The true champion is the one who falls seven times, and rises eight.
In the elite arena of Tradingcup, trading signals come and go; some hold steady in the top ten, others fade as quickly as they appear. But few traders can claim what this one has achieved: a fall from the top, a fierce comeback, and now back in the spotlight.
Today, we turn our attention to an outstanding signal currently ranked 7th: Royal Mint EA Limitless PH, managed by none other than star trader Tariq Tensuan, who previously climbed to the #1 spot in 2024.
Royal Mint is a trading strategy that fuses the Martingale logic with risk control and a smart EA framework. It topped the Tradingcup leaderboard in the second half of 2024 and has drawn widespread attention for its distinctive style.
Strategy Breakdown
Performance Snapshot – as of March 26
In 18 months, Tariq executed a total of 741 trades:
- Average profit per winning trade: $1.39, with 140 pips gained
- Average loss per losing trade: $4.36, with 396 pips lost
- Risk-reward ratio: 1:3.13, with a win rate of 80.0%
- Average pip movement for both long and short trades: around 190 pips
- Trade distribution: 386 long and 356 short – showing no directional bias
- Over half of all trades were held intraday, most others within a week, with a few held for several months
- Losing trades had notably longer holding periods than winning ones
At first glance, the stats seem underwhelming: high win rate paired with a poor risk-reward ratio, and long holding times for losing trades—typical signs of a Martingale-style strategy. On top of that, a maximum drawdown of 25% and a total return of only 8.7% may leave you wondering: does this really qualify as a “champion” strategy?
Royal Mint – A Martingale, But Not as You Know It
Experienced traders will quickly notice: Tariq’s Royal Mint is far from your traditional Martingale. Its brilliance lies in precise risk control.
Back in November last year, many Martingale strategies blew up following the U.S. election, as Trump’s win triggered a massive surge in the dollar. Royal Mint was not immune, suffering a 25% drawdown, mainly due to the sharp drop in NZD/USD that started in mid-October.
However, unlike others, Royal Mint withstood the pressure and bounced back, with the account recovering steadily after the drawdown. This resilience came down to a unique risk management system that allowed it to survive the exact kind of one-sided market moves that typically kill Martingale strategies.
Tight Position Sizing
Most Martingale systems compensate for earlier losses by increasing position sizes, often dangerously so. Royal Mint does the opposite: winning and losing trades are placed with nearly equal lot sizes.
Historical data shows that the largest single trade size was only 0.04 lots, and each trade was spaced out by several hours, reflecting a disciplined, low-risk exposure. This cautious scaling helped the strategy endure even the wildest market swings.
A Unique Take-Profit Mechanism
Even more intriguing is how Royal Mint exits trades. Every position has a take-profit, but never stop-loss. The EA adjusts take-profit levels dynamically based on current losses in that trade.
This approach doesn’t rely on leveraging up to recover losses. Instead, it accepts smaller profits to minimize risk exposure, and in doing so, avoids sudden wipeouts.
In other words, this strategy sacrifices some profit potential in exchange for survival in the face of lethal market trends, the Achilles’ heel of most Martingale systems.
Diversified Currency Portfolio
The U.S. dollar, heavily influenced by political policies, is prone to strong directional trends. Many Martingale strategies have died on the USD battlefield and Tariq knows this all too well.
That’s why Royal Mint minimizes USD-based pairs, favoring cross-currency pairs instead.
The top three traded pairs are:
These are all commodity currencies, influenced by global economic trends in sync, and backed by similar economic structures. This makes their price movements more stable, and less likely to experience one-sided crashes.
These pairs have also contributed the most to the strategy’s profits. By contrast, trades involving the U.S. dollar were minimal. Ironically, it was NZD/USD that caused the entire drawdown.
It’s easy to imagine: had the portfolio been heavily skewed toward USD pairs, Royal Mint would’ve likely shared the fate of other Martingale systems obliterated in the Trump-driven market storm.
Indicators That Boost Accuracy
In earlier interviews, we gained deeper insight into the logic behind Royal Mint. Tariq, with years of real trading experience and a background as a forex mentor, has embedded his market insights into the EA.
The core approach is trend-following, filtered with tried-and-tested indicators like Bollinger Bands, RSI, and moving averages. This helps the system identify better trade setups, resulting in a stable 80% win rate.
Human Experience vs. Extreme Risk
Unlike most fully automated systems, Tariq doesn’t rely solely on technical indicators. He incorporates his personal judgment to interpret news and events.
Whenever a significant uncertainty arises be it geopolitical conflict or major policy change he’s quick to pause trading in affected markets.
One of the most dramatic thing came before the U.S. election. In an interview with ACY staff, Tariq said:
“Markets are constantly changing, and traders need to adapt especially during events like the U.S. election, which are full of uncertainty.”
In private conversations, he even mentioned that he might suspend his EA during the election period to avoid excess volatility.
Yet, for reasons unknown, Tariq decided to keep the EA running which led to that 25% drawdown and temporarily knocked him off the Tradingcup leaderboard.
Comeback After the Storm
But true strength isn’t about avoiding setbacks it’s about recovering from them with clarity and conviction.
Tariq didn’t abandon his system after the 25% drawdown. Instead, he stayed the course, fine-tuned his framework, and resumed trading. As the market stabilized post-election, Royal Mint quickly regained its rhythm, returning to consistent performance and proving the durability of its core model.
Now, with the strategy adjusted and refined, Royal Mint is ready to shine once again in the global arena.
This is not your average Martingale. Royal Mint defied the odds, weathered the storm, and is now poised for another run at the top.
Let’s welcome the return of this unconventional king and look forward to the next chapter of Royal Mint’s evolution!
