Table of Contents
This interview dives into a no-hype conversation between two active market participants on the Words of Rizdom podcast, recorded as a relaxed sit-down that feels like a desk-to-desk chat about real trading. They talk shop about why keeping charts minimal matters, how social platforms shape trader behavior, and what it actually takes to show up consistently in London and New York sessions. It’s relevant because the discussion is grounded in lived execution—workspace setup, higher-timeframe context parked beside a 1-minute chart, and the mindset to treat trading like a repeatable business, not a prediction contest.
Reading this piece, you’ll pick up practical, beginner-friendly edges you can apply today: how to reset cluttered charts and rebuild levels from higher timeframes; why probabilities beat prediction; sensible R/R targets (1:3–1:5) with partials; and challenge-account tactics like building a small buffer on half risk before pressing only on the highest-probability setups. You’ll also see how a calm rule-set (three losses and you’re done for the day, three losing days and you’re flat for the week) protects longevity, and how simple tweaks—soft color palettes, side-by-side timeframe views, and journaling—compound into clarity and better execution.
Riz Sardar Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
Core Philosophy: Probabilities Over Predictions
This part lays out the “why” behind every action: treat trading like a process business, not a guessing game. You’ll keep your edge by repeating high-probability behaviors and cutting everything that adds noise.
- Define edge as “repeated conditions that historically deliver >50% win rate at ≥1:2 R: R.”
- Never predict; plan scenarios. If A happens, do X. If B happens, do Y. If neither, do nothing.
- Protect mental capital first: max 3 trades/day and stop after 2 consecutive losses.
- Only trade when the setup, timing, and volatility all align; otherwise, flat is a position.
- Weekly goal: execute flawlessly, not “make $X.” P&L is a byproduct.
Market & Session Selection
You need a playground that moves cleanly when you’re awake and focused. This section helps you pick instruments and sessions that naturally fit the strategy.
- Focus on 1–2 instruments with consistent liquidity (e.g., a major FX pair or one index future).
- Trade the primary session of your instrument (e.g., London for GBP/USD, New York for S&P/NQ).
- Avoid the first 2–3 minutes of the open; let spread/volatility normalize.
- Skip low-impact lunch hours unless a preplanned catalyst is in play.
- If the day’s economic calendar implies whipsaw risk, reduce size by 50% or sit out.
Chart Layout & Workspace
Clarity beats clutter. This layout keeps context visible while your execution screen stays clean and fast.
- Use two monitors or a split view: left = higher-timeframe bias (HTF), right = execution chart.
- HTF stack: Monthly → Weekly → Daily → 4H for levels, trend, and liquidity pools.
- Execution: 1H for structure, 5–15m for setup, 1–3m only to fine-tune entries.
- Restrict indicators to ATR and session VWAP/AVWAP; everything else is price, time, and levels.
- Save a “Clean” workspace template and reload it daily to prevent creeping clutter.
Higher-Timeframe Bias & Levels
Bias first, trade second. You’ll mark levels that actually get respected and avoid random lines.
- Start each day by labeling the HTF trend (up, down, range) and the most recent swing high/low.
- Draw only key HTF levels: monthly/weekly opens, prior day high/low, and untested 4H zones.
- Highlight liquidity pools: equal highs/lows, obvious stops above/below HTF swings.
- Bias rules: with trend = allowed; against trend = only at HTF extremes with confirmation.
- If price chops between midrange and no fresh level, no trade—wait for displacement.
The A+ Setup (Structure First)
Your bread-and-butter is a simple structure sequence. It keeps you from forcing trades in noise.
- Precondition: HTF bias aligned and price near a marked level or liquidity pool.
- Look for displacement away from the level (impulsive break with range expansion).
- Wait for a clean pullback to the origin block/last consolidation before the impulse.
- Confirm with session VWAP reaction or a 5–15m shift in market structure.
- If the return is shallow and momentum stays strong, enter on a break-of-flag with reduced size.
Entry Triggers & Timing
Entries are about letting the market come to you. These triggers reduce regret and slippage.
- Primary trigger: break-retest-go on 5–15m, placed using stop orders just beyond the micro-pivot.
- Secondary trigger: limit order at the origin block if ATR shows room and wick rejection prints.
- Avoid entries in the first 2–3 minutes of a new 5m candle after major news.
- If spread widens beyond average by 50%+, skip the candle—reassess next bar.
- No chasing: if the move runs 1× ATR(5m) without you, stand down and wait for the next leg.
Risk & Position Sizing
Risk is applied like a dimmer, not an on/off switch. You’ll size to volatility and confidence, not emotion.
