Following the Smart Money: How a Jamaican Trader Banked $13,773 by Pivoting to Oil
In this edition of Leveraged Trader Success Stories, we travel to Jamaica to spotlight a trader who perfectly illustrates the difference between being a “chart reader” and a “macro opportunist.” Unlike many trader success stories that feature strict chart technicians rigidly trading one pair, this trader embraced global volatility to hit a massive home run. Trading on a 150,000 Refuel Turbo Funded account via the MT5 platform, this trader generated a spectacular total profit of 14,498.00 in just 29 active trading days.
The result? A massive first payout of $13,773.10 straight into their account.
What makes this performance truly elite is how they achieved it. While they spent 90% of their time scalping cryptocurrencies, they possessed the awareness to step outside their comfort zone and follow the “smart money” into the oil markets when historical volatility struck. Here is the breakdown of a brilliantly executed 5-figure run.
$13,773 FIRST PAYOUT
The Jamaican macro opportunist who turned a $150,000 Refuel Turbo account into a five-figure payday. By surviving a brutal early drawdown and pivoting from crypto scalping to a historic Oil swing, they proved that situational awareness is the ultimate edge.
First Payout
$13,773.10
Jamaican Macro Strategist
Win Rate
51.06%
72 Wins / 69 Losses
Avg Win / Loss
$473.64 / $278.30
1.70 : 1 Risk-Reward Ratio
Profit Factor
1.78
141 Total Trades Executed
01 // THE EQUITY JOURNEY — THE V-SHAPE RECOVERY
Reconstructed from 141 verified trades on a $150,000 account. The curve illustrates a classic “Comeback Kid” story: an early dip to $144,817 was followed by a disciplined parabolic recovery, peaking at $165,308. This resilience is the hallmark of a professional trader who trusts their math over their emotions.
02 // ASSET ALLOCATION — CRYPTO CORE, OIL ALPHA
While BTCUSD accounts for 73% of all trades, the defining “alpha” came from WTI Oil and Gold. These macro pivots delivered 54% of the total net profit from just 19% of the trade count. Specializing in crypto while remaining open to macro opportunities is a high-level strategy.
03 // HOLD TIME DISTRIBUTION — THE PATIENCE EDGE
The data reveals a clear “Prime Zone” between 30 minutes and 12 hours, where the win rate jumps to 60% and $10,987 in profit was generated. Short-duration impulse scalps under 30 minutes were net-negative, highlighting the value of letting winning trades breathe.
04 // ASSET-BY-ASSET BREAKDOWN
Performance across 6 instruments. Note the 78% win rate on Oil and 70% on Gold compared to the destructive performance on Silver and ETH. Removing the underperformers would have yielded an even higher RRR.
| Asset | Trades | W / L | Win Rate | Net PnL | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WTI Oil | 9 | 7 / 2 | 78% | +$5,056 | Star Asset |
| XAUUSD | 10 | 7 / 3 | 70% | +$3,221 | Strong |
| BTCUSD | 74 | 40 / 34 | 54% | +$6,234 | Core Edge |
| XRPUSD | 3 | 2 / 1 | 67% | +$534 | Small Sample |
| ETHUSD | 5 | 1 / 4 | 20% | -$1,397 | Avoid |
| XAGUSD | 7 | 1 / 6 | 14% | -$2,542 | Eliminate |
05 // THE MATH OF THE COMEBACK — WHY 1.78 PF WINS
A 51% win rate is essentially a coin flip on direction, but the math of the payout is found in the sizing. One win ($473) erases 1.7 consecutive losses ($278 each). This positive expectancy allowed the trader to trade out of a $5,000 early hole and secure a $13,773 payout.
- Avg Win ($473) is 1.7x larger than Avg Loss ($278)
- Macro Pivot: 54% of profit from Oil and Gold
- Resilience: Recovered from 3.5% early drawdown
The Vehicle: The MT5 Refuel Advantage & The $8.88 Start
Before diving into the charts, it’s crucial to understand the vehicle this trader used to achieve these results: the Leveraged Turbo program combined with the Refuel feature. Most prop firms require full payment before you even start, meaning traders risk large upfront fees without knowing if they will pass.
We saw how powerful our model can be in From an $8.88 Start to $8,350 in Two Payouts: The Ultimate Turbo Success Story, and this Jamaican trader utilized it to perfection.
