Hello,
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself – Stephen Vickers.
I will be taking over the project here at Online Prop Firm (OPF) from Liam, who has done a great job here for the last year or so. Thanks Liam, and all the best for the future ahead.
A little bit about myself:
First things first, my name is Stephen, and I have been trading for around 3-4 years now.
It all started back in 2020, when working on old retro computers like the Spectrum 48K/128K and Commodore 64/128 and obviously the amazing Amiga 500+ too.
One of the issues with these ageing computers was the memory chips they used on the Spectrum 48K where now failing with read and write errors. Knowing which, of the many Ram chips, was at fault was tricky to work out. So, I knocked up a Ram tester circuit for the old ICs, see photo below.
The first breadboard version I made.
Bear with me, this does end up trading related eventually 😊
Then I had the idea to get the circuit made up, on a proper printed circuit board (PCB).
I quickly learned the software and designed my first ever PCB board. When it came to getting the PCB made up, it was almost as cheap to get ten made up as it was for just one. Obviously, I chose to have ten boards made up.
The first PCB versions I made.
To cut a long story short:
I sold the remaining nine boards online. They sold so quickly, I was a-bit in shock.
From there I ordered more PCBs to sell and upgraded the boards each time with better features. I remember the first boards had to have jumper wires soldiered on because one of my PCB tracks was wrong. Just like trading, it was a process of upgrading each iteration.
Now this is where I got into trading (sort of):
Because I had this free money coming in, I wanted to put it somewhere to work for me. Enter Bitcoin and the crypto markets. See I told you we were heading towards trading!
So, like I do with everything I do, I got carried away trading Bitcoin and Ethereum as they were on that first big run upwards. You know, when Bitcoin was going to reach $100,000 – the first time around!
After a while I got out of crypto, as at the time the players were a bit sketchy, and my money was building up to the point where I didn’t trust leaving it with the trading firms of the time.
Hence, I moved to the more stable and safer option of Forex trading. I went through all the usual things everyone does when they start to trade. Blowing accounts and making the mistakes that we all must do in the beginning of our trading carriers. Each new prop account or new trading idea was the next iteration of my trading progress. Just like each iteration of my PCBs!
Finally, after a few years of this up and down roller-coaster ride on the charts. I started to make some real progress with my trading. The blown accounts got less and less, then came the running accounts at Break even for a while. Then finally, the running accounts into profits.
Coming into this current year, 2025:
I started to put myself out there more publicly, initially on my small YouTube channel while also being a Moderator and site tester for some trading firms and appearing on quite a few live streams too.
From there, we finally arrive at this point now. I was offered this amazing opportunity to run OPF here, and I jumped at the chance to make a real difference to people, like myself, in the trading arena.
I hope to share my experience here with others and help guide people to make better, informed choices, when it comes to their own trading carriers ahead.
Many thanks
Stephen Vickers
Project Lead at OPF
