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This piece dives into an in-depth conversation with Brian—better known as “Blackwatch”—on the Words of Rizdom podcast. He’s a trader who grew up around markets (his dad was a day trader), moved from crypto into FX, and today mixes old-school smart-money thinking with Wyckoff concepts and a data-driven edge. Beyond charts, he’s building tools for traders (like an automated journal) and brings a grounded take on what it actually takes to stay consistent.
You’ll learn the core of Brian’s strategy—how he defines market direction, chooses POIs, times entries during a tight New York session window, and manages risk so small mistakes don’t become big ones. We’ll also pull out his practical systems for journaling, time-boxing, and balancing family life with trading, plus how to keep emotions fleeting, not driving. By the end, you’ll have a beginner-friendly blueprint you can apply this week: cleaner process, clearer windows, smarter journaling, and steadier execution.
Brian “Blackwatch” Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
Core Framework (What He Trades and Why It Works)
Here’s the big picture before any chart gets opened. Brian focuses on clean, repeatable structures around liquidity, session timing, and a small set of setups he can grade in seconds. This section gives you the filters he uses so you stop forcing trades and start waiting for your pitch.
- Trade only instruments you can journal and master (e.g., 1–3 FX pairs or indices). If a market’s spread, ADR, or session rhythm doesn’t fit, drop it.
- Define bias before entries: use the prior day/week range to mark premium/discount; you only buy in discount and sell in premium relative to your working swing.
- Map liquidity first: equal highs/lows, session highs/lows, previous day/week high/low, and obvious stops. If your idea doesn’t target or protect against a liquidity pool, pass.
- Limit yourself to 1–2 setup archetypes (e.g., retrace to POI + session sweep). Anything outside your playbook is automatically “no trade.”
- Grade context (A/B/C). Only “A” trades get full risk; “B” trades are half; “C” trades are logged as screenshots—no order.
Session & Timing (When He Pulls the Trigger)
Timing trims noise and compresses decisions. Brian concentrates risk during the most reliable windows so slippage, fill quality, and follow-through tilt in his favor. Use these rules to avoid random mid-day chops.
- Trade defined windows only (e.g., London open ±60m; New York 8:30–11:00 ET). If a setup appears outside your window, it’s data, not a trade.
- Anchor intraday bias with the first hour’s high/low (the “initial balance”). Fade extremes only when higher-timeframe bias agrees and liquidity has just been taken.
- Stand down during major releases unless it’s a planned catalyst trade. If the event is within 10 minutes, no new orders.
- If price hasn’t reached your mapped POI by the end of the window, cancel the idea—“late” entries get half the win rate and double the headache.
POIs, Liquidity & Levels (Where He Acts)
Price is a magnet for stop clusters and unfilled orders. Brian works from obvious pools toward precision zones, then lets price come to him. These rules tell you what to mark and what to ignore.
- Top-down first: weekly → daily → H1. Mark only the freshest swing high/low, imbalance, and one clear POI per direction. Clutter kills conviction.
- A qualifying POI must line up with at least two of: prior day/week S/R, fair-value gap/imbalance, order-flow break structure, or session H/L.
- Expect the sweep: if your long is valid, first look for a stop-run below prior intraday low into your discount POI; for shorts, above prior high into premium.
- If price tags your level without displacement (no decisive candle/body close away), it’s not activated—wait or walk.
- Invalidation is structural, not emotional: a clean body close beyond your POI or a fresh opposite break of structure voids the setup—cancel immediately.
Entry Triggers (How He Confirms)
The first tap into a level is rarely enough. Brian looks for a quick sequence—take liquidity, show displacement, then offer a pullback. These steps make entries mechanical.
- Trigger sequence for longs: (1) sweep downside liquidity into discount POI, (2) bullish displacement candle closing above micro-structure, (3) limit/stop entry on 50–62% pullback of the impulse.
- Trigger sequence for shorts: mirror the above after an upside sweep into premium POI.
- No displacement, no trade. A wick poke or tiny doji at the level is not confirmation.
- If the pullback doesn’t come within two candles of the impulse on your trigger timeframe, skip it—chasing ruins R: R.
- Use a fixed menu of trigger timeframes (e.g., H1 context, M15 refine, M1–M5 entry). Do not drop timeframes mid-trade to justify an entry.
Risk, Sizing & Management (How He Stays in the Game)
Survival is an edge. Brian keeps losses small, lets winners work into logical liquidity, and scales like a metronome. Adopt these guardrails to avoid the one trade that sets you back a month.
- Base risk per trade: 0.25–0.5% for “A” setups; halve it for “B.” Never increase risk after a loss.
