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Trading WORLD CHAMPION Reveals the Orderflow Strategy That Won the Robbins Cup (Step-by-Step) — Transcript

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0:00This is Chris Creamer, one of the
0:02youngest World Cup day trading champions
0:04ever. At just 26 years old, he traded in
0:08the most prestigious trading competition
0:10on the planet up against veterans,
0:13full-time professionals, people who've
0:15done nothing but trade for decades. And
0:18he didn't just beat them, he made
0:20[music] 100% in a single month. And in
0:24this episode, he's breaking down his
0:26complete championship winning strategy
0:29live in person for the first time ever.
0:33>> Yeah, so the easiest way to probably do
0:36this is to break it down into four
0:38[music] different steps. Basically, it's
0:40context, location, then confirmation.
0:43But the way that I look at it and we'll
0:45kind of mark it out here. The first
0:47thing that I look at is environment. And
0:49so, I'm looking to
0:52not necessarily trade when the market is
0:54balanced, but when the market is
0:56starting to force participation on
0:58either edge. And when it fails, it
1:00creates trap participation or trap
1:03participants. [music]
1:04And that's when they're offsides.
1:06>> Chris has built one of the most
1:07sophisticated trading processes I've
1:09ever seen. He uses market structure to
1:12define the environment, gamma exposure
1:14to understand volatility, volume profile
1:17to isolate where he wants to trade, then
1:20order flow to time the exact entry.
1:24>> So, this is the strategy you generally
1:26and traded the World Championship with?
1:28>> Yes, this is the exact thing that I did.
1:30Yes.
1:31>> But then he said something that changed
1:33my mind about trading at a world
1:35champion level. This strategy, the one
1:38that beat every industry veteran and won
1:41the World Cup, is so simple that
1:43according to Chris, literally anyone can
1:46go out and trade it.
1:48>> So, with prop firms, realistically, you
1:51do not need to be the greatest trader
1:53ever to make money with prop firms. You
1:54really don't. And what you need to do
1:56[music]
1:57is if you want to trade the way that I
1:59trade, you can absolutely go do it. The
2:01way you go do it is you learn
2:02>> What you're about to watch has never
2:04existed before. A Robin's World Cup
2:06champion breaking down the exact
2:08strategy that won him the title. Live,
2:11in person, step-by-step. From the very
2:14first thing he checks before the market
2:17even opens to the exact moment he enters
2:20and exits a trade. And then Chris
2:23reveals the process he used to eliminate
2:26the bad trades that were destroying his
2:29results and finally become consistently
2:32profitable. Nothing in this video is
2:34financial advice. Everything discussed
2:36is just the insights of a 26-year-old
2:38trader who went from losing trader to
2:41building a process and taking that
2:43process all the way to becoming a world
2:45champion. Let's see what Chris is made
2:48of.
2:50>> Chris, you just won the Micro Day
2:52Trading Championship, Robin's World Cup,
2:55for the month of July with a 100% return
2:58at 26 years old. Very impressive.
3:02But what is the number one thing that
3:05clicked
3:07that allowed you to not just be a guy
3:09trying to figure this out anymore, but
3:11actually trade at an elite level like
3:13that?
3:14>> So, I mean, I've been trading for a
3:18while. Uh and in the beginning, I was I
3:20had no idea what I was doing, right? So,
3:23I'm basically looking for setups,
3:25looking for patterns, and it took a
3:28while of me just kind of strategy
3:31hopping and focusing on like entry
3:33models and setups to realize it's not
3:35really about that. Because at the end of
3:38the day, when it comes to like an entry
3:40model or setup, what I didn't realize at
3:43the time,
3:44I used to put that as the holy grail
3:46thinking that if I can just find the
3:48right setup or the right candlestick
3:51pattern that I can just do over and over
3:53that's going to make me successful but
3:56what changed was I needed to understand
3:59what it is that I was actually doing in
4:01terms of what am I participating in who
4:04are the other participants what are they
4:06trying to do what are their
4:09um
4:10essentially like limitations and where
4:12do they need to start actually
4:14participating in terms of being forced
4:16to participate and then trying to build
4:19context around trade ideas and then what
4:22ends up happening is
4:23entries setups it comes down to like
4:27the final 5 to 10% because at that point
4:30all you're doing is you're just
4:32confirming or denying whether or not
4:34your trade idea is valid in the first
4:36place so really shifting that focus over
4:39towards really execution because in the
4:42beginning
4:43all I thought about was money but the
4:45money is the byproduct of proper
4:46execution and it took me a long time
4:49basically to come to terms with uh
4:52>> so
4:53in the byproduct of the execution now
4:56you said you were strategy hopping and
4:59you still use some form of a strategy I
5:02would imagine but you said forced
5:04participation also so this is more on
5:07the microstructure side of markets and
5:11how they exist mechanically is this what
5:13you're looking to exploit
5:15>> yeah so basically I'm a day trader I'm
5:17an intraday trader and I'm really only
5:19trading the first hour and a half of New
5:22York open sometimes I trade Asia session
5:24but what I mean by forced participation
5:26is let's say
5:29in the market the market I view it as an
5:30auction it is an auction you have buyers
5:32and you have sellers
5:34you when you have buyers and you have
5:35sellers you have positioning and when it
5:37comes to positioning let's say we're
5:40balanced right you have a very defined
5:42range there's position building within
5:45the range and buyers and sellers are
5:47comfortable in this area. We're building
5:48value here. They Cuz the purpose of the
5:51market is determined to determine the
5:53value of this asset, right? So, there
5:56will be times where they're temporarily
5:59in agreement, where they're comfortable.
6:01You know, no one's getting forced to
6:02participate. They're building positions.
6:04The moment that one side basically
6:06starts to get more aggressive than the
6:08other, well, then it starts forcing
6:10participation. This is the way I think
6:11about it. And what I mean by that is
6:15when you are a buyer, you basically and
6:17you're in a position, you have two
6:19options if the trade is going against
6:21you. Either you try and defend that
6:22position, or you try and add more into
6:24your position, or you're going to have
6:26to get out. And when you have to get
6:29out, well, what do you do when you buy?
6:30You have to sell to get out of your your
6:32buy position. And so, I'm looking to
6:36not necessarily trade when the market is
6:39balanced, but when the market is
6:40starting to force participation on
6:43either edge,
6:44and I'm looking for that participation
6:46necessarily, or to fail, in a sense. And
6:50when it fails, it creates trapped
6:52participation, or trapped participants.
6:55And that's when they're offsides, and
6:57then you don't need to like catch some
7:00type of home run. I'm just looking for
7:0250 points, 100 points. I'm just trying
7:05to take sometimes mean reversion, but
7:07really, it's more about where we
7:09building value,
7:11how are we moving out of it? They're
7:12making effort, whether it's buyers or
7:14sellers, are they being successful with
7:16that or not? And if they're not, then
7:17you can try and take advantage of it.
7:19And that's what I do, at least.
7:20>> Excellent, Chris. I
7:22This sounds highly
7:23advanced, or sophisticated, I should
7:25say. I want to see it drawn on our
7:27whiteboard, step-by-step, so the
7:30audience has a good idea of how they
7:32could implement a process like this on
7:34their own, and and not leave it too
7:37abstract. So, if you don't mind, let's
7:39jump onto the whiteboard. So, Chris,
7:41walk me through step-by-step from the
7:44moment you open a chart and
7:46get trading, exactly what you're looking
7:49at all the way up until you take a trade
7:52and then exit that trade.
