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Andrew Mitchem sits down to talk candidly about prop firms—when to go for funding, how to pick the right platform, and why most traders flame out before they’re ready. In this conversation, Andrew (The Forex Trading Coach) lays out the real path: master a proven process first, keep risk tiny, and stop chasing deadlines that force gambling. If you’ve ever wondered whether to scale with funded capital or stick to your own account, this interview shows where the traps are and how a disciplined trader actually navigates them.
You’ll learn Andrew’s practical rules for passing evaluations the same way you trade when funded: risk about 0.25% per idea (often split into two entries), avoid firms with tight time limits and punitive trailing drawdowns, and favor evaluations with sensible drawdown cushions so you’re not forced into oversized bets. He also explains why trading your own account and copying to multiple prop accounts removes emotional noise, plus how to match a firm’s instruments and weekend-hold rules to your actual strategy. If you’re serious about funding, this piece translates Andrew’s playbook into clear steps you can use today—without drama, without luck, and without blowing the account on the way to “passing.”
Andrew Mitchem Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
Core Risk Framework (keep losses tiny, standardize position sizing)
Andrew Mitchem builds consistency by keeping risk per trade deliberately small and identical across setups. This eliminates the emotional swings that come from oversized bets and forces the edge to show over a series of trades. Here’s how to implement that discipline right away.
- Risk 0.25%–0.50% of account equity per trade; never exceed 1%.
- Use percentage-based risk, not fixed pips; size the position so a structure-based stop equals your chosen % risk.
- Calculate lot size before entry so the cash loss at your stop equals the planned % (use a calculator or spreadsheet consistently).
- Keep your aggregate risk across open trades within a cap (e.g., total open risk ≤1–2%).
- When equity changes, recompute size—percentage risk floats with the account, not the other way around.
Timeframes & Daily Routine (higher-timeframe clarity, minimal screen time)
He favors higher timeframes for cleaner signals and lower noise, building decisions around the daily close with weekly/monthly context. This routine reduces overtrading and allows set-and-walk execution without micromanagement.
- Primary chart: Daily; scan after the New York 5:00 pm close.
- Context: Align with weekly/monthly structure; avoid trades that fight higher-timeframe direction.
- Intraday only for execution/alerts—don’t let lower-timeframe noise override the daily plan.
- Limit the watchlist to liquid majors/minors and a few quality indices/commodities that fit your method. (He occasionally showcases indices like the German 40.)
Entries, Stops, and Targets (structure-led risk placement, asymmetric R: R)
Entries are chosen for clarity and repeatability; stops sit beyond obvious structure, so normal volatility won’t knock you out. Targets are set to secure asymmetric reward without needing a high win rate.
- Define the invalidation point first (e.g., beyond swing high/low or key level), then compute the size so the loss at that stop equals your % risk.
- No fixed-pip stops—market structure determines distance; position size adapts.
- Base targets on pre-identified levels; prefer at least 1.5R–2R base targets to keep expectancy positive.
- Use alerts at key levels; avoid chasing entries that didn’t trigger per plan.
- If price closes against your premise on the daily, exit—don’t “hope” it back.
Trade Management (rules to avoid tinkering)
The goal is consistent execution, not perfect exits. Simple, mechanical rules reduce second-guessing while protecting open equity.
- Consider set-and-walk on daily trades; check once per day at a fixed time.
- Move stop only on objective events (e.g., break-and-close beyond a level); never trail randomly.
- Avoid scaling in unless it keeps total risk within your cap and follows the same setup criteria.
- Track R-multiples per trade; judge performance by expectancy, not just win rate.
Prop-Firm Strategy (pass challenges by trading the same way you trade live)
Andrew’s prop-firm approach is just his regular trading with stricter guardrails: tiny risk, patient targets, and respect for the firm’s drawdown rules. Treat prop, demo, and live the same to prevent “challenge mode” gambling.
- Keep risk tiny (e.g., 0.25%–0.50%); compounding a small edge beats rushing to hit a target.
- Set a personal daily loss cap well below the firm’s limit (e.g., half) to avoid breaching rules.
- Prefer evaluations with sensible drawdown allowances and rules aligned with your timeframe; avoid conditions that force intraday overtrading.
- Trade your plan on your own account and mirror it to prop accounts so emotions stay neutral.
- Don’t increase risk after wins; keep percentage risk constant until the evaluation is complete.
Market Selection & Frequency (quality over quantity)
He demonstrates that a handful of clean, higher-timeframe opportunities can meaningfully move equity without constant action. Fewer, better trades keep you focused and compliant with risk caps.
- Aim for selectivity: if the daily close isn’t aligned with weekly bias and local structure, skip.
- It’s fine to have quiet weeks—protecting capital is part of the edge.
- Keep a pre-approved watchlist and only add instruments once you’ve tested behavior and spreads.
Psychology Through Risk (calm comes from math)
Confidence is built by knowing the worst-case loss is trivial relative to account size. With small, equalized risk, patience becomes natural and execution improves.
- Before entry, say the cash loss aloud; if it stings, the size is too big.