- Stops go past invalidation, not “a few pips.” For longs, below the swept low or structural low that defines your trigger; for shorts, above the swept high.
- First partial at 1R to pay risk; move stop to break-even only after market structure shifts in your favor (higher low/lower high printed).
- Target the next resting liquidity (equal highs/lows, session extreme, prior day H/L). If the price stalls just before it, take another partial.
- Daily loss cap: 1.5–2R. Hit it? You’re done—journal, walk, and protect weekly expectancy.
Trade Selection Filter (What to Skip Fast)
Saying “no” is a skill. Brian avoids gray-area trades that clog the journal with noise. Use this red-flag checklist to keep your feed clean.
- No trade if higher-timeframe and intraday bias conflict.
- No trade if the POI is touched during illiquid times (lunch, post-NY close) without a planned catalyst.
- No trade if spread + expected slippage > 20% of stop distance.
- No trade after three attempts at the same level—fresh idea only.
- No trade if you can’t state entry, invalidation, and target in one sentence.
Journaling & Review (How He Actually Improves)
Execution gets calm when feedback is tight. Brian journals with tags, time windows, and running stats so he knows exactly which patterns pay him. Borrow these pages to upgrade your own process.
- Journal every idea, not just filled trades: bias, POI screenshot, session window, trigger taken or missed, emotions (1–5), and rule tags (e.g., “sweep→displace→pullback”).
- Track five metrics weekly: win rate, average R, expectancy per trade, mistake rate (% of rule breaks), and session P/L split (London vs. NY).
- Run a “mistake audit” every Friday: list rule breaks; design one tiny process fix (checklist line, alert, or time block) for the top mistake only.
- Create a “Do More / Do Less” board: top two setups to scale next week, top two contexts to avoid. Keep it visible during your session.
- Save one annotated chart per day (win or loss) with arrows and text explaining the sequence. Rehearse it for 60 seconds before the next session.
Psychology & Routine (How He Stays Steady)
Consistency beats intensity. Brian designs his day so emotions are allowed to pass, not drive. These routines help you show up like a pro even when life is busy.
- Pre-session checklist (3 minutes): sleep ≥7h? news checked? Bias set? Windows set? Maximum risk set? If any “no,” reduce the size by half.
- Time-box everything: analysis window, execution window, and a hard stop. When the window ends, the platform closes.
- One trade idea at a time. If you place a second order, the first must be at break-even or closed—no overlapping mental load.
- Post-session decompression (10 minutes): mark emotions 1–5, one lesson, one win to acknowledge. Then shut charts off.
- Protect life rhythm: training, family, or a hobby block daily. Good trading feeds on a stable baseline more than heroic grind.
Scaling & Evolution (How He Grows the Edge)
Growth is systematic, not spur-of-the-moment. Brian increases in size only when the data says the process deserves it. Use these rules to scale without snapping.
- Size up only after 30 consecutive trades with positive expectancy and <10% mistake rate. Increase risk by 25% increments, never more.
- Add a new market or set up only when your current top setup averages ≥1.2R expectancy across two different months.
- Build a “playbook page” for any new setup: market conditions, POI criteria, trigger, invalidation, management, and sample screenshots.
- Quarterly review: drop the lowest-expectancy context from your roster; double down on the best.
- Automate reminders where possible (alerts at POIs, news alarms, session start/stop) so discipline relies on systems, not willpower.
Example Day Plan (Putting It All Together)
Clarity reduces hesitation. Here’s how Brian’s rules translate into a simple daily flow—use it as a template and tweak numbers to your markets.
- 07:30 ET: Mark prior day H/L, Asia range, and today’s initial drive. Set bias using the premium/discount of the working swing.
- 08:20 ET: Set alerts at POIs aligned with bias; confirm the economic calendar.
- 08:30–11:00 ET: Execute only the trigger sequence at POIs. First partial at 1R, managed to the next liquidity pool.
- 11:05 ET: Log trades, tag rules, capture one annotated chart.
- 11:15 ET: Quick metrics update, “Do More / Do Less” board, platform off.
Size Risk Like a Pro: Fixed R, Caps, and Scaling Rules
Brian “Blackwatch” keeps it simple: every trade risks a fixed R, not a floating hunch. He talks in percentages, not dollars, so a 0.25% or 0.5% R stays consistent across wins and losses. Stops live at structural invalidation, never “a few pips,” which keeps R real and repeatable. A hard daily cap—about 1.5–2R—shuts him down when conditions aren’t paying, protecting the monthly curve.