7:55>> Yeah, so the easiest way to probably do
7:57this is to break it down into four
8:00different steps. Now,
8:02basically it's context, location, then
8:04confirmation. But, the way that I look
8:07at it and we'll kind of mark it out
8:08here. The first thing that I look at is
8:11environment. So, when it comes to
8:13environment, there's a couple different
8:14pieces to that. Now, what I want to
8:16understand is are we currently in
8:19a value up structure, a value down
8:21structure, or sideways? Now, what would
8:23that actually look like? Let's take a
8:24specific scenario so that it's a little
8:26bit easier to draw out. Now, let's say
8:29that the market has been moving
8:31something like this. Now, in a scenario
8:34like this, where are we typically
8:35creating value? Well, we would probably
8:37be creating value here,
8:40then here,
8:41and then we are currently searching for
8:43new value. Now, maybe that would be
8:45somewhere over here.
8:47Okay? Now, what I'm looking at
8:50heading into the session is I want to
8:52understand what the higher time frames
8:54are doing. And so, this would be viewed
8:57on, let's say, like a 1-hour chart,
9:00maybe a 4-hour chart. The purpose of
9:02this is to understand what has the week
9:05been doing, what's the previous week
9:07been doing. So, it's very basic market
9:10structure, higher highs, higher lows,
9:13understanding how value is getting
9:14created, is it getting created higher
9:16and higher?
9:17And the second piece of this is
9:19understanding gamma or gex. Now,
9:22the gamma or gex that I use, I use
9:25something called naive gex. Now, there's
9:27different, you know, you can use
9:28inferred gex, uh which is basically how
9:31they calculate their models to determine
9:33the the levels. Um but, I like looking
9:36at NQ um
9:38levels. So, that would be QQQ, NDX. The
9:41CBOE doesn't have the data for that. So,
9:45majority of NQ is going to be like naive
9:48GEX calculations.
9:49>> And what does GEX tell you?
9:51>> So, GEX, when it comes to regime or
9:54environment, there, let's say we have
9:56GEX, okay? It stands for gamma exposure.
9:59Now, what this is is Why do we care
10:03about GEX? Well, we care about GEX
10:05because the options market is one of the
10:07largest markets, if not the largest
10:09market in kind of the trading world,
10:12right? Now, when the options market are
10:15doing transactions, you have dealers and
10:17market makers. And dealers and market
10:19makers are not necessarily in the
10:20business of being uh directionally
10:23exposed to the market. So, then what do
10:24they do? Let's say they need to hedge a
10:27position to stay neutral. Well, they
10:29will go to one of the underlying, being
10:31futures as one of them, and they will
10:33then hedge in that.
10:35>> When you look at a gamma profile, what
10:37you're typically going to see is you're
10:38going to see positive gamma,
10:41which is oftentimes represented as like
10:43green, or you're going to see negative
10:46gamma.
10:47Just say negative. So, you have positive
10:50and you have negative. Now, this is very
10:52easy to misunderstand because sometimes
10:55when people see positive gamma, they
10:57think long because it's green, or they
11:00see negative, they may think it is uh
11:03short because it's red. Uh it's not
11:05actually like that. We need to think
11:06about this in terms of volatility. So,
11:08when we're in a positive gamma
11:10environment, typical dealer behavior is
11:12they're going to be
11:14selling into the rips and buying
11:17basically into the dips. Now, what does
11:19that cause? Well, that causes a
11:22volatility dampening
11:24uh environment, right? It's it's a
11:26little bit difficult to slice through
11:28like butter. Now, for a negative gamma
11:31environment, it's different. They would
11:33have to buy into the rips and sell into
11:36the dips. Now, when this happens, it
11:39ends up causing, you know, more
11:41volatility. It's an amplifier of
11:42volatility. So, I want to understand
11:45where we're at on the chart, if we're in
11:48a positive gamma environment and we're
11:49or if we're in a negative gamma
11:51environment because it lets me know
11:53potentially what type of day I'm walking
11:54into. We all know that the killer of
11:57most accounts for most retail traders is
11:59going to be a choppy environment. People
12:01love to trade breakouts. People are
12:03always going to be looking for a
12:04breakout, but in a positive gamma
12:06environment, we may see a lot of failed
12:08breakouts because every single time we
12:10go and try and make a breakout, you have
12:11dealer positioning
12:13selling into the rips, buying into the
12:15dips.
12:16>> So, Chris, for someone who wants to look
12:18at GEX, how what's the easiest way to
12:21get something like this on the chart and
12:23be able to analyze it like how you do?
12:24>> I use a platform. Um
12:27it's a web-based platform. It's called
12:29Tanuki Trade. It's one of the platforms.
12:32Now, gamma exposure, especially in the
12:34futures world, is becoming incredibly
12:36popular. So, you have all different
12:37types of platforms popping up and some
12:40of them are going to be naive GEX
12:41calculations, meaning that they're just
12:43making a a very broad assumption. Um
12:47now, you also have inferred GEX
12:49calculations. Inferred GEX calculations
12:51are basically where there are models or
12:54calculations that this platform is
12:56making to try and determine a little bit
12:58more granularity in terms of dealer
13:00positioning. Now, the thing about that
13:02is that CBOE data is expensive. And most
13:06platforms that do uh have CBOE data, for
13:09one, it's only for SPX. It's only for,
13:11you know, ES and and the S&P 500. And
13:14then also, they cost like $300 a month.
13:16Um so, it it gets a little pricey. So,
13:19I'm okay with using naive GEX just by
13:20the way that I use it. I'm not
13:22necessarily looking for specific uh
13:25levels, so to speak, to take a bounce
13:27off of a put wall or a call wall, but I
13:31do want to understand the environment
13:32that we're in. So, here we are in the
13:34environment, okay? We're in a value up
13:36structure. Let's just say we're in a
13:39negative environment. So, I'm walking
13:41into the day thinking to myself, "Okay,
13:43we're in a value up structure and we are
13:46in a negative gamma environment." which
13:47means that doesn't mean we're going to
13:49go down necessarily, but it means that
13:52volatility may be amplified. We may see
13:54bigger moves, faster moves. And so, I
13:57want to understand that before the
13:58market actually opens. So, now we kind
14:00of have an idea. One thing as well that
14:02I look at is I do want to understand
14:04where the call wall is, where the put
14:06wall is, as well as the gamma flip zone.
14:08Now, the gamma flip zone is basically
14:11where you start entering positive or
14:12negative territory. It's kind of like
14:14that line in the sand.
14:16So, the second thing that I want to look
14:18at and by the way, this is all done
14:21before the market opens. I will never do
14:23this while price is moving a million
14:25miles an hour. I need to know and build
14:27my scenarios before the market actually
14:30opens because I'm trying to be prepared,
14:31right? Yeah, I need a little bit of
14:33structure before I start clicking
14:34buttons. So, the second thing that I
14:37want to understand is location. Now,
14:40when I talk about location, what exactly
14:42do I mean? Am I just talking about you
14:45know, a box on my chart or
14:47No, what I'm what I want to understand
14:49is where do I want to do business,
14:51right? So, if we're in a value up
14:53structure,
14:54now, I typically do not want to go
14:57against this type of structure. I mean,
14:58maybe it's been happening. Maybe these
15:00are daily profiles or cash session
15:02profiles. So, we have, you know, Monday,
15:03Tuesday, Wednesday, and let's just say
15:06we're very bullish. Well, where do I
15:08want to essentially participate if I'm
15:10looking to follow trend? Well, I don't
15:12want to do it up here. That's an
15:14expensive place to to want to get
15:15involved in the market. What I want to
15:17do is I want to wait for us to come into
15:19discount. So, then where is discount?
