For the beginner- A Journey is not defined by the destinationE-mini Nasdaq-100 FuturesCME_MINI:NQ1!jittebonunchuckitanaI've gone through the gamut of YouTube FURU's and teachers of strategies, masters, wizards, alchemists and fools that have been mildly successful in some case, and others, incredibly careless and irrational and unfounded. I went from one to the other and gave them all months and money. Indicators, programs, subscriptions, anything that would give me an edge. Paying to play or the cost of screen time is going to add up while discovering what works for you. Especially if you don't take courses or go to school for finance or have a proven mentor. I have a college degree but dropped out half way through my bachelors in marketing management. It was a waste of money and time. If you don't love something, then don't pursue it. It's pretty simple. I was a bit credulous growing up, just following others plans that didn't agree with me or care about me to add. That doesn't make for a decisive or confident trader. But, there are a few things that helped me build the character required to be a competent and profitable trader. The source of all profit starts at R:R. Risk and reward. IT is everything in trading, and the person that has the most to lose, has 1.5-infinite amounts to gain. The thing is that the majority of us are not millionaires yet and we are searching for the answers. Let me make this clear; I am not a professional or a financial advisor. I am NOT licensed to give financial advice so take everything anyone who has the same credential as that with a grain of salt and a spoonful of sugar. Now to further explain my idea, I had to spend money and time that hopefully you wont have to after hearing this. R:R> Risk Reward. 1- 1.5 or 1-2, or what ever your Risk to reward is, the more you will be able to lose as a trader. You don't have to be correct or perfect and that is amazing. It's the source of all profitable traders. This is simple math. 1-2 RR will give you out of 100 trades, the ability to lose 65% and still be profitable. You will want to close that gap by knowing where you take the trade and having enough to lose all 100 trades. The key is how much you risk. 100 trades and you have 100 dollars... You will need 1 dollar loss to 2 dollars reward. if you're using 1-1.5 then adjust your values and you will need to have a better win rate. it's simple... and in most cases profitable when used correctly... But, we are not robots and we have emotions and thoughts that we could do without. There are other niche ways to do this, but most common being 1:2. Start there. Indicators: I started with MACD, EMA convergence-divergence, Candle structure, price action, Bollinger bands, ATR, and it grew into ICT, fair value gaps, market structure, ORB-Opening Range Breakout, turtle trader power of 3 and all the rest of the you tube algo rhythm feed. The majority of indicators give you an edge in one way or another, but the more you add, the more you have distracting you from setups. All of those indicators work with 1-2 R:R... I needed certainty. I needed better probability for entries. Because I would take and hold bags for months in 3 cases. Those cases were not fruitful. I took huge loses because my psychology. It wasn't the indicator or some magic formula like on "Limitless"... No magic pill, no savior or messiah to show me the way. It's all inside. I had a lot to do on the inside. Pro firms... I found prop firms while learning about leverage. Leverage in the stock market is a double edged sword. They will give you leverage if you have the means to pay them when you lose. Pro firms seemed to give you leverage but you need to follow their strict rules. These rules make it in favor for the prop firm. As it should be. They're giving you money to trade with and making sure you know what you're doing. They mitigate their loss by giving you these rules to trade by. I spent over 2 years and thousands of dollars on prop accounts and evals only to get the buffer for live accounts but lose it all and blow the account. if you need it, you will lose it. IF YOU NEED IT- YOU WILL LOSE IT!!!!!! If you get anything from this diatribe, get that! Psychology should be the first thing every trader works on. I learned slow, loss after loss, month after month blown account after blown account. I blamed the prop firm rules, I blamed Trump, and the market. I blamed my CAT... But, Cut and Dry, Brass Tacks, Bottom Line and all the other idioms and phrases... It is you. it is the trauma of loss, the trauma of being broke, the trauma of not having enough in the bank, LACK MINDSET! The more lack you have in your past experiences, the more it is going to haunt your trading. You CANNOT NEED!!!! Good traders can lose and great traders love to lose. Because Loss is an indicator. The journaling of what you were thinking and what you were seeing before and after a trade is going to cut your loses faster then just trading and screen time or any other indicator. Time is valuable. What is your time worth? Mindset: I'm not going to get into healing and woo woo, but I will add it because it was everything for me. I had to heal the trauma and programming from decades of neglect as a child and being homeless sleeping on peoples couches as a kid and with my family. Wife and kids... It was brutal and it was a lesson I had to learn. I couldn't keep doing what I was doing because there was no future and the present is where you make your future. Going back as far as I can remember, My parents were broke... Everything I learned growing up was struggle and survival. I didn't know how millionaires thought, I just knew how they lived. Well, mindset of a millionaire is everything. Money is a tool. It's not limited unless you make it or believe it is. It's endlessly being produced and passed from one person to another. Money flows and its always coming to me in different and exciting ways. I don't need to trade but I love it. I used to be an addiction. Dopamine hits from wins and adrenaline rush when in a losing trade, and all the emotions I was programmed for as a child into my adulthood. Manifestation is just mindset. Cut all the magical BS and get down to actual quantitative science. Measured and calculated, absolute fact. YOUR THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS DICTATE YOUR REALITY. What you think about, you will see. Simple. THe hardest part for me was letting go. Letting go of what I thought I needed and giving it up to some energy or force in the universe/GOD, or what ever you want to qualify as something bigger than you. You; No matter what you believe, are part of everything and everything has energy in one form or another. Atoms spin, neurons fire, water flows, air blows. Space is just another form of energy. Neutrinos and cosmic radiation is everywhere. You are a part of that and contain Star dust. It's facts. So, with all those facts, Your thoughts are energetically aligned with what you will attract. Need? Guess what... You will always need. Get yourself to the point where you don't need and let go of expectations. I will suggest that you watch Lewis Howes and the "school of greatness". It has been pivotal in my journey through the darkness. Now: To the heart of matters- "It's the heart that matters more" (Counting Crows) I went on a rant about everything that I found in brief elaboration, but the currant state of affairs is, I am using Volume profiles and options gamma, GEX along with hedge pressure, Vwap and Fibonacci levels. Volume profiles first. Volume profiles: The point of control is my main focus for setups. Vwap bounces are another. when the trade expands to another point of interest, I add depending on structure and trajectory. If the market is dropping from a Trump tweet or other catalyst, I will not trade. Because, that it gambling. uncertainty adds to losses, and there is nothing more UNCERTAIN than a economic event or TRUMP TWEET/Truth... Some people can... I don't want to waste a trade. My overall win ratio is 61%, that tied with a R:R of 1