From Fashion Modeling to Prop Trading: How Nikita Withdrew $274 From Upscale in 6 Weeks

A former fashion model who spent six years working in Asia lost his first $3,000 on a scam exchange in Hong Kong, cycled through memecoins, NFT flipping, and reckless futures trading — then passed a challenge on Upscale in six weeks and received two payouts from a funded account. Nikita (Kubsssssssss) is the story of a trader who came to prop trading not because everything was going great, but because he realized his own discipline wasn't enough without external guardrails.

Watch the full interview with Nikita on the Upscale YouTube channel:

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From the Runway to the Charts: How a Model Ended Up in Crypto

Nikita is 24 years old. For the last six years, he worked as a fashion model in Asia — primarily in China and Hong Kong. But the industry was shifting: fewer bookings, lower rates, and a deepening economic slowdown. He decided to leave modeling and move into something that would let him work from anywhere in the world.

His first encounter with crypto happened roughly five years ago in Hong Kong. An acquaintance working at a burger joint connected to the Asian exchange GPEX was encouraging everyone to invest and buy tokens during the presale. The exchange's first token reportedly returned around 10x, so when a second one launched, Nikita put in $3,000.

On Nikita's birthday, April 2nd, the tokens were supposed to unlock. He opened his wallet, saw $5,000–$6,000 — a clean 2x on his original investment. He tried to withdraw. It didn't work. His acquaintance delivered the news: the exchange was under criminal investigation, all accounts were frozen, roughly 80 people had been arrested. Many employees fled Hong Kong for Thailand and other countries.

"That's how I entered crypto — by losing my first $3,000."

Memecoins, NFTs, and a Path Through Every Possible Mistake

After the scam, Nikita stepped away from crypto for about a year. Then — by chance — he discovered memecoins on Solana through Twitter. Around the same time, he put $500 into a farming project and watched it climb to $3,500 on screen. His girlfriend told him to sell. He insisted it was just the beginning — the market cap was only $20–30 million. The project went to zero.

Next came NFTs on Solana. An old friend invited him into a team that flipped collections: buying at mint for pennies, selling higher. This lasted about six months and became, in Nikita's words, the most profitable chapter of his crypto journey.

When the NFT market died, Nikita turned to futures. But his approach matched his experience: trading exclusively off calls, no chart analysis, mindless entries.

"I was a very dumb trader who simply saw a call, entered without thinking — absolutely without thinking."

The realization came gradually. Nikita started studying charts independently, watching educational content. At the time of the interview, he'd been trading with intention for about five to six months.

Why Prop Trading: From Skepticism to Conviction

Nikita had heard about prop trading before but was skeptical. He bought his first $5,000 challenge as an experiment — minimum investment, just to check whether it was legitimate.

"When I first came to Upscale, I wasn't really confident it was real. So I bought a $5,000 account — just to try."

Trust built gradually: collaborations with influencers, positive reviews, Upscale's presence at offline events. Today, Nikita is convinced that Upscale is the top prop trading platform in the CIS region.

The key moment that transformed his trading was the built-in limits. A 5% daily loss cap and 10% maximum drawdown. For someone who felt "impunity" on his own deposit — catching stops without ever reviewing his mistakes — these constraints became a lifeline.

"A safety brake appears — one that pushes down on itself."

Challenge Completed in Six Weeks: The Timeline

The path wasn't smooth. Between Phase 1 and Phase 2, Nikita dropped to nearly -9% — a serious losing streak he managed to climb out of before advancing to the funded stage.

The $8 Test Withdrawal and a $600 Lesson

The story of the first payout deserves its own section. On the funded account, Nikita earned roughly 13% profit — around $600–620. But because he still didn't fully trust the platform, he decided to make a "demo withdrawal": he requested just $10. With the 80/20 profit split, he received $8.

The payout arrived. The platform works. But instead of withdrawing the remaining $600, Nikita kept trading — and lost all his profit. At the peak of the drawdown, his account balance dropped to $4,800.

"On one hand, I was happy — it works, they actually pay out, and I proved it to myself. But on the other hand, I was disappointed that I'd been foolish and didn't withdraw all 13% of profit — just $10."

As a fun footnote: the number 8 turned out to be symbolic. Having spent a significant part of his life in China, Nikita knows well that the Chinese word for eight ("bā") sounds similar to the word for "prosper" or "generate wealth." It's considered the luckiest number in Chinese culture. So his first $8 certificate became, in a way, a lucky charm.

Trading Strategy: Fibonacci, Volume, and Market Structure

Nikita trades intraday — positions last from a few hours up to a day and a half. Given the choice, he'd prefer swing trading with wider stops and take-profits, but his current experience level and market conditions dictate shorter timeframes.

