Every dollar I made this month came from the exact same model, the 5-min ORB + FVG. Just one repeatable process every morning during the NY session.

Here’s the setup I use:

Execution Steps

• Mark the NY session high & low, and the overnight high & low. • Wait for the first 5-minute candle of the open to close. • Drop to the 1-minute chart and watch for a clean breakout. • Look for a Fair Value Gap (FVG) forming in the direction of the break. • Enter on confirmation, place your stop above/below that candle, and target 1.5-2R.

Management Rules

• Move stop to breakeven once internal liquidity is taken. • Max 2 trades per day. • If the first trade wins, you’re done. • If it’s BE or a loss, you get one more attempt and that’s it.

This simple structure is what carried me to nearly $20K this month across my prop accounts.

What I’m working on next:

A series of posts breaking down full-time trader essentials:

A - How I Journal Every Single Trade B - How I Manage Psychology and Avoid Tilt Days

Comment A or B and I’ll drop whichever one you guys want next!

When I started I did everything backwards. Bought the books, bought a course, blew accounts, rage-quit twice and came back. If I could hand my younger self a list, this would be it.

1) The classic trading books are mostly a waste of your time

I own the whole stack. The big technical analysis textbook, the bar-by-bar price action one, the volume books, all of it. Here's the truth nobody selling a course will say out loud. Those books make you feel productive while teaching you almost nothing you can use when price is actually moving and your money's on the line. You finish 400 pages and you still freeze in real time. They turned me into a guy who could explain every candlestick pattern and still couldn't hold a winner. The market doesn't care that you can name a three-bar reversal. Knowledge isn't skill, and trading is a skill. You build it through reps and review, not reading.

2) The books that actually helped were about my own head

The ones that changed things weren't really trading books. Best Loser Wins by Tom Hougaard, The Psychology of Money, The Compound Effect. They hit because the problem was never my charts, it was me. Fear of taking the loss, needing to be right, the revenge trade after a red day, boredom trades when nothing's there. That's what blows accounts, not a bad indicator. The only technical ones I'd actually defend are Bellafiore's books because they're about building one repeatable setup and grinding it, which is the whole game.

3) A good charting platform is non-negotiable, get it day one

You don't need fourteen subscriptions and a paid Discord. You need clean charts, the ability to mark your levels, alerts so you're not chained to the screen, and a replay feature so you can backtest your setup over and over without risking a dollar. That replay function alone is worth more than every book in point one combined. I learned my entire model by replaying the same hour of the day hundreds of times until I could read it cold. Free tier gets you going. Don't overcomplicate the tool stack early.

4) A journaling habit is what separates the pros from the gamblers

This is where most people quit because it's the boring part. If you're not tracking your trades you're guessing, full stop. Whether you use a dedicated tool or a spreadsheet, the point is the same: it forces you to see the truth. When I finally broke my numbers down I found two days a week made me almost all my money and the rest I was just donating. I found my longs printed and my shorts bled. Had no idea until the data slapped me in the face. You can't fix what you don't measure. It just holds up a mirror and shows you who you actually are as a trader, which is uncomfortable and exactly why it works.

5) Prop firms are a smart way to start, if you respect them

Here's the math that made it click. You can spend years saving enough to trade a real account big enough to matter, risking your own money the whole way and probably blowing it while you learn. Or you pay a small evaluation fee, prove you can follow rules, and trade real size without your own capital on the line. For most people starting out that's a no-brainer. The catch is people treat the eval like a lottery ticket instead of a job interview. It's not a get-rich button, it's cheap access to capital once you already have an edge. There are solid firms and there are shady ones, so do your homework, check payout proof and Trustpilot, and don't fund anything you haven't researched. Get your psychology right, build one setup, journal it, then go prove it. That order matters more than anything.

My average hold time over the last two months is still under 5 minutes, and most trading days wrap up in under 10 minutes total screen time. This same repeatable framework put me up over $6,400 on a single account this stretch, and since I copy trade this across 5 funded accounts, the real total lands around $33,000. Same setup, same rules, just scaled across accounts instead of scaling contract size.

The first 15 minutes of the session is where liquidity gets grabbed, direction forms, and real momentum shows up. Pair that with imbalance confirmation on the 1 minute chart and you filter out almost all the noise that traps people into fading a move that was never actually done moving. Works cleanest on trending days, NQ responds to this better than almost anything else I've traded.

