A $80M Trader Talks Scaling, Scalping, And Cringe

Ulises is a former legislative adviser turned entrepreneur who pivoted to trading after the 2020 crisis. He developed a scalping-focused strategy to master short-term price action, refining his edge with SabioTrade in 2024. At 37, from Valdivia, Chile, he’s here to share his journey.

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Trading Horror Stories

Interviewer: Let’s start with a fun game we call Trading Horror Stories. I’ll throw out a nightmare scenario, and you tell me — has this happened to you, or is it just a common trader horror story?

Horror Story #1: The “Fat Finger”

You accidentally place a much larger trade than intended and only realize it when the market moves against you.

Ulises: Oh yeah, but in my case, it wasn’t a fat finger — it was a fat paw 😸 I was calculating my trade size and left my phone on the table. I stepped away for a couple of minutes, and my cat somehow placed a trade for me. I ended up losing $900 just like that. It was brutal, especially since I was struggling financially at the time.

Horror Story #2: The Stop-Loss Tragedy

You set the perfect stop-loss, only for the market to hit it and immediately reverse in your favor.

Ulises: Yep, happened more than once — sometimes just by five pips. The price would hit my stop-loss, then shoot up like crazy right after. That’s when I started refining my strategy, focusing on psychological price levels instead of standard stop placements. Understanding mass trader behavior helped me adjust my limits more effectively.

Horror Story #3: The News Blowout

You forget about a major economic event, and the market completely wrecks your trade.

Ulises: Oh, I learned this one the hard way. When I first started trading with Sabio, I had no idea a Fed speech was scheduled that day. I was operating blindly and ended up blowing my account. That’s when I really studied how interest rate changes impact EUR/USD — what happens when rates go up, what happens when they go down. But yeah, that lesson cost me an entire account 🤦‍♂️

Horror Story #4: Revenge Trading

You take a big loss, then try to win it back immediately — only to dig yourself into an even deeper hole.

Ulises: Oh man, all the time during my first year. I’d take a loss and just chase the market, convinced I could recover it. But you never really catch it. You lose track of time — I’d plan to trade for 2 hours, but after revenge trading, I’d be sitting there for 10 hours — completely unaware. And by the end of it, I’d suffered some of my biggest losses ever.

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Interviewer: There’s a question that interests our viewers most – trading 80 million in volume — what is it like?

Ulises: It’s crazy because my trading journey wasn’t exactly typical. When I started, I didn’t have many job options, and I had several projects I needed to fund on my own. So, I turned to trading as my only option. I started small, with just $1,000, learning the platforms and diving as deep as possible into the business.

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I never imagined I’d hit $80 million in volume in a year — that’s over 5,000 trades. When I realized I had reached that milestone, it was so weird.
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But it wasn’t easy: the learning curve was brutal, and I was constantly struggling to refine my skills. 

 

Interviewer: How did your mindset shift from low to high volume trading? What exactly changes when the stakes rise from dollars to hundreds to thousands? Do the emotions of winning and losing intensify, and has it made you more aware of your mental health?

 

Ulises: Yeah, I think what helped me was that from the very beginning, I was all in. I wasn’t just trading to make money — I was funding another project with my trading profits, so I had no choice but to go big and take risks.

At first, I didn’t fully understand risk management — I was always pushing limits. But over time, I learned about risk-reward ratios and how to manage exposure properly. Even when I only had $1,000 to trade, I was using aggressive lot sizes, so when my capital grew, it felt natural to scale up.

That mindset of being “all-in” never changed, but I became much more calculated in my risk-taking. And yes, it absolutely makes you more mentally aware. You start to realize that staying in control, not just of your trades but of your emotions, is everything.

 

Interviewer: What percentage of this $80 million volume is actually attributed to Sabio accounts?

Ulises: Around 80%. I only discovered Sabio last year, and before that, I didn’t know much about prop firms or how the business worked. My first experience with a prop firm was actually a disaster — I won’t name the company, but I paid around $3,000 for a $500,000 account, and just three or four weeks later, the firm went bankrupt. They lost their regulatory permissions, and I lost my money.

That was my first taste of prop trading, and it wasn’t great. But when I found Sabio, the experience was completely different. The structure is more reliable, and I’m building a secure and sustainable trading path with them.

Interviewer: How many Sabio accounts do you have and in what denominations?

Ulises: Right now, I have two accounts — one for $50,000 and another for $20,000. 

Interviewer: Do you think it’s even realistic for a newbie to grow their trading balance to at least $10,000 without prop firms like Sabio or without personal loans? 

 

Ulises: I believe it’s possible, but it depends entirely on education and how well you prepare for the challenges of trading. Without the right knowledge, most beginners will burn their capital quickly.

That’s why prop firms like Sabio can be great for beginners. They provide capital while also offering educational tools, which are crucial for long-term success. 

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But even with a prop firm, you need to learn proper risk management first. Without that foundation, growing an account is incredibly difficult.
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Interviewer: Why did you choose day trading over swing or position trading?

Ulises: It all comes down to my mindset. I wanted to deeply understand the market — its fundamentals, price movements, and how news impacts trading. That meant being in the market as much as possible every day.

I remember when the Ukraine war started — I lost a lot of money holding positions, and that emotional hit made me even more determined to understand the market. Eventually, I decided to drop all my other projects and focus entirely on trading. Given that, it just made sense to trade actively, which is why I developed my skills as a scalper and day trader.

 

Interviewer: Imagine a friend asks you for day trading lessons. What qualities would make you tell them, “Dude, just forget about it — this isn’t for you”?

