One Journal Entry Changed My Whole Trading Approach: Rashan's Alpha Futures Story
Roshan
Rashan is in his final year at King's College London (geography). He has traded futures prop evaluations for about five months and reports $7,000+ in performance fees (what many traders call payouts) with Alpha Futures. His edge is not a new indicator. It is a pre-market thesis (bias, SMT, fair value gaps) written around 1:45–2:00 PM UK before the New York open, then same-day journaling so the next session starts by reading yesterday's notes. He trades ES and NQ, started on the Zero plan as a student, and runs two Qualified Accounts while scaling slowly.
Watch the full interview on YouTube
Name | Rashan |
|---|---|
Location | London, UK |
Study / work | Final-year geography, King's College London (dissertation year; job applications ahead) |
Prop trading since | May ( 5 months at time of interview) |
Markets | ES and NQ (avoids NQ on Mondays) |
Style | Discretionary (SMT, FVG, liquidity sweeps; learned via TJR boot camp and YouTube) |
Session | New York open; on charts ~2 hours max after prep |
Platform / firm | Alpha Futures (Zero plan first; two Qualified Accounts at interview) |
Performance fees (self-reported) | $7,000+ in ~5 months |
Next milestone | A few more winning days before another performance fee request; interested in Alpha Prime |
Rashan sat down on the Alpha Futures podcast less than a year into trading. No decade-long backstory. A uni student who saw £20 on gold on his girlfriend's phone, lost £200 on Trading 212, found prop firms on TikTok, and spent two and a half months failing before a daily thesis + journal loop clicked. If you are new to futures prop evaluations (what many search as prop firm challenges), start with how to pass a futures prop evaluation and plans compared.
How it started: gold on a phone, minimum wage, and TikTok
About five or six months before the interview, Rashan was at university and saw his girlfriend up ~£20 on gold on Trading 212 after roughly 20 minutes. He was working a Prêt coffee job on minimum wage.
"I was like, damn, I need to get on this."
He put ~£500 into Trading 212, bought gold, and lost ~£200 over the next week or two. Penny stocks followed with early luck, then the same pattern.
He had never heard of prop firms until TikTok flipped to trading content. Creators explained paying ~£50 for access to a £50,000 simulated evaluation account. It sounded too good to be true. He read more and tried it.
"When I first bought a prop account, I did not know what the NASDAQ was, what the S&P was."
Early trades were liquidity sweeps and fading with no real plan. The first one to two months on prop firms were trial and error. Around two and a half months in, concepts clicked enough that he could spot an SMT or FVG in seconds.
The turning point: thesis before the open, journal before you log off
The interview title is not hype. Rashan says the shift from not making money to making money came from one habit stack:
Before the open (around 1:45–2:00 PM UK, before 2:30):
- Write a thesis for what he expects at the New York open
- Set daily bias
- Note current SMTs
- Mark major fair value gaps being respected or disrespected
After one to two trades (session often done by ~3:30–4:00 PM UK):
- Journal each trade: what he took, why, and what he saw
- Leave a note for tomorrow's Rashan; he reads the previous day's entry before the next session
"It's not like big adjustments… but it makes me dial in for the next day."
That is the if X then Y frame the host describes: not predicting the future, but deciding what you will do if the open plays a certain way, then reviewing whether you reacted or improvised.
What journaling actually changed (small edits, not a new system)
Rashan still works on psychology. Early on he revenge traded and over-leveraged after the first loss. Some days that still creeps in.
From journaling he learned practical filters:
- One-minute FVGs have been weaker lately (often inverse, not holding)
- Internal one-minute SMTs on a single index do not work for him
- He waits for a key level on ES or NQ where the other index does not follow (classic SMT read)
- He does not like trading NQ on Mondays
Those are journal-driven tweaks, not a full strategy rewrite.
A day on the charts now (~2 hours)
Early on Rashan was on charts four to five hours a day mixing live watch and backtesting. On Project X he paper-traded long/short without size to test ideas.
Now:
- Open charts to write the thesis
- Trade one or two setups
- Journal immediately ("short-term pain for long-term gain" on losses; get it done while fresh)
- Log off for the rest of the day
He journals right after the session when possible. If a loss needs a walk or the gym first, that works too. The point is consistency, not martyrdom.
Alpha Futures: Zero plan, Daily Loss Guard, two Qualified Accounts
Rashan found Alpha Futures through TikTok and YouTube creators who ranked it highly. He bought in when the Zero plan launched.
