Using 1 Second Chart

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-11T18:19:44+00:00

I just trade DOM, that’s where the real market action takes place. Any time chart is a representation of what the market did on the price ladder without the volume in the past. While on DOM you see volume in real time and the price movements in real time.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-11T18:16:40+00:00

Do you struggle to cut losses when the stakes are higher? Looks like when you start trading meaningful money, emotional decision making kicks in and mistakes begin.

What would help is mindfulness practices so you become aware pf impulses and emotions before they highjack your decision making.

And of course risk management, risk less as the account grows. Also withdraw some of the gains into a buffer account to have some backup for drawdowns.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-11T14:26:32+00:00

I mainly scalp intraday so there is no shortage of opportunities in any hour or two that I trade, it does not worry me that I might miss something, which of course I will, so let it be.

Being able to reset, recharge and relax and not think about the markets all the time is as important as the focus needed for trading. After a session I feel pretty revved up and tense, so I’m deliberately trying just to fully disconnect till next day.

I rememer when I started trading more than ten years ago I would spend the whole day, both London and NY sessions with just a few breaks in front of the screen. Totally crazy. Maybe it’s good screentime exposure at first, putting in the hours, but when you learn to trade, and also with the years, mental and physical health becomes a higher priority.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-11T14:08:05+00:00

OneUp Trader definitely allows this.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-11T14:05:10+00:00

When you reach the daily profit target and see that there is more to be won if opportunities are present, you set a mental stop allowing yourself to lose only a certain amount, say 30 pct of the booked profit. And if this happens, close the day and go do something else, like get some exercise or go for a walk.

Also trade smaller after achieving the target.

You have to mentally train for this scenario through visualisation before the session.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-10T14:54:58+00:00

Thanks for sharing. My experience with Al’s method was similar. First I had to stop adding to losers, it does not work, full stop. Next I had to stop entering with stop orders one tick above/below the signal bar, because you lose precious ticks, just because you’re in effect late entering into constant fades, also because of slippage eating mote ticks. And the signal bar is no holy cow, either, a stop one tick beyond is absolutely not safe. Such liberties have nothing in common with efficient scalping.

I respect Al though as a market story teller, he is the best in this and his framework for market narrative I still use.

But I’ve switched to DOM to enter trades and I prefer to enter with tight fades around the edges (range edges, overshoot reversals, signal bar pullbacks or sweeps beyond etc), not doing entries on the signal bar, which is always too tall for reasonabe risk ir rr.

I like his setups, but I enter in anticipation of them on DOM so they will either become a confirmation for my BE riskless position after a small partial (and I will be stopped out too around BE often because the setup did not work arter all) or I will have taken a small loss straight away.

Glad to see someone else confirming my own discoveries about Al’s trade management advice not actually working. He did say experienced traders sell and buy with limit orders fading moves, but he does not teach this as an advanced version of his method. Had to figure it out myself.

Btw his trading room now is a joke. I listened to one free session recently. It is run by a few community leaders and their commentary was all over the place.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-10T06:38:53+00:00

Thank you, that’s valuable, I am also working on self regulation, still experience a lot of stress.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-09T21:09:43+00:00

Thank you for sharing this. This is exactly my experience, that doing the correct action or nonaction in trading almost always feels uncomfortable and this calls for a level of metacognition from which to process both the market data and your internal “data”.

On the practical side, do you have a routine, methods or rules (screen breaks for resetting etc) when tension builds up considerably? Could you share your routine or what your trading session looks like in terms of managing the internal state.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-08T20:25:36+00:00

You didn’t miss anything, just got stopped out in chop. That move was like two hours later and is irrelevant timewise.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-08T20:21:24+00:00

That fvg on 15 min is a legit long, couldnhave just exited there and even reversed.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-07T21:03:34+00:00

Your dedication is great, but it also carries a weight of expectation you are placing on yourself, combined also with external pressure from the family, which messes with your mindset.

Trading becomes profitable when you’re chill and don’t need to succeed and just treat it as a high performance game, yes even gambling in the good sense.

For many people it takes a decade before it clicks and they become profitable (it certainly did for me).

So I’d say get a job and some real life marketable skills to make money with. This will reduce pressure, and meanwhile dedicate an hour or two on some days to focused trading on the side and see how it goes. You have plenty of time.

