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In this interview, Titans of Tomorrow sits down in NYC with options day trader Usman Ashraf—brother of Omar Ashraf—to unpack how he went from med school and Uber shifts to running sizable positions with strict risk controls. Usman matters to retail traders because he’s ruthlessly practical: he waits for the market to show its hand, sizes down when conditions are choppy, and treats discipline and life structure as non-negotiables—habits that translate directly into consistent decision-making for beginners and pros alike.
In this piece, you’ll learn the exact playbook Usman uses: a weekend watchlist that narrows to opening-drive names, a 10:00 a.m. opening-range read to avoid early chop, and precise confirmation using Level II and time & sales rather than blind breakouts. We’ll cover his risk template (e.g., smaller size on Thu/Fri zero-DTE, defined max loss per trade), how he uses 15-minute fair-value gaps and higher-timeframe levels to frame targets, and the mindset that keeps him consistent—family-driven discipline over gambling, and journaling that turns price action into data you can actually act on.
Usman Ashraf Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
Core Market Framework
Here’s the big-picture lens Usman uses before touching the keyboard. You’ll map the higher timeframe structure so intraday decisions align with the dominant bias and volatility regime.
- Mark weekly and daily swing high/low, prior day high/low, and the weekly open; trade in the direction of the higher-timeframe break until it fails.
- Define the day’s regime by 9:40 a.m.: if ADR > 0.8 and overnight range breaks with follow-through, treat it as a potential trend day; otherwise, expect rotations.
- Use DXY, rates, and sector leaders as risk “thermometers”; if leaders disagree with your ticker’s move, cut size by 50%.
Pre-Market Prep & Watchlist
This is where discipline starts. Narrow your universe to a small list of names with genuine catalysts and clean levels so you’re not improvising at the open.
- Build a 5–8 name watchlist by 9:00 a.m., prioritized by catalyst (earnings, guidance, FDA, macro print) and pre-market relative volume > 2.0.
- Pre-draw two trade locations per ticker: “Go” level (break/hold) and “Fail” level (invalid if reclaimed); write the exact entry triggers next to each.
- If pre-market spread > 0.5% of price or book is thin (top-of-book depth < 5x average), either wait for regular liquidity or skip the name.
Opening Range Execution (10:00 Rule)
The first bars set the tone. Usman often lets the opening dust settle, then trades the break/hold of the established range with confirmation.
- Do not take your first trade before 9:43 a.m. unless there’s a news drive and clean tape; preferred window is 9:45–10:15 a.m.
- Define Opening Range (OR) from 9:30–9:45; trade only in the direction of the first OR break that retests and holds for 60–120 seconds.
- If the OR breaks without a retest, place a resting limit at the midpoint of the OR; cancel if not filled within 3 minutes or if tape flips.
Entry Triggers & Confirmation (Tape, VWAP, Structure)
After the plan comes proof. Combine structure with real-time confirmation so you buy strength and sell weakness—without chasing.
- Long trigger: OR high reclaimed + held above 1-minute VWAP with rising cumulative delta and higher bid-step on time & sales for > 30 seconds.
- Short trigger: OR low reclaimed + held below 1-minute VWAP with upticks failing and best bid stepping down in 1–3 cent increments.
- No-chase rule: if price has moved > 0.6R beyond your level without you, skip the trade and wait for a new setup.
Risk, Sizing & Daily Guardrails
Capital survives on rules, not hope. These are the boundaries that keep drawdowns shallow and your A-setups sized appropriately.
- Risk per trade = 0.5–0.8% of account; risk per day cap = 2%—hit it and you’re done.
- Scale size by day quality: full size on trend days, 50% on range days, 25% on event days you didn’t prep.
- Thursday/Friday options or zero-DTE: half size, take profits faster (first scale at 0.8R), and ban add-backs after 11:30 a.m.
Targets, Exits & Trade Management
Entry is easy; exit is a skill. Use pre-declared profit targets and time-based rules so winners don’t turn into passengers.