- The Pay-After-You-Pass Model: Leveraged Turbo changes the industry by allowing you to start an evaluation for just $8.88. You only pay the full program fee after you successfully qualify.
- The Refuel Feature: In traditional prop trading, breaching a funded account forces you to return to Phase 1. With the Leveraged Refuel feature, if a trader breaches, they can simply pay an activation fee to bypass the evaluation entirely. The funded account is instantly restored to its initial $150k balance.
We witnessed the sheer speed of this feature in 2 Payouts, 1 Strategy: How a “Refueled” Trader Banked Over $11,000 in 10 Days, and this Jamaican trader used the same lightning-fast execution on MT5 trading platform to hunt momentum without the traditional evaluation stress.
The Journey: Surviving the Early Dip
The Equity Curve from late March to late April shows that this payout was hard-earned. This is the ultimate "Comeback Kid" story. The trader started the cycle by falling into an immediate drawdown, dipping to a low of $144,817.42 (a manageable ~3.5% drop). Many traders panic here and increase their lot sizes. This trader stayed calm, trusted their statistical trading edge, and methodically dug themselves out.
This level of resilience is a recurring theme in our top trader success stories. Once they crossed back over the breakeven line, the prop account went parabolic, peaking at a massive $165,308.25 before they requested their payout.
Visualizing the Comeback: Inside the Trading Calendar
The Equity Curve and Trading Calendar show that this payout was hard-earned. This trader had to fight their way out of a brutal early hole.
- The March Drawdown: The trader started the cycle on March 25 and ran straight into a brick wall. Over their first three days (March 25-27), they took consecutive losses, putting the account in a -$5,000 drawdown (a ~3.3% drop). Many traders panic here. This trader stayed calm.
- The "V-Shape" Recovery: On March 30, they stopped the bleeding with a massive +$3,038.45 day.
- The April Green Streak: Once April began, they went on an absolute tear. Between April 2 and April 10, they posted an incredible 8-day winning streak, clustering profits of $1,300 to $1,700 day after day. This disciplined run completely flipped the account from red to deep green.
The Mathematics: The 51% Sweet Spot
You don't need a massive, hyper-accurate win rate like we saw in The Statistical "Holy Grail": 75% Win Rate & 4.0 Profit Factor Secures a $4,000 Payout. You just need to be disciplined.
- Total Trades: 141
- Win Rate: 51.06%
- Profit Factor: 1.78
- Average Win: $473.64
- Average Loss: -$278.30
The Edge: This is the mathematical profile of a highly sustainable trader. A 51.06% win rate means they are essentially flipping a coin on direction. However, their Average Win is 1.7x larger than their Average Loss. When your winners consistently outpace your losers by almost double, you can afford to be wrong half the time and still generate a $14k profit.
Hold Duration vs. Performance
Duration is a strong predictor of outcome in this trader’s dataset. The trader's core edge resides in the 30-minute to 12-hour intraday window. Scalp entries under 30 minutes are net-negative. Multi-session overnight holds are mixed but net positive, driven by selective BTC conviction trades.
| Hold Duration | Trades | Wins | Losses | Win Rate | Net PnL | Signal |
| < 30 minutes | 19 | 8 | 11 | 42% | −$798 | ⚠ AVOID |
| 30 min – 12 hrs | 52 | 31 | 21 | 60% | +$10,987 | ★ PRIME ZONE |
| 12+ hours (overnight) | 30 | 14 | 16 | 47% | +$4,096 | SELECTIVE |
Key insight: The 52 trades held 30 min–12hrs achieved 60% win rate and delivered +$10,987 — the structural engine of this trading portfolio. The 19 trades held under 30 minutes lost $798 at only 42% win rate. Every impulse scalp under 30 minutes is statistically destructive. Overnight holds are net positive but driven by a small number of high-conviction multi-day BTC and oil carries.
Buy vs. Sell Performance
Both directions are profitable, with BUY trades showing a modest win rate advantage (55.2% vs 48.8%). Critically, the trader's highest single-day profits come almost exclusively from BUY clusters on trending BTC and oil days. SELL trades carry more of the reactive, short-duration impulsive entries.
| Direction | Trades | Wins | Win Rate | Net PnL | Avg PnL/Trade |
| BUY (Long) | 58 | 32 | 55.2% | +$9,350 | +$161.21 |
| SELL (Short) | 43 | 21 | 48.8% | +$5,159 | +$119.98 |
Observation: The BUY side dominates because the trader's best setups - BTC trend rallies, oil carry trades, gold sell-reversals - predominantly involve longer-hold BUY clusters where the market gives sustained directional follow-through. The SELL side includes more reactive short-duration entries (Apr 22 BTC short disaster being the clearest example), which drag down the SELL win rate.
