AM Briefing + 17 Tips for Futures Traders

The Battle Plan Tells You Where. The Core Strategy Tells You How.

These are two completely different jobs, and mixing them up will wreck you.

The Battle Plan is the map. It tells you where price is likely to react — where you want to be ready, alert, and waiting. The Core Strategy is the entry trigger. It tells you exactly when to pull the trigger.

Trade Location Is the Most Underrated Edge in Trading

Ask most traders why they took a trade. They'll tell you about candle patterns. About indicators. About news.

Ask a good trader. They'll tell you where they were on the chart.

Trade location is everything. Are you buying at the bottom of a range or the top? Are you shorting into support or into open air? That context changes the entire risk profile of your trade — and most people never think about it. Know where you are. Always.

Every Trade Has a Certain Amount of Bounce Power

This one sounds simple. It isn't.

When price hits a level and rips 50 points in one session, that level used up a massive amount of energy. A spring pressed hard takes more force to press again. A level that just ran 78 points is not the same entry as a fresh level. It took the whole RTH to do it.

Second Entries Require Tighter Criteria and Smaller Size

You can take a level a second time. But if you do, the rules change.

Number one — smaller leverage. You're not getting the same risk/reward as the first entry, so don't trade it like you are. Number two — wait for deeper confirmation. Let the chart show you it's still working. Number three — if the behavior isn't right, don't force it.

The second bite of the apple is smaller. That's not weakness. That's good money management.

Done Is Done. Turn It Off and Move On.

Here's one of the most practical things I teach — and the simplest.

When a trade level is done, turn it off. Literally toggle it off your chart. Out of sight, out of mind. Stop staring at it, stop second-guessing it, stop wondering if you should re-enter.

Tighten Your Stops as You Approach Strong Levels

This is intentional trade management, and it comes directly from knowing where you are on the chart.

As price moves toward a strong level — especially a Warning Shot to Bears or any area that's already generated significant reaction — you don't hold and hope. You move your stop tighter. Automatically. Methodically.

You're locking in profit as you enter uncertain territory. That's not fear. That's discipline dressed up in smart clothes.

Learn London's Nature — It Will Pay You Well

London has a personality. Learn it.

London typically takes out Asia's high and Asia's low. That's its nature. So if you're trading during London and you're sitting at an extreme edge of the Asian session range — you'd better have your radar up for a reversal move.

The Monster Shift Entry Is a Core Strategy Signal

When price runs hard, then gets a monster shift back the other way — that's the entry.

Not a "maybe." Not a "let me think about it." That's your Core Strategy moment. The push and the shift. The ladder down and the reversal. When you see that behavior in the right location, you act.

The traders who miss it are the ones still analyzing while the move is already happening.

Opening Candles Are Hyper Dangerous — Know Your Rules

The open is wild. Volume is spiking. Market makers are hunting. Spreads are wider. Stop runs are common.

If your trade plan says you don't trade the first six minutes — honor that. Even if a beautiful setup shows up right at the bell. Even if it looks like free money. Especially then.

Right or Out. No Exceptions.

On high-risk entries — and the open is the highest risk time there is — you use a tight stop and you demand to be right immediately.

One point. Two points. Move to break even fast. If it doesn't confirm right away, you're out. That's not timid trading. That's surgical trading.

The trade either works right away or it doesn't. You don't give a high-risk trade a high-risk stop. That math only works out badly.

The Three Contract System Is Your Mechanical Anchor

When emotion is running high and the market is moving fast, you need a mechanical system to fall back on. That's the Three Contract System.

Take profit at 10. Take profit at 10. Hold your single runner with a stop in a minus position to absorb a double tap.

Position Your Stop to Survive the Double Tap

The double tap will get you if you're not ready for it.

Price comes back, tags your area again, shakes out the weak hands — and then goes right where you thought it was going in the first place. If your stop is too tight, you get washed out of a winning trade.

After you take your first two profit targets, move your stop to a minus position. Give the runner room to breathe. Survive the tap. Stay in the trade.

If You Made 20 Points Today, You're Done. You Crushed It.

Let me say this plainly, because most traders need to hear it.

If you made more than five points on ES today — you had a good day. More than ten — you crushed it. If you TP'd at ten and ten on a three-contract trade, you're up twenty points.

Traders Get in Less Trouble When They Trade Less

This sounds obvious. It isn't practiced nearly enough.

Every trade you take is a new risk. Every new risk is a new opportunity to make an emotional decision, break a rule, or chase something you shouldn't. The trader who took one clean setup and called it a day almost always finishes better than the trader who traded every wiggle.

Discipline isn't just about how you enter. It's about knowing when to put the gun down.

Break Your Rules Once. You'll Break Them Forever.

This one has nothing to do with the chart.

When a child breaks a rule and you let it slide — what happens? They break it again. And again. Until they've completely mapped the boundary of what they can get away with.

Your trading mind works exactly the same way. Break your rule today — "just this once" — and you've told your brain the rule is negotiable. Before long the rules don't exist at all. And the account follows.

Mentally Manage Trades You Didn't Take

Here's an exercise most people skip — and shouldn't.

When a setup forms that you're not in, mentally trade it anyway. Where would your stop be? Where would you take profit? How would you manage the runner?

This keeps your mind sharp, builds pattern recognition, and prepares you for when the same setup shows up and you are in position to take it. You're running the reps in your head. Reps build skill whether they're real or simulated.

You're the Pilot. I'm Just the Navigator.

Let me close with this, because it matters more than any technical tip on this list.

Your trades are yours. Your decisions are yours. Your wins and your losses belong to you.

The Battle Plan, the levels, the coaching — all of that is navigation. I'm helping you see the bigger picture. Pointing at the turbulence, the strong winds, the other aircraft on the radar. But you are the one with your hands on the controls.