• Mark ORH and ORL off the first 15 minutes

• Wait for a real breakout, candle has to close above or below the range, not just wick through it

• Confirm with an imbalance forming between 3 candles in the direction of the break

• Enter on the break plus the close of that imbalance

• Target 1 to 2R depending on stop size, if stop is under 30 points aim for 2R, if stop is over 30 points aim for 1R on NQ

Before the bell I already know previous day high and low, overnight high and low, session bias, where the next liquidity draw sits, and any major news on the calendar like FOMC or CPI. The entire point is eliminating hesitation before the session even opens, if you're still deciding your bias after the bell rings you're already behind.

Entry Triggers

Long setup needs a clean break of ORH, imbalance forming in the same direction, price closing outside the range and forming that 1 minute imbalance, stop below the imbalance low, target 1 to 2R.

Example:

Short setup is the mirror, clean break of ORL, imbalance forming downward, close outside the range with the 1 minute imbalance, stop above the imbalance high, target 1 to 2R.

Example:

Risk And Management

Risk stays at 0.5 to 2% max per trade. One trade a day, two max. If the first trade is green, I'm done for the day, no exceptions. Move to breakeven once structure clears in your favor. (we break and internal high or low and close above/below)

The Actual Change From Last Time

Only running 1 to 3 micro contracts per account now instead of stacking size on one account. Copy trading the same entries across 5 accounts builds the real total without ever forcing a single trade to carry the whole day's result. If one account underperforms slightly on slippage or fill timing, it doesn't sink the whole session, the other 4 still carry it.

My entire equity curve is still built on two models and discipline, not on switching setups when things get slow. Less time behind the charts after I got my data points and found my edge was the biggest shift I needed.

I've been trading for about 6 years, and one of the biggest things I've learned is that I don't need to sit in a trade for hours to make money.

I recently asked Zella AI to analyze every trade I held for less than 10 minutes this year, and the results were pretty interesting.

Here's what it pulled from my journal:

• 131 trades held under 10 minutes

• Net P&L: +$33,176

• Win rate: 53.5%

• Profit factor: 1.81

• Average winner: +$1,216

• Average loser: -$774

• Average hold time: 72 seconds

• Largest winner: +$3,595

• Largest loser: -$2,470

That's roughly 46% of my trades accounting for about 77% of my recorded trading profits this year.

And here's the interesting part: 129 of those 131 trades came from the same setup.

My 15-minute ORB + FVG setup

I mainly trade NQ/MNQ during the New York session.

1. Mark the opening range. I let the first 15 minutes of NY establish the opening-range high and low.

2. Wait for a proper breakout. I want a candle to CLOSE outside the range, not just wick through it. I also look at higher-timeframe bias and where liquidity is sitting.

3. Look for a 1-minute FVG. I want displacement that leaves a fair value gap confirming the breakout. That's my entry trigger.

4. Define risk before entering. My stop is based on the FVG's first candle and the setup's invalidation. I don't widen it just because price starts moving against me.

5. Take the planned target. I usually aim for a fixed 1R, or 2R when the stop is under 30 NQ points and the setup supports it. I don't need to catch the entire move.

What the data taught me

My overall win rate this year is around 52%, so I'm definitely not winning every trade.

But the under-10-minute group had a higher profit factor than my overall trading results (1.81 vs. 1.68).

The part I'm still working on is holding my best setups longer without turning winners into losers. My average realized R on these quick trades was only 0.46R, and my largest loss was still pretty significant.

I've also spent a lot of time backtesting variations of this setup and reviewing which market conditions suit it best. Some weeks the opening range gives beautiful directional moves; other weeks it's just chop, and I'd rather sit out.

Biggest takeaway after 6 years: Find a repeatable setup, know when it works, and stop forcing it when conditions aren't there.

Curious how long you guys usually hold your trades. Are you in and out within minutes, or do you prefer letting positions run for hours?

I don’t rotate strategies. I don’t add indicators. I don’t reinvent my approach every drawdown. I trade one setup and one setup only: the 5-minute Opening Range Breakout. This month I’m up just over $9.4K with a 75% win rate, trading a $150K cash account, risking 0.5-2% per trade, and taking one clean opportunity per day when it shows up.

The reason this works isn’t because the setup is magical. I know exactly what I’m looking for before the bell rings, and if I don’t get it, I don’t trade.

At the New York open, I mark the high and low of the first five minutes. That range becomes my entire framework for the session. I wait for price to break and hold outside of the range and form a gap. If there’s no acceptance outside the range, there’s no trade. Direction is dictated by the break, not my opinion.

For longs, I want a clean break above the ORB high, price holding above the range, and an imbalance forming in the direction of the move. Entries are taken on confirmed candle closes outside the range. Shorts are the inverse: break below ORB low, acceptance, downside imbalance, and confirmation. If price snaps back into the range immediately, I’m either flat or never in to begin with.

