One Prop Trader a Day – Brandon Lam: Keep It Simple and Trust the Journal

Updated 25 September 2026

One Prop Trader a Day – Episode 90

Brandon Lam

My name is Brandon Lam, I am 30, from Orlando, Florida. I trade futures – NQ, ES, YM, RTY, GC and NG – currently for Topstep and Lucid Trading, and my whole approach comes down to keeping things mechanical and simple.

Age30

FromUnited States 🇺🇸

TradesFutures – NQ, ES, YM, RTY, GC, NG

StyleMechanical price action, 1% risk

FirmTopstepFirmLucid TradingFirmFTMO

What does a three month losing streak do to a trader? Brandon Lam, a 30-year-old futures trader from Orlando who trades NQ, ES, YM, RTY, gold and natural gas on a mechanical plan at 1 percent risk, blew account after account through his, and came out of it by writing everything down. In this interview, he explains the journal that holds his process together, why comparing your timeline to anybody else’s is pointless, and what he would do with a million dollars beyond trading it.

Brandon’s funding journey

I first became funded back in 2021 with FTMO, when I started out as a forex trader. I did not know much about trading then, and honestly I believed I had just gotten lucky on that first account. I thought I was going to be the next millionaire and all my problems would be solved – both of those turned out to be lies. The first thing I did with a payout was travel. I love travelling, and being able to fund those experiences with prop firm capital made me feel like I was finally doing something right.

I failed too many times to count. There was a stretch where I was on a three-month losing streak, blowing account after account – at that point I was not really trading, I was gambling. What kept me going was knowing that if I gave up, I would regret not having tried hard enough. If I had to put a million dollars on a single lesson, it would be this: everyone’s trading journey is completely different. Do not compare yourself to the people posting all their winners on social media. It might take one person two years and another five or six – as long as you keep putting in the work, how long it takes does not matter.

My lowest point was the second year of my journey, during that three-month losing streak. I started tilting, and it got so bad that I was depressed and did not talk to anyone for seven months. I knew I needed to step away from the charts because it was hurting my life. But even at my lowest, I never once thought about quitting. Emotions are part of being human – these days, when I start to tilt, I delete the apps and charts and go outside. Sometimes a couple of days away is the best way to reset.

His mechanical futures strategy

I am a price action trader and my trading is very mechanical. I look for specific candlestick patterns, like engulfings, that show conviction alongside the previous day’s volume profile and price imbalances. My setup does not occur often – maybe a trade every other day – which is why I trade six pairs. I also like taking reversals at the midpoint of the previous day’s range, targeting the previous day’s high or low, risking just 1 percent per trade. About 30 minutes before I start at 6am Eastern, I draw the previous day’s volume profile levels, the midpoint of the range, and the price imbalances on the 4-hour and daily.

My most recent losing trade was on NQ, at the midpoint of the previous day’s range. It looked great – support at the prior day’s VAL and a price imbalance zone – but price reversed instantly and stopped me out. Looking back, I would not do anything differently, because even the best trades get stopped out. Not every trade is a winner, and that is okay. The advice I had to learn the hard way is to keep trading as simple as possible. I used to over-complicate things with so many rules that I confused myself. Stick to one or two setups and understand them deeply.

Learning through his trading journal

What separates me from someone who washed out at their third evaluation is my journal. I go over every trade to understand why I took it and what went wrong. My advice to myself a year ago would be to trust my strategy and stay disciplined – risk management is the number one rule for staying consistent. If prop firms disappeared tomorrow, I would trade a personal brokerage account exactly the way I do now. And if I were handed a million-dollar account, I would put a big chunk into real estate or equities to build passive income while trading the rest on a live account.

Verified funded – the receipts