“Just because you’re not profitable for a month doesn’t mean you’re not a good trader,” says Alle from Italy
From binary options chaos to consistent success, from factory worker to a professional trader. Meet Alle FX, an Italian trader who turned setbacks into structure, patience, and skill.
Hi Alessandro, welcome to Fintokei Stars! Do you remember what first got you into trading?
Hello, and thank you for having me! Of course, the first impulse came from the idea of being able to make money from anywhere in the world with just a Wi-Fi connection. And honestly, at first, it looked way easier than it actually is. 😀
So yes, the first motivation was the dream of easy money, total freedom – no boss checking on me, no fixed working hours, no suppliers or clients to deal with, just me being my own boss.
Lessons from binary options
What was your next step after that first impulse?
Well… binary options, which those who know, know. Those who don’t – let’s just say it’s really close to gambling.
Basically, you just deposit some money with a broker, pick your instrument, and then bet on the price either going up or down within a certain time frame. That’s it. If you’re right, you can make around 70%, if not, you lose everything.
So, as you can imagine, it ended up being a total bloodbath, and I lost quite a bit of money. 😀
Starting with binary options sounds tough. Do you remember your first trade?
That was probably on Forex, I don’t remember exactly, but it was likely EUR/USD. There was this so-called “gap strategy” that people used on Sunday nights when the market opened. I remember that trade actually went well; that part I do remember clearly.
And of course, that made us even more hyped, because we thought, “Wow, you just click and make money!” We made in one trade what we would normally earn in four or five days of work, so we were super excited about it.
Was there anyone helping you in those early stages? A mentor maybe?
I started before the Instagram era, so I didn’t really have anyone specific who inspired me. It was more about the idea itself: the dream of being able to break free from a regular job and have the freedom to choose when, how, and where to work. So no, there weren’t any online gurus or mentors back then – it was just that vision of independence that drove me.
The turning point
It seems you took the hard route: no mentors and binary options. What became your turning point?
I think the real turning point was in 2019, when I decided to quit studying trading altogether because things just weren’t working out. A broker had denied us a payout of €2,000, and I thought, “Okay, that’s it, this whole thing is a scam.” I walked away.
But my colleague stayed in the trading world and later discovered CFDs.
When we started studying CFDs, we were like, “Oh wow, so there is a way to make this work.” Because with CFDs, if you do things right, you don’t just earn 70%, you can make 200% or even 300% of your risk. The risk/reward finally made sense. Before, it was always negative – you needed a super high win rate just to stay afloat. So when my friend told me, “Hey, there’s something called CFDs,” that was the real pivot moment in my trading career.
Since you didn’t have mentors early on, where did you eventually gain your trading know-how?
At the beginning, I owe most of my knowledge to my colleague Luigi Drago, who showed me the ropes. Later on, definitely to Mauro Ludovico and Bernd Skorupinski. I guess from that moment on, I found my mentors in those two (Ludovico and Bernd). They really helped me turn things around, and today I’m lucky and honored to be working alongside them.
Discover the power of swing trading with TradingView💪
Kick off your challenge with the ProTrader Swing program on the most advanced platform on the market.
Swing trading and risk control
Bernd was actually our first-ever Fintokei Star! So, what’s your trading approach today?
If I had to put a label on my trading style, even though I’m not really a fan of labels, I’d say it’s mainly swing trading based on supply and demand. Lately, though, I’ve been looking for entry patterns on smaller timeframes like H1 and H4 to confirm that a particular demand or supply zone is actually the right area to take a position.
How do you approach risk management?
My risk management is very straightforward: when I’m trading in a challenge, I risk more – 1% per trade – while on a funded account, I keep it lower, around 0.25% per trade.
What do you enjoy most about trading – besides payouts? 😄
Well, that would most definitely be the adrenaline, and also that feeling of being right, of understanding the markets.
Even though, in the end, you never truly understand them completely! But that’s also the beauty of it. 😀
Joining fintokei
How did you first get into prop trading – and with Fintokei specifically?
