Meet Rutger Lokin, a TTP trader based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. With an impressive $3,309.17 in payouts, Lokin shares his story with us today.
2024 was a very interesting year for the markets... what would you say was THE trade that made you realize that you are actually making progress as a trader, and why?
While I’ve had many good trades this year, I made sure to stick to 1:3 risk reward overall. I’ve had some great payouts, and I believe EUR/AUD is – for example – a really good pair, same for U.S. oil. These were great setups that secured very good payouts for me. One key element was truly mastering one strategy, and one type of setup has made a difference for me, which is why I constantly try to keep executing it.
During your trading journey, did you have any moment in which you had an epiphany? More specifically, a moment that made your progress noticeable?
Definitely, in August of 2024 I wanted to start incorporating fundamental analysis in my trading, but realized I had little to no knowledge about fundamentals. I tried looking online and see how to learn more about it, but noticed there weren’t any resources, which pushed me to start fundamentals.com and really dive deeper into Forex fundamentals. My trading has always been purely mechanical, and now I incorporate a fundamental bias – and that was such a turning point for me.
It’s interesting that fundamentals are new to you, because the general assumption is that traders start from the basics then move into the technical side.
Yeah, I started off with purely technical analysis but always knew there was more to it – and decided to learn more about all of it in August. My performance over the years has skyrocketed too ever since I started incorporating fundamental analysis.
In your opinion, is there a “hidden truth” in trading? Something that is actually important but tends to be overlooked in the industry...
It’s actually an indicator, which I don’t always like using as I tend to look more at the price action. But as of recently, I have been monitoring daily, weekly, monthly and yearly open levels of just any instrument – whether forex, gold, crypto. There seems to be really strong support and resistance levels for unknown reasons. When I started looking at these levels, there is such clear bounces, and they made a significant difference. I have been using this as an extra confluence, and there is lots of traders looking into these insights, which hasn’t exactly happened before.
Do you usually go for trades because of a “gut feeling”, or do you always go for a full-on analysis before executing something?
As a coach myself, I always emphasize on sticking to a certain plan to my students. You need confluence, you need bias for the trade to be valid. If you just go for a trade based on your gut, it might not work in your favor, and I’m not a big fan of that.
What’s your trick to keep the balance between that gut and the data?
I like writing pros and cons. I like to be the “advocate of the devil” and write down all the cons – what is everything I could think of that goes against my trades? If it’s almost nothing, then you know it is a good setup. In trading, sometimes you like to see what you like to see, and sometimes if you don’t think of cons and just follow your gut instead, there will be a lack of balance, and you won’t be able to filter out bad trades.
Do you also keep a trading journal and reflect on your trades?
I consistently journal all my trades using specialized software and regularly review my past performance. While I achieved nearly a 100% gain in 2024, I recognize that there were still numerous mistakes and avoidable losses. To refine my approach, I conduct both weekly and monthly reflections. Additionally, I am undertaking a comprehensive yearly review, analyzing over 150 trades from this year. This process allows me to identify recurring patterns or mistakes, document them, and thoughtfully strategize on how to improve moving forward.
Have you had a trade that initially felt like a small win, but ended up teaching you a bigger lesson? Like a memorable trade over your trading journey?
Yes, it goes back to when I first started incorporating the fundamentals in my trading, and there was this really big spike on EUR/GBP and my business partner suggested we short this pair purely based on fundamentals. This traded ended up securing a 100K, a trade I would usually never take.
If you had the chance to talk to your “beginner self” and give him advice, what would it be?
Don’t demo trade for too long... I’ve done it for two years and I lost a lot of emotional progress because it is always different when you trade with real money. Once you have a strategy, go open a $100 account and take a $2 risk because it's better to get into the habit of executing and experiencing losing streaks.
