One Prop Trader a Day – Meet Yuji Harrington: All or Nothing

A My name is Yuji Harrington. I’m 20, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and I trade NQ, ES, Gold, and Silver futures (equities and commodities).

A I first got funded less than a week into starting trading – an Apex Trader Funding 25K account. At the time it felt huge, but honestly nothing really changed because I was so early in the journey and had no idea what good trading habits even looked like. It was beginner’s luck. Beyond a boost to the ego, nothing really shifted.

A Good. Like I was a natural. Not knowing the markets were about to humble me.

A It was my third evaluation that I passed. My good friend started trading around the same time, so being able to talk about trading with him every day made it very easy to keep going. Either way, from the first time I pressed buy and sell, I fell in love with trading – the passion and willingness to grind has always been there.

A My lowest point came around the 6 or 7 month mark. I had pulled $10K in payouts in my first four months, then tried to scale too quickly and ran through all of my profits on evaluations and stupid purchases – to the point where I had literally nothing in my bank account. It didn’t have to get to that point. I was rushing things and making bad financial decisions. But I’m glad I went through it. It taught me that if I don’t follow my system and rules, the market will take everything from you.

No – I never thought about quitting. To me there was no other option. It was all or nothing, and it still is all or nothing.

A 100%. Anyone who says otherwise is lying or barely actually trades. If you trade on a consistent basis, you will have to deal with your emotions every single day. You never truly become an “emotionless trader” – you just learn how to manage them better over time.

A I scalp intraday, predominantly Nasdaq (NQ) as of recently. I trade both the New York session (9:30-11:00 AM EST) and the Asia session (8pm-12am EST). My strategy is orderflow analysis on Bookmap, combined with ICT teachings (essentially Wyckoff schematics). The exact confluences I use, in no particular order: Auction Market Theory, Volume Profiles (session/daily/weekly), Absorption, CVD Divergences, ICT Power of 3, Standard Deviations, OTE, SMT Divergences. I’m usually in and out of positions very quickly – sometimes 10 minutes, sometimes 10 seconds. I focus on a high risk-to-reward ratio so I can size heavily (1-3 minis) without risking a large chunk of the account’s drawdown – usually $300-$400 per trade on a 50K with a 2K drawdown.

A I wake up at 8:30 AM EST, an hour before the open, hydrate, and go for a walk to get sunlight and blood flowing to the body and brain. I’ll have some caffeine right before the open, which always leads to an inconvenient bowel movement right before the bell (if you know, you know). I trade from 9:30 to 11, journal my trades, then head to the gym. Going to the gym right after the session has been very useful for forcing me off the charts – for someone like me, just staring at screens all day is way too easy.

A Of course not. Whenever you tell 99% of people that you trade, they immediately assume you’re gambling. I don’t like to boast about my profits, but when I do, that’s when they start to understand. Either way, most people will not understand you – and they don’t have to. The proof that this works is everywhere online if you know where to look and can tell apart the real traders from the larpers.

A Immensely. During my first year of trading (I’m currently 20 months in) my lifestyle actually got worse with the stress of unprofitability and being broke. But less than halfway through 2026 I’ve already requested over $60,000 in payouts, with consistent $10K+ profit months. I’ve been able to buy my own car in cash completely by myself, pay my rent, and I’m looking to buy a new investment property with an FHA loan.

I’m still in college at a Top 25 university, but I know trading is my future, so I don’t worry about school – I spend that bandwidth on health and relationships instead. Honestly, the only reason I’ve seen these results is by neglecting my schoolwork and doing the bare minimum. I switched my major specifically because all the economics and business required classes were during the New York AM session, and I gained way more from the NY AM session than from a finance lecture with information that hasn’t been updated in 20 years. I’m not recommending this path, but it’s the one I chose. I’d rather give one thing my all than divide my attention and progress toward each path slower.

A My parents. They’ve done so much for me and they’re still working their stressful jobs, getting older every time I see them. I don’t know when their last days may be, so I want to give them the best life possible while I can. Beyond that, the passion and love I have for trading, investing, and understanding how the world works on an economic level is what keeps me motivated. I truly love trading, I love prop firms, I love all of it.

A Paper trade first. Prove consistent profitability there before you start investing real money. I never paper traded at all – I went straight into buying evaluations not even knowing how TradingView worked and without any kind of strategy. I was just gambling at the beginning, and that attitude towards trading is what gives it the bad reputation a lot of people have of it. I could have avoided a lot of stress and pain by taking the time to actually build the skill first.

A Figure out an optimal risk protocol so any inevitable drawdown can never be too detrimental to the account. Do anything I can to hide the balance and floating PnL. Just execute and detach from the money. Then start trading – simply follow my system and risk protocol, never deviating from my rules. Whether it’s a $5K funded account or a $1M one, the trading system you follow doesn’t change. At the end of the day it really is just a number on a screen.