15:22Well, if we have value area, then the
15:24basic idea of it is anything below value
15:27area is discount, anything above it is
15:28premium. Now, in a situation like this,
15:32we're already looking for a potential
15:34opportunity to continue this type of
15:36move, but I wouldn't necessarily want
15:38again to sell in premium. It just
15:40wouldn't make sense. We're going in this
15:42value up structure, we could potentially
15:44squeeze it further to the upside, have
15:45you know, continued expansion, and then
15:47you're going to get run over, you know?
15:49It's not a good idea
15:50with the way that I trade at least to
15:52try and call the top or call the bottom.
15:54Bottom, I'd rather just wait for a
15:55pullback, right? So, let's say in this
15:57area, we have basically discount, okay?
16:01Now, as let's say this is the day. You
16:04have Asia session here, you have London
16:06session creating its range up here, and
16:09we're looking higher up.
16:11If this move was relatively quick, let's
16:14say Asia session pushed it up, you know,
16:16recently we've been seeing Asia session
16:18move around a lot. This may be a very
16:20inefficient part of the move. What do I
16:22mean inefficient part of the move? It
16:23means that we've moved through this area
16:25very quickly. We didn't spend a lot of
16:27time there. We didn't have enough time
16:28to actually conduct a lot of business
16:30here. Now, in the event where this is
16:33also, let's say it's a low volume node,
16:35meaning that, you know, not a lot of
16:36volume was here, not a lot of business
16:38was actually transacted here, and at the
16:40open, what does what does the open do?
16:44Let's say that we're watching this
16:45happen and the open opens up and starts
16:47dropping, okay? We're starting to break
16:49out of value area low. This is value
16:52area low. We're starting to break out of
16:53value area low and we're heading into
16:55discount. Do I want to sell it here? No,
16:59I don't want to sell right here because
17:00you're selling it actually probably the
17:02most optimal area to try and buy it.
17:04So, what am I doing? I have location.
17:07Here we go. We start moving into it.
17:10Now, what am I looking at? Well, at this
17:13point, what I'm paying attention to
17:15after location is realistically
17:18confirmation. So, what is confirmation?
17:21Let's say I have a level.
17:24Here it is. It's a box. It's on our
17:25chart.
17:27How do I know
17:29that this area here is a valid level?
17:33Just because I draw a box on the chart
17:36doesn't mean that price is going to
17:37respect my drawing.
17:39So, I have to pay attention. What's
17:40happening in here? What are the buyers
17:43doing in here? Are the seller What are
17:44the sellers doing in here? Who's
17:46winning? Is there going to be result for
17:49that effort? So, then what do we start
17:51looking at? Well, now we start going
17:52down into the granular side of things.
17:54So, let's make a different drawing
17:56that's a little bit more zoomed in. So,
17:58let's say we're like this.
18:01Okay, we come up. Maybe we sweep. We
18:04start dropping down at New York open,
18:06and here is discount.
18:09When we're in here, I start paying
18:11attention to order flow. Now, on my
18:14order flow chart, let's imagine this is
18:16a candle. I'm typic- I'm typically
18:18looking at two different types of
18:19candles.
18:21One of them is going to have a volume
18:23profile inside of it, and the other one
18:25is going to have a delta profile inside
18:28of it. Now, why do I care about that? I
18:31care about that because on a normal
18:33candlestick, you have open, high, low,
18:35and close. It's the result. It's like
18:36the scoreboard of what the auction
18:38actually did. But, it's important to see
18:40how these are actually forming. Now,
18:43what is something that would be
18:44important? Let's say in this scenario
18:46here,
18:48the candle has a very large wick to the
18:50downside.
18:51But, in this case, all the volume is
18:53down here. All of it. Got the POC here,
18:56the point of control, where the most
18:58amount of contracts are actually
18:59concentrated. I'm watching this. Now,
19:02let's say here's the same candle. It's a
19:04Let's just say a 5-minute candle. And
19:07down here we have all this delta,
19:09negative delta.
19:11And it's sellers. This is sellers here.
19:14Now, you see all the participation from
19:16sellers happening in discount in
19:19location and they're not getting
19:20rewarded for that behavior or that that
19:23that effort. So, then what am I looking
19:25for? Okay, now let's say we're we're
19:28identifying absorption happening in
19:30discount. Well, now what I want to see
19:32is I want to see the shift of dominance,
19:34the shift of dominance back to the
19:35upside with the buyers. So, what would
19:37that typically look like? Now, let's say
19:39in this case in this case that this
19:41candle closed bullish.
19:43Okay, we closed bullish. Now, what is
19:46that telling us? This is telling us that
19:48price pushed down, it was pushing down
19:50aggressively and now they're in location
19:53discount in a value up structure where
19:56all of this participation of sellers is
19:57building at the very extreme of this
19:59candle and they're not getting any type
20:01of result for that aggression. Now, the
20:04candle flips back bullish. What I want
20:06to see at this point if we're using
20:07candlesticks is I'm looking for the next
20:10candle to open up
20:12to immediately pull back. Next candle
20:16opens up, immediately pull back.
20:19And I want to see that aggression happen
20:21from the sellers again, but this time I
20:23want it to fail higher up.
20:26So, you have failure of sellers here.
20:29Let's say here's our volume profile,
20:31failure of sellers here.
20:34And we flip bullish. I'm going long.
20:37I'm going long. I'm I'm entering the
20:38trade here and I'm putting my stop loss
20:41where?
20:42On the other side of the failed sellers.
20:44Because in this case, where would my
20:46trade idea become invalidated? It'd
20:48become invalidated the moment that
20:50sellers are able to push past the area
20:52they weren't able to push past the first
20:53time.
20:54So, if I'm looking at this and I have
20:56this candle, I'm identifying absorption
20:58happening in discount and we start
21:00flipping back bullish. Now, they fail
21:02higher. I don't want them to get back
21:04down here. Now, where would I be
21:06targeting? Okay, let's say, you know, we
21:08enter in entries the moment we flip
21:11bullish on this. Maybe we see the ask
21:13light up with imbalances from buyers.
21:17They're trying to lift the offer. And we
21:19see them getting really aggressive back
21:21to the upside. Okay, well, this goes
21:23back to what we said in the beginning.
21:25Think about the people who are entering
21:27in here. Okay, well, now their hand is
21:30beginning to get forced. Participation
21:32is about to get forced because
21:35if you're down here and you entered in
21:36shorts, well, you're going to be forced
21:39to make a decision. And if you get out
21:41of that sell and you're off sides, well,
21:43you're going to speed this up. And if
21:45we're in a negative gamma environment,
21:47not only do you have positioning causing
21:50a potential squeeze higher, but you also
21:51have dealers who are going to be buying
21:54into that rip, and it can be very fast.
21:56So, let's say this is all happening
21:58right here in discount. Now, we start
22:00popping up. Okay, we do a little bit of
22:02this.
