How Trading Success Transforms Lives

Daniel Gutierrez Viñas always had an entrepreneurial streak. “I've wanted to be in the market since I was very, very young,” he says. “When I was a kid, I asked my mum to print comics to sell to my friends.”

His teachers soon put a stop to those deals, but his passion for trading only grew. He completed degrees in economics and financial planning, followed by a career in banking and insurance.

The problem? Gutierrez felt unfulfilled and the day job was also taking time away from his growing fascination with trading. “I wanted something out of the office without fixed hours,” he says. “I wanted to trade.”

After seven years of working in Spain, he and his wife quit their jobs and moved to Ireland. His plan was to fully dedicate himself to his developing trading career, even though his family thought they were “crazy,” he recalls. But Gutierrez assessed the move with the acumen of an experienced trader. While recognizing that the venture could fail, he judged it a “calculated risk,” well worth taking.

As the second trader to have achieved $1 million in funding via Axi Select’s funded program, his move has more than paid off.

Uncovering hidden talent

Since its launch in 2023, the Axi Select funding program has onboarded more than 42,000 traders. Roughly $400 million in funding has been allocated, and more than $10 million in profits has been paid out to traders.

Gutierrez is one of five traders who have achieved the coveted Pro M stage, the program’s highest level, which comes with $1 million in funding. While he has a banking background, many of Axi Select’s top traders come from walks of life far removed from high finance.

Yoleny, a “proud wife and mother of two,” doesn’t look like the stereotypical trader. Her day job is in building inspection, but several years ago, she became increasingly fascinated by financial markets. 

Together with her husband, she took classes where they learned how to trade gold. But the couple’s journey hasn’t always been smooth. “My husband went through experiences with other funding accounts in which they gave him thousands of excuses to not pay him,” she says.

He switched to Axi, and Yoleny followed. “They’ve always been impeccable, super clear, and have supported us with every question”, she says. This summer, she became the fifth Axi Select trader to achieve the Pro M level, 11 months after starting on the program. Her highest monthly payout was “approximately $28,000,” which she is saving for a deposit on a house. 

Axi’s program offers “fairness, transparency and real opportunities for people like me who are just starting out in trading, with little experience,” Yoleny says. “For a long time, many talented traders couldn’t make it because they didn’t have the capital or the right support system.” Her own journey has shown that Axi is building “a future in which talent, discipline and transparency are more important than luck or privilege.”

The path to personal growth

“Trading came into my life as an escape route,” says Yoleny. “I was coming off a very serious job disappointment and needed to transform all that negative energy into something that would give me purpose and motivation. And that’s exactly what I found in trading.” As much as the money was appealing, Axi Select offered, above all, “a path to personal growth.” She has learned to reframe bad trading days as “part of the learning path; I began to see them not just as a failure, but as a tool to continue learning.”

Originally experimenting with Nasdaq and Bitcoin trades, Yoleny has enjoyed the most success with Forex, particularly the euro-dollar pair. Along the way, she has learned to adopt “a slightly different mentality—much more prudent, much more careful.”

The support of other traders in whom she shares a WhatsApp group, has been invaluable for Yoleny. Trading can be isolating, but Axi Select offers more than a simple brokerage platform or funded program. Weekly webinars help traders deepen their knowledge, while trading rooms enable them to talk strategy and share charts with more experienced traders. Camaraderie and friendships can follow.

“With Axi Select, you don’t just have a company—you have like a second family,” says Yoleny.

Hard work pays off

Francisco Quesada Godines, the first trader to reach Pro M status, also doesn’t fit the profile of a traditional trader. He has a degree in sports science, and began working as a professional physiotherapist. “I don’t have any background in economics or programming,” he says. “And yet, I have become an algorithmic trader managing a million dollars.”

The key to his success? Five years of “work, work and work,” methodically deepening his trading knowledge. He effectively juggled “two jobs, working as a physiotherapist and as a trader,” and gave up weekends to study and refine his algorithms.

Quesada never doubted he could achieve Pro M. “It sounds a little arrogant,” he admits. “But after so much work and so much analysis, and after trusting in what you’re doing, I knew that sooner or later, it was going to be mine.”  

His trading strategy is strikingly cautious. “My biggest drawdown was minus 1.1%,” he says. “So I have never been at risk of going bankrupt or having a drawdown of 10%.” 

His success recently enabled him to give up physiotherapy and focus full-time on trading. “You have to take it very cautiously. I didn’t stop working until I reached the million-dollar phase,” he says. 

Gutierrez agrees. He advises traders who have yet to reach the Pro M stage to keep a second source of income. Trading income is variable, and a day job can help traders ride out any difficult months. “With Axi, you can work little by little, and adapt trading to your life,” he says, advising traders to only consider trading full-time once they reach the advanced Pro-level stages.

Gutierrez says that the true benefit of his success with Axi Select has not been money, but greater freedom. “For me, being rich is not having a Ferrari. It’s going to pick up the kids from school,” he says. “I’m rich because I can do whatever I want. I don’t have to worry about anything.”

The Axi Select program is only available to clients of AxiTrader LLC. CFDs carry a high risk of investment loss. Information contained in this material is of a general nature. Axi does not consider your financial objectives or personal circumstances. Axi recommends that you seek independent advice. This content may not be available in your region. For more information, refer to our Terms of Service. Standard trading fees and minimum deposit apply.