, Daily Caps, and Process Discipline
Khaled treats risk as a pre-trade decision, not an in-trade negotiation. Before a single click, he maps the invalidation level on the structure, sizes the position to that stop, and writes down the daily loss cap he won’t cross. If the market tags the stop, he accepts the cost and moves on—no widening, no “give it a little room,” no exceptions. He also pre-sets maximum correlated exposure so one narrative can’t sink the whole day.
Process is the guardrail that keeps Khaled consistent when emotions try to take the wheel. He stops only on confirmed structure shifts, pauses trading if spreads or slippage distort fills, and ends the session immediately when the daily cap is hit. After any rule break, he stands down and documents the trigger, the emotion, and the fix for next time. By defining risk first and enforcing it mechanically, he protects longevity and keeps his strategy scalable.
In the end, Khaled’s edge isn’t a single indicator—it’s an operating system. He builds from first principles: small fixed risk per trade, structure-based stops, volatility-aware sizing, and one or two repeatable setups executed the same way every day. He diversifies across instruments and holding durations to keep correlation in check, journals hypotheses instead of outcomes, and lets partials plus structure-based trailing do the compounding. When conditions degrade—wider spreads, sloppy fills, news whips—he cuts exposure or stands down, treating uncertainty as a cost, not a challenge to “beat.”
Just as important, Khaled runs his trading like a professional desk: daily and weekly loss caps, a strict pre-/post-session routine, and a written halt protocol for tech or market stress. The same discipline that kept Funding Pips paying out and online during platform chaos shows up in his charts: no chasing, no rule-bending, and no second-guessing after stops are set. If you lift anything from his playbook, make it this: codify your process, size for survival, and let the market prove you right—then press the wins and archive the rest.