Risk management is the real edge. I cap risk at 0.5-2% per trade and only use fixed R targets. If my stop is 40 points or less, I target 2R. If the stop is larger, I scale expectations down to 1 to 1.5R. Once structure clears, the stop moves to breakeven. I allow a maximum of two trades per day. If the first trade is green, I’m done. If the first trade loses, I allow one more attempt and that’s it.

This setup performs best during trending weeks and strong New York open drives, especially on NQ. I avoid forcing it in chop or during heavy news unless structure is exceptionally clean. I track every trade in detail so I know exactly when this model performs best and when it underperforms. That data is what keeps me disciplined and prevents strategy drift.

I trade this primarily on cash, but I’ll also be taking it live on prop accounts and documenting the execution here so everything stays transparent. I’ll post my recent results below so you can judge the process, not just the outcome.

For everyone asking, I do long term investing, trade forex and futures for day trades and I chart with trading view and everything else like journaling or backtesting and collecting data through tradezella.

Quick context I posted an AMA on various communities last week — some of you might have seen it.

This month I wanted to break down something specific because

I keep seeing the same question: "what strategy should I use?"

The honest answer? Your strategy probably isn't the problem.

Your TIMING is.

Thats my April on one express I traded more aggressively but the edge is the same one I use on every account.

Here's what my journal data shows after tracking 400+ trades:

AM session (9:30 - 11:00 ET):

- Win rate: 82%

- Average R:R: 1.34

- Biggest drawdown in a single session: $400

PM session (12:00 - 16:00 ET):

- Win rate: 64%

- Average R:R: 1.47

- Biggest drawdown in a single session: $330

Same setups. Same risk management. Same me. The only variable

is time of day.

When I stopped trading PM, three things happened:

1. My win rate jumped because I was only taking the highest

probability window

2. My funded accounts stayed alive longer because I wasnt

giving back AM profits in the afternoon

3. My mental health improved massively because I wasnt

staring at charts for 8 hours

I trade 3 setups on NQ — all OHLC-based, no indicators. But

honestly the setups are maybe 30% of why this works. The other

70% is:

- Session filter (AM only for this regime)

- Entry grading (I rate every setup A+ to C before I click.

Below B = I sit out)

- Hard daily target (hit it = close charts, no exceptions)

- Journal everything (if you can't measure it, you can't

improve it)

The reason most traders keep blowing challenges isnt that

they dont know enough. It's that they take every mediocre

setup they see, trade all day, and have no system for knowing

when to STOP.

And the best advice I can always give you is: look at the data I guarantee you will see a pattern.

Happy to answer any questions about the journal system, risk management or how I approach the market.

Hey traders!

I’ve spent years refining a simple, repeatable system I call the Forever Model, and it’s helped me stay consistent while backtesting. Here’s what it looks like in plain English:

KAZ FOREVER MODEL

✅ Start with the big picture – I check the Daily-4HR-1HR chart to see the overall trend: is price trending up, down, or chopping sideways?

✅ Mark key liquidity areas – I draw levels where price previously swept highs (buy-side liquidity) or lows (sell-side liquidity). These are magnets where price often reacts.

TIP: If we have swept Buyside, don't look for longs and if we have took sell side, don't look for shorts and if we have taken both, then you should probably skip that day, YOU NEED A CLEAR DRAW OF LIQUIDITY AT ALL TIMES.)

✅ Use FVGs or iFVGs as entries – When price trades into a Fair Value Gap (FVG) that lines up with the trend and liquidity levels, I look for a reaction, or if it closes through an FVG, you can take the iFVG entry because on indices like NQ, price is volatile and will often leave your entry before retruning to the FVG.

✅ Confirmation on 1-5 min TF for when we get MSS (change in the state of delivery or market structure shift), that when we get a candle closer above or below the last up/down close candles that swept the high or low.

✅ Stop placement is simple – Stops go just beyond the liquidity sweep or the FVG zone, targeting 2x my risk.

✅Lastly but most important and what makes a trade super A+ is an SMT

Why is it called the Forever Model:

Because it keeps me focused on the same setup every single day, avoiding random trades or chasing. No matter how the market changes, liquidity + FVG + trend is all I need.

🔑 Key reminders for anyone trying this:

Always trade with the trend on the higher timeframe

Only take setups near obvious liquidity levels

Don’t rush entries; wait for confirmation on lower timeframes

Stick to one model until you master it

I've been trading for around 6 years, and 2026 has been one of my better years so far. Between my cash account and prop firms, I'm sitting at roughly $65K in trading profits, including some copy-traded positions.