- Base risk per trade: 0.5R (e.g., 0.5% account risk). Increase to 0.75R only on A+ setups.
- Stop placement: beyond invalidation, not just beyond structure—use ATR as a floor (≥0.25× ATR(15m)).
- Cap total daily risk at 1.5R; cap weekly risk at 4R. If hit, stop trading and review.
- If news within 15 minutes: cut size in half or skip unless it’s the catalyst you planned for.
- Never widen stops after entry. If invalidated, exit—re-entries require a fresh signal.
Trade Management & Exits
Get paid for being right and live to fight when you’re wrong. These rules automate the emotional parts.
- First scale: take 30% off at +1R and move the stop to breakeven minus fees.
- Trail the remainder using the prior 5m swing or session VWAP, whichever is closer.
- If price hits +3R quickly (<30 minutes), bank another 30% and convert to a 15m swing trail.
- Time-based exit: if trade stagnates for 45–60 minutes without reaching +1R, scratch it.
- News guard: close partial or all if high-impact news is imminent and your edge isn’t the news.
News, Session Transitions & Volatility
The clock is a factor. You’ll adapt size and expectations when the market’s “mood” changes.
- On red-flag events, trade only if your setup forms immediately after the release with clean displacement.
- During session handoff (London→NY), expect fakeouts; wait for the second impulse before entries.
- Use ATR(15m) percentile bands to classify day type (low/normal/high vol) and adjust targets 1:2/1:3/1:5.
- If realized intraday range exceeds 1.25× 20-day average by noon local, expect mean reversion in the afternoon.
- Avoid the last 10 minutes of the session unless managing an already-in-profit runner.
Challenge/Small Account Playbook
Growing a small account takes durability. This framework avoids death-by-a-thousand-cuts.
- Phase 1 (weeks 1–2): risk 0.25R/trade, target +3R weekly, 2 trades/day max.
- Phase 2 (weeks 3–4): risk 0.5R on A setups, 0.25R on B setups; add runners only after banking +1R.
- Buffer rule: once weekly PnL ≥ +2R, allow one press to 0.75R on the next A+ setup only.
- Drawdown rule: at −2R on the week, switch to sim for the next session, and do a 30-minute post-mortem.
- Payout mentality: convert wins into “withdrawal points” (e.g., every +6R) to reinforce consistency.
Psychology & Execution Discipline
Mindset is a checklist, not a vibe. You’ll act the same whether you’re up or down.
- Pre-trade checklist: bias, level, catalyst, ATR room, session context, valid trigger.
- Emotional guardrails: no revenge trades; a red day is still a green process if rules were followed.
- Language rule: replace “I think” with “If/Then.” It curbs prediction bias.
- Pattern fasting: if you screenshot three non-A setups in a row, you’re done for the day.
- Win-streak brake: after two winners, size resets to base risk on the third trade.
Daily Routine & Review
Consistency lives in your calendar. A simple routine keeps the edge compounding.
- 60 minutes pre-session: mark HTF levels, identify two “if/then” scenarios, set alerts.
- During session: execute only prewritten scenarios; journal entries immediately after close/scale.
- Post-session: annotate chart with entry, stop, partials, exit; tag the day type and your setup quality (A/B/C).
- Weekly review: export stats—win rate, average R, expectancy, time-in-trade, session performance.
- Rewrite one rule each week for clarity; if it changes behavior positively, keep it—otherwise revert.
Tools & Templates
You don’t need more tools; you need reliable ones. Keep it minimal and reproducible.
- Platform templates: “HTF Map” (MN/W/D/4H) and “Exec” (1H/15m/5m/1–3m).
- Indicators: ATR(15m), session VWAP/AVWAP, and a news calendar—nothing else by default.
- Alerts: price touches HTF level, VWAP recapture/loss, and 5m structure shift.
- Journal fields: setup name, bias reason, catalyst, entry/exit screenshots, emotions (single word), rule tags.
- Monthly purge: delete unused drawings/indicators; re-save clean templates to prevent bloat.
Size Risk Like a Pro: Fixed R, Volatility-Adjusted Stops
Riz Sardar keeps risk boring on purpose, and that’s exactly why it works. He defines a fixed R per trade first, then lets volatility decide how big or small the position should be. If ATR expands, he tightens size and keeps the same R; if ATR contracts, he allows a slightly larger position—never the other way around. The result is consistent downside math that doesn’t blow up just because the market’s mood changed overnight.
