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FROM SELLING CRUSHED STONE AND FLIPPING OLD LADAS TO MANAGING A FUNDED ACCOUNT
From selling crushed stone and flipping old Ladas to managing a FUNDED account
Denis is an entrepreneur who has sold CDs, phones, crushed stone, and halva, managed a taxi fleet of eight cars, and flipped crashed Ladas.
He is a man who was predicted by doctors at age 20 to end up in a wheelchair, but who ultimately ran a half-marathon.
Denis lost money on trading and crypto schemes five times, but eventually became a Funded Trader at Hash Hedge and made 10x on his invested capital.
Table of Contents
1. Doctors predicted a wheelchair. He ran a half-marathon.
2. Crushed stone, halva, and 8 rented cars: a life of side hustles
3. Ponzi schemes and the path to crypto
4. Returning to crypto and the path to prop trading
5. The first challenge: failure in two days
6. The second challenge: 10x on invested capital
7. Denis's strategy and advice for prop trading beginners
8. Key Takeaways
Doctors predicted a wheelchair. He ran a half-marathon.
Behind Denis's entire story is one moment that explains his character better than any numbers.
At age 20, Denis was involved in a severe car accident: nighttime, rain, a BMW with bald tires. Denis was a passenger. His friend behind the wheel died on the spot. Denis fell into a coma.
The outcome: paralysis of the left side of his body, partial memory loss, and a long recovery.
"The doctor predicted a wheelchair, saying if I ever walked, it would only be with a cane. I proved him wrong. When I came back for a check-up six months later, he saw me and started crying. He said, 'He just really wanted to live.'"
Later, Denis ran a half-marathon. This episode is not just a biographical detail, but an explanation of why financial losses, even major ones, didn't derail him the way they might have derailed someone else.
Giving up is not his strategy. Not in life, not in trading, not in his career.
Crushed stone, halva, and 8 rented cars: a life of side hustles
Denis spent only two years in a regular 9-to-5 job as a sales manager at a quarry. That was enough for him.
"I always feel weighed down by that kind of obligation. Not by the responsibility I choose to take on myself, but by what is demanded of me."
From then on, he developed as an entrepreneur. He rented out CDs back when the internet didn't exist yet. He flipped phones, buying low and selling high. He traded crushed stone using contacts from the quarry.
He loaded a Volkswagen Caddy with halva straight from the factory and distributed it to stores. He worked as a taxi driver, then rented cars and leased them out to other drivers, managing eight cars at his peak.
In 2020, the pandemic returned all those cars to him in a single week.
He found new schemes: selling crushed stone online, renting a garage with friends to buy, repair, paint, and flip crashed Ladas.
When money began to accumulate, the question arose: where to invest it?
Ponzi schemes and the path to crypto
In 2014, Denis invested money in a Ponzi scheme. He made a profit. While the scheme was running, the organizers explained where the money was going: into Bitcoin. Denis got interested.
Then the scheme collapsed. Emboldened by his first experience, he invested in others.
"I had built up some capital and needed to put it somewhere. Money can't just sit idle."
This time, he lost everything.
But he already knew about Bitcoin. In December 2015, he bought 10 BTC at $320. In early 2016, Bitcoin rose to $540, and his account balance hit $5,400. He decided to take profits.
"I thought: wow, returns! I don't want to lose this — so I sold."
Then came Ethereum. Denis bought at $4, $6, and $8. He sold at $30. When asked, "Do you regret it?" Denis answers:
"What's the point of regretting? FOMO is real, I won't deny it. I'm human, not a robot. But I just smile, laugh about it with friends. My brother makes fun of me."
After those first major gains, euphoria set in. Denis took a significant amount of money from a friend for capital management. He lost everything.
They split the loss 50/50. Denis has already paid back half the debt.
In 2018–2019, the market crashed. Denis sold everything at the bottom and exited. He only returned in 2020.
Returning to crypto and the path to prop trading
In 2020, it turned out the crypto market wasn't going anywhere. Denis sat back down at the charts.
NFTs and StepN emerged. "I immediately knew it was a bubble that would burst." He did DeFi, retro-drops, and farmed Telegram accounts like Notcoin and Dogs. Starknet was the only retro-drop that provided a real upside.
"Thank God I sold immediately upon listing and never looked back."
For five years, Denis traded only with his own capital. He made money, lost it, and got back in again. Then he found a different path.
While watching YouTube, he stumbled upon a top crypto influencer. In one video, the influencer talked about Hash Hedge: a prop firm that provides capital for management.
The logic was simple: "Why risk your own money when you can invest a little and make a lot more?" Denis decided to try it. He took his first challenge and blew it in two days.
The first challenge: failure in two days
The reason was simple: Denis didn't understand the daily drawdown rule.
He left a trade open overnight with an unrealized loss and didn't close it.
"I thought: I won't realize the loss, it's just unrealized PnL, nothing bad will happen."
The challenge was failed.
He wrote to support, and they explained that unrealized PnL also counts toward the daily drawdown. Denis figured out the rules and took a second challenge.
"Support actually responds very quickly. If you have questions, don't hesitate at all, message support right away."
The second challenge: 10x on invested capital
His second account is still in the Funded stage today.
Though Denis almost lost it just as quickly as the first one. He dropped nearly 7% into the negative, with a maximum allowed total drawdown of 8%.
He stopped. He reworked his strategy and risk management.
"I held his horses. I cut risks to 0.5% and traded with a 1:3 risk-to-reward ratio. Taking it slow."
The turning point came on October 10, 2025. The market dropped sharply following new Trump tariffs. Denis received a signal from a trading community, opened the chart himself, confirmed the signal, and went short.
"I went to sleep. I woke up, the take-profit hit, and the account became Funded."
The result: 10x on the invested capital.
Denis's strategy and advice for prop trading beginners
Denis is a swing trader: he waits for a setup, enters, and holds the position, sometimes for several days.
He primarily trades BTC, ETH, and SOL, noting their high liquidity and the absence of the strict limits typical of altcoins.
Parameters: 0.5% risk per trade, 1:3 risk-to-reward ratio. This is exactly how Denis achieved his results.
Advice for those starting out in prop trading:
Master one strategy: that is enough, don't spread yourself too thin;
Backtest and practice on a demo account or paper trade;
Strictly follow risk management;
Gambling is evil. "Don't try to find setups where there are none";
Don't rush. Reaching a stable result can take six months to a year.
"Trading is hard, boring work. The only thing you can do quickly in trading is lose. Get rich slowly, get rich forever."
When asked about his main challenge, he replies:
"Making money has never been a problem for me. The problem is keeping it."
He recalls a quote:
"The main challenge is not to lose. The market will always give you an opportunity to make money."
Key Takeaways
1
The path is rarely straight.
From Ponzi schemes and crushed stone to a Funded account at Hash Hedge, Denis spent over ten years trying, failing, and exploring different income streams. The experience of losing is an essential part of his journey.
2
Read the rules before, not after.
Denis lost his first account because he didn't review the rules carefully. One question to support before trading would have cost less than buying a second account. Once he understood the rules, he opened a new account and achieved Funded status. Hash Hedge support responds quickly — use it.
3
Risk management is the key to success.
By cutting his risk to 0.5% per trade and maintaining a 1:3 risk-to-reward ratio, Denis pulled his account out of a drawdown and turned a profit.
4
Prop math is simple.
"Why risk your own money when you can invest a little and make a lot more?" Denis tested this theory and made 10x on his invested capital.
Ready to trade on prop firm capital?
Hash Hedge is the #1 crypto prop trading platform. Get funded up to $150K and withdraw up to 90% of profits in USDT directly to your wallet.