One Prop Trader a Day - Majesty Pillas: The Market Simply Reflects Reality

Majesty Pillas

Majesty Pillas is a 36-year-old Filipino trader who failed the FTMO Challenge five times, finally got funded – and a year later still has not taken a payout. Here is his story, in his own words.

Age36

FromPhilippines 🇵🇭

TradesGold (XAU)

StyleSelective

Funded2025

FirmFTMO

Hi, I’m Majesty Pillas, 36 years old, a Filipino prop firm trader specialising in XAUUSD – gold CFDs. I’m also a licensed Equity Stock Trader with the Philippine Stock Exchange, which gives me experience in both the global forex and CFD markets and the local equity market.

I became an FTMO funded trader on 2 May 2025. Achieving funded status marked a significant turning point in my journey. It shifted my mindset from simply chasing payouts to building a consistent and sustainable trading system. I now prioritise disciplined execution, effective risk management, and long-term consistency over short-term profits, believing that consistent performance naturally leads to lasting success.

I want to be honest about where that has left me. After a year of being funded, the reality is that I have not yet received my first payout. It has been a humbling journey filled with valuable lessons about discipline, risk management, and the psychological side of trading. At the moment I am focused on rebuilding my account equity and refining my system. The results have not matched my expectations yet, but I remain committed to becoming consistently profitable. I see every setback as an opportunity to improve, and my goal is a process that delivers sustainable performance rather than quick gains.

Getting funded at all took five attempts. I failed the FTMO Challenge five times, including one where I made it all the way to the Verification stage and still fell short. Those setbacks tested my patience, my discipline, and my belief in myself. What kept me moving forward was the conviction that every failure carried a lesson, and that setbacks are the fuel that propel success. Instead of letting those failures define me, I used them to refine my system, strengthen my mindset, and come back better prepared.

My most expensive lesson cost me $1,000 – I did not understand the entire FTMO process and violated the single-day loss threshold. My lowest point came when I realised a full year had passed since becoming funded, I still had not received a payout, and my account was down 6%. It was a difficult reality to face, but it never stopped me from showing up every day. I kept detailed trade logs, reviewed every position, studied the markets, and above all worked to understand my own strengths and weaknesses. That experience reinforced my belief that success in trading is not defined by avoiding setbacks – it is defined by the discipline to keep improving, even when progress feels slow.

Trading has challenged me emotionally more than I ever expected. There were times I questioned my own worth because of losses, letting my results define how I saw myself. Over time I realised that trading is not a measure of my value as a person. It is a constant lesson in humility, discipline, and acceptance. The key is to detach emotionally from outcomes and let go of ego. The market does not reward pride or punish ambition – it simply reflects reality. The more I accept reality as it is, rather than how I want it to be, the better I become as both a trader and a person.

Less is more. That is one of the core principles of my trading. I limit myself to a maximum of one or two trades per day and focus exclusively on the European session, where my strategy performs best. By being selective I avoid overtrading and wait only for high-quality setups that align with my plan. Consistency does not come from taking more trades – it comes from executing fewer trades with greater discipline and patience.

A typical day starts with checking the economic calendar for high-impact news. If there are major events scheduled, I either avoid trading during those windows or wait until the market stabilises. Next I monitor the Asian session, though for me that is observation rather than execution – it helps me understand market structure and requires a lot of patience, since I rarely trade it. My primary focus is the European session, where I look for high-probability setups that match my plan. If all my conditions are met, I execute. If they are not, I stay out. Protecting capital by not forcing trades is just as important as taking the right ones.

My most recent losing trade proved that point: I traded during the Asian session, which is not in alignment with my strategy, and it resulted in a loss. As for popular advice I don’t follow – the idea that the best way to learn trading is by watching YouTube videos. There are valuable educators on the platform, but I prefer learning from books and, more importantly, from my own experience. Books provide a structured foundation, but the greatest lessons have come from keeping a detailed journal, reviewing my mistakes, and spending time in the live market. Trading is a skill that cannot be mastered by consuming endless content; it develops through deliberate practice, self-reflection, and consistent execution.

Most people around me don’t fully understand what I do, or the daily battles that come with it. From the outside it may look like simply buying and selling, but behind every decision are hours of preparation, discipline, and emotional control. Trading is in many ways a solitary profession – you are responsible for every decision, every mistake, and every outcome. That can feel isolating, but it has taught me accountability, resilience, and the importance of trusting my own process even when no one else fully understands the journey.

Trading has taught me to live well below my means and to be genuinely comfortable with that choice. It has humbled me in countless ways and shifted my perspective on what matters. Today I value freedom more than anything – the freedom to pursue what I am most passionate about, to keep learning, to grow at my own pace, and to focus on continuous improvement rather than comparing my journey to anyone else’s. Trading hasn’t just changed how I manage money; it has changed how I define success.

What separates me from someone who washed out at their third evaluation is grit and tenacity. Even if I had to do everything over again, I would gladly do so – it is a fulfilling journey that money will never be able to compensate. If I could give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be: start slow and stay small. Focus on consistency rather than chasing fast results. Keep your position size and risk percentage consistent, and let your edge play out over time. You don’t need to make money quickly – you need to learn how to survive long enough to become consistently profitable.

If prop firms disappeared tomorrow, I would absolutely still be trading, most likely in the Philippine stock market. For me trading is more than a way to make money; it is a lifelong pursuit. Even if I had to spend another decade learning, rebuilding, and starting over, I would gladly do it. And if I were given a $1,000,000 funded account today, I probably wouldn’t place a single trade in the first seven days. I would rest, reset my mindset, and plan carefully – reviewing my position sizing, defining my risk percentage, and making sure my execution plan matched the scale of the account. The biggest mistake would be feeling pressured to trade immediately. The opportunity isn’t going anywhere, but one impulsive decision could be costly. For me, preparation always comes before execution.

His FTMO funded trader certificate.