Table of Contents
This episode of the Words of Rizdom podcast sits down with trader Elliot Surge in Riz’s new studio to talk straight about the realities behind “getting funded,” personal accounts, and what it actually takes to become consistently profitable. Elliot’s candid about rest vs. grind, the traps of chasing challenges for clout, and why environment and routine shape execution more than fancy indicators. If you’re early in your journey—or coming back after a few blown accounts—his perspective cuts through noise fast.
In this piece, you’ll learn Elliot’s approach to using funded accounts without letting them hijack your psychology, why most traders should build a personal account in parallel, and how to avoid prop-firm “rule change” risk derailing your progress. We’ll pull out his simple filters for bots, signals, and “account-passing” services, and the mindset shifts that helped him trade less emotionally, think longer-term, and protect his freedom. Expect practical, beginner-friendly takeaways you can apply to your very next session.
Elliot Serge Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
Core Philosophy & Account Structure
Here’s the big picture of how Elliot approaches trading day to day and how he thinks about accounts. Read this to set your expectations before you copy any rules—his edge is as much about restraint and structure as it is about entries.
- Trade to stay in the game: survival > weekly PnL > daily dopamine.
- Run a personal account alongside any funded accounts to reduce rule-induced stress.
- Never let a prop rule alter good risk management; if rules clash with risk, skip the trade.
- One clean setup repeated beats five “okay” setups; eliminate everything that isn’t A+.
- Size is a privilege you earn from data, not a lever you pull for hope.
Instruments, Sessions, and Timeframes
Elliot narrows his focus to instruments he truly understands and trades them in sessions where his plan historically performs. Do the same to compress noise and increase repeatability.
- Focus on 1–3 instruments max (e.g., a major FX pair or a top-index future).
- Primary execution on the M5–M15, with H1/H4 as directional context.
- Only trade your proven session (e.g., London or New York); outside session = no trades.
- If spread/volatility is abnormal for your pair, stand down until it normalizes.
- Weekly: prune any instrument that delivered <1R net over the past 20 trading days.
Pre-Market Routine & Mental Calibration
Elliot treats calm as a precondition. He does a quick mental and market check before risking a dollar. Five minutes here can save five bad trades.
- If sleep <6 hours or stress >7/10, reduce size to ½ risk or do not trade.
- Write a 2-line bias: “If price is above/below X, I’m looking for longs/shorts.”
- Mark news windows; if high-impact news is <30 minutes away, no new positions.
- Visualize the stop first, then the entry; if you can’t place a logical stop, skip it.
- Set a daily loss cap (e.g., 2R). Hitting it = platform closed for the day.
Risk, Sizing, and Drawdown Limits
This is the guardrail set. Elliot’s sizing adapts to volatility and recent performance, so one bad day never becomes a bad month.
- Standard risk: 0.25R–0.5R per trade on funded; up to 0.75R on personal when conditions match the playbook perfectly.
- Reduce risk by 50% after a -2R day; return to baseline only after +2R recovery.
- Hard stop: maximum open risk across all positions ≤ 1R.
- If weekly drawdown hits -4R, stop trading until a full review is completed.
- ATR-aware stops: stop distance = recent M15 ATR × 1.0–1.5; position size adjusts to keep R constant.
The A+ Setup (Structure + Liquidity + Trigger)
Elliot combines a higher-timeframe structure with a simple intraday trigger. Keep it formulaic so you can log it and repeat it.
- HTF bias: trade in the direction of H1/H4 swing structure (higher highs for longs, lower lows for shorts).
- Location: wait for price to return to a prior session high/low, daily level, or clean 4H supply/demand zone.
- Liquidity cue: watch for a quick sweep of a prior minor high/low that fails to follow through.
- Trigger: M5/M15 shift of structure (first close back inside the range) or a rejection candle with lower wick for longs / upper wick for shorts.
- Entry: limit within the rejection candle’s 40–60% retrace; invalidation below/above the sweep candle.
- If the trigger fires >15 minutes after the sweep, pass—impulse has likely decayed.
Trade Management & Exits
Elliot keeps management rules simple to avoid overhandling. Decide exits before entry, then follow them mechanically.
- First scale: take 50% at +1R if the overall HTF context is messy; otherwise, let it run to the next session level.
- Move stop to breakeven only after either +1R is achieved or a clean M5 higher-low/lower-high prints in your favor.