When equity grows, Brian scales methodically, never emotionally. He only bumps size after a statistically clean sample—think 30 trades with positive expectancy and a low mistake rate—then increases in modest steps. If volatility spikes and average true range expands, he trims position size so the same R still fits the wider stop. After a drawdown, he auto-decreases risk until metrics recover, proving the plan runs him, not the other way around.
Trade Windows, Not Wishes: Session Timing Beats Constant Screen Time
Brian “Blackwatch” is ruthless about when he trades, not just what he trades. He boxes his day into tight windows—London open and the first hours of New York—because that’s when liquidity and follow-through show up. Outside those windows, it’s screenshots and journaling, not orders, which kills the impulse to chase. He treats time like a filter: if the setup arrives late, it’s data for tomorrow, not a “must catch” move.
In practice, Brian uses the first hour’s high/low as a map, then waits for liquidity sweeps and displacement inside his window. Major news? He either has a preplanned catalyst trade or he stands down completely, especially within ten minutes of the release. If a point of interest hasn’t been tagged before the window closes, the idea is canceled—no “one last try” after hours. The result is fewer trades, better fills, and a calmer mind that executes when the market is actually paying.
Let Liquidity Lead: Target Resting Stops, Avoid Mid-Range Noise
Brian “Blackwatch” builds every idea around where stops are likely parked. He maps equal highs/lows, prior day extremes, and session highs/lows, then waits for a stop-run into a point of interest instead of guessing mid-range. The goal is simple: let trapped traders fuel the move while he enters on confirmation, not hope. When price pokes a pool without displacement, he does nothing—no wick, no trade.
Once the sweep happens, Brian looks for a clean impulse away from the level and takes the pullback into that impulse’s midpoint. Targets are the next obvious liquidity pool, never arbitrary numbers, which keeps the reward logical and repeatable. If the structure invalidates—body close beyond the POI or fresh break against his bias—he’s flat immediately. This way, Brian trades the crowd’s pain, not his own predictions.
Mechanics Over Prediction: Define Setups, Triggers, and Invalidation Before Entry
Brian “Blackwatch” treats the market like a checklist, not a crystal ball. Before he even considers clicking buy or sell, he writes the setup in one sentence—context, entry, target, invalidation—so there’s zero wiggle room. If any piece is fuzzy, the idea is dead on arrival because fuzziness turns into hesitation and hesitation turns into losses. His mantra is simple: mechanics first, opinions last.
When price reaches his level, Brian waits for proof—displacement through micro-structure—then takes the pullback, not the poke. The stop lives beyond structural invalidation, never where it “feels safe,” and management rules are pre-decided so he won’t improvise under pressure. If the structure flips against him, he exits without debate and logs the reason in plain language. By forcing every trade through defined mechanics, Brian replaces fragile predictions with a process that’s repeatable on any chart, any day.
Diversify Smartly: Underlying, Strategy, and Duration—Not Random Tickers
Brian “Blackwatch” spreads risk across things that actually behave differently, not just different symbols with the same beta. He splits his book by underlying (FX majors vs. indices), by strategy type (trend-follow, mean reversion, news-catalyst), and by duration (intraday vs. swing), so one bad regime doesn’t sink everything at once. If two markets move off the same driver, he treats them as one exposure and caps the combined risk; correlation, not ticker count, runs the show.
He also balances “defined” and “undefined” risk by sizing them into separate buckets with hard limits per day and per week. If intraday setups are cold, Brian rotates attention to higher-timeframe swings rather than forcing more scalps, keeping expectancy stable across seasons. He won’t add a new market or set up until the current top edge proves durable across at least two months of data. In short, Brian diversifies on purpose—by behavior, playbook, and time—so his curve grows from multiple independent edges, not a handful of look-alike trades.
In the end, Brian “Blackwatch” leaves you with a simple, durable playbook: trade like a pro by avoiding big mistakes, building an edge from market structure, and focusing on premium/discount rather than indicator roulette. He grounds his bias on higher timeframes, hunts liquidity at obvious prior extremes, and keeps his execution confined to the windows that actually pay. It’s a craft, not a gamble—and the craft starts with a clear view of direction, a clean POI, and the patience to let price come to you.
Just as importantly, he treats trading like a real business: niche down, measure what matters, and manage time and risk with the same rigor you bring to entries. That means tracking KPIs, protecting capital with hard caps, and mastering one foundational pillar (liquidity, market direction, or POI selection) before stacking on the next. The discipline piece shows up everywhere—from staying off the micro timeframe until price hits a valid H4/M15 zone, to canceling ideas that arrive late, to building patience through structure or shifting style if your temperament demands it. And he keeps you honest about growth: practice deliberately, apply what you know, build tolerance for both wins and losses, and remember that no single payout changes your life—your process does.
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