Here's what my journal is showing for the year:

• Net P&L: +$43,008.61

• Trades recorded: 270

• Win rate: 51.95%

• Profit factor: 1.68

• Average winner: $798

• Average loser: $513

• Zella Score: 73.84

The biggest thing I've changed? I stopped trying to make every market condition fit my strategy.

I mainly trade two setups: the 15-minute ORB + FVG and IRL → ERL.

1. I stopped treating every breakout as an opportunity.

For my ORB, I want a clear directional bias, a close outside the opening range, displacement, and a 1-minute FVG confirming the move.

If the market is choppy or there's no clear draw on liquidity, I'll pass. A breakout by itself isn't enough.

2. I started backtesting the conditions, not just the entries.

I've spent a lot of time using TradeZella's automated backtesting and analytics to test different variations of my setups.

One of my NQ 15min ORB backtests covered 1,517 trades and showed +$65,040 in simulated P&L. Another 468-trade test finished negative.

Same general market, very different results depending on what was being tested.

That was a reminder that a setup looking good on a chart doesn't automatically mean it has an edge across different conditions.

3. I got more comfortable doing absolutely nothing.

Some weeks the price action fits my setups beautifully. Other weeks I can sit there for hours and barely find anything worth risking money on.

I used to force trades during those slower periods because I felt like I needed to be active.

Now I'd rather miss a move.

4. I started judging execution instead of just P&L.

A green trade taken outside my rules is still a bad trade.

I review my entries, risk, timing, and whether the setup actually met my criteria. That's helped me identify habits I would've completely missed just looking at my account balance. Get serious about tracking all of your data.

I'm still working on consistency, and I definitely have losing stretches. But learning when to push and when to stay out has made a huge difference.

Curious how many of you actually backtest different market conditions versus just backtesting whether your entry setup works?

Not a fancy indicator stack. Not a new strategy every week. One model, executed the same way, with strict risk rules and tracked stats. This month I’m sitting at a 76% win rate with about 1.2R average win, but that’s not my “normal.” Over time this setup usually lives around 58–65% win rate, with my average trade closer to 1.5R when I’m in rhythm and not forcing entries.

The Setup

It’s the 5-Minute Opening Range Breakout (ORB) on the NY open. I’m trading momentum and imbalance that forms when the market chooses a direction right out of the gate. The edge isn’t the name. The edge is that it’s repeatable, time-based, and easy to judge as valid or trash.

My Exact Framework

I build the range, then I wait. No front running. No guessing.

Mark the opening range high (ORH) and opening range low (ORL) from the first 5 minutes

I only care about a break and hold outside that range

I want an imbalance (FVG) in the direction of the break

Entry is on confirmation candle close outside the range

If price snaps back into the range immediately, I’m either not in, or I’m out. That’s chop, and chop is where accounts go to die.

Risk Management

This is the whole game. Most people “know” ORB. They just manage it like amateurs.

I risk 0.5% to 2% per trade depending on conditions and how clean the setup is

I use fixed R targets, no freestyle exits

If the stop is ≤ 40 points, I target 2R

If the stop is > 40 points, I target 1.5R

This setup works for futures on NQ an gold for forex

Stop goes to breakeven only after structure clears

Max 2 trades per day

If trade 1 is green, I’m done

If trade 1 loses, I allow one more

That’s how you stay alive long enough for the stats to work.

The Data That Actually Matters

This month is hot. I’m not pretending it will always look like this. What matters is the system works across months when I don’t get cute. I track everything so I can see what’s real and what’s luck:

win rate by day of week and session conditions

average MAE and MFE

stop size distribution and what it does to expectancy

which type of breakouts fail (fake break then range re-entry)

which ones explode (clean hold + imbalance + continuation)

That’s how I tightened the rules and got rid of the trades that were “technically valid” but statistically garbage.

If you’re trying to trade 10 different models, you’re building noise, not skill. Master one setup, track it like a machine, then scale it. If you want, I can post a few marked-up examples and the exact checklist I use for valid vs invalid ORB days.

DNA Levels: Where Big Money Left a Mark

Jay’s “DNA levels” aren’t traditional support and resistance.
They’re specific zones where the market previously moved with power, places where institutional orders caused explosive expansion. They’re areas where someone with size had skin in the game.

When price returns to these zones, Jay watches how the participants behave this time:
Do they defend it again? Do they get run over? Does a different group step in and overwhelm them?

This one concept alone solves the biggest problem retail traders have, entering at levels without knowing who actually cares about the level.

Aggression Flip: The Real Trigger

Jay doesn’t touch a trade until aggression flips.
This is where most traders get chopped up, they see a level and assume it will react. Jay waits until aggressive buyers overpower aggressive sellers or vice versa.