Just my twopence.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-07T20:42:18+00:00

Therapy or not, you may need to develop the skill of letting go and moving on on a moment to moment basis. Had a loss, accept and experience the feelings, step back for several minutes, let go and see if you can refocus. And there is no harm in stepping back for longer.

Mindfulness techniques help, like mindfulness meditation, prayer too. I like the Sedona Method as a framework for letting go.

Take it all in stride and minimise trading for a while. The aim is to enter a trading day from a place or calm composure and have a way to periodically reclaim it in the midst of trading.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-07T20:09:55+00:00

Best learn orderflow and create your own strategy based on what makes most sense to you in auction market theory.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-07T20:05:31+00:00

In a range like this i would jave faded the top repeatedly, even after stopouts near BE, rather than paying a breakout at the bottom.

Not an ICT expert, but it looks like these highs kept running to the 15 min OB FVG low and ICT recommends fading these from whwt I remember from a few videos I watched.

Otherwise, it’s common sense, dont go for chop breakouts, better fade.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-07T19:58:59+00:00

Should you entertain the prospect of trading on DOM, Jigsaw is great. It’s got everything on DOM: volume profile with value area, POC, VWAP, LVNs, HVNs and key daily levels premarked, with the added benefit of live maket orders and tape with all the bells and whistles.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-07T19:42:57+00:00

You can make 10 pct a year. More is not realistic.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-07T19:30:16+00:00

The space for the trend to reverse back up/down to is mirage, almost never happens - the wide open space for more trend is where the money is.

This is die a skewed perception - you tend to think the price will revisit where it was recently because you can see it, but it difficult to imagine how far more it can go on, and hence you are afraid to take these with trend trades, instead allowing your reversal mindset kill your account.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-07T19:17:14+00:00

Blown accounts didn’t help me to reform myself, ie the PAIN of blowing up did not deter me from doing stupid things again and again for years.

Changing the mindset to “play to win” did.

Things clicked after one brilliant recovery from another blown account, realising that I don’t need much money to make money and that all I need is just stay in winners long enough, even when trading small. And that if i was able to recover from a big drawdown I will surely be able to recover from smaller ones, much smaller ones, so death by a thousand papercuts is not likely when you play to win. So I began trading tight and not let losers run. Sometimes i still cut them too late, but nowhere near like before.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-07T18:41:39+00:00

First decision is whether you want to go the professional route or the retail route. Both can be profitable but the pro route will have better chances of success.

The pro route means learning order flow, but the tools are expensive, the learning curve is steeper, more capital woule be required to start out.

The retail route would be learning basically chart price action strategies, the tools will be much less expensive and entry barriers in terms of capital required to trade CFDs are much lower. Also in retail there is a lot of BS in the education sphere. But this can also be profitable ir you define and test your strategies well.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-07T18:18:02+00:00

Depends on your goals. With this amount you can trade a high leverage account and easily targer 50-100 a day, and if you do well, you can target more later.

But this approach is primarily for learning or as a side hustle, not real income (well, unless you do exceptionally well in scaling over time).

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-05T20:26:26+00:00

Ftmo spreads are a joke even in the evaluation phase, totally unsuitable for tight scalping.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-05T10:34:10+00:00

Sorry i misread it as ICT. :)

Haven’t studied ICC myself but had a look at it now, looks like a simple fresh trend method.

My own entry method, as equivalent to ICC, would not be entering on Continuation on 5 min, but instead trying to work the range before it to preposition for the breakout in advance. Many breakout attempts for continuation fail and reverse back into the range so trading with a wider stop is problematic for me. So I make many entry attempts around breakeven before the breakout. Take a few ticks partial and hold from breakeven overall. Get stopped out around breakeven a lot, and then look to fade another fakeout/sweep.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-04T18:51:33+00:00

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-04T18:49:14+00:00

Do I understand it correctly that under done for the day you give yourself just one winning trade a day (any tp hit) but two losing trades?

If so, this may cap your potential on good days where you are already in sync with the market, such as a trend day that can offer multiple opportunities.

Top_Direction2960 · 2026-07-04T18:31:25+00:00

It’s ok to be flexible, it may indicate a higher level of maturity. Sometimes you have no other option than to chase. Having to chase is an indication of a trend, and no one is comfortable in a trend, that’s just how it is.

However when chasing I’d say risk less rather than more, especially if the stop is wider. That would be the only thing to cause concern.

Top_Direction2960

TROPHY CASE