One Prop Trader a Day - Josep Pintat: Trading Is a Profession, Not a Shortcut

Quick intro – who are you, and what do you trade?

My name is Josep Pintat. I am 37 years old, from Andorra, a small country between Spain and France. I am a funded trader focused primarily on indices, including the Nasdaq, S&P 500, and US30, and I also trade Forex pairs and Gold (XAUUSD). Over the years I have developed a strong interest in trading and risk management, and I constantly work on improving my consistency and discipline. Outside of trading, I am an entrepreneur and enjoy building businesses and projects that provide long-term value.

When did you become a funded trader? What changed for you at that point?

I have been studying and trading with prop firms for around two years, but it was in May 2026 that I started my journey as a funded trader. The biggest change was not getting funded itself, but reaching a level of consistency that gave me confidence in my process. After a lot of learning, testing, and refining, I finally found a strategy that fits my personality and trading style. Most importantly, with God’s help, I found an approach that truly works for me and lets me trade with discipline and consistency. Becoming funded was the result of that process, not the starting point.

What is the first thing you bought with trading money that felt like proof it was working?

One of the first things trading income allowed me to do was comfortably cover important personal expenses and bills. That may not sound exciting, but it was a meaningful milestone because it showed my trading was producing real-world results. I also reinvested part of my profits into additional prop firm challenges; my goal has always been to diversify risk rather than rely on a single firm. More than any specific purchase, the real proof was seeing trading become a tool that could support both my personal responsibilities and my long-term goals.

How many times did you fail before getting funded? What kept you going?

Honestly, I failed a lot of challenges before getting funded; after two years I could not even tell you the exact number. What kept me going was my faith in Jesus and the support of the people closest to me. God gave me the strength to keep moving forward when things did not go as planned. I was also blessed with an incredible wife who believed in me even during the difficult periods and constantly encouraged me to keep learning and never give up. Every failed challenge taught me something valuable and helped make me the trader I am today.

What is the single most expensive lesson you have paid for?

The most expensive lesson I learned is one of the golden rules of trading: less is more. If I had to put a number on it, it cost me well over $1,000 in failed challenge fees in a single month. At the time, I believed that trading more would create more opportunities and faster results. In reality, it led to overtrading, lower-quality setups, and unnecessary mistakes. Successful trading is not about being in the market all the time; it is about waiting patiently for the right opportunities and executing them with discipline. Today I take far fewer trades, but they are much more selective.

What was your lowest point in trading? Did you ever consider quitting?

I have had several low points, and yes, I seriously considered quitting more than once. One of the toughest moments came last year, when I finally got funded: I secured four funded accounts and then lost them much faster than I expected. After more than a year of overcoming challenge after challenge, losing those accounts felt like a huge step backward, and I questioned whether I was really capable. Looking back, it became one of my greatest lessons: getting funded is not the finish line, staying funded is the real challenge. I had to improve my risk management, discipline, and emotional control. I am grateful I did not quit.

Did trading ever affect you mentally or emotionally?

Yes, absolutely. I have experienced stress, overtrading, self-doubt, and frustration when things were not going as planned. I also experienced the opposite extreme: after a series of wins or passing a challenge, I sometimes became overconfident, which can be just as dangerous as fear or doubt. One of the biggest lessons trading taught me is that emotional control is just as important as a profitable strategy. Success is not only about reading the market correctly; it is about managing yourself. Staying calm during losses and humble during wins has been one of the hardest parts of the journey.

What does your trading style look like today?

Today my style is primarily based on the CRT (Candle Range Theory) strategy, focused on the London and New York session opens. Before each session I spend 10 to 20 minutes analysing the market and identifying setups. My main instruments are Forex pairs like EURUSD and GBPUSD, though I also trade indices (Nasdaq, US30, S&P 500) and Gold when conditions align. For Forex, I mark the range of the 3:00 AM candle (Spanish time) using the 4-hour chart, then at the London open I look for a Turtle Soup setup on the 1-hour, where the opening candle sweeps liquidity and mitigates the previous range. Once the higher-timeframe conditions are met, I refine my entry on the 15-minute chart, waiting for all my rules to align. My approach is highly rule-based and focused on risk management.

What is a typical trading day for you?

A typical trading day is simple and structured. First, I pray and ask God for wisdom and humility to make good decisions. Then I focus only on the London or New York session open, and I usually take no more than one trade per day. About 20 minutes before the open, I begin my analysis on TradingView, monitoring GBPUSD, EURUSD, Gold, Nasdaq, and the S&P 500. I start with higher timeframes (4-hour for Forex and Gold, 3-hour for indices) and mark the key candle ranges. Then I move to the 1-hour and wait for a Turtle Soup setup, using the Gann indicator as part of my process, only taking a trade if all conditions align. For London I look between 9:00 and 10:00 AM Spanish time; for New York, between 3:30 and 4:00 PM. If a valid setup appears, I execute manually on MetaTrader 5 with predefined stops and targets. Once the trade is done, I complete my journal and note any lessons.