22:03Where am I watching? Well, I'm watching
22:05back into this area of value, where the
22:08value area is. The first thing I want to
22:10see is I want to see buyers reclaim into
22:14value area. Get back in there. In the
22:17event that they fail, okay, let's say we
22:20entered here, we're coming back into
22:21value area. If buyers are stepping in
22:24here aggressively on this move and
22:26they're unable to actually get back into
22:28value area, well, then chances are I'm
22:30probably going to move break even or I'm
22:31going to cut the trade. But, if they're
22:34successful and they get back into value
22:36area, you can either target sometimes I
22:39target the POC, sometimes I go for a
22:41swing high. Let's say orders are
22:43clustering up here. It's a psychological
22:45level. You see it on level two. You see
22:47it on the book. A lot of the times on
22:48the book orders get pulled. Yes, but
22:51when they cluster around psychological
22:53levels, sometimes swing highs or swing
22:55lows,
22:56oftentimes they're there to actually get
22:57filled. So, it becomes a target. It It a
23:00target. We're We're searching for
23:02potentially new value and what are we
23:04doing here? We have to remember the
23:06bigger picture. We're continuing this
23:08value up structure. So, chances are this
23:11might be a pretty good target. So, the
23:13the setup may look like this. Here is
23:16our stop loss, right right below seller
23:18failure. And now we're looking for
23:20something like this. Maybe we ended up
23:23getting out right here for like a 1.5R,
23:25maybe it went to full TP, maybe it's a
23:276R. I mean, I don't know. I'm I'm
23:30watching that aggression. Now, when I'm
23:32in the trade, I'm paying attention to
23:34this. Now, what I want to see is I want
23:36to see the aggression from buyers
23:38continuing. I do not want to see buyers
23:42moving back into here having all this
23:44aggression and it's the inverse of this.
23:47Because now oh, red flag,
23:49we have buyers struggling to to push.
23:51They're putting all this effort and
23:53we're staying below value area. Well,
23:55then I'm going to be a little concerned
23:57about my trade. Maybe move it break
23:58even. So, I use these candles during
24:02trade management to then in their
24:04footprint candles, you know, it's the
24:05bid by ask. I have them set up with bid
24:07by ask
24:09volume and delta.
24:10And I want to make sure that the
24:13aggression from the buyers are resulting
24:16in actual price progression. And every
24:18single time they continue putting in the
24:21effort, getting that result, I begin to
24:24trail behind that aggression because
24:26sometimes, if you know, we see that
24:28aggression and then the aggression
24:30fails, well, we may start pulling back.
24:32So, this is kind of the idea. It's a
24:34very basic idea of how I'm looking at
24:37the market. I want to understand what
24:39we're doing in the higher time frame. I
24:41want to understand the regime of
24:42volatility that we may be in. Now, keep
24:45in mind, Greeks goes way more into
24:46detail, but I don't really think it's
24:48the time and place for that right now
24:49because it's options and you if you
24:52start talking about Greeks, you got to
24:54start talking about
24:54>> We'll save the Black-Scholes model for
24:56another time.
24:57>> It's
24:58>> You know, Chris, I did have a couple
24:59questions first.
25:00>> Go ahead.
25:01>> Excellent. But
25:03this is our discount zone, correct?
25:05>> Correct.
25:05>> How do we identify specifically that
25:08this was the discount zone?
25:10>> That's a great question. I actually use
25:12Fibonacci retracement for that. Uh so,
25:15what I'm looking at is I'm usually going
25:17from swing low to swing high. In this
25:19case, it would probably be from here to
25:21here.
25:22And I'm marking out fib levels. Now, the
25:24fib levels specifically are
25:27uh the 705, the 788, and the 886, okay?
25:33And it basically creates a zone. This is
25:35basically like golden pocket idea,
25:37right? And so, I'm watching for us to
25:40get in here. Now, this is actually a
25:41very good thing you bring up because
25:44I need to make sure that this is outside
25:47of value area. If I draw a fib and we
25:50have the fib level sitting inside value
25:52area, I don't really want it. And I also
25:55want to see internal structure before we
25:58enter into discount. So, potentially a
26:00sweep, right?
26:01>> So, what by internal structure, and I
26:04know we're drawing it out, so it's a
26:05little, you know, but how can
26:08>> [clears throat]
26:08>> we verify that we have this good
26:12internal structure going into this move?
26:15What's going on here is very clear.
26:17We're moving between value areas,
26:19basically, finding new value, moving up
26:22and up and up. And then we're looking at
26:24this discount zone here, right? When you
26:26mention internal structure, what
26:28specifically is happening in that area
26:30that you want to see?
26:31>> Well, I just want to see a swing point.
26:34That's real it's really not as as
26:36complex as that. It really just should
26:39be a swing point, you know, we push up.
26:41I mean, it's very rare with the market,
26:43you know, this is not how the market
26:44looks, right? The market doesn't do
26:45this. It it has pullbacks. It breathes a
26:48little bit. And so, I draw these fibs.
26:51Now, the thing about these fibs is this
26:53886 is incredibly important. Why?
26:56Because this is the final area where if
26:59we're going to actually come back up,
27:01we're going to do it in the way that I
27:03trade before we get past the 886. The
27:05moment that, let's say, we see a selling
27:09into this, okay? And buyers, maybe
27:11they're there, maybe they're not, but if
27:13they cannot shift the dominance back
27:15towards the upside to continue this
27:17value up structure, and we end up going
27:21below the 886,
27:23I'm I'm not taking the trade.
27:24>> That invalidates
27:25>> It's in invalidates it. Because if the
27:28pullback's going to happen, it should
27:29happen after we get out of failed
27:31auction lower, out of value area here.
27:35So, that's how I determine it, but
27:38it's fibs outside of value area,
27:41discount or premium determine based on
27:44what we're doing.
27:44>> And for our order flow candles that we
27:47see here,
27:49we're looking for value area, POC, all
27:53on either a bid ask or
27:56volume profile candle, delta candle to
27:58be on the lower wick itself.
28:00>> I I want to see it at the extremes.
28:03I want to see it at the extremes and a
28:06failure of that. Now, there's a very big
28:08difference, and I trade on 5-minute
28:10charts, by the way. Now, I look at the
28:12hourly, the 15-minute, and I use the
28:145-minute. Sometimes I'm using the
28:151-minute, but I'm looking at 5-minute
28:18candles, and what I want to see is,
28:20let's say there's a candle that comes
28:22down, and this is a bearish close, okay?
28:25And there's a wick, like this. And all
28:27the participation's building down here,
28:29let's say.
28:30And you can say, "Well, Chris said that
28:32if participation is building down here,
28:35that's a bad sign for sellers." But
28:36let's understand what's happening here
28:38at this candle. It's a bearish close.
28:40Let's say it's a strong stronger close.
28:42Yes, absorption can be can be happening,
28:44but absorption doesn't mean automatic
28:47reversal. That's not how it works.
28:49Absorption happens constantly throughout
28:50the chart. So, what I need to see is I
28:53need to see the dominant shifting back
28:55the other direction. So, what ends up
28:57happening is you'll see it kind of in
28:59the extremes of the candle, in the wicks
29:00of it.
29:01And then price coming afterwards would
29:04sort of be a confirmation that
29:07there was absorption in this area and
29:09now dominance is shifting. Well, the the
29:12indication of there being absorption in
29:14this area is you're seeing aggressive
29:16participation of sellers. I mean, you
29:18can watch the book, but a lot of the
29:20times it's like iceberg orders and it's
29:23algorithmic orders on the book and it's
29:25loading so quickly.
29:26The easiest way for me to see it, some
29:28people use CBD, uh but the easiest way
29:30for me to see it is in these two candles
29:32as a combination. So, I like to view it
29:34that way. Is it the right way to do it?
