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BOOK YOUR FREE STRATEGY SESSION NOW >>In this video, we spotlight David, our August Trader of the Month who pulled off a €42,883 profit in just one month. That’s a 40% return on his starting capital, all while keeping his drawdown to just 11%.
What markets was he trading? What kinds of strategies did he use, and what was his risk profile?
In today’s video, we’re diving deep into David’s trading performance and also shining a spotlight on two other traders who achieved remarkable results:
-Alessandro, who pocketed €14,971, with a 19% return and a 5% drawdown
-Luca, who earned €3,184, boasting a 94% return and a 10% drawdown.
Watch the video to uncover:
-The secrets behind David’s victory in the “Trader of the Month” contest.
-Detailed insights into the trading performances of David and the other two standout traders.
-The markets they traded, the strategies they used, and the risk profiles they managed.
-Their top tips for those just starting with live trading.
Remember, the “Trader of the Month” competition is open exclusively to Unger Academy® students, with a €1,000 Amazon gift card up for grabs for the best live trading performance each month (click here if you want to learn more about the contest).
If you want to watch all the previous Trader of the Month videos, just click here!
Introduction + What is the Trader of the Month
Hello and welcome to this brand-new video where we’ll dive into the results of our Trader of the Month contest for August.
We’ll be going over our students’ trading statements to see who delivered the best performance.
We’ll also highlight those who, while not winning, still posted some impressive results.
Plus, we’ll share some actionable tips based on the real-world trading experience of our contestants.
Just a quick reminder, the Trader of the Month contest is open exclusively to Unger Academy students. It’s a great opportunity to submit your live trading results and compete for a €1,000 Amazon gift card.
Alessandro, who earned €14,971 (with a return of 19%)
I’m one of the coaches at Unger Academy, and let’s jump into the first statement from Alessandro, who made €14,971 last month, with a 19.43% return and a drawdown of just 5.17%.
From this equity line, you can see how consistent his results were throughout the month. Aside from a little dip in the beginning, he kept making steady profits the whole time.
So, what was Alessandro trading? He’s into futures, and he used a variety of instruments. The Micro Nasdaq was his biggest winner, followed by the 30-year US bond and the livestock sector.On the losing side, we’ve got the Mini-DAX and the Micro Australian Dollar future.
He’s trading full contracts, but also micro and mini contracts when they’re available.
All in all, this was a really strong monthly performance, especially given the minimal drawdown.
Great job, Alessandro, and congrats once again!
Luca, who earned €3,184 (with a return of 94%)
Let’s move on to our next statement, which we received from Luca. Luca pulled in €3,184 over the last month, which is a jaw-dropping 94.48% return on his initial capital, with a drawdown of 10.53%. That’s an incredible percentage gain—he nearly doubled his starting capital while keeping the drawdown at a reasonable level. You can also see this reflected in the equity line.
However, Luca’s initial capital was smaller compared to Alessandro’s, which naturally limited his ability to diversify. Still, his percentage return was absolutely phenomenal.
Due to his capital size, Luca focused entirely on micro futures, particularly the Micro Nasdaq and Micro S&P, which were his top performers for the month. He also traded two commodities in August: Micro Crude Oil and Micro Gold.
Well done, Luca! Not only did you crush it percentage-wise, but you also maintained a solid equity curve despite having limited capital.
David, the winner, who earned €42,900 (with a return of 40% and a drawdown of 11%)
Now, let’s talk about our winner, David, who claimed the August title with a massive €42,883 gain, translating to a 40.11% return and an 11.27% drawdown.
Once again, we see a steady equity line, ending the month near its highs—something all three statements we’ve seen today have in common. Closing the month in profit is always satisfying, but finishing near the highs? That’s even better.
Like the others, David’s top performer was the Nasdaq, which really dominated his trading in August. The S&P 500 futures (ES) contributed a bit, while Gold was one of his weaker trades. And interestingly, David also traded the VIX Future during August.
Huge congratulations, David, from me and the entire Unger Academy team! A 40% return in a month is remarkable, especially when achieved with a solid capital base and a drawdown just over 10%. You’ve earned the €1,000 Amazon gift card and the title of Trader of the Month for August.
Let’s get to know David a bit more and his experience at Unger Academy. He’s been a student here for about a year and went live about six months after starting. David’s background is in tech—he’s an IT engineer—and he used to trade discretionarily, though his results were a bit inconsistent.
He went live in February 2024, starting with just one strategy. He’s big on starting cautiously, which is something we strongly recommend as well.
Now, he has 13 systems in his portfolio, mostly picked from the Unger Academy’s Million Dollar Database, the Strategy of the Month collection, and a few he’s customized himself. David usually starts with Academy-provided systems and then fine-tunes them, paying close attention to the volatility of each instrument.
He doesn’t use Titan since he doesn’t have a huge number of strategies, opting instead for manual analysis of recent performance, which works well for his current approach. David plans to gradually increase the number of systems he trades, expanding into instruments he hasn’t yet developed strategies for, while also tapping into the Academy’s available databases.
He mainly trades full contract futures, and with his capital, he’s able to do that comfortably. His go-to instruments are ES, Nasdaq, Gold, Crude Oil, and Gasoline. As we’ve seen, he also uses the VIX Calendar Spread, another trading approach taught by Unger Academy.
David experienced his first significant drawdown just a month after going live, mainly due to a drop in system performance and his little experience, which led him to overexpose through similar strategies on the same instrument. He sees the drawdown as a valuable lesson in understanding his actual risk tolerance, which is often overestimated until you experience it firsthand.
We asked David for some advice to share with students who are about to go live with their systems. His tip? Really study the key concepts of the Unger Academy thoroughly, and start live trading with just one strategy to get a deep understanding of how it works, the system’s logic, and the challenges you may face in live trading. And don’t be disheartened when your first drawdown happens—embrace it as part of a long-term trading plan.
Thanks so much, David, for your valuable advice, and once again, congratulations on winning August’s contest.
Conclusion
Alright, guys, now it’s your turn. If you’re aiming to achieve trading results like the ones we’ve just seen, and you’d like to participate in this exclusive contest for Unger Academy students where you can win a €1,000 Amazon gift card each month, click the link below. It’ll take you to a page with all the contest rules, and from there, you can schedule a free consultation with one of our tutors, who will give you all the information that you need.
That’s all for today. I’ll see you next time!
We'll help you map out a plan to fix the problems in your trading and get you to the next level. Answer a few questions on our application and then choose a time that works for you.
BOOK YOUR FREE STRATEGY SESSION NOW >>Andrea Unger here and I help retail traders to improve their trading, scientifically. I went from being a cog in the machine in a multinational company to the only 4-Time World Trading Champion in a little more than 10 years.
I've been a professional trader since 2001 and in 2008 I became World Champion using just 4 automated trading systems.
In 2015 I founded Unger Academy, where I teach my method of developing effecting trading strategies: a scientific, replicable and universal method, based on numbers and statistics, not hunches, which led me and my students to become Champions again and again.
Now I'm here to help you learn how to develop your own strategies, autonomously. This channel will help you improve your trading, know the markets better, and apply the scientific method to financial markets.
Becoming a trader is harder than you think, but if you have passion, will, and sufficient capital, you'll learn how to code and develop effective strategies, manage risk, and diversify a portfolio of trading systems to greatly improve your chances of becoming successful.