That was solely thanks to Marco Martire, a colleague of yours. He contacted me and told me that Fintokei is a broker-backed prop trading company that wants to expand into the Italian market after conquering the Japanese and Czech markets.
The “broker-backed” keyword resonated with me. Because at that point, I had already heard about prop trading, but Fintokei was the first company I knew that was backed by a broker, which gave it a lot more credibility and professionalism. So I joined the Fintokei family – probably as the first “finfluencer” ever to do so.
How did your first win with Fintokei go?
That was on EUR/AUD, and it was a long trade. I made around €7,500–€7,700. I was really excited; it felt incredible. That’s partly because that was more than two months of my old salary as a factory worker, and I made it in just two days.
Let’s get real now – how do you deal with the stress and pressure that comes with trading?
I knew this part was gonna come. 😀 I work out about four to five times a week, and I must say, physical exercise is definitely the best way to release stress for me.
Another simple but effective way is lowering my risk, except during challenges, where I trade more aggressively with a 1% risk. But on funded accounts, I stick to 0.25% per trade, which keeps my stress levels very low.
And if losses come nevertheless? How do you handle them?
With a philosophical mindset. I always try to understand whether the loss came from not following my trading plan or if it was simply one of those statistical losses that are part of the game. So, reviewing my losses and analyzing their cause is how I deal with them. I want to know whether it was my mistake or just probability doing its job.
FREE E-book: How to start with prop trading
Discover the secret to the discipline that turns everyday people into well-paid pro traders. Learn how prop trading works – and how you can start your own journey.
The trade that stood out
Can you walk us through one of your best trades at Fintokei?
Yes, the trade was on the H4 timeframe on EUR/AUD, and what I really liked about it was that I managed to catch the monthly low of October by paying close attention to the quarterly chart.
The previous three months had closed inside, and the moment the low of that three-month candle was taken out, I started looking for long entries on EUR/AUD on the H4 timeframe. Things went really well right away; the price moved instantly in my favor. So, it was a trade executed on lower timeframes but with a bias based on higher-timeframe structure.
What was the key to success in that trade?
The key to success in this trade was definitely technical analysis combined with multi-timeframe reading. I used a bias from the quarterly chart but looked for my entry on the H4 timeframe, where I saw a clear reaction on a demand level. So it was a mix of analysis and patience – no intuition or fundamental news, just pure chart reading.
Routine and balance
Thanks, Alessandro! Before we wrap up, what does a typical day look like for you?
A typical day for me starts around 8 a.m. I have breakfast with my girlfriend and make myself a nice American coffee, which is a must for me. Once I’ve got my coffee, I sit down in front of the charts and start by checking how the previous day, week, and month closed. Based on that, I try to understand the possible direction the market might take. But yes, my one true ritual is definitely that American coffee. 😀
Any hobbies outside of trading?
Definitely CrossFit, spending time with friends, theatre, and of course, traveling too. If I had to sum it up, those are my main ways to relax outside of trading. I keep the balance pretty easily: when I’m in Italy, I do CrossFit almost every day, I go to the theatre once a week, and I hang out with my friends two or three times a week.
Finally, what’s the biggest myth about trading, and what’s the best advice you’ve received?
The biggest myth is that trading means easy money and that if you don’t drive a Lamborghini, you’re a failure. Another common misconception is that traders are just gamblers or that trading itself is a scam. I really want to emphasize that this isn’t true; there are serious people in this field, people who make good money and do it ethically and professionally.
The best trading advice I’ve ever received is that a trader’s job isn’t to be profitable, it’s to take one good trade at a time. I actually found that quote online, and it really stuck with me: “One good trade. One good trade. One good trade.”
That’s the trader’s real job: to keep taking good trades, not to focus on making money. Making money is simply the consequence of consistently taking good trades.
So, the best advice I can give others is to detach their identity from their results. Just because you’re not profitable for a month doesn’t mean you’re not a good trader. There will be bad days, bad weeks, even bad years, but the goal shouldn’t be about how much you make. The goal is to focus on executing the next good trade, and then the next one after that. That’s our real job as traders.
