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The Blueprint

System Overview

At a Glance

A quick reference guide to the core concepts that define the edge.

Pillar Key Concept
Technical Analysis
Price Action Trend is friend; structure is king.
Support & Resistance Trade the levels, not the noise.
Indicators Confirmation, not conversation.
Volume Profile Follow the money, find the value.
Risk Management
The Sizing Rule Live to trade another day.
Expected Value Think in samples, play the math.
Position Sizing Size for the risk, not the reward.
Hard Stops A stop-loss is an insurance policy, not a failure.
Psychology
Emotional Regulation Trade the chart, not your P&L.
Probability Mindset One trade is a guess; 100 trades is a business.
Discipline Patience pays; FOMO stays.
Post-Trade Analysis The journal is the real profit center.

Pillar I

Technical Analysis

Technical analysis is your framework for making decisions. In a day trading context, where price moves quickly, you need a system that identifies high-probability setups in real-time.

  • Price Action & Market Structure Understanding higher highs and lower lows to determine the intraday trend.
  • Support & Resistance Identifying "zones of interest" where price has historically reacted (e.g., previous day's high/low, VWAP, or higher time frame supply/demand levels).
  • Indicators as Confluence Using tools like the Relative Strength Index (RSI), Bollinger Bands, and Moving Averages as signals to confirm what the price action is already telling you.
  • Volume Profile Analyzing where the most trading activity occurred to find "fair value" or areas of liquidity.

Pillar II

Risk Management

This is the only part of trading you can truly control. Without strict risk management, a single "black swan" event or a momentary lapse in judgment can blow your entire account.

  • The 1% Rule Never risking more than 1% (ideally 0.25%) of your total account equity on a single trade.
  • Expected Value Aiming for setups where the potential profit is significantly higher than the potential loss, keeping in mind the probability of such an event. This allows you to be profitable even if you win less than 50% of your trades, but more importantly, this enables you to create a system that can be repeated over time.
  • Position Sizing Calculating exactly how many shares or contracts to buy based on the expected value of a trade.
  • Hard Stops Always using automated stop-loss orders to remove the temptation to "hope" a losing trade turns around.

Pillar III

Psychology

You can have the best strategy and the tightest risk management, but if your mind isn't right, you will not maximize the trade's potential. Psychology is often the hardest pillar to master because it requires fighting human evolution—our natural fear of loss and greed for gain.

  • Emotional Regulation Managing the "Fight or Flight" response during a drawdown. This includes recognizing FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and Revenge Trading.
  • The Probability Mindset Accepting that any single trade is essentially a coin flip, but over 100 trades, your "edge" will play out. This detaches your self-worth from the outcome of a single trade.
  • Discipline The ability to sit on your hands and do nothing when your setup isn't there. In day trading, "no trade" is often the most profitable position.
  • Post-Trade Analysis Keeping a journal to track not just your P&L, but your emotional state during the trade to identify behavioral patterns.

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