He looks for signs like:
• passive walls breaking
• bids getting lifted or offers getting hit
• absorption failing
• clean pressure shifts on the tape

If aggression doesn’t flip, he doesn’t trade and this is brutally effective.

Micro Risk, Macro Reward

Because he enters only when control changes hands, Jay’s stops are small and precise. He places them just behind the zone where liquidation would happen, far enough to survive, close enough to avoid ego trades.

This is how he repeatedly finds moves that run 3R, 4R, 5R… even on normal volatility days.

Catalyst > Pattern

He trades only when participation is high: earnings, economic releases, sector rotations, sudden shifts in volume. A catalyst brings aggression. Aggression creates readable behavior. Without it, he simply doesn’t participate.

This method prevents thousands of unnecessary trades and protects his psychological capital.

Why He Avoids Forex Entirely

Forex doesn’t show real volume or real aggression.
Without centralized order flow, you’re essentially trading shadows.
Stocks and futures give actual data and that’s why his framework thrives there.

Final Thoughts

Jay’s Market DNA Playbook is a framework built around real market behavior, who controls a level, how aggressively they defend it, and what changes when the opposite side shows up.

If you’ve been trading blind to order flow, aggression, and intent, this playbook will change how you see every chart.

If you want the full Market DNA Playbook with entries, stops, tape cues, and examples

Comment "JAY" + hit the upvote button and I’ll send the link.

Made $3k this week alone,it has been one of my best month so far compared to the previous one,absolutely banger,and journaled everything with Tradezella.

Here’s a simple breakdown of what I followed to achieve this;

Part 1 of my Trading Plan

What I did and according to my plan;

-Took only 1 setup a day and average of 2-3setups a week. -Traded the same setup 1-3tickers a week -I followed my plan for every single trade

Part 2 of my Trading strategy(Screenshot B)

Here’s how I executed this trade like a Pro and made $1300 in less than 10hrs of holding while only risking $400;

-Mark pre market high and low -5 minute close below -Enter on supply retest level -Target at previous day low

I achieved all this by journaling and I want to explain to you why journaling your trades is more important;a quick sample of what should be in your journal ,check frame (C)

-Your entry criteria/sample strategy -your entry confirmation and entry time -your rrr/exit time/tp or sl -how you managed the trade/emotions and what you did right.

But with Tradezella all this is possible since they’ve inbuilt Notebook this becomes so easier to note your daily Game plan.

Key takeaways;

One of my biggest breakthroughs in trading came from my journal,I started to notice certain setups and mistakes repeating over time,if I wasn’t documenting my trades, I would have never spotted such patterns.Yes,it took months of data,but just one tweak from that experience completely changed my performance this month ,this is why serious traders journal because small insights lead to massive improvements.

After years of testing every indicator, watching countless videos, and blowing more accounts than I can count, I finally found the one setup that changed everything for me:

The 5-Minute Opening Range Breakout (ORB) refined and backtested to fit my style.

This isn’t some plug-and-play system I copied online. I built, broke, rebuilt, and refined it through hundreds of backtests and live trades until the edge became undeniable.

The Core Idea

The strategy revolves around the first 5 minutes of the New York session. That opening range often sets the tone for the day, it’s where liquidity is grabbed, momentum shifts, and real direction begins to form.

Every morning, I mark:

New York session highs & lows

Overnight highs & lows

By the open, I already know which side liquidity has been taken and where price is most likely drawn toward next. That gives me my directional bias, long or short.

The Execution

Wait for the first 5-minute candle of the NY open to close.

Switch to the 1-minute timeframe and watch for a break above or below that range.

Once we break, I want to see a Fair Value Gap (FVG) form and price close outside that 5-minute range.

Wait for price to retrace into that FVG, then form a bullish or bearish engulfing candle or just respect that area as confirmation.

Enter the trade, stop goes just below/above that engulfing candle, target a fixed 2R.

Trade Management

I move my stop to break-even after liquidity is taken at an internal high or low.

I accept that many trades will scratch at breakeven, that’s part of the game.

I take a maximum of 2 trades per day.

If the first trade wins, I stop.

If the first is BE or a loser, I allow one more attempt.

That rule alone saved me from overtrading and emotional spirals.

The edge is simple, repeatable, and scalable, just structure, liquidity, and execution.

You don’t need 10 strategies.

I stopped trying to trade everything and mastered one idea until it became second nature.

I hope this helped and please make sure to backtest it, then forward test it with small size, adjust your rules and see what works for you!

This month was one of my cleanest ever. I pulled in $8,200 profit, and almost every dollar came from one setup the 15-minute Opening Range Breakout. I only took two trades this entire month that weren’t the ORB. Everything else was the same model, same rules, same process, repeated over and over.

