Inside a trader’s mind: Q&A with Follis
by CryptoJelleNL
Follis is a full-time trader, streamer & content creator who has been active in the financial markets since 2020. In the past years, follis has quickly risen to crypto-Twitter fame, partially because of his frequent streams on Twitch.
In today’s article, we dive into Follis’ mind to learn more about his path to becoming a profitable trader, the mistakes he made along the way, and the valuable lessons he learned.
Let’s dive in!
Introducing Follis
Originally an investment fund lawyer by trade, Follis now spends his days trading, running a Discord server, and creating content for his Twitter and Twitch profiles.
“I basically gave up the law game to trade magic internet money and chill with the boys in Discord, my family is very proud”.
Daily Routine
This career switch allowed him to break from a life of routine – where his (UTC) lunchtime streams are the only real temporal anchor in his day. When describing his daily routine – he underlines how it’s “ a bit of a free-for-all”. Sometimes, Follis spends 30+ hours trading but then hibernates the day after.
“I’m a night owl in every sense of the word. My most productive hours are between 11 pm and 5 am when the world is quiet and it’s easy to focus.”
While Follis said goodbye to a traditional career path, it does not mean he doesn’t experience a feeling of progress in his work. He grows his portfolio, hones his skills, and builds his community, all of which gives him a sense of satisfaction.
“I’ve spoken previously on the “gamified” nature of trading, but there is a real sense of leveling up each time you hit a new milestone. It’s a game I’ve been playing for three years now, and for me, it’s more exciting now than ever.”
Q: When someone asks you “What do you do for a living”, how do you answer?
A: “Great question. Really depends on my audience. I tell my former law colleagues that I work in fintech now because the truth is too hard to explain. Most of my friends have a decent grasp of what I do, although many of the details would be uninteresting to them. My younger relatives get a real kick out of searching for my handle on YouTube or Twitch and seeing my face pop up, so I imagine they think I’m some kind of celebrity. No point ruining that illusion with a description of actual trading, which is something slightly less exciting than my video thumbnails might suggest.”
Making those little cousins believe you’re the next internet celebrity, way to go Follis!
Follis’ trading journey
Follis first got into trading just past the start of the pandemic. A good friend of his told him to check out stocks trading – just after he qualified as a lawyer. Because of the remote working environment, he had plenty of time to figure things out and experiment with different approaches and markets.
It did not take long for him to figure out that tradfi markets weren’t his thing, but once he stumbled upon the crypto markets, he was hooked. While many people appreciate the trading world for its promise of luxury – Follis is most fond of the freedom he gets from his endeavors.
“As someone who worked for many years as a paralegal, trainee, and then newly-qualified lawyer, where the hours are long and the work is boring, the ability to make a living on my own terms by effectively playing a financial video game and chilling with the boys in Discord is true wealth.”
It wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows though. In his first year in crypto, Follis bought the tops of a bunch of altcoins and lost about 40% of his net worth only to discover leverage trading and lose another 40%.
Follis describes a moment where he longed the pico-top of ZEN with his girlfriend watching over his shoulder, losing $5000 in less than 2 minutes.
After all of that, it makes sense that he got very close to giving up on trading altogether and picking up what was left of his law career. Pushing through is a decision he still celebrates today.
Trading style & edge
Follis has built his trading strategy on price action but uses auction market theory and basic orderflow analysis as well. According to him, liquidity and structure account for 90% of what he looks for in a chart.
When asked about his edge, Follis discusses how he believes edge is an overrated word – and that he isn’t sure he has “edge” himself.
“If 10% of all traders are profitable, does it follow that every trader in that 10% has a unique technique or approach that gives them a distinct advantage over everyone else? Of course not. Many, I suppose, are just marginally better at analyzing and executing than those who fall below the profitability cut-off point.”
Later on in the conversation, I asked Follis what holds the key to his trading success, to which he replied: “Self-belief. Now that I think of it, that might even be my edge.”
Q: “Did your trading style change over the years?”
A: In the first year yes, since I was trying anything and everything, from Elliot Wave to Wyckoff. Since finding price action my style has remained largely the same, although I have of course supplemented this style with things like volume profiling and basic orderflow analysis.
Q: What are things you struggle with in trading?
A: Tilt is something I struggle with to this day. Losing streaks can go from bad to worse for me in a matter of hours.
“I used to think that walking away was the optimal thing to do when I was on a losing streak. But my journaling suggests that in many cases it makes more sense to continue trading. I typically do most of my trading at inflection points, looking for reversals and big moves away from extremes. These kinds of trades have relatively low hit rate (my win rate is around 40%), but when you do catch them, the upside is pretty big. So for me it can make sense to keep going even if I have lost my last eight or nine trades in a row, because the tenth is where I will quite literally make it all back. The caveat with this trading style is that your risk management has to be on point, or else you will simply blow up your account.”
Q: If you could give one piece of advice to a beginner trader, what would it be?
A: One backward step doesn’t mean the journey is over. On a less aphoristic note, something that I used to do a lot is to save the charts of traders I admired to my computer and study them until I knew exactly what every drawing meant, and could say exactly what each trader was looking for.
Q: What are your expectations for the next year?
A: AI coins will see massive upside ending in blowoff top. RNDR will go to double digits. Privacy coins will outperform. Ethereum will outperform, at least until the Ethereum ETF and Dencun Upgrade narratives play out.
Ethereum ecosystem coins will do in the first half of 2024 what Solana ecosystem coins did in the second half of 2023. All major CEXs will go full KYC, with very few exceptions. One or more major CEXs will go insolvent. Crypto gaming will finally put something out that appeals to the masses, drawing retail into the space and legitimizing gamefi. The SEC will come for the top 50 market cap coins, just like they came for Ripple previously. DWF Labs will receive mainstream media coverage, culminating in serious regulatory scrutiny and potentially even criminal charges.
Bitcoin price will go up or down.
Word of thanks
A major thank you to Follis for taking the time to share his thoughts with us today. Be sure to check out his Twitter, YouTube, and Twitch profiles to learn more about his trading style, or follow him on his journey.
Author's Disclaimer: This article has been written for informational purposes only. It should not be construed as trading or investment advice in any shape or form.
Editor's note: CryptoJelleNL provides insights into the cryptocurrency industry. He has been actively participating in financial markets for over 5 years, primarily focusing on long-term investments in both the stock market and crypto. While he watches the returns of those investments roll in, he writes articles for multiple platforms. From now on, he will also contribute his insights for WOO X. The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of Follis and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of WOO X or its affiliates.
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