Why Zero fit a student:
- No activation fee on Zero Qualified Accounts (per published plan terms)
- One-day evaluation possible on Zero (with 20% max single-day profit rule on the evaluation)
- 40% consistency rule on the Qualified Account (plan rules at time of his pass; confirm live on the help centre)
His favourite Alpha Futures feature: the Daily Loss Guard (soft lockout on Qualified Accounts). You can tighten the daily loss limit, set a daily profit target, and the platform locks the account until the next session. Rashan credits it with stopping one bad day from wiping weeks of progress.
At interview time he held two Qualified Accounts and planned to add more slowly, using performance fee money rather than rushing evaluation fees. Another request was a few winning days away (Alpha Futures typically requires 5 winning days of $200+ on Zero/Advanced Qualified Accounts per published policy).
He had just learned about Alpha Prime on the podcast and called the London office / community path "super exciting."
University, London, and trading around a degree
Rashan started prop firms in May, after second-year exams. Summer was trading-focused. Returning for final year meant rebalancing: dissertation, job applications, and lectures (mostly Fridays in the term described).
Trading ES/NQ at the New York open from the UK is a fixed window, which helps. He would have preferred Monday lectures because he avoids NQ Mondays, but the schedule is workable Monday–Thursday.
Long term he will apply for jobs after graduation, but wants trading as a majority of income eventually, with side projects alongside. He plans to put a portion of performance fees into stocks and shares with help from his girlfriend's father (works in tech investing).
Family, TikTok, and advice to his younger self
Rashan's dad thought losing a £50,000 account meant owing the firm £50,000. Explaining the evaluation fee vs simulated account took time. After Rashan showed actual performance fees, his dad came around.
Rashan's clearest warning:
Do not listen to TikTok telling you to full-port evaluations to pass fast.
He full-ported early evaluations and lost a lot. Small wins and habits first, size later.
Other lines he lives by:
- "Trading is the hardest way to make easy money" (upside is real; the path is not)
- Losses are normal; short-term pain, long-term gain
- Skill meets opportunity (the golf hole-in-one analogy from the host): luck favours reps, not one lottery ticket
- Do not expect profitability in a week
What Rashan tells traders still in month one
- Write a thesis before the open. Bias, SMT, FVG context. Decide if X then enter.
- Journal the same day when you can. Read yesterday before you trade today.
- Use platform guardrails. Daily Loss Guard is there to protect you from you.
- Study free YouTube first (he cites TJR boot camp and psychology clips). No need for a £3,000 course to start learning concepts.
- Scale accounts slowly. Two Qualified Accounts, reinvest performance fees, do not rush ten evaluations because TikTok said so.
FAQs
Who is Rashan in this Alpha Futures interview?
Rashan is a King's College London geography student who started futures prop evaluations around May and reports $7,000+ in performance fees within about five months on Alpha Futures. YouTube: One Journal Entry Changed My Whole Trading Approach.
What is Rashan's pre-market thesis?
Before the New York open he writes daily bias, notes SMTs, and lists major fair value gaps that are respected or disrespected. After one to two trades he journals why he took them and reads that entry before the next session.
How much has Rashan made on Alpha Futures?
In the podcast he is introduced as having secured over $7,000 in payouts in five months. We use performance fees in editorial copy; that figure is self-reported, not typical, and not guaranteed for other traders.
What strategy does Rashan trade?
Discretionary ES/NQ around the New York open: liquidity sweeps, SMT between indices, FVG reads. He learned foundations from YouTube (including TJR boot camp) and refined rules through journaling (e.g. avoiding weak 1-minute FVGs, no NQ on Mondays).
Why did Rashan choose the Alpha Futures Zero plan?
As a student, no activation fee on Zero Qualified Accounts and accessible evaluation pricing mattered. He passed when Zero launched and cites Daily Loss Guard as his favourite risk tool on Qualified Accounts.
Can I copy Rashan's journal method on an evaluation?
Yes as a process, but you must still follow your plan's MLL, consistency rules, and contract limits on a simulated evaluation account. Journaling does not replace rule compliance. Verify live terms on help.alpha-futures.com.
Ready to start your Alpha Futures evaluation?
Rashan’'s breakthrough was structure, not a secret setup. Write the thesis. Take one or two trades. Journal. Come back tomorrow.
Start your Alpha Futures evaluation today
Alpha Futures is a proprietary trading firm based in the United Kingdom. All accounts operate in a simulated trading environment with simulated funds unless a specific product states otherwise. Performance fees are based on eligible simulated trading results and outcomes are not guaranteed. Trader results described in this interview reflect individual experiences and are not forecasts or guarantees for future traders. Always confirm live rules, eligibility, and pricing on alpha-futures.com and help.alpha-futures.com.