29:36Well, there's different ways to view
29:38information. I like it this way. So, I'm
29:41looking for aggressive participation of
29:42sellers. We can tell by the delta in
29:45this candle. It's basically like a
29:46ladder of delta at each price level you
29:48could see what was happening. So, we
29:50want to be negative delta. Why? Because
29:52it means that there's more aggressive
29:53sellers than aggressive buyers. This
29:55will cause it to be negative. So, we
29:57needed to see it there. Now, in these
29:59candles that I haven't drawn out, it's a
30:01bid by ask. In these candles, you'll see
30:03like X's, you know, they'll be like this
30:06and then you'll have like numbers on the
30:08side and it'll be this ladder of
30:11numbers. And I have an indicator that
30:14lights up these numbers in bold when
30:16there is an imbalance of 400% or more.
30:19Meaning that just so you know, on the
30:21ask, we have sellers, right? But when it
30:24when we are filling those orders, it's
30:26buyers. Because the only way to, you
30:28know, let's say you're putting an order,
30:29passive limit order on the sell on the
30:31ask, you are only going to get filled by
30:32an aggressive buyer. So, basically, the
30:35way I'm looking at this is the right
30:36side is aggressive buyers. Left side is
30:38aggressive sellers. And when we start
30:41shifting in the other direction, and we
30:42start lighting up in bold numbers,
30:44that's how my chart's set up. It's
30:46showing me that there's a real
30:47aggression coming back the other way
30:49from the buyers, and I wait. Doesn't
30:51mean I go long because we can be
30:53whiplashing around. I want to see us try
30:56again.
30:57And when we try again and we fail for
30:59the second time
31:01and flip again, I'm going long. No,
31:03Chris, it's clear where your stop loss
31:05goes.
31:07At this specific location with your
31:10basically your confirmation or where you
31:13start looking for a trigger, the final
31:15piece of the puzzle here.
31:18Our stop loss generally goes under it.
31:19Now, with the targets, you had mentioned
31:22it could be at the POC, could be at a
31:24previous swing high. Is there any
31:27systematic way that you handle this or
31:29choose which target to use or would it
31:32be more discretionary? So,
31:34>> Ever thought about getting into prop
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31:53now, back to the video.
31:55>> Typically, I'm I'm aiming for swing
31:57points, okay? I'm usually aiming for the
31:59swing points because if the market never
32:01takes a swing point, what are we going
32:03to be doing? We're going to be doing
32:04this until we flatline. That's not what
32:06the market does. We go and we take swing
32:07points. So, I'm usually looking to
32:09target highs or lows a lot of the times.
32:12But, as we enter into areas, let's say
32:14the POC, let's say the call wall is
32:16sitting here, you know? Once we approach
32:19it, even though my target's all the way
32:21up here, well, I may start trailing the
32:23stop, trailing the stop.
32:25>> Okay.
32:25>> And so, it's usually swing points being
32:28the target and typically why also
32:30there's
32:31uh orders clustering in this area, but I
32:34usually will have a full target and I'll
32:36trail my stop on the way up and it more
32:38more often than not will result in kind
32:40of like anywhere from a 1.5 to 2 R. So,
32:43it's really not crazy risk to reward
32:47um but that's really all I need um to be
32:49completely honest.
32:50>> So, with that RR what what win rate do
32:52you generally see?
32:53>> It usually floats around 60 to 65%
32:57um and then the profit factor will float
32:59around like 1.8. It fluctuates a little
33:02bit. And it it also, you know, it's
33:05important to note that a lot of the
33:06times I'm trading prop firms and 1.5 R
33:10is more than enough for uh prop firms
33:14because prop firms, right? They you are
33:18required to be pretty aggressive when it
33:20comes to risk management. Why? Because
33:22you got $2,000 of drawdown. What are you
33:24going to on a 50k account? What are you
33:26going to do? Risk 1% of that? 20 bucks?
33:29You can't. So, you have to risk more,
33:32right? And to risk more
33:35it it's slightly dangerous, but you
33:37know, 1.5 R makes sense. Why? Because if
33:40the drawdown is 2,000, let's say the
33:42drawdown is 2,000. That's what you got.
33:45But the profit target is 3,000.
33:49That's literally a 1.5 R.
33:51So, if you just constantly take 1.5 R
33:54trades, then you'll be fine.
33:56>> Well, I'll tell you what, 1.5 R at a 65%
33:59win rate, it's really good. So, yeah,
34:02this would definitely be something
34:03>> It it the the issue that a lot of people
34:06run into is they're so overly focused
34:09with
34:10with like high big R, you know, like
34:12they're like, "Oh, I want to hit a 10 R
34:14or a 20 R." And then they send a
34:15screenshot and they're proud of their
34:17like small stop loss and it's like the
34:19guys who are like, "Oh, bottom tick top
34:21tick." I don't care. I want to be right.
34:25I don't want to look cool. I want to be
34:26right. And if that requires that I need
34:29some extra confirmation that's going to
34:30ruin my bottom tick, I do not care. It's
34:33going to make it so it's a worse R, but
34:35more often than not I'll probably be
34:36more I'll be right more times than I'm
34:38wrong. And it helps also psychologically
34:41because if you keep going for a 10 R and
34:44you're profitable trader, you know,
34:46you're probably going to be
34:48losing a decent amount of trades, but
34:51the wins are obviously much larger than
34:53the losers. So then it kind of works
34:54out. But for a beginner trader, that's
34:55tough mentally because you're losing,
34:58you're losing, you're losing. Then what
34:59do you do? You just start doing random
35:01stuff because you're frustrated and now
35:02your account's gone. I mean, that's
35:03basically like majority of prop firm
35:06traders that never pull payouts.
35:08>> So just to be clear, you use this in
35:09prop environment, challenge and funded?
35:12>> Yes, but I'm I'm extremely aggressive in
35:14evaluations.
35:16>> And you also use this on your personal?
35:18>> Yes. So this is the strategy you
35:20generally end traded the world
35:21championship with.
35:22>> Yes, this is the exact thing that I did.
35:24Yes. I mean, there's obviously like it's
35:27not so cookie-cutter like, you know,
35:29this is this is a basic, you know,
35:31overview of what I'm looking at, but
35:33there are scenarios, there are edge
35:35cases, there are things that happen and
35:38my goal at the end of the day with all
35:41of this stuff, okay? My goal at the end
35:43of the day is to just watch
35:46effort versus result. Who is being
35:48successful in that effort in causing
35:51price progression and who is not? And
35:53I'm trying to understand where are we
35:55likely headed to and where is the best
35:58place to do business? Now, there are
36:00sometimes where we can sit here and talk
36:02about all different types of scenarios
36:03all day, but my my job is to try and
36:07read what's happening in the auction,
36:09but the battle between the buyers and
36:11sellers and try and make the most
36:13informed decisions I can. And more often
36:15than not, what's the best informed
36:17decision that I can make is to not
36:19participate.
36:20Because as a trader, the most important
36:23thing that you can do, your biggest
36:25advantage is that you have selective
36:26participation.
36:28And most traders don't take advantage of
36:29that. They think like if if you're not
36:31trading um, you know, that you're you're
36:33you're doing something wrong, okay? When
36:35I started using order flow,
36:38two things will happen. Either you start
36:39taking more trades because there's more
36:41data and you start thinking you see more
36:43things or you do the opposite, which is
36:45what I did and I use it mainly to filter
36:47trades out. Some days I might not take a
36:49trade. Some days I take one trade. Some
36:51days I take two trades, but I'm not
36:53sitting there all morning like scalping
36:55back and forth. Um, not saying it's the
36:57wrong thing to do, but I just I don't
36:59like making like back-to-back-to-back
37:01decisions because it starts to wear down
37:04on my focus as well as my mental
37:07capacity to make calculated decisions. I
37:09want to only have to do it couple times
37:11a day. Keeps me from making unnecessary
37:14decisions.
