The best advice in trading? Be patient, says Fintokei Star Martin, who has fully automated his trading on ProTrader

Hi Martin, congratulations on becoming one of the most successful Fintokei traders — a Fintokei Star! Do you remember what first pushed you toward trading?

Hi, thank you. From the very beginning, I was fascinated by trading mainly because of its potential — the possibility of achieving financial freedom and independence.

How did things go for you in the beginning?

Since I don’t have any formal education in finance, I initially relied mostly on the internet. I read articles, familiarized myself with basic principles, and gradually put the bigger picture together.
I also read a book by Larry Williams — Long-Term Secrets to Short-Term Trading. What appealed to me was his systematic approach to finding an edge in the market, based on statistics, historical data analysis, seasonality, and recurring events wherebooke there is a high probability that the market will react in a certain way.
The main benefit for me wasn’t that I gained a specific strategy, but rather that the book taught me to think about markets in a completely different way.

Which markets did you try to apply this knowledge to?

The S&P 500. In 2016, I was placing trades manually through a broker’s web platform. It wasn’t terrible — the first trade ended with only a small loss. Then I was actually in profit for a while, so the first few months were very optimistic. The trades were working out quite nicely.
Later on, however, a longer losing period came. I kept trading until December of that year, but eventually I realized it was no longer sustainable. I didn’t completely wipe out the account, but I was in a significant drawdown. It was my first real confrontation with market reality.

What do you think caused it?

One issue was definitely insufficient testing of the strategy over longer historical periods. The second factor was fees, which put me at a disadvantage almost from the very start of every trade.
Opening small positions was relatively expensive at the time because a minimum base fee was charged. I’m not saying fees were the only reason for my failure, but they certainly played a role.
Today, the situation is completely different. It’s no problem to open micro positions with fractional commissions, and at Fintokei you don’t charge any commissions on stock indices at all, which is great.

Did you have anyone who inspired you in trading? Or even a mentor?

I don’t have a mentor or anyone I directly consult my trading with. Inspiration comes from many sources — articles, e-books, online trading conferences, webinars… things I’ve read or watched over time. It’s not one specific person or one specific trading style.

When did everything finally start to come together and make more sense for you?

That came much later. In 2016, I took a break from trading. Not because I gave up on the markets, but because I admitted to myself that I needed to prepare much more thoroughly — properly backtest on historical data, test ideas on a demo account, and only then consider returning to live trading.
For several years, I mostly observed trading from the sidelines without actively participating. Then 2021 came, along with a renewed interest in this “hobby.” I started studying webinars, e-books, and freely available content more intensively. I discovered the MetaTrader platform and became increasingly interested in trading automation — creating my first robots in MQL and testing them on a demo account.

I continued like this for about two years, until 2023. That’s when the key moment arrived. I discovered a seminar that offered a solution to exactly the problem I was struggling with at the time. I immediately purchased access and started devouring the study materials. And I have to say — it really pushed me forward. I truly learned what I needed there. It was a complete breakthrough.

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What happened next?
Once I had absorbed everything, I started focusing heavily on testing the strategy on historical data and evaluating the results, alongside programming and refining the robots. Based on those tests, I was able to adjust various parameters and really fine-tune the whole system.

Coincidentally, that was also when Fintokei entered the Czech market. So I began optimizing my setup specifically with your trading conditions in mind — especially drawdown limits.

I briefly tested everything on a demo account to verify functionality and proper position sizing, and then I purchased the ProTrader Challenge. Over time, of course, I had to adjust the programs many more times, because some aspects of automated trading only reveal themselves over time, and certain flaws or errors only appear in specific market situations. Even thorough historical testing is a simplification in some respects — for example when it comes to spread variability and real execution delays.

So you trade fully automatically? How would you describe your trading style?
Yes, I trade fully automatically. Most trades are intraday, lasting minutes to hours. But when there’s a strong trend, a position can sometimes be held for longer.

How did you set up your risk management?
It’s based on tests performed on historical data. Based on those results, I set position sizes for a given account size. The typical maximum drawdown within a single day is around 0.5%, although that’s not a hard cap. In exceptional cases, it can reach 1%.
My hard daily loss limit is 2%. If that level is reached, trading stops completely. It’s purely account protection for extreme or completely unexpected situations. I don’t normally even come close to that level.

Which markets have your robots performed best on?
Definitely stock indices. Primarily the Nasdaq 100 (US100). As a supplement, I also trade the S&P 500 (US500) and DAX (GER40) with smaller position sizes.

You mentioned that you learned about Fintokei back in 2023. What motivated you to try our challenge?
I already had an account with Purple Trading for some time, so the connection between the two companies played a role. Based on my own experience, I trusted Purple Trading and assumed that Fintokei, as part of the Purple Group, would work properly and reliably.
Once I had a fully built and tested strategy, I purchased the challenge. I really liked the opportunity to test my systems this way — without risking my own capital and with a clearly defined maximum real loss (the cost of the challenge), but with much greater earning potential if things go well.

What do you consider your first win at Fintokei?
Since my trading is fully automated, it doesn’t really make sense to talk about one specific trade as a win. I don’t evaluate individual trades.
For me, a real win was passing Phase 1 of the ProTrader Challenge, and of course obtaining a funded account and receiving my first payout.

What about stress during trading? Does automation help you with that?
At first glance, it might seem that automation significantly reduces stress, but the reality is a bit more complex.

On the level of individual trades, it definitely helps — because trades are executed according to predefined rules, I don’t have to overthink every entry and exit. But there’s still the overall account equity curve, which affects you regardless of whether things are going well or you’re going through a losing streak.

In both cases, I try to resist the urge to make impulsive decisions — such as changing system parameters or position sizes outside of the plan.

What helps me a lot are the historical backtest results (especially in the early stages), as well as my own live trading history. I keep detailed records and evaluate everything week by week.
When stagnation, drawdowns, or doubts arise about whether everything is still “okay,” I just look back at the history, find several similar situations from the past, and reassure myself that this is part of the system and still within predefined limits.

How do you deal with losses? Sooner or later, every trader faces them.
I try to accept losses as a natural part of trading and account for them already when designing the system. Every strategy performs better in some periods and worse in others — that’s just how it works.
As I mentioned, my expectations are shaped by historical testing and ongoing performance evaluation. When losses occur, I respond by continuing to trade according to the system.

What does your typical day look like? Do you have any rituals you never skip when preparing for trading?
In the morning, I usually turn on my computer, connect to the server, and check that all systems are running. During the day, I occasionally take a quick look at MetaTrader on my phone. I also use notifications in case a certain drawdown level is reached. In the afternoon or evening, I usually check everything again.

Martin, we’re nearing the end. Thank you for taking the time. To wrap things up — what do you think is the biggest myth associated with trading?
I’m not sure if it’s the biggest myth, but from my perspective, it’s the idea that using automated trading tools is an easy and guaranteed path to results. It’s just one of many possible approaches, and like any other, it won’t suit everyone.

Beyond understanding how markets work and having a trading strategy, there are additional challenges to solve — especially ensuring continuous and reliable platform operation, connectivity, software updates, backups, and thinking through various contingency scenarios if something fails.

Last but not least, you need to be able to fix and modify the Expert Advisors on the fly — based on newly discovered bugs or new market situations. It’s a constant process of refinement and adjustment. It’s definitely not about setting something up once, turning it on, letting it “trade by itself,” and being done with it.