- Time stop: if the price hasn’t advanced 0.5R within 45 minutes during your session, close the trade.
- Full exit at pre-marked HTF level or when opposite M5 structure shift prints.
- Never widen a stop. If you want to re-enter, it must be a fresh setup.
News, Spreads, and “No-Trade” Windows
He respects catalysts and account rules. That means eliminating avoidable edge killers like random slippage or gambling into red-folder events.
- No new trades within 15 minutes before and 15 minutes after high-impact news on your instrument.
- If the spread widens >2× normal, cancel pending orders and reassess later.
- For funded accounts: if the daily loss limit is within 1R, stop trading for the day.
- Fridays: trade only if the setup is textbook and aligns with weekly bias; otherwise, close shop early.
- After a big move (≥ average daily range) in your direction, avoid chasing—await the next session.
Journaling, Stats, and Iteration
Elliot’s edge compounds via review. He tracks the same few metrics weekly and removes anything that doesn’t pay him.
- Log every trade with: setup tag, session, ATR multiple, RR planned vs. realized, time-in-trade, and emotional state (1–10).
- Weekly: filter by setup tag and session; keep only tags with win rate ≥45% and payoff ratio ≥1.8.
- If a tag produces three consecutive weeks of negative expectancy, retire it for 30 days and re-test in the sim.
- Keep a “Couldn’t Place Stop” list—those patterns become no-trade zones for 90 days.
- Review screenshots on Sunday; update levels and scenarios for the coming week.
Tech Stack & Chart Hygiene
Fewer tools, clearer decisions. Elliot’s charts are clean, so the brain can focus on price, levels, and risk.
- Use only essential overlays: session highs/lows, previous day high/low, and ATR(14) on M15.
- Hide indicators during execution once levels are set; bring them back for review only.
- Pre-draw three levels per instrument: breakout level, retest zone, and invalidation.
- Use alerts at levels instead of staring—preserve attention for the trigger window.
- One watchlist, max three symbols; everything else stays off the screen.
Behavior Rules for Funded vs. Personal
Different accounts, same trader. Elliot keeps behavior consistent while honoring specific constraints.
- Identical setups on both accounts; only the risk unit changes.
- For funding, prioritize quicker partials and time stops; for personnel, allow winners more room to run.
- If a funded eval is near a rule threshold (daily or trailing), stop and resume next session.
- Withdraw personal account profits monthly; treat funded payouts as a bonus, not budget.
Recovery Protocol After a Bad Day
He plans for imperfection. The goal is to cut the tail risk of emotional spirals.
- Next session starts at ½ risk and only A+ setups.
- First trade must be by-the-book, or no trading that day.
- Mandatory 20-minute review before market: re-read your last 5 winning trade notes.
- Physical reset: 10 minutes of walking or breathwork before screens.
- No social media or P&L screenshots until the weekly plan is complete.
Size Like a Pro: Risk Units, Daily Caps, Drawdown Guardrails
Elliot Serge treats sizing like a repeatable system, not a feeling. Every trade is framed in a fixed risk unit (R), so position size automatically scales with stop distance and volatility—never with mood. Before the session, he sets a hard daily loss cap to prevent one bad morning from wiping out a solid week. If conditions are C-quality or his focus isn’t A-grade, he instantly halves risk instead of forcing full-size trades.
His guardrails extend through the week to kill tilt before it starts. Elliot Serge caps total open risk at 1R across positions to avoid sneaky correlation pileups. If weekly drawdown hits his limit, trading pauses and a review replaces screens—no “one more shot” allowed. He never widens stops; he exits and waits for a fresh setup, letting size be something earned by data, not granted by hope.
Let Volatility Lead: ATR-Based Stops, Dynamic Position Sizing, Fewer Trades
Elliot Serge builds his plan around volatility, not predictions. He sizes every position off a fixed R and lets ATR set the stop distance so risk stays constant even when the tape speeds up. When ATR expands, he automatically reduces size; when it compresses, he allows a measured size bump—never beyond his risk unit. This keeps him from overleveraging in chop and from undersizing when the market finally trends.
He also lets volatility filter, which includes ideas. If an ATR-aligned stop can’t sit at a logical structure level, Elliot Serge passes on the trade—no exceptions. Targets flex with conditions: quick partials in messy ranges, hold to premarked levels when ranges are wide. The result is fewer trades, cleaner stats, and a process that survives the market’s mood swings.
