#1 Prop Firm Scalper: The ICT Trader Who Made $2.5+ Million With A 40% Win Rate

Summary

Candace Lau describes moving from large personal-capital losses to trading futures through prop firms. She says she has received about $2.5 million in cumulative prop-firm payouts, including a reported $1.1 million single payout from Apex. She emphasizes that her results came after years of learning, reviewing data, and developing risk controls—not from a quick or easy route.

Trading approach and process

• ICT concepts: Lau describes ICT as centered on algorithmic liquidity and stop orders. She tested multiple models, including Silver Bullet, TGIF, and MMXM, and kept the concepts she could identify and apply consistently. She says some tools, such as breaker blocks, did not suit her.
• Testing and practice: She used tape reading to see whether a setup appeared in live price action, then backtested it. While learning, she backtested for about one hour a day, later fitting practice around her schedule and returning to it during losing streaks.
• Using data to refine the strategy: She recommends tracking win rate, average results or R-value, performance by weekday, and long-versus-short results. She uses trading journals and platforms such as TradeZella to spot patterns and assess whether she is following her plan.
• Matching rules to the trader: Lau says traders should experiment, record both trade data and emotions, and build rules suited to their own risk tolerance and temperament. She advises writing journal entries constructively while still acknowledging mistakes.
• Trading psychology: She characterizes trading as “10% strategy and 90% psychology.” She links discipline in trading with habits outside it, such as exercise, diet, and limiting alcohol. She also suggests finding a supportive trading community and avoiding social-media distractions.

Risk management and performance

• Lau reports an average 40%–45% win rate—roughly six losing trades per ten—and says this can still be profitable if the trader has a tested edge and manages risk. She cautions that beginners may not be able to tolerate losing streaks.
• She says she planned around making about $1,500 per account per day toward the large payout goal. Her approach sometimes involved continuing to look for valid setups after losses, while keeping position size and stops within her plan. She warns beginners not to copy this approach.
• She describes using a personal daily loss limit and reducing risk by moving stops when appropriate, rather than relying on a fixed maximum number of trades per day. She says some platforms can lock accounts when preset loss limits are reached.
• After receiving the large payout, she says she became more aggressive, at times trading 50 NQ contracts in a personal account and blowing prop accounts. She later reviewed her trades, recognized that she had abandoned her prior rules, and returned to more disciplined trading.
• She advises accepting responsibility for losses rather than blaming the market, a strategy, or a mentor.

Prop-firm experience and figures

• Lau says she began trading in 2019, took trading more seriously around 2021, and started learning ICT in 2022. She says she had been posting charts on Twitter since 2023.
• Before trading props, she lost $80,000 of personal capital in a single crude-oil CFD trade, after trading without a clear model or risk rules. She says the experience left her reluctant to trade oil.
• She says prop-firm rules—including daily drawdown limits—initially frustrated her but ultimately helped her become more consistent.
• For the large payout, she describes using an Apex $50,000 legacy account and studying each firm’s rules, FAQs, and terms. She says she accumulated up to 20 funded accounts plus 20 backup accounts, paying monthly fees to maintain the backups.
• She estimates total prop-related expenses of approximately $70,000–$80,000, including fees associated with around 360 accounts. She describes the backup accounts as a business expense that reduced the pressure of starting over if accounts were lost.
• She says the $1.1 million payout took nearly two months from request to receipt, during which she worried Apex might deny it. She also describes payout cycles limiting withdrawals and having to watch account balances fluctuate before the final payment.
• Her advice to people scaling with props is to learn each firm’s rules first. She suggests trading with two firms as alternatives while awaiting payouts, and says that in her own Apex approach, trading only a few accounts would not take full advantage of the firm’s multi-account setup. These are her personal practices, not general recommendations.

Assets, markets, and investing topics

• Traded instruments: Crude oil CFDs, gold, commodities, Forex, futures, Nasdaq futures (NQ), and QQQ. She discusses trading the London and New York sessions and says she generally favors long trades because short positions can bring back memories of her oil loss.
• Timeframes and holding periods: She moved from swing trading Forex and CFDs to shorter-term day trading and scalping. She discusses 1-minute and 15-second charts, and says a roughly 30-point target in the London session can sometimes take about an hour. She generally avoids holding trades overnight or over weekends because of news and gap risk.
• Personal-capital approach: Lau calls futures trading high risk. She says that when her personal account reaches a chosen threshold—examples given were $100,000, $200,000, or $500,000—she may withdraw at least half and invest profits elsewhere, rather than leave too much capital in the trading account. She mentions fixed-rate bank accounts and other assets as possible destinations, without giving a specific allocation.
• Investments discussed by the host: The host comments on the S&P 500, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Tesla, SpaceX, and Hims, as well as themes including AI, semiconductors, data centers, space, robotics, and cryptocurrency. He contrasts large companies with higher-risk small-cap and startup investments, and stresses examining fundamentals, business plans, profitability, cash reserves, leadership, and diversification. These are general discussion points, not a portfolio recommendation.
• Other macro references: The host says strategies must adapt as volatility and market drivers change, mentioning past attention to CPI, NFP, tariffs, and geopolitical events. Lau’s view is that short-term traders may limit exposure to longer-term economic events by entering and exiting within the day; this does not remove trading risk.

Explicit cautions and disclosures

• Lau repeatedly cautions beginners not to copy her account-sizing or recovery approach, particularly if they lack experience, tested data, or control over tilt.
• She says prop-firm rules differ and should be read carefully; trading funded accounts involves firm-specific limits, fees, payout conditions, and possible account loss.
• No explicit “not financial advice” disclaimer appears in the subtitles.
• The episode contains sponsor segments promoting Chart Academy, Alpha Futures, TradeZella, and Market Journal, including discount codes and product claims. These are advertisements, not independent performance evidence.

Presenters and sources

• Presenter/guest: Candace Lau (also rendered “Candace Lao” in the auto-generated subtitles; social handle cited as CandyTheTrader).
• Host: Riz Iqbal of Words of Rizdom.
• Other sources or people referenced: ICT (Inner Circle Trader); Kit / ICT Concepts and the Twitter community “Trader Round Up”; traders referred to as City King, Jay Cap, and Kane; and books by Jesse Livermore. The host also cites Tony Robbins and Ray Dalio in discussing motivational material.