Walk us through your most recent losing trade.

One of my most recent losing trades was on June 4th, when I lost a $150,000 challenge account after hitting the 3% maximum daily drawdown. The issue was not the setup but how I was managing multiple accounts. At the time I was trading seven or eight challenge accounts at once, splitting them between the London and New York sessions, thinking more accounts would speed up getting funded. Instead it created a heavy emotional burden and made it much harder to stay objective. When the market moved against me, I did not react with the discipline I should have; rather than accepting a controlled 1% loss, I let it escalate to the maximum drawdown. The lesson was clear: more accounts do not mean more profits. Since then I have simplified, focusing on quality execution. Protecting capital is always more important than chasing profits.

What is a popular trading rule you completely ignore, and why?

There are two rules I ignored in the past, and both cost me money. The first was breaking my own risk management; my plan keeps risk around 1% per trade, but there were times I became too focused on the outcome and violated it, and the results always reminded me why risk management is the foundation. The second was trying to accelerate the process by trading too many accounts at once, which only increased pressure and led to poorer decisions. Today I strongly believe that less is more. Trading is not a race; building consistency step by step is far more effective than forcing success. Ironically, the rules I ignored are now the ones I respect the most.

Do people around you understand what you do? How do they react?

Honestly, most people around me do not fully understand what I do. Many are skeptical and find it hard to believe someone can make a living from trading, and I understand why, because there are many misconceptions. At the beginning, that skepticism affected me more and I felt the need to prove myself. Over time I learned to focus on my own journey and let the results speak. Fortunately, a few people close to me have supported me throughout, especially my wife. My goal is not to convince people; it is to keep improving, stay consistent, and follow my plan day after day.

How has trading impacted your lifestyle?

Trading has had a very positive impact on my lifestyle and has truly been a blessing. What I value most is the freedom to spend quality time with my family, especially my wife and daughter. Being present as a husband and father is far more important to me than any financial goal. Thanks to trading, I can work from home and be there for the important moments. I feel grateful because, with God’s blessing, trading gave me an opportunity that was difficult to achieve in my previous career as an insurance broker, which required much more time away from home. For me, the greatest benefit of trading is not the money; it is the freedom to be present with the people I love most.

What separates you from someone who washed out at their third evaluation?

I believe the biggest difference is persistence. There were many times when things were not going well: I lost challenge accounts, funded accounts, and went through periods that felt like no progress at all. Many traders would have quit, and I understand why. What kept me moving forward was my faith, which gave me the strength to keep learning and believing there was a path forward even when I could not see immediate results. Success in trading is rarely about finding a magic strategy overnight; it is about staying in the game long enough to gain experience and gradually improve. The traders who succeed are often not the smartest or most talented, but the ones who refuse to give up and stay disciplined long enough for the pieces to come together.

What advice would you give yourself one year ago?

If I could advise myself one year ago, it would be simple: be more patient. Back then I saw trading too much as a goal to achieve as quickly as possible. Today I understand that trading is a profession, more like studying for a university degree than finding a shortcut. It requires years of learning, practice, mistakes, and continuous improvement. Every challenge I failed and every account I lost was part of the learning process, and even now, after becoming funded, I am still learning every day. If I had understood from the start that trading is a long-term career rather than a short-term destination, I would have put less pressure on myself and trusted the process more.

If prop firms disappeared tomorrow, would you still be trading? Doing what?

Yes, I would definitely keep trading. If prop firms disappeared, I would be disappointed, because I believe they create opportunities for talented, disciplined traders who otherwise would not have access to significant capital. But trading is something I would continue regardless; my goal has never been just to pass challenges, it has been to become a consistently profitable trader. In that scenario I would simply trade my own capital through brokers like Interactive Brokers or IC Markets. The principles would stay the same: follow my strategy, manage risk carefully, and focus on consistency. Prop firms are a fantastic vehicle to grow as a trader, but they are not the reason I trade.

If I gave you a $1,000,000 funded account today, what would you do in the first 7 days?

First, I would be extremely grateful, to God and to everyone who made such an opportunity possible. My first reaction would not be about profits but about responsibility; a $1,000,000 funded account is a tremendous privilege, and I would want to manage it properly. In the first few days I would carefully study all the firm’s rules and risk parameters. After that, I would keep doing exactly what got me there: following my plan, respecting my risk management, and executing with discipline. I would not change my approach just because the account is larger. Larger capital does not require a different strategy; it requires the same discipline, patience, and consistency. My goal in the first seven days would be to protect the account, follow the rules, and build consistency rather than focus on making as much money as possible.