Twelve stages from your first open to graduation.
The programme moves from a quick start, through the skills and routines, to a documented standard you meet before trading with real size.
First 90 Minutes
Get set up and ready to begin today.
Core Skills
Break & retest, ORB, market day, location and liquidity.
Timeframe Responsibilities
What each chart is for — from the 4h down to the 5m.
Daily Preparation
The five-step routine before the first candle.
Opening Sequence
The four-stage workflow for the first hours.
VWAP Training Process
Trade with — not against — the volume anchor.
Six Execution Gates
Every trade must pass all six before entry.
Management Rules
The seven rules that keep risk honest.
Post-Session Review
The journal that turns opinion into evidence.
Implementation Plan
Exactly what to do today and in the next three sessions.
First-Week Drills
Five drills to lock in the core skills.
Graduation Standard
The ten criteria for trading with real size.
Start here — your first 90 minutes.
Don't try to master everything today. Work this exact checklist once, then tick each box as you complete it. Speed and fluency come from repetition, not force.
Understand the goal: build a repeatable reading routine, not chase a result.
Learn what the five timeframes on your chart do — see Stage 3.
Practise reading a chart: locate the break point, the retest, and the range.
Watch where volume sits relative to the open — this is your VWAP anchor.
Run one full opening sequence in practice mode — see Stage 5.
Read the invalidation level and the target path on one example chart.
Add your first session to the review journal, honestly.
Mark this checklist complete — then do it again at your next session.
Core skills to master.
Four chart-reading skills underpin every trade you take. Drill each one until naming it on a live chart is automatic.
1 · Break and retest
Price breaks a defined level, then returns to touch it, then continues away. The retest is the low-risk place to act — not the raw break, and not a chase after price has run.
2 · ORB — open range break
Classify the opening range on the 5m, 15m, and 30m charts. A clean break of the range leans trend-day; a spin inside the range leans range-day. Always name the ORB before you look for a trade.
3 · Market-day classification
Is today a range day (price staying between defined levels) or a trend day (price committing through them)? Your whole plan changes based on the answer, so decide it and write it down before the open.
4 · Location and liquidity
Location is where price sits relative to the day's defined levels and the VWAP. Liquidity is whether volume is actually present to support a move. Act in a good location, with liquidity behind you.
Timeframe responsibilities.
Each timeframe answers a specific question. If you try to trade every timeframe at once, you read none of them clearly.
The context ruler. Defines the overall structure and the dominant bias for the day.
The decision zone. Where you decide the day's bias and your plan of action.
The ORB judgment level. Classify the opening range and read the first real signal.
The trigger level. Where the precise entry trigger actually forms and fires.
The bridge. Connects the context of the higher timeframes to the trigger of the lower.
Daily preparation process.
A fixed five-step routine every session. Preparation makes the trade; emotion should never be the one making the plan.
Set the day's starting bias in writing
Look at the 4h context and the 1h decision zone. Write one bias sentence: direction or range. If unsure, write “no trade until I can name a bias.”
Mark the defined levels
Draw the levels price must respect — the day's range, the break lines, the invalidation level. Trade only in relation to these lines, never in the middle of nowhere.
Locate the open and the ORB timeframe
On the 15m (and 30m) chart, mark the opening range. Decide before anything else whether it is a range day or a trend day.
Set invalidation and target levels
For the setup you are watching, write the exact price that invalidates your idea and the clean path to the target. Both are written before entry.
Choose scene from the templates
Select the matching scenario below and read the rule aloud. This is the plan you execute — you do not improvise after the open.
The day's scenario templates
Pick one and take it literally. Saying the rule aloud is enough to catch a trade you should not have taken.
Bullish day
“Price is above the defined levels and I have a clean break-and-retest with liquidity. I look for longs off the retest up to my target.”
- ✓ Above defined levels
- ✓ Clean break & retest
- ✓ Liquidity present
Bearish day
“Price is below the defined levels and I have a clean break-and-retest with liquidity. I look for shorts off the retest down to my target.”
- ✓ Below defined levels
- ✓ Clean break & retest
- ✓ Liquidity present
No trade day
“No clear bias, no clean level, or no liquidity. I record the session and step away. Protecting the account is a valid outcome.”
- ✓ No clear bias
- ✓ No clean level
- ✓ No liquidity
The opening-sequence workflow.
The first hours decide the day. Run the same four stages every session until they are a habit.
Observe the open
Watch the first candles without acting. Let the market tell you the range before you form an opinion.
Classify the ORB
On the 15m and 30m, name the opening range and whether price has broken it. Range day or trend day, written down.
Frame your decision zone
On the 1h, confirm the bias and the levels from your preparation. Adjust only with a clear reason, not pressure.