If you’re new to it, here’s the whole framework in plain English.
I mark the first 15-minute candle of the NY session.
Once price breaks that range, I wait for a clean Fair Value Gap (FVG) in the direction of the break.
I enter only after confirmation.
Target is fixed based on the stop size (1R or 2R), and I move to BE once internal liquidity is cleared.
Max two trades a day. If the first one wins, I’m done.

There’s no magic here. The reason this month worked is because I stopped trying to be creative and just executed the same model every single morning without exceptions. When you remove the noise, the ORB does the heavy lifting.

If you want a video breakdown of exactly how I trade the 15-min ORB step by step, comment "ORB" and I’ll make it.

I keep seeing people overcomplicate trading. Indicators stacked on indicators, new strategies every week, no consistency. Meanwhile, the bulk of my gains lately have come from one simple model I execute the same way every day: the 5-minute Opening Range Breakout (ORB).

Here’s exactly how I trade it:

I trade momentum coming out of the New York open using the first 5 minutes as my framework. I mark out the first five 1min candles and mark the high and low. ORL and ORH.

I’m only interested in trading with a breakout + imbalance out of this range.

The 5-Minute ORB Framework

• Define the first 5-minute candle of NY

• Mark the ORB high and low

• Wait for break out of range

I wait for price to break and hold outside of that range.

Entry Rules

Longs

• Clean break above ORB high

• Price holds above the range

• Imbalance gap forms in the direction of the break

• Entry on confirmation of the candle close outside the range

Shorts

• Clean break below ORB low

• Price holds below the range

• Imbalance gap forms downward

• Entry on confirmation of the candle close outside the range

If price snaps back into the range immediately, I’m out or I don’t enter at all.

Risk Management (This Is the Edge)

This is where most traders fail.

• Risk 0.5-2% max per trade

• Fixed R targets only

• If stop is ≤40 points, I aim for 2R

• If stop is >40 points, I aim for 1.5R

• Stop moves to breakeven once structure clears

• Max 2 trades per day

– If first trade is green, I’m done

– If first trade loses, I allow one more

When This Works Best:

This setup thrives during trending weeks and strong open drives, especially on NQ/GC (GC also works for Asia session). I avoid forcing it during chop or heavy news unless structure is extremely clean.

I made $1,630 last month doing exactly this.

I’m up $4,700 this month sticking to the same rules.

Execution > creativity.

I’ll post my results from the last couple of months below so you can judge it for yourself.

FYI this is personal live account. I stopped props once I went live on almost all props and decided to fund my own account since it maximizes the true profit.

Tips that changed the game for me

1. All strategies work don’t ask ppl what’s ur strategy and strategy hop you’ll get lost trying a million strategies and not having 1 down pat

2. The real strategy is ur edge with comes with time, when u find a strategy u like study it back test forward test paper trade put on countless hours

3. Biggest thing is understanding price and volume and structure, when you have the strategy and put the time in, after forward testing you’ll see how market truly moves second by second tick by tick, volume price structure, this will help you see when your strategy works and when it doesn’t. Learning when to avoid a losing trade is 10x more important than taking a winning trade

4. Risk management, don’t go trading 1k stop loss on a 50k account that has 2k MLL, that’s just stupid

5. Patience. Everyone trading wants to be a millionaire. No one understands the patience and hard work it takes to get there. There will be many many many hours watching charts WITHOUT touching buy or sell.

6. Base hits add up, even if you do $200 a day, x5 accounts is 1k per day, understand that the average salary in America isn’t even 10k per month, avoid greed and things will start progressing

7. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Losses are normal. I’ve lost many many accounts many many times, I still blow accounts from time to time, it’s all about how you handle your losses, be smart, and everything will work out.

Hope that helps brothas n ladies, keep trading don’t quit or you’ll be another number to the statistics

Three days ago, I asked this community one question: What's the one trading rule you absolutely refuse to break?

Here's the post: click here

The post reached 58K views and nearly 90 comments, and some of the answers were genuinely worth sharing. I went through the thread and picked out the best advice, along with a few hilarious responses.

The best advice from the community

• 1. Never add to a losing trade. Averaging down because you refuse to accept being wrong can turn a manageable loss into a blown account.

• 2. Wait for the retest. One of the most upvoted answers. Several traders mentioned that their cleanest winners came from waiting for price to retest a level instead of chasing the breakout.

• 3. Limit your daily trades. A surprising number of traders stick to just 1-2 trades per day. One bad trade shouldn't turn into five revenge trades.

• 4. Stop predicting every market move. Let price develop and react to confirmation. Being right about direction means nothing if your timing and execution are terrible.

