Matea: The Profitable Trader from Masa, Italy

Matea, who is twenty-three (23) years old and hails from Masa, Italy, is our latest interviewee.

Matea embarked on his trading journey two and a half years ago, as he recounted during the interview. He describes this journey as lengthy, stating that it has been and will continue to be a significant part of his life.

Motivation Behind the Journey

Motivation to start trading stemmed from Matea's extensive work experience since the age of fifteen (15). He has worked in various fields including agriculture, mechanics, a flower shop, and even as a barman. 

Reflecting on his background, Matea mentioned completing high school and attempting university admission, which was hindered by age-related issues resulting from past circumstances. He perceives trading not just as a profession but perhaps the most challenging occupation one can undertake.

The Beginning of His Trading Journey

Regarding his introduction to trading, Matea credits his friends for sparking his interest. He dedicated over a year to passionately studying market dynamics and price movements. Interestingly, even during his final year in high school, he would occasionally peruse financial charts during holidays, gradually familiarizing himself with the workings of the financial market.

After finishing high school, Matea started studying the market professionally. He says he trades just as he plans to do at university.

When asked where he learned to trade, Matea mentions his friends who have been with him on his journey. He explains that he and his four friends do the same things, considering it fortunate to be surrounded by like-minded individuals.

During the interview, Andrea points out the rarity of Matea's trading journey, highlighting the companionship he has while trading, which contrasts with the solitary experience that most people associate with forex.

Matea shares that trading or any online business is often viewed sceptically where he lives.

Regarding the perception of trading as gambling, Matea disagrees. He believes trading differs significantly from gambling. While acknowledging that trading involves risk, he emphasizes components such as risk management, backtesting, personal growth—which he considers crucial—and self-understanding. According to Matea, traders develop strategies that reflect their personalities, making self-awareness essential in trading.

Matea’s Trading Style

When Matea talks about his trading style, he describes it like this: he starts by analyzing the 4-hour timeframe, then moves to the 1-hour and 15-minute timeframes. Usually, he holds onto a position for a day, though sometimes it might stretch into weeks. Andrea helped him figure out that his style falls between day trading and swing trading. 

When it comes to backtesting, Matea explains that he focuses on a pair and uses the 4-hour timeframe to see how it performed over a year. He mentions that in his trading journey, he realized how dangerous too much information can be. He admits that while other jobs might require lots of information, it's not the same in trading.

Lessons from Backtesting

Talking about his backtesting routine, Matea shares that during his early days, he spent about eight hours each day, morning and evening, backtesting. He wanted to refine and optimize his strategy to make it the best it could be. He emphasizes the importance of journaling and forward-testing strategies.

Dedication and Sacrifice

Matea reflects on how he spent his time during holidays and summertime. While others were busy partying and playing, he was focused on improving his strategy.

Andrea's story carries a valuable lesson for traders: those who sacrifice immediate enjoyment often fare better in the long run than the average person. She also praises the speed of Andrea's journey to profitability, a mere two and a half years, a rarity.

Triumphs and Setbacks

When questioned about his trading beginnings, Matea disclosed that he initiated his trading venture with prop firms about two to three months into his career. He recounted the initial struggles of losing numerous prop firm accounts, attributing it to bad luck and the absence of a well-defined strategy. 

Following these setbacks, Matea recognized the necessity of a clear strategy and diligently set about crafting one. He spent 13 to 14 months backtesting his strategy, executing over a thousand trades, and accumulating crucial insights.

After assessing his performance on a brokerage account, Matea returned to prop trading. However, the prop firm he engaged with shut down a day before he completed the challenge phase. Seeking a reliable prop firm, Matea stumbled upon Goatfunded Trader and has been trading with them ever since. 

He mentioned a personal acquaintance with the CEO, Edward, whom he had admired and followed for some time. Matea commended the CEO's vision and cited him as an inspiration throughout his career. He revealed that Goatfunded Trader funded the two accounts he acquired from them.

He advises traders: Take a pair, stick with it, and study it well. He said that after plenty of optimizing and backtesting, EURJPY is now the only pair he trades, even though his strategy was developed while trading EURUSD. He mentioned going for about a 1:4 risk-to-reward ratio in most of his trades.

Trading Philosophy and Risk Management

Talking about his risk management, Matea explained that he takes three positions on every trade, risking 0.33% on each one. He sets three take-profit targets, one for each position. Overall, he risks about 1% per trade setup. He takes profit at 1:1RR for one position, 1:2RR for the second, and at the full 1:4 RR for the third position.

Altogether, in a single trade setup, Matea closes about two and a half per cent of his account. He emphasized the importance of securing profits in a trade, something he learned from his mentor.

Goals and Advice

Discussing the size of the account he manages, Matea revealed that he has about five figures altogether. As of the interview, he aimed to step up to acquiring six figures in funding and grow up to a million accounts in funding. He shared his goal of saving, which he considers very important, and talked about the significance of diversifying into multiple accounts rather than just focusing on one. 

He also advised traders to trade one account with one pair while urging them to gather data on all the pairs they choose to trade with. He warned traders to learn to manage their emotions while trading and adopt a robotic style of trading, strictly adhering to their strategy.Follow this link to watch the full interview.