“Losses will come, but what really matters is what they do to you in the trades that follow,” says Fintokei Star Tom S.

Hey Tom, welcome to the Fintokei Stars. What was your path to trading like?
I got into trading through crypto. Like many people, I lost quite a lot of money back then. 😀 About a year later, I told myself I wanted to understand where I’d gone wrong. So I started paying more attention to charts and technical analysis.

And how did that go?
Well, over time, I realized that charts and technicals aren’t everything. 😀 That’s when I started to really notice the importance of discipline and trading psychology in general. And as someone who works on himself and is interested in personal development, this completely absorbed me. Since then, I’ve been taking trading as a long-term journey of both personal and financial growth. Because if there’s one thing I agree with, it’s the idea that trading is a reflection of your life. It’s not just about charts at all. If you have chaos in your head, you’ll have chaos in your trading too.

What about your first trades? How did they turn out?
The very first ones were based almost exclusively on trendlines. That worked for about a month. Then I started increasing position sizes and adding more strategies. And not long after that, I was on my way… down.😀

This is exactly the moment where things break one way or the other. Either people quit, or they dig in even deeper.
Exactly. I dug in and started educating myself systematically. Price action, market profile, order flow, all the classics. I still use them today when scalping. But above all of that, psychology ruled everything. I owe about 80% of my success to it.

Were you learning on your own the whole time, or did you have inspiration, a mentor, a teacher?
I met a trader whose view of the markets resonated with me deeply. He showed me that trading can be done in a very simple way, and that this simplicity is where the real beauty lies.

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What conclusions did you draw from that?
On swing trades, I went back to pure price action, cleared my head, set strict discipline, and started backtesting. I learned to see the market through just one strategy and consciously filter out all the other noise.

Would you say that deciding to make these changes was a key moment in your trading?
Yes, but there were actually several key moments. One was definitely meeting that person I mentioned. Then, setting firm discipline and a clear plan, and especially joining the LTA community and meeting Ludvík Turek. From him, I gained crucial know-how and important realizations.

What helped you so much about the LTA community?
Mainly, the fact that there was no fluff around it. Just a pure no-bullshit approach. Everything was about real trading. Thanks to that, the progress was extremely fast. There’s no other trading community in the Czech Republic that I would recommend more than this one.

What trading style have you developed over time?
I combine swing and scalp trading. I scalp ES, and for swing trades, I mainly focus on gold and indices. I try not to risk more than 0.5% per trade. If I add to a position, I move my stop loss accordingly, but I always stick to the original idea, mainly to prevent emotions from taking control.

Is there a trade that really stuck in your memory?
That was on gold. I was expecting a deeper correction. But I told myself I’d rather wait for a confluence of multiple factors and confirmation of trend continuation. I added to the position gradually toward the higher-timeframe target and held the trade exactly according to the plan.
The joy from the profit was obviously there, but the even better feeling came from the correct idea, intuition, and above all from sticking to the trading plan.

How did you first hear about Fintokei?
Prop trading had passed me by for a long time. But when I found out that you can pay for a challenge, and if you succeed, you get an account to trade, and then withdraw profits from it, it completely fascinated me. Fintokei was the first company I heard mostly positive reviews about. So I went for the safe bet.

And how did it go? Do you remember a big moment at Fintokei?
Definitely, I remember one moment very clearly. I had accounts in a really deep drawdown, but I managed to recover them. I turned the account back into profit and started being much more selective with my trades. That’s when my journey truly began, as someone who takes trading seriously and doesn’t rush headfirst into everything.

You mention trading psychology a lot. How does it help you deal with losses?
You know, I’m more of an emotional type. So at the beginning, I reacted to losses quite excessively. Over time, though, I educated myself, and my mind simply adapted. I now see losses purely as operating costs of doing business. And losses will always come. What matters most is what they do to you in the trades that follow.
Sure, more stressful periods can happen, and that’s where sport comes in. Strength training and martial arts help me a lot. But it’s not all about aggression, so I also meditate and keep an emotional journal. I recommend it to everyone!
And the final part of the trio that helps me handle stress is post-trade analysis. I make sure to thoroughly review every trade I take. That’s an absolute game-changer.

Tom, thanks for a great interview. Before we wrap up, what does a typical trading day look like for you?
It’s all about discipline, sport, and frequently stepping out of my comfort zone. I really like the idea that top traders achieve consistent profits because they live balanced lives. So I try to find that balance between performance and rest as well.