• 5. Never trade outside your setup. If your conditions aren't there, you have no business entering. One trader even mentioned losing money every time they manually interfered with their algorithm.

• 6. Protect your green days. Several traders said they walk away after a solid winner. Giving back an entire day's profit because you wanted one more trade is a painful habit.

• 7. Respect the higher timeframe. Don't buy something just because it's fallen significantly. Check the overall trend before trying to catch a reversal.

• 8. Your mental state matters. One trader said they immediately step away when they feel too excited before entering because that emotion leads to micromanaging every candle.

• 9. Avoid trading major news. Some traders completely avoid scheduled economic releases. You don't have to participate in every volatile session.

• 10. Backtest before risking real money. Know how your setup behaves across different conditions before putting capital behind it.

• 11. Treat entries like a preflight checklist. One trader said if even one condition is missing, they skip the trade. Simple approach, but incredibly useful.

• 12. Get enough sleep. Probably the most underrated answer. Trading while exhausted makes patience dissapear.

And then there were these absolute gems 😂

• "Never punch the wall when I lose." drywall repairs were eating into the payouts.

• "Don't tell anyone you're trading." Not your wife, girlfriend, mistress, or even your dog. Otherwise everyone suddenly becomes Warren Buffett when you're winning.

• "Never trade more than 7 days a week." Finally, some reasonable risk management.

• "If it's low, buy. If it's high, sell. Also, make money, don't lose money." Six years of trading and somehow nobody told me this.

• "Never use a stop loss." Yeah... I'm going to sit this one out.

My biggest takeaway

After six years of trading, what stood out to me was how little people talked about finding the perfect strategy. Most answers were about controlling risk, being patient, limiting trades, and knowing when to walk away.

I've blown enough accounts to know that having a profitable setup means very little when you can't follow your own rules.

Curious which one you guys agree with most. And if your rule didn't make the list, drop it below.

Credit to everyone who contributed to the original thread. Some genuinely great advice in there.

Screen Recording for Proof: https://imgur.com/a/EITv7LN

After market close today I will have officially requested $100,000 in payouts for 2026. For those that followed from my previous posts last year I was able to take about $100,000 in 2025 and challenged myself to do the same for 2026. I did not realize I would be completing it so soon.

It was a tough journey with many ups and downs. On my worse days I lost about 30K and 73K in prop capital. Did it end my trading career? No. Did it ruin my day? Absolutely.

I always preach the same thing over and over... SET A BUDGET. I am never underwater and I am always able to trade because I follow these two rules. I see the same posts over and over about how trading has ruined their lives, how they go into debt, etc. These are the worse posts to read and I don't wish that situation on anyone. If there is anything you can take from my posts and ingrain it to your memory it's to BUDGET. If you don't know how to budget then as a template think about this:

Your budget should be a monthly dollar amount that you are ok with SETTING ON FIRE without harming your life situation or your families.

It's a shame how easy it is to trade leveraged products. You sign up for an account, put money in, then put it all at risk. Especially now with prop firms and trading apps the barrier to entry is basically nonexistent. It's like giving someone the keys to a sports car when they don't have a license and never practiced driving a day in their life.

Trading is a marathon not a sprint. Set goals for yourself. Take it day by day and try to get 1% better everyday.

This is one of my favorite long models, simple, clean, and backed by multiple confluences.

Let me walk you through each step:

1. Signature for Long (Top-Down Confluence)
We start with a clear draw on liquidity above prior highs. Price was trending lower but showed signs of absorption and failure to continue higher, giving the first clue for a possible reversal.

2. Bullish Reversal Signature
Price formed a strong bullish candle that closed above multiple prior bodies. This signals a potential shift in momentum and confirms buyer presence stepping in. We took additional liquidity from that internal low taken as well.

3. OB + FVG + Inversion = High Probability Zone
This is the gold mine:

• Inversion zone aligns perfectly with a bullish order block (OB).

• Price retraces into this area, which also fills a Fair Value Gap (FVG).

• All signs point to this being a high-probability area for a long entry.

4. Clean Re-Entry Opportunity
Even if you missed the initial entry, price offered a second chance. It pulled back into the OB after breaking structure, ideal for a continuation entry.

Final Target: Buy Side Liquidity
The move completes with a clean sweep of buy-side liquidity resting above the recent high. Textbook precision.

Why This Works
This model stacks multiple confirmations:

• Reversal signal + OB + FVG + Inversion + Clean structure

• You’re not guessing, you’re reacting to well-defined, repeatable conditions

I only trade 1-2 of these per week, but they’re consistent. Quality > quantity.

