14 January 2026
A year ago, TraderMubz was working the fryers at McDonald’s.
4am wake-ups. 5am starts. Nine-hour shifts on weekends. Minimum wage. The kind of job that wears you down while you’re still figuring out what you actually want to do with your life.
He was 17. And he was trading on the side.
This is his story.
The Grind Nobody Talks About
“I haven’t talked about this before on my TikTok,” Mubz told us. “But I was working at McDonald’s from the moment I turned 17. Working the fryers.”
While his mates were sleeping, Mubz was studying charts. While he was flipping burgers, he was thinking about setups. Every pound he earned went into one of two places: savings or evaluation accounts.
He built up 450K in evaluation accounts across multiple firms. He was working minimum wage and trading six figures in simulated capital. The contrast was surreal.
Then he passed his first funded account. With us.
That was his first ever payout. The moment it hit his bank account, everything changed.
“I was about to have 100K funded. I was like – these guys at McDonald’s don’t treat me well. I wake up at 4am, work nine-hour shifts on weekends. Or I could put that energy into trading. I passed a funded account. I know I can be profitable if I just put a bit more effort towards it.”
He quit McDonald’s the next week.
Scaling Too Fast
Here’s what Mubz didn’t do: pretend it was easy.
The day after his first payout, he bought 800K in funded accounts. He was scaling. He was hungry. He’d proven he could do it once – now he was going to do it bigger.
“I was so obsessed with scaling. That’s where all my payout went. 800K in funded accounts the next day.”
Then he blew them all.
“Slowly by slowly, you lose the accounts and you’re like – what’s going on? And you think, okay, I’ve breached. And then you just blow the account because you’re like, I’ve breached, but it might not even be a breach. These things weigh up on you in your mind.”
One mistake. Across all accounts. Everything gone.
The Cannon Event
Every trader has what Mubz calls a “cannon event.” The moment you lose everything and have to decide whether you’re done or whether you’re just getting started.
“You have to hit rock bottom,” he told us. “So you know you can only go up from here. You have to lose everything while also having a little bit of success at the start. The success at the start gives you that glimpse of hope that you can actually achieve it later on.”
For Mubz, losing those accounts wasn’t the end. It was proof that he could get accounts in the first place. And that meant he could get them again.
“Blowing my accounts meant to me that I can get accounts. And that led me to continuing trying.”
He had friends who’d been through the same thing. His cousin. Other traders in the community. People who understood that the blow-up isn’t the end of the story – it’s part of the story.
Mubz got back up. Passed more accounts. Took more payouts. Built it back properly this time.
The Psychology Trap
One thing Mubz is clear about: psychology isn’t the catch-all excuse traders make it out to be.
“A lot of people use psychology as a way to cope,” he said. “They say ‘my psychology is the reason I failed.’ But there’s other reasons that affect your psychology. If your finances aren’t right – if you haven’t got enough money – that’s why you’re blowing accounts. It’s not just psychology. Because then you’re never going to get to the root of the problem.”
For Mubz, the issue wasn’t some abstract mental block. It was concrete. Financial pressure. Scaling too fast. Making the same mistake across multiple accounts instead of treating each one separately.
“With me, it was always like – the rules of the firms were quite similar. It was more that I made one mistake and it was on all the accounts. And that was like, okay, I’ve lost everything. That’s why I feel like it’s important to treat each of them separately.”
On Losing
The traders who make it aren’t the ones who never lose. They’re the ones who know how to lose properly.
“You’ve got to accept that you’re going to lose,” Mubz said. “So you can actually take the wins as well.”
He doesn’t let his wins define him. He lets the losses define him – specifically, how he manages himself during the losing weeks.
“When you’re profitable, it gives you an ego. Then the markets humble that ego. That’s where you lose accounts. It’s not because you’re a bad trader. Everyone has bad periods.”
The Sleep Sacrifice
During the McDonald’s days, Mubz was running on almost no sleep. Working early mornings, trading late nights, studying charts in between.
“I was getting no sleep. But when you want to make something work so badly, you’re more likely to just give it your all. Neglecting your sleep is one of the worst things you can do – but it’s also one of the best things I did. Because it gave me that chance to give my all to something.”
He’s not recommending it. But he’s honest about it. Trading gave him something he’d never had before: direction.
“Direction is so important. With your trading journey, with everything. It gives you not only a purpose, but something to look forward to every day.”
One Year Later
Mubz has been trading for 12 months. He’s taken multiple payouts. He’s not flipping burgers anymore.
When we asked him what’s next, he didn’t hesitate.
“I just want to scale. I want to be the very best at what I do. I want to have a certain level of success that’s disturbing to some people.”
He knows how that sounds. He doesn’t care.
“You’ve got to be a little bit delusional and a little bit full of ego to try and make it. You see everyone doing different things. You’ve got to focus on what you have to do. I know what I’m doing and I know what I have to do. So I’m going to get it done.”
On Validation and Humility
One thing Mubz has noticed as he’s progressed: the more successful you get, the less you feel the need to prove it.
“A lot of people, when they’re successful, they look down on people. I feel like the more payouts you get, the less you look down and the more you’re looking up or looking forwards.”
He’s wary of seeking validation. The traders who shout loudest about their wins are usually the ones who need to convince themselves more than anyone else.
“If you have to force it – force to be like, ‘I’m the best’ – it’s not truth. There’s something fundamentally wrong. You’re pretending to be someone you’re not. And you’re never going to be happy with what you are.”
What Mubz Would Tell His Younger Audience
Mubz knows his audience skews young. He had something specific he wanted to say to them.
“I know I’ve got a young audience, so it’s nice to be able to say this. If you just commit yourself to writing something down that you’re going to do and just doing it, you’re going to go leaps and bounds ahead of your peers. You’re never going to look back. You’re always going to be looking forward.”
The Bottom Line
TraderMubz was 17, working minimum wage, getting four hours sleep, and trading on the side.
One year later, he’s funded, profitable, and building something real.
He’s not special. He’s not lucky. He just decided what he wanted and refused to quit when it got hard.
Your cannon event might be ahead of you. Or maybe you’re in the middle of it right now. Either way – the traders who make it aren’t the ones who avoid the blow-ups. They’re the ones who get back up afterwards.
“You have to hit rock bottom. So you know you can only go up from here.”
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