- Primary target = next higher-timeframe level (PDH/PDL, weekly open) or measured move of the OR; take 50% at 1R, trail the rest using 5-minute higher lows/lower highs.
- Time stop: if price hasn’t moved ≥0.5R within 15 minutes after entry, exit to flat—signal quality wasn’t there.
- Breakeven rule: after the first scale, move stop to entry only if structure confirms (higher low for longs / lower high for shorts); otherwise, keep a partial risk stop.
Day Types & Play Selection
Different days require different plays. Identify the type early and pick the matching tactic to avoid forcing the wrong idea.
- Trend day: favor pullback-to-VWAP continuations; skip fade setups until a 15-minute bar closes through VWAP with confirmation.
- Range day: buy/sell the extremes only with a failed break and immediate reclaim; take profits faster (0.7–1.2R typical).
- News drive: first touch is rarely best—wait for the impulse, then the first higher low/lower high with spread normalized.
Options Execution (If Using Options)
When he routes via options, the edge comes from clean structure plus strict contract selection. Follow these to keep Greeks from becoming guesswork.
- Choose the nearest liquid monthly/weekly with open interest ≥ 5,000 and bid-ask spread ≤ 3% of premium.
- Use in-the-money or delta ~0.40–0.55 for trend continuation; use 0.25–0.35 only for defined risk, quick-hit momentum.
- Hard rules: no fills above mid + 10% of spread, no market orders, and exit if extrinsic decay exceeds 25% of premium while price stalls.
Midday & Afternoon Windows
Not all hours are created equal. Protect gains during chop and re-engage only when the market advertises a fresh opportunity.
- 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m.: trade only A+ continuation at VWAP with aligned sectors; otherwise flat and review the morning.
- Power hour (3:00–4:00 p.m.): re-activate if the session trends and holds VWAP; use tighter stops with partial profit every 0.7R.
- If the day is net red and sloppy by 2:00 p.m., enforce “capital preservation mode”: max one more attempt at half size or call it.
Journaling & Feedback Loop
The edge compounds when you measure it. Treat every session like data collection so tomorrow’s decisions are sharper.
- Log each trade within 10 minutes of exit: setup tag, R multiple, time-in-trade, reason for entry/exit, and a screenshot of OR/VWAP context.
- Weekly review: export stats by setup; keep only the top 2–3 with win-rate > 50% and expectancy > 0.3R for full-size allocation.
- Pre-market checklist must fit on one phone screen; if it doesn’t, you’re over-complicating—trim until you can recite it from memory.
Personal Operating System
Consistency off the screen fuels consistency on it. Standardize your routine so decision fatigue doesn’t leak into execution.
- Sleep 7+ hours, caffeine cap by 11:00 a.m., and a 5-minute breathing/reset before the open and after each loss.
- After two consecutive losses or −1.5R net, mandatory 20-minute break; after three, the day is over.
- Social media blackout during the session; no adding to trades from information seen outside your plan.
Size Like a Pro: Risk First, Volatility Sets Your Chips
Usman Ashraf starts by sizing, not by predicting, because survival beats bravado every time. He treats volatility like the table limit—when it’s high, he trims size and widens stops, and when it’s calm, he allows a touch more size with tighter risk. Each position gets a pre-declared dollar risk or R value, never a vibes-based guess. If a setup can’t be expressed with a clear max loss, he’ll skip it without regret.
He scales in only after confirmation, not to “average down” a bad idea. Daily risk is capped, and once it’s hit, he simply shuts the terminal rather than chase redemption. Position size floats with realized volatility and liquidity, not ego or recent wins. The result is consistent drawdown control, which lets compounding do its job when the market finally trends.
Diversify Smart: Mix Underlyings, Strategies, and Trade Durations
Usman Ashraf doesn’t bet his month on one ticker or one playbook; he spreads edge across symbols, setups, and time frames. He’ll pair an intraday momentum trade with a swing candidate and a catalyst-driven name so a single regime shift can’t wreck the sheet. When volatility clusters in one sector, he rotates to correlated-but-different vehicles to avoid stacking the same exposure in disguise. This mix keeps performance smoother and reduces the urge to overtrade a cold hand.
