Pass the challenge, size your capital and get funded, with strategies you can trust.
I run a private hedge fund of nearly 2,500 breakout strategies. A prop firm judges a trader the way I judge a strategy before it goes live. This is how to get a portfolio ready for the firm's rules before you pay a fee.
My work has been featured on
One firm found that more than nine out of ten of its failed evaluations ended on a loss limit. Risk is the part you can measure, size and test before you pay. Here's how.
Every challenge comes down to three rules: a profit target, a drawdown limit and a consistency rule. You'll learn how each one is measured, static or trailing, tick or end of day, and the fine print that ends challenges early.
Your backtest drawdown is the optimistic one. In the book's example, Monte Carlo put the realistic drawdown at 2.34 times the backtest. Size off that, and you'll pick an account your portfolio can actually survive.
Check your whole portfolio against the firm's drawdown, daily loss and return target. If one check fails, you'll see which strategy breaks it, and what fixing it is worth.
...you've already failed one. Most people do. Play 7 shows you how to find the rule that ended it and the strategy behind it, so your next attempt starts from a plan.
...your strategies are fairly average. You don't need spectacular ones. You can pass with fairly average strategies, as long as they're cleverly combined, properly tested and given enough capital.
...you don't know which firm to trust. Play 8 shows you how a firm makes its money, the red flags to walk away from, and the green flags of a firm that pays.
"I created 8 profitable strategies in under a week using what I learned from Tomas. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with fellow traders."
"Trading and developing strategies for more than 7 years now... BTA has boosted my trading to another level. I wish I had this at the beginning of my journey."
"After I analyzed the work of so many traders for years, I can count you as one of the handful of genuine traders and educators whose methods actually work."
"It's hard to know who to trust in the trading industry. Luckily, I found Tomas Nesnidal and his courses. He is sincere and can make a big difference for retail traders."
Let me be upfront: I don't trade for prop firms myself. But the way a firm judges a trader is very close to the way I judge every strategy before it goes live in my fund. Stable equity, small drawdowns, no dependence on a few lucky trades.
So I took a portfolio I like, three opening gap strategies on the E-mini NASDAQ built to disagree with each other, and ran it through the same check a firm would. Typical challenge rules: a 10% maximum drawdown, a 5% daily loss limit and a 10% return target, on a $25,000 account with micro contracts.
Drawdown inside the limit. Return target smashed. And a worst day of 6.0%, over the 5% daily limit. One bad day, and the challenge is gone.
The culprit was one strategy, on one weekday. I removed its Wednesday trades and ran the check again: the worst day dropped to 3.8%, the capital needed fell from $30,160 to $19,230, and all three checks passed. It's a backtest, so it's hypothetical, and the book shows you how to validate a change like that before you trust it.
The check doesn't just tell you whether you'd pass. It tells you which strategy to fix, and what fixing it is worth.
That's what this playbook is: nine plays that take you from the rules of the game to a portfolio you've checked against them, with a video for each step. I want you to finish it and think, "I can't believe I got all this for ten bucks."
All three are included, yours to keep, with lifetime access and any future updates.
The premium, fully designed playbook as a downloadable PDF. Read it anywhere, print it, and keep it forever.
Inside BreakoutOS, with every diagram and result right next to the method, and links to the matching lessons in the free "Trading for a Prop Firm" course.
I walk through the steps on screen, from building the portfolio to running the pass test, each one right inside its play.
Play 1 gives you the rules. Plays 2 to 7 get your portfolio ready, step by step. Plays 8 and 9 cover the firm itself and the challenge day.
Every challenge comes down to a target, a drawdown limit and a consistency rule. Know exactly how your firm measures each one, and the fine print that catches people out.
One strategy rarely passes on its own. Three that disagree with each other can.
Your backtest drawdown is the optimistic one. Size your account off Monte Carlo instead.
Stack robustness tests, check on unseen data, and only take the high scorers into a challenge.
A good strategy launched in the wrong market burns your challenge. Check readiness before you start the clock.
Four checks that separate a real edge from a lucky one.
Check your portfolio against the firm's limits, then fix the strategy that breaks a rule.
A great strategy is worthless at a firm that won't pay you. Here's how to tell them apart.
Small risk, a personal daily stop and no rush: the habits that keep you in the game.
Every step from the playbook on one printable page. Find the line that fits you right now, then tick off every box, in order. Run it before you pay for a challenge, and again before you trade it.
Included free
I want to reward action takers - the traders who actually put this to work, not the ones who let it sit in a folder gathering dust. So here's the deal: get the playbook, and run through the plays over the next 60 days. If not even one of them earns its place in your trading toolkit, email me and I'll refund every cent. No forms, no hoops, no hard feelings. For 60 days, the risk is mine, not yours.
I'm a full-time trader, and I specialize exclusively in breakouts. I co-founded Breakout Trading Academy and created BreakoutOS, and back in 2017 I launched my own algorithmic hedge fund built entirely around breakout trading. Today I run a portfolio of close to 2,500 strategies across global futures markets.
My work has been featured in Stocks & Commodities, Traders' Magazine, Interactive Brokers, Futures Truth, and dozens of trading publications worldwide. Everything in this playbook comes from that same hedge-fund research - the real settings, the real testing process, and the real techniques I run on live capital every day.
There's no guarantee, and you should be wary of anyone who promises one. Most traders who take a challenge fail it, fees are real money, and trading carries a real risk of loss. What this playbook gives you is a way to check your portfolio against the firm's rules before you pay, so you know where you stand and what to fix.
I don't recommend a particular firm. Rules and payouts change, and the right firm depends on your strategies. Play 1 shows you which numbers to compare, and Play 8 shows you how to check that a firm actually pays: how it makes its money, and the red and green flags to look for.
I show every check in BreakoutOS, because that's what I use, and the portfolio tools (the Portfolio Builder, Monte Carlo and the Prop-firm Fit check) are part of BreakoutOS Scale. Every play also explains what each check measures and why, so you can apply the method with the tools you have.
Most examples use a small portfolio of three opening gap strategies on the E-mini NASDAQ, and Plays 5 and 6 use a breakout strategy on gold. They're there to show you the method, not as strategies to trade. The method works on any portfolio you're taking to a firm.
No. This playbook is about getting a portfolio ready for a firm's rules. If you want the three gap strategies behind the examples, with complete code for seven platforms, they're in The Gap Breakout Playbook.
Instant access to the full 9-play playbook inside BreakoutOS (the interactive edition, with all six videos) and as a downloadable PDF, plus Your Funded Checklist. You'll get your access details by email the moment you order.
Then you pay nothing. It's covered by my 60-day "Try Every Play" Guarantee: get the playbook, run through the plays, and if not even one of them earns its place in your trading toolkit, email me and I'll refund every cent. No forms, no hoops, no hard feelings. For 60 days, the risk is mine, not yours.