Timothy Ndung’u
Timothy Ndung’u is a 22-year-old trader from Nairobi who blew his father’s $250 in two days, then rebuilt into a funded $125,000 FTMO account. Here is his story, in his own words.
My name is Timothy Ndung’u. I’m 22 years old, from Nairobi, Kenya. I primarily trade XAU/USD – gold – which is where most of my focus and edge lies. Occasionally I also trade GBP/USD when conditions align with my setup. Over time I’ve been drawn to instruments with strong volatility and clean price action, because they suit my style best.
I became a funded trader at the beginning of 2023 with My Forex Funds. What changed for me was not just access to capital – it was belief. I started believing in trading as a real career path, and more importantly, I started believing in myself. Getting funded proved this was not just wishful thinking: it showed me that if I fully commit to something, stay disciplined, and keep improving, I can achieve it. That moment changed how I approached not just trading, but life in general.
The first thing I bought with trading profits was a brand new phone. It might sound simple, but it was a big moment – the first physical thing I bought purely from trading. Until then, profits felt like numbers on a screen. Buying something tangible made it real. That was the moment I truly felt that trading works.
Getting there took some hard failures. Before getting funded I failed three times: one FTMO account and two My Forex Funds accounts. Most of my mistakes came from impatience, emotional decisions, and forcing trades that were not really there. What kept me going was understanding that failure is part of the process – every loss taught me something, and I knew the only real way to fail was to quit.
My most expensive lesson was trading without a proper plan. It cost me $250 – money my father gave me to kickstart my trading journey. At the time I barely understood the market. I bought an FTMO account and blew both the challenge and the capital in just two days. That one hurt, because it was not just money; it was trust and opportunity. But it shaped me. It taught me that without a solid plan, trading becomes gambling.
My lowest point was in 2023, when My Forex Funds shut down. At the time I had a funded $5,000 account and had just passed Phase 1 on a $10,000 account. Overnight, everything disappeared. Did I think about quitting? Absolutely – it felt like years of effort had been wiped out. But deep down I knew my skill had not disappeared. The firm was gone, but what I had learned remained. That is what kept me moving.
Trading affected me mentally to the point where my performance in school dropped significantly. I was a second-year student at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, and balancing academics, trading stress, and personal growth became very difficult. There were periods of stress, self-doubt, and emotional exhaustion. But looking back, trading forced me to confront myself – it exposed the weaknesses in my discipline, patience, and mindset.
Today I mainly focus on XAU/USD. My style is centred on identifying breakout opportunities based on market structure and overall bias – I look for moves in both directions, buy or sell, depending on what the market is showing. I pay close attention to major economic news events, because they can create strong volatility and opportunity. I primarily use two timeframes: the 4-hour to identify the overall setup and key areas of interest, and the 30-minute to refine entries. I’d describe myself as a swing trader with a long-term mindset.
My day usually starts around 6am. I wake up, open my laptop, and check the markets – identifying key areas of interest and marking potential setups. Then I work out and get ready for the day. Once I’m back, I reassess. If I see a high-probability move developing, I stay locked in; if not, I step away and handle other responsibilities. I set alerts around key levels so I don’t need to watch charts all day, and when price reaches those areas I come back and evaluate. Risk management is non-negotiable: every trade has a defined stop loss and take profit.
My most recent losing trade was on Monday the 22nd. I saw a setup that met all my criteria and aligned fully with my strategy, so I took it with confidence. It did not go in my favour. Would I do anything differently? Honestly, no. That is the key lesson: losing trades are part of the business. If I follow my plan with discipline, I’m satisfied with the execution regardless of outcome. Consistency matters more than any individual trade.
One popular belief I disagree with is that you must be taught trading by someone else, and that succeeding alone is nearly impossible. I believe trading is ultimately a deeply personal journey. You can learn from mentors and communities, but real growth happens when you go through the struggles yourself – learning, adapting, failing, and improving. Trading teaches self-mastery and self-awareness, and no one can do that internal work for you.
Not many people around me truly know what I do. Only my girlfriend and my best friend really understand what I’m involved in – I usually keep trading private and let people associate me more with my side business. Trading carries misconceptions: some think it’s gambling, others a scam or easy money. I prefer to keep a low profile and focus on the work rather than the attention. Still, trading has had a huge impact on my lifestyle. It has given me something I value deeply: freedom – with time, with location, and in how I structure my life. It lets me spend more time with the people I care about and do things I enjoy, like playing football.
What separates me from someone who washed out at their third evaluation is my ability to stay calm under pressure. Trading constantly tests your discipline, patience, and emotional control. When things get difficult, I focus on staying consistent and trusting my process, because long-term success comes from discipline, not emotion. If I could advise myself a year ago: stay consistent, stay disciplined, and trust the process – and keep improving not just the strategy, but yourself, mentally, physically, and spiritually. The better you become as a person, the better you perform as a trader.
If prop firms disappeared tomorrow, I would still be trading, just with personal capital instead. My approach would not change much – same markets, same strategy. Prop firms are just a vehicle. The real asset is skill.
And if you gave me a $1,000,000 funded account today, honestly I would do exactly what I do right now with my funded $125,000 FTMO account. I would not suddenly increase risk or change my strategy just because the account is bigger. Same risk percentage, same plan, same discipline. Bigger capital does not change the process – it only magnifies the importance of discipline, consistency, and risk management.
His FTMO Evaluation certificate.
About the writer – Timothy Ndung’u
Timothy Ndung’u is a 22-year-old trader from Nairobi, Kenya, and a student at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. He trades gold (XAU/USD) as a swing trader, hunting breakouts off the 4-hour and 30-minute charts around market structure and major news. After blowing his father’s $250 on an FTMO account in two days and losing a funded account when My Forex Funds collapsed, he rebuilt his edge and now trades a funded $125,000 FTMO account – convinced that the firm is only a vehicle, and the real asset is skill.