Core tools:

• Fibonacci levels — his key indicator. Nikita considers the 1.414–1.618 zone the strongest, noting that touches of this zone with subsequent bounces play out, by his estimate, 80–90% of the time.
• Volume — for confirming moves. A rally without significant volume can be easily absorbed, and Nikita factors this in.
• Structural analysis — identifying bearish or bullish market structure, looking for breaks of structure.

Analysis runs top-down: the monthly chart for the global trend, then the 4-hour for local structure, then the search for an entry point.

How he manages positions:

Nikita opens a position with a predetermined stop and take-profit. The stop is placed behind key levels — below accumulation zones or significant lows. He occasionally scales into a position when confirming factors appear, keeping total risk per trade within 1% of the balance.

Preferred assets:

Analysis always starts with Bitcoin — it defines the overall market direction. Beyond BTC, Nikita favors HYPE and ASTER — decentralized exchanges that showed resilience during Bitcoin's correction, losing only minimal percentages while the primary asset was dropping.

Risk Management: 0.5–1% With No Exceptions

Nikita's standard risk per trade is 0.5% to 1% of the account balance. He calls this the single most important rule in trading.

"You can't be losing 3–4% of your balance in one stop. Two or three trades like that and you lose the account. That shouldn't happen."

When asked for the one piece of advice he'd give to someone starting in prop trading, Nikita's answer is one word: risk management. Don't oversize. Set sensible stops. Don't chase recovery after a losing streak.

Psychology: When Not to Trade

Nikita has clear situations where he won't open trades:

Weekends. The market barely moves, volume is absent — no setups worth taking.

News events. Nikita closely monitors the economic calendar: Fed announcements, unemployment data, oil reports, and other macro releases. If a major event is an hour away, opening a position is a coin flip.

"There were times when you open a trade, Trump comes out and says 'meow!' — and that's it, you're liquidated."

Emotional state. If he's hit one or two stop-losses in a day — trading is over. The urge to "make it back" almost always leads to bigger losses.

Prop Trading vs. Your Own Deposit: Why Constraints Mean Freedom

Nikita draws a sharp line between how his trading changed after moving to prop:

On personal funds — a feeling of impunity. Caught a stop? Fine, whatever. No motivation to review mistakes, no external limits.

On Upscale — the challenge works like a game you don't want to lose. The 5% daily limit and 10% total drawdown cap prevent you from opening positions at 20–30% of your balance. It's exactly the control Nikita couldn't provide himself.

"When you lose big money on the exchange — your own money — it's sad. But on Upscale, you lose an account worth $50,000 while your actual loss might be just $400. The difference is both financial and emotional."

Nikita's Certificates

Funding certificate for Kubsssssssss on Upscale — $5,000

Payout certificate for Kubsssssssss — $8

Payout certificate for Kubsssssssss — $266

After two payouts, Nikita reinvested and purchased a $50,000 challenge. The logic is straightforward: making the same 5% profit on a $5,000 account yields $250; on a $50,000 account, it's $2,500. The math stays the same — only the scale changes.

What's Next

In ten years, Nikita wants to be financially free and independent. Not billions — a stable, consistent income from trading that lets him live on his own terms. He understands that six months of intentional trading is only the beginning.

"Don't give up. Losing a deposit is a reason to rethink your strategy, rethink your approach. Maybe trade more on demo, spend more time analyzing charts. I believe you should keep going after your goals, no matter what it takes."

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FAQ

Can you start prop trading without experience managing large sums?

Yes. Nikita never managed amounts comparable to a prop account using his own capital. That's exactly why he chose Upscale: the platform provides access to capital from $5,000 to $200,000, while personal risk is limited to the challenge fee. Built-in drawdown limits provide additional protection against critical mistakes.

How long does it take to pass a challenge on Upscale?

It depends on strategy and market conditions. Nikita completed his $5,000 challenge in about six weeks: Phase 1 in one week, Phase 2 in 26 days. During the process, he experienced serious drawdowns near -9% before recovering.

What is profit sharing and how much does the trader receive?

Profit sharing is the split of profits between the trader and the platform. On Upscale, traders receive up to 90% of earned profits. In Nikita's case, his plan was set at 80% — from $320 in profit, he received $266. The profit-sharing model is selected when purchasing a challenge.

Why buy a $50,000 challenge when you already have a $5,000 account?

The math of scale. The same 5% profit yields $250 on a $5,000 account and $2,500 on a $50,000 account. Risk doesn't increase: the percentage per trade stays the same — only the absolute amount changes.

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This story was recorded in 2026. All figures are verified by on-chain payout certificates.