37:15>> So, Chris, and just to be clear, there
37:18is going to be pieces of discretion in
37:20here that can't be perfectly mapped out
37:23across the process. This is generally
37:25how the process works from start to
37:27finish
37:27>> Right.
37:28>> in a theoretically perfect environment,
37:30right? Now, is there anything
37:33objectively other than 886 here that
37:36makes this entire thing fail, fall
37:38apart, or you don't touch it?
37:40>> Yes, when
37:42when participation is low. Let's say
37:45we're in an environment where
37:48every 5 minutes. So, typically I'm
37:49trading MNQ and I look at MNQ order
37:52flow, which most people, you know, they
37:54disagree with that. They say you should
37:55look at NQ, but it is what it is. I pay
37:58attention to MNQ. It works for me. I do
37:59it. So, I'm looking at MNQ 5-minute
38:02candles. I have a threshold I have a
38:04threshold of 20,000 contracts per
38:075-minute candle because the moment we
38:09begin to drop below 20,000 contracts per
38:125-minute candle,
38:14participation is dying out. It's getting
38:15lower. Chances are we're probably
38:17heading into the lunch hour. And for me
38:19to catch something like this, well, I
38:22need a bunch of participation. I need
38:24there to be volume. I need there to be
38:26people transacting and and doing
38:28business. The times where we start doing
38:31slow grinds, volume tapers off, and
38:33we're kind of just like doing whatever,
38:35I don't I don't touch it. I don't touch
38:37it. That's part of the reason why I only
38:39trade like an hour and 30 minutes of the
38:40day. It doesn't mean I'm not looking at
38:42the charts. I mean, dude, I'm looking at
38:44the charts constantly, but you know, I
38:46really only want to participate when
38:47there's a lot of volume happening.
38:50>> Chris, thank you so much. I mean,
38:51extremely detailed,
38:53well thought out, something that traders
38:57can come to at any time, years in the
38:59future,
39:00and come into a process that you've
39:02found a lot of success with, and it's
39:05demonstrable as well in the World
39:07Championship. So,
39:08let's jump off the whiteboard. I'll ask
39:11you a couple more questions, and
39:13we'll see what we got.
39:15>> Cool.
39:15>> So, Chris,
39:17from your entire process, what is the
39:19best way for a trader who might want to
39:22try it to deliberately copy and practice
39:25it until they're able to execute it
39:28efficiently?
39:29>> So, with prop firms, realistically, you
39:32do not need to be the greatest trader
39:34ever to make money with prop firms. You
39:35really don't. Um, and what you need to
39:38do is if you want to trade the way that
39:40I trade, you can absolutely go do it.
39:42The way you go do it is you learn
39:43auction market theory, you download a
39:45order flow platform. There's tons of
39:48information out on the internet. You can
39:49understand how what you're looking at
39:51and how to read it, and they have great
39:53platforms out there. You got ATAS, you
39:55got deep charts, you have all these
39:57things available to you to go on replay
40:00mode to test things out, to kind of get
40:02the reps in. Um, but really, being a
40:05profitable trader uh doesn't really come
40:07down to that. What it comes down to more
40:10so is
40:12the way that I think about it is you
40:14have A game sessions, B game sessions,
40:16and C game sessions. They have nothing
40:17to do with the P&L. They have to do with
40:20how did you actually execute? And
40:22consistency in terms of profitability
40:24doesn't come from more A-game sessions.
40:27It comes from eliminating the back end
40:29and
40:30focusing on the back end. It's back end
40:32optimization, not front end
40:34optimization. You do not have control
40:36over how many A+ setups you get. You
40:39just don't. You have control over the
40:41dumb losses, the losses that weren't a
40:44cost of doing business. They were
40:46unnecessary. And where most unprofitable
40:49traders lie is they have those C-game
40:51sessions. The C-game sessions that
40:53destroy a week worth of A-game sessions,
40:56a month worth of A-game sessions, and
40:58that's what causes in the prop firm
41:00industry this like loop of like boom and
41:03bust. You know, you pass an eval, get
41:05into funded, fourth day blow the
41:07account. And it's just that C-game
41:10session. And it's
41:11it's this
41:12misnomer or like this misconception from
41:15a lot of traders where it's about more
41:17knowledge, more information, more data,
41:19more strategies, more setups. It's not
41:21about that. Yeah, you need to know what
41:23you're doing. You need to know what
41:24you're looking at and what we're
41:25actually participating in because this
41:27is a beast of a of a thing that we're
41:30kind of doing here.
41:32It should be respected. It shouldn't be
41:34taken lightly. But you have to focus on
41:38making the bad losses cuz there's a good
41:40loss and a bad loss.
41:41Making the bad losses less frequent.
41:44That's where consistency comes from. It
41:45doesn't come from strategies
41:47necessarily.
41:48>> What's the difference between a bad loss
41:50and a good loss?
41:51>> Let's say what I drew drew out on the
41:53board. I take that trade. Now, I'll take
41:55that trade. Let's just say nine times
41:57out of 10 unless something's happening.
41:58Maybe there's news coming out right
42:00before we're in the area. There's Let's
42:02just say I take it nine times out of 10.
42:04That's something that I trade
42:06constantly. I know that I trade it in
42:08the way that I trade it, it'll do fine.
42:11So, I trade it. As long as I properly
42:13executed on it, meaning I didn't
42:15hesitate, I didn't chase, I didn't get
42:18FOMO, I didn't get in early, right?
42:21As long as I did exactly what I needed
42:23to do and it loses, well, that's just
42:26what happens when you operate in a
42:28probabilistic environment. You're You
42:30know, there's such thing as variance.
42:31You're not going to win every single
42:32trade and if someone out there knows how
42:34to win every trade, please let me know.
42:36I would love to be a billionaire, you
42:38know what I mean? But, you have to
42:39understand losses happen, but there's a
42:41difference between a good loss and a bad
42:43loss. Now, what is a bad loss? A bad
42:45loss is
42:47when you Let's say
42:49you know, the market opens, some massive
42:51move happens and you're sitting there
42:53slightly frustrated as a trader. You're
42:55like, "Ah." You know, maybe you're in a
42:57community, you see everyone posting
42:58profits, you're frustrated. So, what do
42:59you begin to do? Well, the way that most
43:02traders think is in order to get
43:04results, they have to participate. To a
43:06certain extent, that's true, right? But,
43:09they force that participation by doing
43:11what? Bending their rules, bending what
43:13they should be looking for. Maybe they
43:14didn't In my case, let's say a bad loss
43:16would be we come into discount in that
43:19scenario. But, I don't see sellers, you
43:22know, getting absorbed and dominant
43:24shifting back the other side. I just see
43:27we're in discount and I go, "We're in
43:29discount. I think I think we're going to
43:31go up." And so, I try and anticipate
43:33that, I try and guess and I don't let
43:35the let it confirm itself first. I just
43:38try and anticipate it. Well, if that
43:40trade loses or that trade wins, that was
43:42a bad trade because over time, if it
43:45wins, it's not going to it's not going
43:48to be good. So, it's it's it's basically
43:51reinforcing bad behavior and that bad
43:54behavior is what causes C-game sessions
43:55cuz if you lose that, now you're
43:57frustrated. Oh, I didn't follow my
43:58rules, whatever your rules are, right? I
44:01didn't follow my rules and then now
44:02you're trying to, you know, make your
44:03money back because you're uncomfortable
44:05looking at a red P&L and it just
44:08spirals out of control. Now you're
44:09tilting, and the account's gone.
