Most traders spend years learning candlestick patterns, understanding macroeconomics, and arguing about Fibonacci tools. But one content creator asked a question no one dared to ask:
What if I let a chicken trade gold?
Yes, you read that right.
I stumbled across this video series launched by the account @propfirmkid on Instagram where he lets his pet chicken make trading decisions.
Surprisingly to most the chicken is in profit and is about to complete a $100,000 prop firm challenge.
It got me thinking, why is this working, and what is teaches us about trading?
What comes first, the chicken or the egg?
Here’s how the experiment works. The chicken’s reward is some mealworms in front of placeholders depicting certain choices to trade XAU/USD (gold).
The choices are as followed:
1. Trading Session (e.g. London, New York or Asia)
2. Take Profit and Stop Loss in dollar increments (e.g. $9, $5, $10)
3. Buy or Sell
The chicken would literally walk up to a bowl with the choices and eat the treat which was the decision maker.
Once the chicken made their choice, the @propfirmkid would place the trade on the funded prop trading account challenge.
No interventions, no cutting the trade early, just full faith in the bird.
Markets are random…so was the chicken.
What makes this so interesting is that the chicken doesn’t really have an edge. It has no idea what FOMC stands for, doesn’t care about CPI or support and resistance.
Yet is still managed to win a few trades. Why?
It’s simple, because markets are often unpredictable, especially in the short term. Price doesn’t always move rationally, and a chicken pecking at trade parameters is a hilarious reminder that randomness plays a role in the market.
The Chicken Had a Plan
Ok, it’s not like the chicken came up with this, but the @propfirmkid set rules around their trades:
1. The chicken could only trade gold.
2. Trades were entered on a market session open.
3. Risk and reward were always defined upfront.
4. Only 1 trade a day, and no intervening in the trade.
There was no guessing, it was just randomly choosing within a given framework.
This is where the magic happened. Because even though the decisions were random, the system wasn’t.
What can we learn from the chicken?
You may think I am mad for asking the question, but the whole article could be considered a little wild. And no, you shouldn’t hand your trading account to a chicken, but here are some key takeaways:
1. A consistent process beats a perfect prediction.
2. Simplicity is key.
3. Emotional detachment, the chicken held its nerve.
4. Trust the process, even if it seems a little irrational.
Want to try the chicken strategy?
Only joking, but why not try back testing a simple consistent strategy this week? Limit the number of trades, define your risk, and remove emotion (easier said than done, I know).
But if you want a laugh (and maybe a few trading insights), check out the full video series from the @propfirmkid on Instagram.
Quick FYI: I do not know the account holder of @propfirmkid or am I affiliated in anyway, I just stumbled on to the video. Please do your own research, and never follow anyone without doing due dilligence.
