Most New Traders Are Thinking About Success Completely Wrong | Funded Ep. 13

Summary

Dan Hodgman describes a shift from floor trading to building products and services for a broader trading community. His central message for traders is to prioritize risk management and a repeatable process over fast earnings. From a business perspective, he argues that trading platforms and prop firms need to listen to traders, invest in reliable infrastructure, and keep innovating.

Business Strategy and Product Development

• Build from trader feedback: NinjaTrader reviews trader feedback and its product roadmap, develops a business case around user needs, then builds products intended to improve the trader experience.
• Serve users at different stages: The company’s stated approach is to “meet the trader wherever they are on their journey,” spanning both prop-trading tools and retail brokerage.
• Invest in the foundation: Hodgman says NinjaTrader is putting substantial investment into its backend and simulated-market execution—not just visible interface features.
• Develop for prop traders: NinjaTrader has created a division focused on prop traders and is adapting product features for them.
• Continue innovating: Hodgman warns that firms can be overlooked if they stop moving forward. Competition can push companies to improve and give traders more influence.

Product and Growth Initiatives

• Features released or in development include manual locks, an updated web-platform interface, and click-and-drag stop-losses requested by users.
• NinjaTrader’s trader-engagement dashboard offers trading analytics, event news, and learning tools.
• Hodgman mentioned plans to bring TradingView charts into the platform, explore prediction markets with a simulation component, and offer individual stock futures. He said those futures were expected in mid-July; the year is not specified in the subtitles.
• The individual-stock-futures example included Tesla, Microsoft, and Google, which Hodgman said traders would be able to trade through a futures account.
• Kraken’s ownership was described as an opportunity for further international expansion. Hodgman also cited in-person events, partner collaboration, and a UFC opportunity as ways to grow NinjaTrader’s visibility and community engagement.

Community and Operations Playbook

• Listen continuously: Treat traders as a key driver of the industry; firms that ignore community needs risk falling behind.
• Balance user demand with business realities: Prop firms face price competition, so they need to respond to community requests while managing the business side.
• Create direct engagement: Hodgman highlighted Discord, X, YouTube, live events, and in-person gatherings as places where firms and traders interact.
• Build reliable operations before chasing novelty: Platform execution and simulator quality are core capabilities, even when they are less visible to users.

Trader Risk-Management Playbook

Hodgman’s advice is also relevant as an operating discipline for individuals and trading organizations:

• Set realistic timelines: Replacing a 15-year career in six months is an unrealistic expectation; trading skill develops over time.
• Define a process before focusing on income: Avoid entering trades simply because the market is moving; follow defined levels and a strategy.
• Make risk the first decision: Before entering a trade, assess whether the potential exposure fits the strategy and risk tolerance. If not, wait for a better entry or pass.
• Prioritize profitability over being right: Traders should be willing to change their view rather than defend a public prediction or position.
• Scale up gradually: Newer traders may not yet be comfortable with fast-moving markets. Hodgman compares learning to gradually increasing speed rather than jumping straight onto a high-speed road.
• Treat small wins as cumulative: His father’s approach emphasized singles and doubles over trying to hit a grand slam.
• Build accountability: Discipline is easier to maintain when traders accept responsibility and have people who can hold them accountable. Hodgman stresses that trading decisions can affect family life, not just the trader.
• Pause without abandoning the goal: Stop for the day, reassess, and adapt rather than continuing to trade through poor decisions.

Examples and Metrics

• Hodgman said more than 2,000 traders were expected at the London Prop Firm Expo and noted that tickets had sold out.
• He had been at NinjaTrader for eight months at the time of the interview and had spent just under nine years at Topstep.
• He described the previous three years as especially innovative for the prop-trading industry.
• A past trading-floor incident—one trader taking a position far beyond firm rules and severely affecting the firm—helped shape Hodgman’s belief in rule-based risk controls.
• A mentor’s forgotten oil contract illustrated the operational importance of checking open positions and exposure; Hodgman noted that modern screens make positions easier to see.
• Hodgman advised traders not to trade on a phone, recommending a laptop or computer in a comfortable environment with reliable internet.

Presenters and Sources

• Host: Maryam Rushdi
• Guest: Dan Hodgman, VP of Business Development at NinjaTrader
• Source: Funded, a podcast from Tradeify TV; episode recorded at the Prop Firm Expo in London.