- Use a uniform routine (same scan time, checklist, journaling) to reduce decision fatigue.
- Judge yourself on rule adherence per trade, not outcome; review weekly to refine, not to react.
Standardize Risk Per Trade, Let Position Size Do The Work
Andrew Mitchem keeps it boring on purpose: the same tiny risk on every valid setup, no exceptions. By fixing risk as a percentage of equity, he strips out the urge to “feel” confident and makes the math do the heavy lifting. That means the stop goes where the structure says it should, and the position size flexes to match—never the other way around. When volatility widens, size shrinks; when it tightens, size grows. The result is consistent emotional temperature and clean data for evaluating the edge.
He’s ruthless about totals, too—Andrew Mitchem caps aggregate open risk so a cluster of trades can’t blindside the account. Wins don’t earn bigger bets, and losses don’t trigger revenge size; risk per idea stays identical to protect expectancy. Because each trade is just another 0.25–0.50% ticket, he can judge performance in R, not dollars, and keep the decision loop calm. Over time, that standardization compounds discipline first, and capital second.
Trade The Daily Close, Use Weekly Context, Ignore Intraday Noise
Andrew Mitchem plans around the daily candle because it forces patience and keeps decisions clean. He reads the weekly structure first to define the broader push, then uses the daily close to time entries that agree with that bias. By anchoring to end-of-day data, he avoids the random chop that eats intraday traders alive. If the daily close contradicts the setup, he skips it—no “maybe it’ll flip” exceptions.
He treats lower timeframes as tools, not decision-makers. Alerts mark key levels so he doesn’t babysit charts, and he won’t let a five-minute spike override a daily plan. Andrew Mitchem also sets a fixed review time, which kills the urge to tinker and keeps execution consistent. Fewer looks, fewer impulses, better trades.
Structure Sets, Stops, and Targets, Aim for Two-To-One Reward
Andrew Mitchem starts with the invalidation point, not the entry price. He places the stop beyond meaningful structure—swing high/low, level, or zone—so normal volatility doesn’t tag him out. Position size adapts to that distance; the stop never “adapts” to the size. With risk defined, he pre-plans targets at logical levels and won’t chase mid-move candles.
His baseline is asymmetric: he wants at least two units of reward for every unit of risk. If structure only offers a cramped target, Andrew Mitchem skips the trade rather than forcing a low-expectancy idea. He uses alerts to manage the position and prefers decisions on the daily close, not tick-to-tick jitters. If the price closes through his premise, he’s out; if it moves toward the target, he avoids tinkering and lets the plan finish the job.
Pass Prop Evaluations With Tiny Risk, Hard Daily Loss Caps
Andrew Mitchem treats a prop challenge like any other account—same setups, same tiny percentage risk, same routine. He sets a personal daily loss cap well below the firm’s limit so he can’t breach on a bad day, then sizes every trade to a small, fixed fraction of equity. If the rules or time limits push him toward overtrading, he simply passes on that evaluation; the method never changes to fit a scoreboard. He tracks progress in R, not dollars, which keeps him focused on execution quality instead of the target line.
He also avoids “catch-up” behavior after a win or loss, keeping risk identical from start to finish. Andrew Mitchem mirrors his live plan across accounts rather than inventing a special “challenge” strategy, which strips out emotion and randomness. If the daily close invalidates the idea, he exits and resets, no exceptions. The combination of tiny risk, strict personal guardrails, and end-of-day discipline turns the evaluation into a process test—not a gamble.
Diversify By Pair, Setup Quality, And Time In Market
Andrew Mitchem spreads exposure so no single theme or instrument dictates results. He rotates through a pre-approved watchlist, choosing the pairs that best fit his setup today rather than forcing trades where conditions are sloppy. Diversification, for him, isn’t about trading everything—it’s about trading only high-quality signals across different instruments so correlation shocks don’t bite the account at once.
He also diversifies by timing, not just by ticker. Andrew Mitchem accepts that some weeks are quiet and lets time-in-market shrink when signals aren’t there, then scales participation when the daily and weekly align across multiple charts. This way, risk is distributed across pair, setup grade, and calendar—not concentrated in a single session or idea. The result is smoother equity, fewer drawdown clusters, and a process that survives regime changes without changing its rules.
Andrew Mitchem’s playbook boils down to doing ordinary things with extraordinary consistency. He standardizes risk on every position so no single trade can hijack the account—or his emotions. He builds decisions around the weekly push and the daily close, then lets structure define stops and targets so he doesn’t negotiate with noise. That routine creates clean data, calm execution, and the kind of sample size where an edge can actually show up.
He treats prop evaluations the same way he treats a live account: tiny percentage risk, hard personal loss caps, no rule-bending to chase a target line. When conditions aren’t aligned, he skips—because selectivity and diversification by pair, setup quality, and time-in-market smooth the equity curve better than “always on” trading. The lesson from Andrew Mitchem is simple but unforgiving: write rules that fit your strategy, size positions so the math protects you, and then follow that plan trade after trade, week after week.
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