44:10>> You know, Chris, it's an excellent
44:12point. Now, specifically when it comes
44:15to your rules or a plan, how did you
44:18figure out that your rules or your
44:20discretionary system, how did you figure
44:22out that this is something that works?
44:25>> So, first of all, when it comes to
44:27rules,
44:28any type of rule where you're like,
44:31"Don't overtrade. Uh don't oversize."
44:34Those are not rules, okay? Rules require
44:37uh an action attached to it, and they
44:39have to be specific, and it has to be
44:41specific to you. Now, every trader,
44:45to my belief, right, has some sort of
44:49line in the sand for them. Now, that
44:51line in the sand is where they go from
44:53making calculated decisions to not
44:54making calculated decisions, to making
44:56emotional decisions.
44:58For everybody, it's different. For one
44:59trader, it might be a certain dollar
45:01amount PNL. For another trader, it may
45:03be a certain amount of break evens or a
45:05certain amount of losses or even to the
45:08point where overconfidence, maybe
45:10they're winning so much, now they're not
45:12making calculated decisions anymore,
45:13they're making emotional ones,
45:14overconfidence.
45:16You have to identify where those are for
45:18you. It's a difficult thing to do
45:20because a lot of the times when it comes
45:23to trading and these these things where
45:26you're trying to self-diagnose them,
45:29a lot of the times they're invisible to
45:30the person it's happening to. And so,
45:32what you have to do is you have to be
45:34very self-aware, incredibly self-aware.
45:38A lot of the times, if a trader tilts,
45:40and you ask them, "Where did this start
45:42breaking down? Like, where during the
45:44session did you start making those bad
45:47decisions?"
45:49They'll probably point at the big trade
45:51that lost. That's not where the That's
45:53not where things broke. Otherwise, you
45:55know, let's say it was a
45:57you sized up, and then you have removed
45:59your stop-loss, and and then you say,
46:01"Now you're tilting." No, something
46:03caused you to do that. Some sequence of
46:06events occurred, and you have to find
46:08out where it is. Now, once you diagnose
46:10that, and you find out where it is,
46:12well, now you build solutions around it.
46:14So, let me give you an example for me.
46:16When I collect data on my trades, I
46:18notice a pattern where by the time we're
46:22an hour and a half into the open, my
46:24trades just get dramatically worse. They
46:27just get dramatically worse. I don't
46:28know why. Maybe it's because uh I'm not
46:31as focused as I am. Maybe, you know, at
46:34that point I probably missed out the
46:35move of the morning, and now we're
46:36trying to force something. Whatever it
46:38is. I know that's not good. So, then
46:40what do I do? Well, I have a hard
46:42shutoff time. Now, I know if I lose
46:45three trades in a row,
46:47I'm going to be frustrated. I'm going to
46:49be pretty frustrated.
46:50And chances are, I should never be
46:52taking three trades in a row cuz most
46:54days I'm taking one or two trades or
46:56none. So, if I'm taking three trades in
46:57a row for a set of
47:01What are the chances I'm getting three
47:03solid setups in an hour?
47:05With the way that I trade.
47:06Probably not very good. So, what do I
47:08do? Well, if I know that if I take three
47:10losses in a row, there's like a 50/50
47:12chance I start making bad decisions.
47:14Okay, well, then stop after two losses
47:16in a row. Same goes for everything else.
47:18You have to identify where those like
47:20breaking points are, and it took me an
47:22incredibly long time to do it, and it
47:24was honestly a pretty painful journey of
47:26losing a lot of money before I kind of
47:29understood this is that, this is the
47:32where this begins to break, this is
47:34where this begins to break, and you stop
47:36yourself before you get there. Now,
47:37here's the thing about that.
47:39You have to stop yourself. If you don't
47:42have any self-control,
47:44trading's not for you. You need
47:45self-control. You can't go through life
47:47without self-control. Where you going to
47:48end up? Jail or dead, right? So, trading
47:53is no different. You need self-control,
47:54and it's it brings out this like gambler
47:57behavior in a lot of people where they
47:58have no self-control because money and
48:00emotions are a terrible mix.
48:02>> How do you deal with them?
48:03>> Well, at this point I've been doing this
48:05for a while, so kind of like
48:07you know, when I lose,
48:09the only time I'll get really frustrated
48:11is when I do something that I know I
48:13wasn't supposed to do. Now, I'm not
48:15perfect. I'm human. There's days where I
48:17make mistakes. And the moment I start
48:21the moment I make a mistake, let's say
48:23it's a bad mistake where I entered
48:25prematurely or I chased or I just tried
48:28to assume something was going to happen
48:29rather than watching it.
48:31I have to shut it down. Because the way
48:34that I think about it is I went through
48:36that stage of waking up every single
48:38day. I'm on the West Coast. I wake up
48:40every day at like 4:00, 4:30 in the
48:42morning. And there was a long period of
48:44my life where I woke up every day, I
48:46lost money, felt frustrated all day,
48:49woke up and did it again. It was a
48:50constant like losing streak. And it was
48:55honestly a really tough time mentally
48:57because what do people do? Well, they
48:58you tell people, "Oh, I'm trading." And
49:00then they ask you, "How's your trading
49:01going?" And then you're just like
49:04Sometimes it's so embarrassing with how
49:05much money you lose, you don't even want
49:07to tell people. So, you kind of shut
49:08down the conversation. So, it was just
49:10this terrible time in my life. And so,
49:13anytime now, right, where I get
49:16frustrated
49:17and I'm and I'm
49:19maybe clicking on the size, making more
49:21contracts, right? I'm getting ready to
49:24add more contracts. I have to remind
49:26myself of that phase of my journey that
49:29I I never want to be in ever again.
49:31That's my motivation. And so, for some
49:34people they may not have that because
49:35they they can't look back at a time
49:37where, you know, they were maybe
49:39struggling. Maybe they got into trading
49:40and they just hit a nice little variance
49:42run and they've been all sunshine and
49:44rainbows. And so, they've never felt
49:45that. But for me, I felt it. And I felt
49:47it for a long time. So, I think back to
49:49that and I remind myself as I sit there
49:52and I say,
49:53"I don't like that version of myself. I
49:54never want to go back to that version of
49:56myself because that version of myself
49:58was miserable.
50:00I'm not anymore."
50:01>> What was the definitive turning point
50:04between that version of yourself and
50:05this version now?
50:08>> Well, that version of myself was focused
50:10on money.
50:11I was trading and I This is I would
50:14never recommend anybody to do this. I
50:16quit my job. I went to go travel. I
50:20traveled and I said, "I don't want to
50:21get another job."
50:23Scrolling through Instagram,
50:25oh, this guy just made 40 grand in 15
50:27minutes. He says he day trades. I'm
50:29going to try and learn that. I had all
50:31these savings. I had I had money. I lost
50:33it all. I lost it all. I went through
50:35this like hell loop of a cycle of like
50:38doing the same thing over and over and
50:39over like I'm sure many traders know.
50:41Um the wrong things.
