Howdy Lark Traders. This is Lark Digest, and we help you get smarter about trading. We’re as reliable as traders gambling during CPI - No matter what anybody says, you know they will do it.

Mr.Lark

On today’s menu:

• The Funded Trader releases details on their relaunch 👀 

• How Israel versus Iran will impact the market 📉

📉 The Funded Trader & Their Relaunch

Yesterday, we said that TFT’s website was back up and running, but they still hadn’t provided any updates.

In fact, they hadn’t provided any updates in their Discord since April 5th.

But shortly after we sent out our email, the announcement finally came.

This is everything you need to know.

1/ Tons of Program Changes

TFT will no longer be offering:

• All swing accounts.

• Account merging.

• News trading.

• All account sizes over $200,000.

As I’ve said repeatedly, at Lark, we don’t have the easiest rules or the cheapest programs.

But there’s a reason for that.

And it’s sustainability.

When we launched on June 1st, 2022, we received complaints that our leverage was too low or that we didn’t offer account merging.

But now you see why.

2/ Caymans + Non-Profit?

In their official announcement, they said two very interesting things.

1. “The Funded Trader LLC, headquartered in the USA, is currently in the process of transitioning its operations to an entity located in the Cayman Islands. This transition will result in a change in the ownership structure and the operational location of the company.”

2. “Furthermore, we are taking steps to determine how we can restructure the business so that profit is reserved for charitable causes only.”

Now, registering in the Caymans isn’t necessarily that unusual. Tons of companies, both inside and outside the evaluation world, are registered in the Caymans.

But reserving profits for “charitable causes only?”. Now that’s a wild one.

3/ Impact On Active Clients

This is what TFT said would happen for clients with both active challenge and funded accounts:

1/ Payouts will be honoured? It looks like they’re not flat-out saying traders won’t receive their payouts. If true, this is great news.

2/ No pending payout = breached account? That last line isn’t great. Traders who worked hard to earn a funded account are now back at square 1.

3/ 100% coupon codes. It looks like all traders will have to restart their challenge from the beginning. For some that will be good if they were in drawdown but it won’t be good for others.

4/ The Takeaway

At Lark, we love competition. It makes everyone better.

And, unsurprisingly, TFT is not going down without a fight.

Having become one of the largest firms in the industry in just a couple of years, they know how to market and build.

But they now have a major hurdle they must overcome: Trust.

And rebuilding that trust is a herculean task.

Is it impossible? Maybe.

But only time will tell.

Our only recommendation is to stay safe out there.

👀 How War Impacts The Market

I can’t go to sleep at night without checking Bitcoin.

Yes, I’m a bit addicted, but last night, I was also a bit heartbroken.

Just as I was about to fall asleep, I checked TradingView only to see Bitcoin was down over 5%!

I quickly jumped over to Twitter to see what was going on, and I saw the following:

Not good.

Thankfully, however, things rebounded and de-escalated (at least for now).

But this raises an important question for traders:

• What do you do during times of extreme certainty? War? Pandemic? Should you just sit on the sidelines? What’s the best way to approach this?

Well, let’s take a look.

1/ Option 1 = Follow Buffett

I’m constantly reminding myself of Warren Buffett’s famous quote:

• “Be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy.”

The average person gets happy when the market goes up. That’s wrong.

The great investor/trader gets happy when the market goes down.

Everything is at a discount, baby!

That’s the exact mindset I had to keep hammering into myself when Bitcoin was down over 50% from all-time highs last year.

The only reason I kept stacking Bitcoin between $25,000-$30,000 is because I had conviction and didn’t follow the crowd sentiment.

If there’s one takeaway from today’s email, let it be this:

The only way to be a great investor is to be a contrarian thinker.

If you just follow the crowd, you’ll never do well. You need to have a sentiment that goes against the crowd and enough conviction to follow it no matter what.

Just scroll back to the S&P500 from March 2020 to now.

The pessimists lost a ton of money. The optimists got rich.

Nobody knows how bad things will get, but you should consciously choose which side you want to be on.

2/ No Trade Is Still A Trade

I started trading back when men were men and boys could still be boys, and that meant I was addicted to being in a trade.

If I wasn’t in a trade, I felt like I was wasting time and not being productive.

But if I could go back, I would force myself to adopt the mantra that no trade is still a trade.

When things are uncertain, when there’s no clear fundamental picture or technical setup, don’t force things.

The big money is made on just a few days a year.

But you won’t have any money left to trade with if you force things and setups that aren’t there in the first place.

It’s tough to hear when you’re new and so eager to get into a trade.

But boring trading is good trading.

Take it from the guy who’s blown more accounts than he can count.

With that said, spend time with your family this weekend and enjoy some time off the charts.

Cheers,
Mr.Lark

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