Ulises: If you’re a quitter or you’re too afraid to take losses, then trading is not for you.

The big money in trading comes after losses and hard times. Maybe there’s some guy out there who gets it perfect from day one, but that’s not the reality for most traders. 

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If you can’t handle risk, this job will break you.
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If losing money paralyzes you, you should probably look for another path.

Interviewer: What’s the worst trade that you’ve ever made? 

Ulises: Oh man… When I was still learning last year, I got obsessed with EUR/USD and started overtrading like crazy.

I was trading so much that I literally fell asleep at my desk. I woke up the next day and saw an $11,000 loss 😱 

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That moment was a game-changer. After that, I never placed another trade without a stop-loss or take-profit. 

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It really hit me how markets can wipe out months of work in one night. That was definitely the worst trade of my career.

Interviewer: I bet you’ll agree that the biggest fear in prop trading is the assessment — people think it’s like a school exam. How did your Sabio assessments go?

The first one – not so well. I made the same mistake that most traders make with prop firms — I didn’t read the conditions carefully. I jumped in, thinking I understood everything, but then realized mid-trade that I miscalculated my margins. That’s why a lot of traders get frustrated — they don’t take the time to fully understand the rules and restrictions.

 

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My advice: spend at least an hour carefully reading the trading conditions before you start. Everything is clearly written, but traders often ignore the details — and that’s why they fail and blame the firm.
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Interviewer: In your opinion, does the fear of a bad trade or the fear of not passing the assessment ever go away?

Yeah, I think so. The good thing with Sabio and other prop firms is that the reward is HUGE if you pass. So, instead of being paralyzed by fear, you should focus on the potential outcome.

At the end of the day, the risk is small compared to the amount you’ll be managing if you succeed. So don’t let fear hold you back — you can always try again. 

Interviewer: Imagine that you can use only one strategy for day trading for the rest of your life. What would it be?

Ulises: I’d stick with trend lines — drawing them across multiple time frames, like 1-minute, 5-minute, and 10-minute candles. If you use them as a core strategy, you can always trade with the trend instead of against it. The market is far less likely to trap you when you follow the trend.

Interviewer: If day trading disappeared tomorrow, what skill from trading do you think would be the most valuable in another career?

Ulises: Decision-making under pressure. Every trader comes from a different financial background, but we all risk something important, whether it’s time, capital, or both. 

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Trading forces you to make fast, high-stakes decisions, and that skill is valuable anywhere.
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The truth is, trading changes your mindset completely. From the outside, people just see charts, red and green candles, and numbers moving. But inside, it’s a mental battle — learning to manage risk, control emotions, avoid overtrading, and understand your own psychology. Those lessons stay with you forever.

 

Interviewer: I’m sure that when you were just starting out, you had certain fantasies or goals, like “I’ll trade for a year and start getting some big numbers per month”, right? But how did things turn out in reality compared to your initial vision? What aspects turn out to be easier or faster than expected, and which ones require more effort and time?

Ulises: I’m a big dreamer, so at first, yeah, I had those fantasies — luxury cars, big money, financial freedom. But over time, I realized that the step-by-step approach is the only way to succeed in this career.

I remember the first time I made $20 off a $100 account in a day. I saw that trading could match a few hours of a regular job. From there, I pushed for more, scaling up my trades. But at first, I was always lacking capital, which slowed me down.

Looking back, I’m glad I started small. Trading tiny positions helped me build the skills I now use in bigger trades. The process itself teaches you what you need to learn at each stage, and that gradual progress is what makes trading sustainable.

 

Interviewer: Have you ever paid for trading courses or mentorship? And if you did, was it worth it? Or maybe you met our mentor, Oleg?

 

Ulises: Yeah, I had an interesting experience early on. When I was just starting, I went to a trading conference in Santiago, where I met some Bloomberg professionals. They introduced me to the Bloomberg Terminal, which is a very sophisticated financial tool. It cost $2,500 per month, but I decided to buy it

Looking back, I realize it was way too advanced for me because I was still a beginner. I learned a lot, but I wouldn’t recommend starting that way. This is an amazing tool, but only if you already have a solid trading foundation.

I don’t regret the experience, but for beginners, there are better, more practical ways to learn.

Interviewer: What mistakes did you make early in your career that make you cringe today?

Ulises: When I started, I thought my problem wasn’t my strategy or knowledge — I thought my only problem was a lack of capital. Because of that, I drained my savings, thinking that a bigger balance would automatically make me successful. 

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But I quickly learned that more money doesn’t fix bad risk management or an undisciplined mindset.
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That was a huge mistake — thinking that having more money would change my results. That’s why prop firms exist, but even with funded accounts, you still need step-by-step education and a solid risk management strategy.

Interviewer: If you could give our viewers one piece of advice, what would it be?

Ulises: Immerse yourself in the world of trading — read trade ideas, follow the markets, watch financial news, and learn as much as possible.

There are so many free resources online, but educating yourself properly is what separates successful traders from gamblers. You have to put in the hours to truly understand capital management, market psychology, and financial instruments.

But if I had to give one key piece of advice, it would be this: 

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MASTER RISK MANAGEMENT.

No strategy, no account size, and no market knowledge will save you if you don’t learn to protect your capital.
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Final Thoughts

If trading millions feels like a distant dream, we hope this interview with Ulises proved it’s all about strategy, mindset, and risk management. 

Come join our Sabio Academy to learn the ropes first, and then take your assessment — it’s not that hard with a trading brain our tutors will give you! 🧠