He also diversifies by strategy mechanics—trend continuation, failed-break fades, and event-driven reactions—so at least one style usually finds traction. Durations are staggered: quick hits during the open, measured moves midday, and swing add-ons only when higher-timeframe structure agrees. Usman Ashraf treats this like portfolio construction, not random variety; each slot has a defined role, risk, and exit plan. The aim is simple: multiple small, independent edges that add up, rather than one big hope that doesn’t.
Mechanics Over Predictions: Let Rules Drive Entries, Exits, And Sizing
Usman Ashraf doesn’t try to outguess the market; he out-executes it. His day starts with a written checklist, not a hunch, so every click maps to a predefined trigger. Entries require structure plus confirmation—level, retest, hold—before a single share or contract goes on. If the sequence isn’t present in the live tape, he withholds risk and waits rather than “anticipating.”
Exits are equally mechanical: partial at 1R, trail on structure, time-stop if momentum dies. Sizing is tied to volatility and liquidity, not confidence level, so a “feel” can’t inflate risk. When a trade fails a rule mid-flight, Usman Ashraf obeys the stop without post-rationalizing. The result is fewer but higher-quality trades, consistent drawdown control, and a process that scales with account size.
Define Your Risk: Prefer Asymmetric Payoffs, Avoid Undefined Blown-Out Losses
Usman Ashraf keeps risk defined before he clicks, so the worst-case is known and survivable. He favors structures and entries where potential reward is at least two to three times the planned loss, and won’t force a trade that can’t meet that bar. If volatility or liquidity makes stops unreliable, he reduces size or passes—no “it’ll probably be fine” exceptions. The guiding idea is simple: trade setups where a small, controlled debit buys exposure to a much larger move.
He avoids undefined tail risk like the plague, especially when spreads are wide or catalysts can gap price through stops. If he does trade instruments with path dependency, he caps exposure with spreads or hard stops that live on the broker, not in his head. Usman Ashraf treats every position like a risk ticket: fixed cost, clear invalidation, and a prewritten exit if the thesis breaks. That discipline keeps him in the game long enough to catch the fat pitches that pay for the week.
Discipline On Repeat: Pre-Market Plan, Post-Trade Review, Daily Checklist
Usman Ashraf treats consistency as a system, not a mood. His pre-market plan trims the watchlist to a handful of A-setups with clear Go/Fail levels and a written “if–then” for each. Before the bell, he rehearses triggers aloud so the first five minutes don’t hijack his plan. If a name isn’t on the card, it doesn’t get traded—no matter how shiny it looks at 9:31.
After the close, he logs every trade within minutes: setup tag, reason for entry, stop, target, R-multiple, time-in-trade, and what the tape showed at decision points. Screenshots go into a folder by date and setup so patterns reveal themselves over weeks, not just days. A short nightly review promotes winners with solid expectancy and benches any strategy slipping below thresholds. The checklist is his governor: if he misses two rules in a row, trading pauses, the routine resets, and focus returns before risk goes back on.
Usman Ashraf’s core lesson is that longevity beats bravado: define risk to the dollar, size to volatility, and protect your real-life responsibilities first. He openly frames his approach through the lens of family, which forced him to be selective, cap position size, and favor survivable worst-cases over hero trades. That constraint isn’t a limitation—it’s the edge that keeps him compounding through chop and regime shifts.
The second lesson is about adapting and filtering. Usman is blunt about today’s information overload and “toxic” marketing; he pushes traders to ignore clickbait, anchor to repeatable mechanics, and evolve with the market rather than chasing narratives from influencers. His own path—from med school to Uber shifts to full-time trader—underlines the cost of commitment and the value of building a process you can execute under pressure. Together, these themes add up to a practical blueprint: cut noise, respect risk, and let disciplined execution—not predictions—do the heavy lifting.
