Will you be among the 1%?

What follows may be the most important lesson from the hundreds of hours I've spent with students.

Although I've emphasized this from day one, I still regularly see, even in the final phase of the program, that the objective checklist of confirmation points isn't applied, or only partially. Learn from this.

If you want to develop your own profitable trading system, I believe this order is crucial:

1. Specialize. Choose reversals OR break-and-retest setups. First master the basic confirmation points mentioned earlier, including the retracement to the 9EMA on the 5-minute chart (see video clip), and understand why this exact combination adds so much value. Only after that do you start exploring the more advanced nuances on the 2-minute chart (see video clip).
2. Analyze different entry moments. Understand which possibilities exist and which risks come with them.
3. Learn to recognize patterns. Think of (inverse) head and shoulders, cup and handle, wedges and consolidations, bull and bear flags, and the other bigger topping and bottoming-out patterns.

The links to the video clips come from the "turning point" message from June 20.

Only after that, and I really mean only after that, do you start adding any further depth. For example:

1. Learn to apply the fundamental market structure concepts BOS and CHoCH (see video). These form a technical framework that further refines and strengthens your basic confirmation.
2. Lastly, add the DYC framework. That's a next-level layer of confirmation.

From minute 45 in the recording (see video) I explain that last point in detail. I expect that video can still be of great value to you long after the Mastery too.

And for me, the VWAP is crucial. You either trade from the VWAP (see the US30 recording at the bottom) or toward it, provided there's enough room for a healthy risk-reward. But not when it is too close to price and limits the available room.

And above all: keep your risk unit low. Work consistently. Build your system safely and put your attention on the process, not on profit or loss.

Once a trade reaches +1R, move your stop loss so that only 0.5R remains at risk. At 1.5R you move it to break-even. And at 2R you exit.

Try doing that consistently for months on end. If you can trade at least break-even that way over a longer period, you're laying the foundation for your future profitability.

And journal your trades. Journal them consistently.

Everything. Without exception. Including high-quality screenshots with each entry.

Do you ultimately want to belong to that 1% of traders who succeed? Then the solution probably isn't another indicator or another strategy. The solution is in consistently applying the basics.

As Jim Rohn, Tony Robbins' mentor, put it so well:
"Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic principles."

Below is a textbook VWAP-assisted setup from last Friday on the US30. Mastering this setup will take you a significant step forward. I also demonstrate how you can use RSI as a leading momentum indicator to identify a potential trend break early (reversal). A brief disclaimer: I'm still testing this myself too, so use the information with care and definitely test it yourself. On top of that: even if the RSI shows a trend break, you only enter once price action has actually broken the trend as well.

See recording: https://www.loom.com/share/ae219e0fb5e44c4c8bf16cedda13fde5