Wait for the 5m trigger
Do not enter on anticipation. Wait for the precise trigger off the retest — with liquidity — and then execute per plan.
VWAP training process.
VWAP — volume-weighted average price — is where the day's real volume sits. It is your anchor for location and for whether a move has support behind it.
Anchor, always
Reference every level and setup to the VWAP. Price above, below, or around the VWAP changes the meaning of the same candle.
Trend support
In a trend day, VWAP pullbacks are where retests are cleanest. Price stranding far from VWAP with no volume is a warning.
Range resistance
In a range day, VWAP often sits mid-range. Read it as part of the range structure, not a bias in itself.
Liquidity check
Only act when volume confirms location. A move against declining volume is the classic trap to avoid.
The six execution gates.
Every trade must pass all six before you enter. If any gate is not met, you have no trade — you wait, or you skip.
Meaningful location
Price is at a defined level in a good place — off the retest, beside the VWAP — not in the middle of nowhere.
Observable confirmation
The trigger has actually formed on the 5m. You are reacting to price, not predicting it.
Objective invalidation
A specific price is written down that kills the trade. The stop is set before entry.
Clean target path
A clear, unobstructed path from entry to your target with no structural wall in the way.
Executable instrument & size
You can actually enter at the size you planned, on the instrument you planned, when it fires.
No material contradiction
Nothing on the higher timeframes argues against the trade. Your bias, your levels, and your liquidity all agree.
Management rules.
Management is where discipline is proven. These seven rules keep risk honest whether the trade wins or loses.
Set your stop and target before you click. Emotion never chooses risk levels.
Move a stop in the direction of the trade only — never wider risk because it “looks like it's turning.”
A single invalidation levels hit means the idea is gone. Close, record, move on.
No sizing up without evidence. More size comes from a documented record, not from one good day.
Respect your daily loss limit. When it is reached, you are done — no exceptions.
Do not revenge-trade a loss. The next trade is a new idea, judged by the same six gates.
When in doubt about your own judgment, step away from the screen. The market will be there tomorrow.
Post-session review journal.
Answer every field after each session — win or loss. The journal is the record you graduate on, so write it honestly.
Date
Ticker
Starting bias
Four-hour context
One-hour context
Decision zone
ORB timeframe
Behaviour (what price actually did)
VWAP relationship
9 EMA relationship
Entry trigger
Invalidation level
Target / liquidity reason
Result, in risk units
Did I follow the plan?
Did distractions influence me?
What did I observe correctly?
What will I change tomorrow?
Immediate implementation plan.
Don't absorb the whole programme at once. Do these exact things today, then over the next three sessions.
Today — the next 60 to 90 minutes
- Complete the Stage 1 checklist, in order, once.
- Name and mark the ORB on one example chart.
- Pick either range-day or trend-day and say why.
- Identify the VWAP anchor and one location advantage.
- Write your first journal entry, leaving nothing blank.
Your next three sessions
Session 2
Run the full opening sequence, Stage 5, and journal every field.
Session 3
Only trade setups that pass all six gates; log every skipped trade and why.
Session 4
Review your three journal entries. Count grade honestly, then size per evidence.
First-week drills.
Repetition turns a concept into a reflex. Run each drill until you can do it without looking at the notes.
Drill 1 · Name the market day
For five open sessions, name range day or trend day on the 15m and say your reason before reading anyone else's read.
Drill 2 · Spot the break and retest
Mark the break point and the retest on three charts a day. No trades — just naming locations.
Drill 3 · Sector the day's range
Draw the defined levels on the 1h and 30m and label which zone price is in. Practise until it is instant.
Drill 4 · Read the VWAP link
For every location you name, also state where the VWAP is and whether that supports or warns against a move.
Drill 5 · Replay two candles a day
Pick two candles and write down exactly what fired, what you did, and what you'd do differently — even on zero-volume practice days.
The graduation standard.
Real size is earned, not taken. Meet all ten criteria consistently before you scale beyond training size.
You can name the market day (range or trend) before the open, in writing, five sessions in a row.
You identify break-and-retest locations without any prompting.
You respect your written invalidation levels every session — no saves, no moves.
Your journal has a complete, honest entry for every session you ran.
Skipped trades are logged with a reason, not a feeling.
You can name the VWAP and its message without looking at the notes.
You follow all six execution gates on every entry.
You stop at your daily loss limit without arguing with yourself.
Your next trade is sized by long-run evidence, not by the last trade.
You can explain your process to someone else clearly enough that they could follow it.
Work the process, then track it in the ledger.
The review journal in Stage 9 is the heart of this programme — it turns the whole process into evidence you can judge and improve from.
This document is not personalized investment advice and does not guarantee trading results. It does not make any setup profitable and does not recommend specific trades. Trade with money you can afford to lose, and never risk what you cannot replace.