He anchors stops beyond true invalidation and uses ATR as a floor, so they aren’t sitting inside noise. Partial profits are planned at +1R to de-risk early, with the remainder managed by structure or VWAP, not vibes. If Riz takes two hits in a row, size auto-resets to base, and he stops forcing trades, process over PnL. It’s simple: same R, volatility-aware sizing, and exits that reflect what price is actually doing.
Trade the Mechanic, Not the Prediction: If/Then Playbook
Riz Sardar treats the chart like a checklist, not a crystal ball. He prewrites simple if/then statements before the session starts: if price returns to the mapped level and shows displacement, then he executes; if liquidity above equal highs gets swept and structure shifts, then he fades; if neither condition fires, then he does nothing. By committing to mechanics ahead of time, Riz removes the urge to “guess the news” or narrate macro in real time. The plan runs the trader, not the other way around.
During execution, Riz Sardar keeps it literal: if the trigger prints, he enters without hesitation; if it doesn’t, he refuses to improvise. He tracks compliance as a performance metric, grading himself on following the if/then script rather than on raw P&L. This shifts focus to repeatable behavior, which naturally compounds edge and reduces decision fatigue. The big idea is simple: trade the machine you built on paper, not the story in your head.
Diversify by Underlying, Strategy, and Timeframe for Resilience
Riz Sardar builds durability by spreading bets across what moves differently, how they’re expressed, and when they resolve. He separates underlyings by correlation clusters—e.g., one FX major, one index future, one commodity—so a single macro driver can’t nuke his whole day. Within each symbol, he mixes defined-risk plays with directional entries, keeping total portfolio VaR bounded while letting winners run independently.
Time is another hedge. Riz Sardar rotates between quick, rules-driven intraday trades and slower swing ideas anchored to higher-timeframe levels, so dry intraday conditions don’t stall his week. He caps simultaneous positions per cluster, avoids doubling up on essentially the same exposure, and staggers entries so one losing print doesn’t cascade. The goal isn’t more trades—it’s diversified edges that survive regime shifts and keep the equity curve trending up.
Let ATR and Session Context Set Your Profit Targets
Riz Sardar frames targets with what the market is statistically offering today, not what he wishes it would give. He checks ATR to gauge average excursion and then cross-references session behavior—open drive, range day, or trend day—to size expectations. If London prints a narrow range and New York expands, he’ll aim for 1:3 to 1:5 only after a clean displacement; if it’s a sleepy range day, he locks in 1:1 to 1:2 and moves on. The point is simple: ATR defines the runway, session context sets the throttle.
Riz Sardar also times his partials and trails to the day’s character. On strong trend days, he takes a small first scale at +1R, then trails behind 5–15m swings or session VWAP to capture the extension. On choppy days, he front-loads profits, taking 50% at +1R and tightening stops quickly to avoid giveback. He never stretches targets beyond the day’s ATR envelope; when range is gone, so is the trade.
Discipline First: Daily Loss Limits, Weekly Review, Rule Enforcement
Riz Sardar hard-codes discipline into his workflow so emotions never get a vote. He sets a daily loss limit (e.g., −1.5R) and stops immediately when hit—no “one more trade.” Two consecutive losses trigger a mandatory cool-off plus a smaller size on the next attempt. Breaking a rule is treated as worse than taking a loss, because it corrodes the edge.
Each week, Riz Sardar grades himself on compliance, not just P&L, and the score dictates next week’s risk. A missed checklist item means a reduced size or a session in sim, enforced automatically. He runs a quick pre-mortem before the open (how today could go wrong) and a post-mortem after close (what actually happened, what rule saved or cost him). The habit compounds: cleaner data, steadier execution, and fewer self-inflicted drawdowns.
In the end, Riz Sardar’s edge is disarmingly simple: stop predicting and start reacting with a written, mechanical plan. He strips charts back to clean, soft-toned markups, routinely wipes and remaps from the higher timeframes, and treats each session as a fresh read—no baggage, no neon clutter, just levels and structure he can actually see and execute against. Above all, he refuses the myth of certainty: the market can blow through any key level on one order or a surprise headline, so the job is to interpret the tape as it unfolds, not to call the future.
From there, his rules protect longevity: fix R per trade, harvest partials, accept risk fully so emotions don’t hijack execution, and downshift sizing for funded challenges to avoid drawdown cliffs. He grades himself on process, not punditry, and keeps the workspace and routine tight so the same high-probability behaviors repeat day after day. That combination—clean charts, mechanical if/then decisions, volatility-aware risk, and professional acceptance of uncertainty—is the real “secret sauce” behind how Riz Sardar actually trades.