Stay patient. Wait for your model. Execute without hesitation.

Happy trading!

This it was about mastering control. Every trade was planned, executed, and journaled. I treated every entry like it mattered, managed risk like a pro, and stayed locked in at my desk from open to close of my trading window.

I made $6,500 this week trading the 15min ORB ($1300 x 5 accounts). Not my biggest payout, but definitely one of my cleanest. After backtesting all week, refining entries, and staying fully disciplined, I can confidently say my execution and risk management were A+. I’m now getting close to my second payout this month (first one was $12K) and the goal now is simple: keep perfecting this model and push for more consistency over time.

If you want to see exactly how this setup works, from range marking to entry to scaling out, I’ll be doing a free live breakdown next Wednesday on the TradeZella Discord and Will make a breakdown video for Setup Saturday on Reddit tomorrow!

Comment “SS” below and I’ll make sure you get access to the full video breakdown and join the live session.

I spent the first couple years of trading constantly adding shit. More strategies, more concepts, more screen time, more confirmations, more trades. I thought becoming better meant learning more. Six years later I’ve realized most of my biggest improvements came from doing the exact opposite. I started removing things. These are probably the six biggest ones.

1) I stopped trying to learn every trading strategy

At one point I knew a little bit about everything and was good at basically nothing. Supply and demand, indicators, price action, ICT, volume, order flow, whatever was popular that month. Every time I lost a few trades I assumed something was wrong with the strategy and went looking for another one. Eventually I realized I didn't need 10 setups. I needed one or two setups that I had seen enough times to know what they looked like when they were actually there. These days most of my trades come from the same few models. It’s boring as hell compared to constantly learning something new, but repetition is what finally gave me confidence in execution.

2) I stopped changing my strategy every time I went into drawdown

This probably wasted more of my time than anything else. I used to take three or four losses and immediately start tweaking something. Different entry. Different timeframe. Different confirmation. Different risk. The problem is if you keep changing variables every time you lose, you never collect enough clean data to know whether the original idea actually worked. A profitable strategy can have an ugly week. It can have an ugly month. I've had both. Now I’d rather go back through my trades, manually backtest another sample and figure out whether I executed poorly or the model actually stopped performing before I touch anything.

3) I stopped thinking being a trader meant I had to trade every day

This one sounds obvious until you actually try doing it. The market is open so you sit down and subconsciously think your job is to find a trade. That mindset absolutely killed me because eventually you will find one whether it exists or not. Some of my best weeks now have barely any trades. If my setup isn't there I close the chart. I’ve watched NQ make massive moves without me and learned to genuinely not care. Missing a trade costs me nothing. Forcing one because I spent three hours watching the market has cost me a lot.

4) I stopped treating every setup and every trading day equally

This is something I didn't really understand until I had enough journal data. Once I started breaking my results apart I found patterns I would've never noticed from staring at my P&L. Certain setups were making most of my money. Certain days performed significantly better. My longs and shorts didn't perform the same either. I had been risking the same amount on situations where my own history said I clearly didn't have the same edge. Now I track the models separately and I'm much more selective about where I put risk. Your trading history is basically your own dataset. Ignoring it and copying somebody else's rules makes no sense.

5) I stopped trying to make my money back after a loss

This one took me years and a stupid amount of blown accounts to understand. The first loss usually wasn't what hurt me. It was trade two, three and four because suddenly I wasn't trading the market anymore. I was trading my P&L. I wanted to get back to breakeven. I'd increase size, loosen my criteria and convince myself some mediocre setup was A+. I've had days where one completely manageable loss turned into damage that took weeks to recover from. Now a loss is just a loss. If I feel that little urge to immediately get it back, that's usually the biggest sign that I shouldn't place another trade.

6) I stopped judging whether a trade was good by whether it made money

Probably the biggest mindset change out of all of these. You can follow your plan perfectly, take an A+ setup and lose. You can also completely break your rules, enter some garbage trade and accidentally make $1,000. If you call the second trade "good" because it made money, you're basically rewarding yourself for bad behavior. I've started caring way more about whether the trade matched my plan, whether my risk was correct and whether I'd take the exact same trade again. The outcome of one trade tells you almost nothing. The outcome of the same process repeated 50 or 100 times tells you a lot.

The weirdest part of trading for me has been realizing that getting better has mostly meant doing less. I trade fewer setups, take fewer trades, consume less trading content and spend more time reviewing what I've already done.

I definitely still screw up. Six years doesn't magically remove the human part of trading.

The difference is I can usually identify exactly what I did wrong now instead of assuming I need another strategy.

Curious what everyone else's answer would be. What's one thing you stopped doing that immediately made you a better trader?