How I trade.
No secrets and no magic indicator. Just a repeatable routine I run before every session, and the discipline to follow it when it counts.
No secrets and no magic indicator. Just a repeatable routine I run before every session, and the discipline to follow it when it counts.
Nothing here is secret. I trade a small number of setups I know well, in two markets I know well, with the same routine every session. The edge isn't a magic indicator. It's preparation, patience, and doing the boring parts the same way every day. This is the process, start to finish, written the way I'd explain it to a friend who wanted to learn it properly.
Five steps, same order, every morning. Miss one and the rest gets shaky.
Before anything else, I look at what happened overnight and what's on the calendar. Where did the market settle, where has it traded since, and is there data or news that could move it today? I'm not looking for a prediction. I'm building context, so nothing after the open catches me flat-footed.
Then I mark the map. Prior day's high, low, and close. The overnight range. The obvious round numbers. These are places price has reacted before, so they're the places I expect it to react again. I keep it to a handful of levels I'll actually use, not a chart so busy I can't read it.
I trade a small number of setups I know cold, and I wait for them at the levels that matter. A setup is A-grade when the location, the confirmation, and the invalidation all line up. If it's a B, I pass. Forcing a mediocre trade has cost me more than missing a good one ever has.
Before I take anything, I know where I'm wrong and what it costs to find out. I size so a losing trade is boring and a losing day is survivable. The goal every session is to still be here tomorrow, thinking clearly. Protecting the downside is the only thing fully in my control, so it comes first.
After the close, I grade the session against the plan, not the result. Did I follow the process, or did I improvise? Good trades can lose and bad trades can win, so I judge the decision, not the outcome. Over time that's what compounds: the process gets sharper, and the same mistakes stop repeating.
The invalidation gets defined before the entry, never after.
If it wasn't in the plan, it isn't a trade.
If one loss can rattle me, the size is wrong.
Cash is a position, and patience is a strategy.
The Open is where I put this process to work on the current market, every week. Same plain language, same order, no hype. Reply to any issue and it comes straight to me.
Educational only. Everything on this page and in The Open is for education and information. It is not financial, investment, or trading advice, and it is not a recommendation to buy or sell anything. Trading futures carries a substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone. Past results and hypothetical examples do not guarantee future performance. You are responsible for your own decisions and your own risk. If you need advice, speak with a licensed professional.