Prince Kumar
Prince Kumar is a 20-year-old trader from Jamshedpur, India, who blew roughly ten challenges before he got funded – and never let it break him. Here is his story, in his own words.
Hi, my name is Prince Kumar. I’m 20 years old and I’m from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India. I’m a forex trader, and I mainly trade gold (XAU/USD), forex pairs, and Bitcoin. I’ve been trading for about a year, continuously improving through market experience, backtesting, and disciplined risk management. My strategy is based on price action and liquidity sweeps, and I focus on the London and New York sessions. Alongside trading, I also create educational content to help other traders learn and grow.
I became a funded trader recently, after getting access to a funded account through a prop firm. It was a big milestone, because it let me trade with more capital while keeping strict risk management, and it made me more disciplined and focused – I now treat trading like a professional business rather than a personal challenge. Since then I’ve been more committed to following my plan, managing risk carefully, and continuously improving.
To be honest, I haven’t had that moment yet where I used trading profits to buy something big. I’m still focused on building consistency and becoming profitable over the long term. One milestone that gave me confidence was investing in a $50,000 funded challenge – buying that account was a commitment to taking trading seriously and investing in my own growth. For me, the biggest proof it’s working isn’t luxury items; it’s continuing to improve, managing risk properly, and building a long-term career. My goal is to become consistently profitable and eventually use my trading income to achieve financial freedom and support my family.
Before getting funded, I failed around ten challenge accounts. Every failure taught me something new about risk management, discipline, and controlling my emotions. What kept me going was the belief that trading is a skill that takes time to master. Instead of giving up, I reviewed my mistakes, improved my strategy, and focused on becoming more consistent. I knew every setback was part of the learning process.
The most expensive lesson I paid for was blowing those roughly ten funded challenges, which cost me around $400 to $500 in total. It taught me that a good strategy alone isn’t enough – risk management, patience, and emotional control are what keep you in the game. After those losses I stopped chasing trades, became much more disciplined, and started following my plan consistently. It was an expensive lesson, but it shaped me into a better trader.
My lowest point came after failing those challenges. It was frustrating, because I had invested both time and money, and I started questioning my progress. Yes, I did think about quitting for a while. But I realised every successful trader goes through difficult phases. Instead of giving up, I reviewed my mistakes, improved my risk management, became more patient, and stayed committed to my plan. Looking back, I’m glad I didn’t quit – those setbacks made me mentally stronger.
Trading definitely affected me mentally, more than I expected at first. After losing trades and failing challenges, I felt stress and self-doubt, and sometimes I overtraded because I wanted to recover losses quickly. Over time I realised those emotions were hurting my performance, so I started focusing on discipline instead of profits: strict risk management, sticking to my plan, and no revenge trading. Now I understand that losses are a normal part of trading, and staying emotionally controlled is just as important as having a good strategy.
Today I mainly trade gold (XAU/USD), forex pairs, and Bitcoin, with gold as my primary focus. I analyse setups on the 15-minute and take precise entries on the 5-minute. My strategy is built on price action and liquidity sweeps – I wait for liquidity to be taken before entering in the direction of the market structure. I trade the London and New York sessions for the highest liquidity and volatility, and my approach is about patience and high-probability setups, not taking a large number of trades.
A typical day starts with checking the overall market structure and marking key support and resistance. Before the London session I identify important liquidity zones and plan my potential setups. During London and New York I patiently wait for my strategy to align instead of forcing trades, and I look for price action and liquidity-sweep confirmations before entering, always with strict risk management. After each session I review my trades, take screenshots, and journal what went well and what could improve.
My most recent losing trade was on gold during the London session. I identified a liquidity sweep and a price action setup that matched my plan, so I entered with proper risk management. The market then made another liquidity sweep before moving in my expected direction, which hit my stop. Instead of trying to recover the loss, I accepted it and stayed out, because my setup was no longer valid. I don’t see it as a mistake – it was a valid setup that simply didn’t work out. Following my plan consistently matters more to me than avoiding every losing trade.
One piece of advice I don’t follow is that you need to trade every day to be successful. For me, trading is about quality, not quantity. If my price action and liquidity-sweep setup isn’t there, I won’t force a trade just to stay active – sometimes the best decision is to stay patient and protect my capital. Consistency comes from waiting for high-probability opportunities, not from trading every single day.
In the beginning, most people around me didn’t really understand what I was doing – many thought it was gambling or a quick way to make money, and were sceptical. As I got more serious, invested in my education, bought challenges, and stayed disciplined, their view gradually changed; they see now that trading takes patience, skill, and risk management. My family and close friends are supportive of the journey, and that motivates me. Trading has also had a big impact on my lifestyle – it has taught me patience, discipline, and emotional control, not just in the markets but in daily life, and pushed me to keep a routine and make decisions based on logic rather than emotion.
What separates me from someone who washes out is persistence and the willingness to learn from mistakes. Many traders quit after a few failed evaluations; I chose to keep improving. I failed around ten challenges, and each one taught me something about risk, discipline, and emotional control. Instead of blaming the market, I reviewed my trades and refined my approach. My mindset is what separates me – I don’t expect instant success; I focus on continuous improvement and following my plan, and I treat every setback as a chance to get better.
If I could give myself advice a year ago, it would be: be patient and trust the process. Stop chasing quick profits and concentrate on building consistency. Risk management and emotional discipline matter far more than finding the “perfect” strategy. And most importantly – don’t be afraid of failure. Every losing trade and every failed challenge is a lesson that makes you better.
Even if prop firms disappeared tomorrow, I would still be trading. I’d continue on my personal account while working toward consistency, and keep building my personal brand through educational content and market analysis. For me trading is more than funded accounts – it’s a long-term career, and my goal is to build a sustainable business around it through my own capital, content, and other opportunities in the industry. And if I were given a $1,000,000 funded account today, my approach wouldn’t change at all. For the first seven days I’d follow the exact same plan I use now: only my high-probability price action and liquidity-sweep setups, strict risk management, and discipline. A larger account doesn’t require a different strategy – it requires the same patience and professional execution.
About the writer – Prince Kumar
Prince Kumar is a 20-year-old forex trader from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India, focused on gold (XAU/USD) along with forex pairs and Bitcoin. He trades a price action and liquidity-sweep strategy on the 15- and 5-minute charts across the London and New York sessions, and also creates educational content for other traders. After failing around ten challenge accounts, he got funded across Goat Funded Trader, Blueberry Funded and FundingPips, and now trades on strict risk management, patience, and the belief that consistency – not activity – is what protects capital.