Asset Choice: Crypto Focus, Oil Opportunism
A deep dive into the MT5 trading history reveals a trader who lives and breathes crypto. The vast majority of their 141 trades were scalps on BTCUSD and ETHUSD. The trader demonstrates a genuine directional edge on BTC trend days and exceptional patience on oil and gold setups.
However, the defining moments of their account didn't come from crypto. Recognizing the historic volatility currently shaking the global energy markets, the trader pivoted. They followed the smart money into WTI (Crude Oil), executing a handful of swing trades that changed the trajectory of their account entirely.
Surviving the "Tilt Zone" (March 25 - March 30)
The trader's first few trading days were brutal. The ledger shows they started by heavily buying XAGUSD (Silver) and ETHUSD.
- Almost all of these initial trades were stopped out for chunky losses (-$498, -$763, -$477, -$768)
- This perfectly correlates with the lowest dip on the equity curve ($144,817).
- Most retail traders double down on losing assets to win their money back. This trader recognized Silver and Ethereum weren't working, cut them completely, and shifted their entire focus to BTCUSD and WTI for the remainder of the month.
Asset-by-Asset Performance
The trader operates across 6 assets, but the book is heavily concentrated in BTCUSD (73% of trades). The non-BTC assets show a stark binary: oil and gold are highly profitable, while ETH and silver are persistent loss generators.
| Asset | Trades | Wins | Losses | Win Rate | Net PnL | Avg PnL | Verdict |
| BTCUSD | 74 | 40 | 34 | 54% | +$6,234 | +$84 | CORE EDGE |
| WTI Oil | 9 | 7 | 2 | 78% | +$5,056 | +$562 | STAR ASSET |
| XAUUSD | 10 | 7 | 3 | 70% | +$3,221 | +$322 | STRONG |
| XRPUSD | 3 | 2 | 1 | 67% | +$534 | +$178 | SMALL SAMPLE |
| ETHUSD | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | −$1,397 | −$279 | AVOID |
| XAGUSD | 7 | 1 | 6 | 14% | −$2,542 | −$363 | ELIMINATE |
WTI Oil is the hidden star of this account. The single best trade on the entire account was a WTI oil long (+$4,010, held 2 days from Apr 10–12). Oil and gold combined deliver $8,277 from just 19 trades - 54% of total net profit on 19% of trade count. If this trader allocated even modest additional capital toward oil and gold setups and stopped trading ETH and silver entirely, the risk-adjusted returns would improve substantially.
The "Macro Hold" Patience
Unlike scalpers who close trades in 5 minutes, this trader has ironclad patience.
- They frequently hold winning trades for 12 hours to 3 days.
- Example: On April 24, they bought BTCUSD at 76,900. They held it through the weekend until April 26/27, closing tickets for +$1,601.45 and $573.24.
Case Study: The Weekend Gap and the $8 Positive Slippage (+$4,010)
To understand their macro awareness, we only need to look at their best trade of the cycle. While usually scalping BTC for minutes at a time, the trader spotted a massive structural opportunity in Crude Oil. They bought WTI at 96.71. Rather than taking a quick $500 profit, they exhibited incredible patience, holding the trade over the weekend. They rode the historic volatility wave all the way up, finally exiting at 104.73 for a massive $8.00 per barrel move.
- Ticket: #8331092
- Asset: WTIcash-1 (Buy)
- Duration: 2 days, 3 hours
- Result: +$4,010.00
This single swing trade netted $4,010 – nearly 30% of their total profit for the entire cycle. It proves that having the situational awareness to step into a new asset class during a major geopolitical/macro event pays huge dividends.
The Context: That week, Crude Oil had crashed violently from above $118 a barrel back below the major psychological level of $100. Going into Friday evening, geopolitical tensions were boiling over. Holding a trade over the weekend is incredibly risky due to Monday opening gaps. This trader had massive conviction. They anticipated that the geopolitical risks were not going to fade and bought into the massive pullback late on Friday. They placed their Take Profit (TP) target at $97.80.
