GM Lark Traders. This is Lark Digest. We make trading feel less like a chore and more like solving a thrilling puzzle.

On the menu:

• Is the funding industry in trouble? 👀 

• Trading signals are a scam ❌ 

• New March promos 🚀 

• Your complete guide to the week ahead 📰 

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD? 🤔

MetaTrader might be gone forever.

Most firms temporarily banned US traders.

There’s a rise in payout denials from several firms online (I won’t say who).

Should you be worried? What’s exactly going on here?

Let’s take a look at what’s going on and where I think we’re headed.

1/ Tough for US clients. There will be fewer options for US traders moving forward and those options will be lesser known platforms.

CTrader won’t be available to US traders. Nor will MT5. And that means that out of everybody, US traders might have the hardest time adapting.

But so far, we’ve seen a lot of resilience from US traders. Everyone is now on the DXTrade platform. A platform that was basically unheard of just a month ago but traders are adapting.

Overall, we’re not worried. If you’ve been in this game long enough, you know the struggle of trying to grow a $500 or $1,000 trading account (it’s impossible). So, for traders, this is nothing.

2/ Traders need to adapt more than ever. Even for non-US traders, this is a crazy time. Learning a new platform is difficult. Needing to adapt and trade new instruments is also tough.

2024 is going to be the year of adapting. And only those that do will make it.

3/ Some firms are paying the price. The reality is we’re seeing a rise in payout denials online. Just scroll through the Twitter accounts of some of the largest firms, and there are complaints after complaints.

Why is this?

I can’t speak on behalf of others, but there’s a reason that we don’t offer 200:1 leverage and strictly enforce all of our rules…

There’s a cost to longevity. And that cost is not doing things that are beneficial in only the short term.

While they may be tempting, firms now pay the price for it.

And this applies more than ever to just about everything outside of trading, too.

The Lark Predictions:

1. Traders will adapt. This is just a bump in the road.

2. New platforms and new brokers will continue to create new options for non-US traders.

3. While their options will be fewer, we expect US traders to continue to thrive in 2024.

MARCH PROMOS 🤑 

We have two new promotions for you this month at Lark Funding!

Click HERE to sign up.

THE WEEK AHEAD 📈 

The market has been absolutely buzzing lately, and we’re here for it.

Since it’s the start of a new month, we’ve got two important events on the calendar, and these are really the only two you need to know.

PSA: If you didn’t read last week’s post on why Bitcoin has been absolutely crushing it, you should. It’s going to apply directly to this week’s events.

1/ Powell on Thursday. Powell will be giving his testimony to Congress, and you pretty much can never anticipate what’s going to happen. These events are unpredictable.

Powell could say a single sentence that doesn’t sit well with the market, and things could go bananas.

So, we’re not really anticipating anything specific. Just that the market could get wild.

2/ NFP on Friday. This is the biggest event of the week and will impact the market for all of March.

Why? Because the market is only focused on rates and inflation.

Bitcoin is skyrocketing because of growing inflation fears.

If the unemployment rate comes in better than expected, that means the Fed will be more comfortable hiking rates sooner.

And higher rates = less inflation fears (but bad for stocks).

But if the unemployment rate starts to increase, we could be in for some trouble.

If there are even signs of the economy cracking, it means the Fed will need to loosen monetary policy. Remember, loose policy means more inflation.

The best reference is to just look at what happened in 2020 and how the cost of living increased dramatically. Everybody liked those stimulus checks, but we’re all paying the price for it.

I HATE SIGNALS ❌ 

The amount of money I spent between 2016 and 2020 on signal groups from “traders” driving around in their Lamborghinis and Rolexes should be illegal.

I can’t even bring myself to say the number or I have painful flashbacks of Telegram notifications saying “Stop loss hit”.

But aside from losing all that money, I think there’s even something worse about signal groups.

That’s the topic of discussion in our most recent YouTube video.

Drop a comment and let me know what you think.

DIGESTIBLE MEMES 🍪 

ACTIVE GOODIES? 😏