Diversify Smart: Underlying, Strategy, and Timeframe—Not Just More Tickers
Elliot Serge doesn’t “diversify” by stacking five pairs that all move with the same risk-on/off heartbeat. He splits exposure across underlyings, play types, and holding periods so one narrative can’t nuke the whole book. That means a maximum of three core instruments at a time, but with varied behaviors—think a major FX pair, an index future, and one commodity or rate product—each with its own personality and news cycle. If two instruments share >0.7 rolling correlation over the last month, he treats them as one and cuts size accordingly.
He also diversifies by strategy and duration, pairing a breakout system with a mean-reversion or pullback module, and staggering timeframe risk so not every bet resolves on the same candle. Elliot Serge caps total concurrent positions at three and enforces a “different bucket” rule: no two trades from the same instrument and timeframe at once. Risk is pre-allocated by bucket—e.g., 40% trend continuation, 40% reversal at levels, 20% event/volatility plays—and rebalanced weekly based on expectancy. The aim isn’t more trades; it’s fewer, uncorrelated edges that let the account survive when one style goes cold.
Trade the Mechanics: Levels, Liquidity Sweeps, and Repeatable Entry Triggers
Elliot Serge doesn’t guess; he lets structure do the heavy lifting. He maps higher-timeframe levels first, then waits for a quick liquidity sweep—price pokes a prior high/low and snaps back—before committing. After the sweep, he wants a clean M5/M15 shift of structure or a decisive rejection candle, not just a random wick. Only when the market reclaims the level and holds does Elliot Serge look to participate, aiming to buy strength from trapped shorts or sell weakness from trapped longs.
Execution stays formulaic, so it scales. He’ll place the stop beyond the sweep candle, work the entry around the 40–60% retrace of the trigger candle, and require progress: if price hasn’t moved about half an R within the next 30–45 minutes of his active session, he’s out. If the trigger prints long after the sweep, he passes—the impulse is stale and the edge decays. He refuses to chase once the average daily range is already spent, and he won’t enter within a tight window around red-folder news. The net effect for Elliot Serge is a rules-first routine that captures asymmetric moves while sidestepping the churn that eats most traders alive.
Define Risk First: Partial Takes, Time Stops, and Rule Discipline
Elliot Serge starts every idea with the maximum loss on the table—R first, entry second. He fixes the stop where the setup is invalidated, then sizes to that distance so the dollar risk never drifts. First partial typically comes off at +1R in choppy conditions to bank progress and de-risk; in clean trends, he delays the partial to the next pre-marked level. Stops never widen; if price tags the level, he’s out and only re-enters on a fresh trigger. Time matters too: if the trade hasn’t advanced ~0.5R within 45 minutes during his active session, Elliot closes it and frees attention.
Discipline glues the whole thing together for Elliot Serge. If he hits the daily loss cap, the platform closes—no “revenge” test shots allowed. If the open risk across positions would exceed 1R, he cancels new orders and waits. Management is prewritten: trail only after structure confirms (new higher low/lower high), scale out methodically, and never let a green trade turn red. The goal isn’t hero exits; it’s consistent execution that compounds without the blowups.
Elliot Serge’s message lands the same way his trades do—measured, repeatable, and built to last. Treat sizing as math, not mood: use fixed risk units, respect hard daily caps, and pause when weekly drawdown hits. Let volatility set the tempo with ATR-aware stops and dynamic sizing, and only pull the trigger when structure is doing the heavy lifting—HTF levels, quick liquidity sweeps, and a clean M5/M15 shift. Trade your proven session, avoid red-folder landmines, and impose time stops so you don’t babysit dead ideas. Keep a personal account alongside any funded accounts, so rules never bully good risk management. Diversify by underlying, strategy, and duration—not by stacking correlated tickers—and cap total open risk to avoid sneaky blowups.
Most of all, Elliot Serge shows that discipline is a lifestyle, not a checkbox. Sleep, energy, and routine are edge multipliers; if they’re off, size down or stand down. Journal the same few metrics every week, prune what doesn’t pay, and earn a bigger size from data—not hope. Don’t chase clout or “pass the challenge” theatrics; build a process that would still make money if the prop world disappeared tomorrow. If a setup can’t host a logical stop, skip it. When the rules are this clear, the market’s noise fades—and the account survives long enough to compound.