The Reward (Positive Slippage): When the market opened on Sunday evening, it didn't just gap up – it exploded. The price gapped up 9 from Friday's close, blowing right past the trader's target. Because of how weekend gaps work, the Take Profit order was executed at the next available market price: 104.73
Their TP was slipped by almost 7 in their favor, turning a good trade into an absolute home run. This single swing trade netted $4,010 making it the best run of their entire $150k Turbo challenge.
The "Worst" Trade: The Short Squeeze (-$1,660)
With a 51% win rate, there were plenty of losses. The largest came from getting trapped in a crypto squeeze and trying to pick a top.
- Ticket: #9279464
- Asset: BTCUSD (Sell)
- Duration: 4 hours, 4 minutes
- Result: -$1,660.60
The trader attempted to short Bitcoin at 76,340, anticipating a breakdown. Instead, BTC caught a heavy bid, rallying relentlessly against them. While $1,660 is a significant loss, it represents just 1.1% of their $150,000 account balance. The trader recognized the short thesis was invalidated as price approached 78,000 and cut the cord. By keeping their absolute worst trade to just ~1%, they ensured their equity curve could easily absorb the hit and continue climbing.
The Context: Bitcoin had been surging for weeks. The trader decided to step out of their timezone comfort zone and open a Short trade during the Asia session. They tried to catch a top. After entering, the market traded in a tight range for hours. Then, the momentum picked up, and BTC broke out to the upside, pushing straight up with zero pullbacks.
The Lesson: The trader was fighting a massive bullish trend, trading out of their preferred session, and trying to pick a top – a deadly combination. However, they demonstrated elite survival skills: they exited the trade right before Bitcoin broke above the April monthly high. They took a -$1,662.12 hit, but by cutting the loss there, they avoided the catastrophic liquidation that followed the breakout.
What Traders Can Learn
- Follow the Volatility: Crypto is great, but when Oil is making historic moves, smart money pivots. Don't be so married to one asset class that you ignore generational volatility happening right next door.
- Embrace Asymmetric Opportunities: Holding oil over a geopolitical weekend is risky, but when the macro picture aligns, the reward can be astronomical. The $7 positive slippage proves that taking calculated risks can result in account-changing trades.
- RRR > Win Rate: A 51% win rate won't win you any bragging rights on social media, but paired with an Average Win that is nearly double the Average Loss ($473 vs $278), it will buy you a $13,773 payout. Focus on the math, not the strike rate.
- Don't Pick Tops: The worst trade on BTC shows why fighting a multi-week bullish trend during off-hours is dangerous. Always respect the higher-timeframe momentum.
- Survive the Early Drawdown: Dipping $5k in the red right after starting a funded account can be psychologically devastating. But as we've seen in other trader success stories, including Surviving 100+ Losses to Earn $30,521 in Just 2 Payouts With Just 20% WR, the ability to remain mechanical and trade your way out of the hole is the true hallmark of a professional.
- Implement a 30-Minute Minimum Hold Rule: The data demands a hard rule: no exits before 30 minutes except for stop-loss hits. The 30-min to 12-hr window delivers 60% win rate and $10,987 net profit. A hard timer on the trading platform - or a personal rule of reviewing the chart at 30 minutes rather than watching tick-by-tick - would enforce this.
Final Words
By combining the lightning-fast execution of MT5, the safety net of the Leveraged Refuel feature, and elite macro-awareness, this Jamaican trader secured a life-changing $13,773.10 payout. This performance deserves a top spot in our archive of trader success stories. They proved that you don't need to win every trade – you just need to be positioned in the right market when the big moves happen.
The profit factor of 1.78, the reward-to-risk ratio of 1.70, and the strong performance in oil and gold all point to a genuine, repeatable edge. The challenge pass is earned - not lucky.
The path to elite performance is equally clear: the core strategy already works - the deviations from it are the only problem. Silver and ETH entries, reactive scalps under 30 minutes, are responsible for virtually all losses. Remove those three behaviors and the same trader, same trading setups, same trading account would likely generate $20,000-$22,000 on an equivalent period rather than $14,508.
If you enjoyed this breakdown and want to see how other traders use structured discipline to extract massive payouts, be sure to read Breaking the Mold: How This Female Trader Dominated with 9 Payouts.
Disclaimer: The analysis provided in this article is based on a retrospective look at the charts and represents the personal opinion of the author. At Leveraged, we do not dictate specific trading strategies. Our traders maintain full autonomy over their trading style and decisions, provided they operate within our Risk Management parameters and Terms & Conditions.