50:44And I kind of got to the point where I
50:46was actually in debt. I was in debt. I
50:48had no money, no income. I depleted most
50:50of my savings. And all I had left was
50:53like my crypto investments that I'm like
50:55taking money out in a bear market. I'm
50:57like this is terrible. So, I kind of got
51:00to this breaking point where
51:02I just honestly felt like a loser. Like
51:05I felt I was so disgusted in myself. But
51:08I was to the point where
51:10I was so far in at this point. I had
51:12sunk so much money, so much time. I made
51:15the decision, albeit it was a reckless
51:17decision, that I was either going to
51:19figure it out or I was going to lose
51:22everything in the process. It's a
51:23terrible way to go about it, but that's
51:25just kind of how my mind works. But that
51:26doesn't mean that I go and I go try and
51:28get more aggressive and fight the
51:29market.
51:30I changed the perspective. I said,
51:32"What's the What's the problem here?"
51:33Well, the problem is is I'm focused on
51:35money. That's not where the the focus
51:36should be pointed towards. It should be
51:38up towards the execution. So, I
51:41completely sized down to one micro on a
51:43prop firm where you're basically not
51:45passing accounts, you're not getting
51:46payouts, but you're getting reps in. And
51:48I slowly tried to remove the the concept
51:51of money from it as much as I could. You
51:53can't You can't do it completely, but I
51:55try to do as much as I could.
51:57And I just only focus on the execution.
51:59Well, then guess what happens? When you
52:01focus on proper execution, money becomes
52:04the byproduct of that if you're doing
52:05the right thing. And then it becomes
52:07easier, and then it's just repetition,
52:09and then it What What it comes down to
52:11at that point is just paying attention
52:13to regime changes, paying attention to
52:14changes in the market in terms of
52:16volatility or whatever, and then
52:17adjusting. So, that was
52:21there was just a point where I was just
52:22like, "This is it. Like, this is where
52:24people would quit."
52:25>> So, you had to remove money basically
52:27from the equation here, and this would
52:29kind of help improve your trading
52:31psychology then as well, right? Where
52:33you're not as emotionally attached to a
52:36position. Would you say that being able
52:38to separate those two
52:39is what was the definitive turning point
52:41for you?
52:42>> Well, it's not that I can separate it. I
52:44understand the money is obviously still
52:46an element. It's like, "Why do we
52:48trade?" Well, we trade to make money.
52:49It's It would be It would be a lie for
52:52me to say that I never think about
52:54money. Of course, I do, but that was the
52:56main focus. The main focus now has
52:58shifted toward execution, and I still
53:01understand money's being thrown around.
53:02I'm winning, I'm losing money, right?
53:04But
53:05I'm I care more about how I performed in
53:08terms of execution than I do in terms of
53:11P&L. I care way more about how I traded
53:14rather than what those trades cost in
53:16terms of dollar amounts.
53:17>> So, if you were if you had to start over
53:19then,
53:20how would you
53:21make this process go quicker to get from
53:24starter Chris to now Chris?
53:27>> I tell this to traders when they when
53:29they're in the beginning of their
53:30journey. They need to understand what it
53:32is that we're participating in, okay?
53:34Like, this is a very You're You're in a
53:37market. You're trying to trade a market
53:39with whatever you're trying to trade,
53:41and we're going up against not only
53:43yourself, right? But also other
53:46participants in the market. It's this
53:48kind of like uh PVP arena almost, and
53:52you have all these different people who
53:55will have all these different ideas and
53:57all these different goals, and it's this
53:59entire auction of just trying to
54:02determine the price of an asset. And
54:04some of those participants are retail
54:06traders like yourself, and some of them
54:09are large institutions or people who
54:10need to fill large size. And so, it's
54:13important to understand the mechanics of
54:15the market. Like
54:18like to just hop in and then start
54:20drawing lines and then like getting
54:21frustrated when your lines don't work
54:23out. Well,
54:24you know, you should understand what
54:26drives price. It's just basic market
54:28mechanics. Now, once you do that, you
54:30should go and you should find a
54:32strategy. Now, it's important on the
54:33strategy that you pick,
54:35because some people have a personality
54:38where a strategy that presents a bunch
54:40of setups every single day is not going
54:41to be good for them.
54:43Let's say someone can handle that. They
54:45can handle split-second decision-making.
54:47It's not They're not going to carry it
54:48over in other trades. So, you have to
54:50find the strategy that complements your
54:51weaknesses kind of well, and your
54:53strengths.
54:54And then, don't hop around. Just focus
54:57on that one.
54:59And focus on that one, and focus on the
55:01actual the actual execution of that
55:05strategy.
55:06And if it turns out to be a BS strategy
55:08and it doesn't work, well, then
55:10you know, if you execute on it properly,
55:12you're going to find out, you know,
55:14hopefully. But
55:16you just it's not
55:18you should never, as a new trader, go on
55:21YouTube, look at a strategy, some guy
55:24goes,
55:25"This one setup changed my life." Now,
55:28you're like trading this guy's setup,
55:29and you're like, "It's not working for
55:30me." Next guy, next guy, next guy. And
55:32then you just Now you know all this
55:34stuff, all these different Now you're
55:35looking at the chart, and you're like,
55:37"But this strategy says this and this
55:38one says this." And now, you're just
55:40screwed.
55:41So, just focus on one thing.
55:43>> Chris,
55:44is there any final piece of advice you'd
55:47want to leave for struggling traders who
55:49might be inspired by your story or your
55:51process?
55:53>> If you're struggling with trading, you
55:54have to
55:56you have to really be honest with
55:58yourself on why you're struggling.
56:00If it If you most are going to believe
56:03it's an information problem. A lot of
56:05times, it's not going to be an
56:06information problem. Um it has to do
56:08with their behaviors. And a lot of
56:10people, some people, unfortunately, are
56:13just not going to be good at trading.
56:15They're not. The way that they behave is
56:17just not going to complement trading.
56:20Now, if you're struggling, just
56:22understand that most people struggle.
56:24You're not alone. I know you guys go and
56:26you may look on the internet, and all
56:28you see are people winning. How am I the
56:30only person that loses?
56:32Okay? I would recommend to stop looking
56:35at that stuff and just focus on
56:36yourself. Focus on,
56:39you know,
56:40executing properly, having the proper uh
56:44system to protect yourself from
56:46yourself, and just keep doing it. And
56:50you'll eventually get to a point where
56:54you're either going to start making
56:55money or you're not. You know what I
56:56mean? And
56:58the thing about
56:59beginning struggling traders, I
57:01guarantee you majority of them are just
57:03super focused on the money. I mean,
57:04that's why they trade. Okay? But, let's
57:06let's How about if you're struggling,
57:08let's take a month, size all the way
57:10down. Size all the way down to the point
57:12where this size is almost insulting to
57:15you. It's like nothing's happening.
57:16Perfect. Because now, you can focus on
57:19actually executing properly. It's not
57:21going to result in, you know, huge P&Ls
57:24that you can screenshot and put on your
57:25Instagram, but it's going to start
57:27building the right habits. And that's if
57:29you're struggling, you need to change
57:31your mindset to that.
57:33Otherwise, I don't know what to tell
57:34you.
57:35>> Chris,
57:36thank you so much for coming in.
57:38>> Of course.
57:38>> First live interview I've ever done. And
57:41I have to say it was quite remarkable.
57:43>> Well, thanks for having me. I'm really
57:44excited to be here.
57:45>> 100% return on that July
57:49micro competition Robin's World Cup.
57:51>> Yeah.
57:52>> 26. It's really impressive, man.
57:54Seriously.
57:55>> Thank you.
57:56>> IQ Capital, built by traders for
57:59traders.

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