Table of Contents
Rauan Khassan joins a candid interview that blends his day-trader chops with his work building community at TradingView. He’s the same Rauan who helped lead discussions at industry expos, and he’s refreshingly direct about what actually moves the needle for independent traders: realistic goals, strict risk rules, and patience. If you’ve ever wondered how someone can travel, work, and still trade responsibly, this conversation shows why Rauan’s perspective matters for anyone trying to turn trading into a durable craft.
In this piece, you’ll learn the nuts and bolts of Rauan’s approach: setting monthly return targets in percentages instead of chasing flashy absolute dollars, keeping drawdowns contained, and using money management to turn good analysis into actual profits. You’ll also pick up why separating “analyst brain” from “trader execution” is crucial, how publishing ideas can build accountability, and when it makes sense to scale into external capital only after a long stretch of consistent results. Expect a practical, beginner-friendly breakdown of habits you can implement today—without the fluff.
Rauan Khassan Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
Core Risk Framework
Before any chart or idea matters, Rauan frames the risk so the account survives rough patches. This section lays down the guardrails—how much to risk, when to cut, and how to keep drawdowns shallow enough to bounce back fast.
- Risk 0.25%–0.5% of account equity per trade; cap total open risk at 1.5%.
- Hard stop on every position placed immediately; no “mental stops.”
- Portfolio max drawdown guardrail: 8%. If hit, step down in size to half until back above the previous equity peak.
- Daily loss limit: 2R (e.g., two -1R stops). Hit it? Stop trading for the day.
- Never move a stop farther away. Only tighten or hold.
Market Selection & Conditions
He prioritizes liquid, widely-watched markets where structure is clean and slippage is low. You’ll define when you’re allowed to trade—and when you’re not—so your edge isn’t drowned by noise.
- Trade instruments with tight spreads and high liquidity during primary session hours.
- Sit out days with major scheduled news in your instrument’s session unless you have a tested news-playbook.
- Require a clear trend or range regime (e.g., 20/50 EMA aligned for trend; flat MAs and compressed ATR for range).
- If volatility (ATR) expands >1.5× its 20-day median, reduce position size by 30% to normalize risk.
Set up Playbook: Trend Continuation
Rauan’s bread and butter is catching orderly continuation after a fresh impulse. You’ll focus on clean structure, pullbacks that respect moving averages, and tight invalidation.
- Bias long when price is above 20/50 EMA and both are rising; bias short when below and both are falling.
- Entry: buy a pullback to the rising 20 EMA that prints a higher low and a bullish reversal bar; mirror for shorts.
- Stop: below the pullback swing low (longs) or above swing high (shorts); initial risk = bar-range × 1.1.
- First scale-out at +1R to reduce risk; move stop to breakeven once +1.2R is tagged on a closing basis.
- Target: trail under 20 EMA until a close through it; or fixed 2–3R if session is near the end.
Set up Playbook: Breakout With Retest
When momentum builds into a key level, he prefers the retest over the first break. This reduces fake-out risk and gives a clearer invalidation point.
- Identify a multi-touch level (3+ touches) with rising volume into the break.
- Avoid chasing the initial breakout; wait for a return to the level that holds on a 5–15 minute close.
- Entry trigger: inside bar break in the direction of the breakout on the retest.
- Stop: beyond the other side of the level by 0.5× ATR(14) of your trading timeframe.
- Target: partial at 1.5R, trail the rest with a swing-low/swing-high stop until momentum fades.
Defined Routines: Pre-Market, During, Post
Consistency comes from ritual. This section makes your day predictable so you’re not improvising under pressure.
- Pre-market (15–20 min): mark bias per instrument, levels (yesterday’s high/low, weekly open), session news, and “allowed setups.”
- During session: only take setup-tagged trades; no ad-hoc ideas. Maximum 3 attempts per setup per instrument.
- Post-market: journal entries with screenshot before/after, note emotion level (1–5), and write one process fix for tomorrow.
Position Sizing & Scaling
Sizing is how analysis turns into equity growth. You’ll use volatility-normalized units so every trade risks the same chunk of capital.
- Position size = (Account × Risk%) / (Entry–Stop), rounded down to the nearest lot/contract.
- If the first unit reaches +1R, add a half-size unit on the next valid continuation signal; overall risk may not exceed the initial 1R.
- Never scale into losers. Add only when the open trade is already +1R and the structure remains valid.
- Pyramid cap: 2 adds maximum; after the second add, convert to a trailing stop strategy.
Execution Rules & Trade Management
Good ideas die with bad execution. These rules keep decisions binary and emotions out.
- Place entry, stop, and first target as a bracket order at the time of entry.
- If price stalls for 3 full bars without progress, tighten stop to -0.5R or scratch.
- Time stop: if trade remains open into low-liquidity hours, close at market; avoid overnight unless part of plan.
- News filter: flatten 2 minutes before high-impact economic releases unless you specifically trade them.
Journal Metrics & Performance Review
You improve what you measure. Track the few numbers that show if your edge is real and if you’re following the plan.
- Weekly metrics: Win rate, Avg R, Expectancy (E = Win%×AvgWinR − Loss%×AvgLossR), and Setup SR (P/L by setup type).
- Process metrics: Plan Adherence % (planned vs. taken), Impulsive Trades Count, and Hold-to-Plan %.
- Promote setups with Expectancy ≥ +0.25R and Plan Adherence ≥ 85%; demote or re-test anything below.
- Once 8 consecutive green weeks with max DD < 5%, consider small size increases (+10% risk per trade).
Psychology & Decision Hygiene
Rauan stresses separating the analyst from the executor. These rules help you make the plan when calm and follow it when things heat up.
- Write a one-page playbook for each setup (context, trigger, stop, invalidation). Keep it visible while trading.
- Use a two-minute timer before entry: confirm bias, level, trigger bar, stop distance, and news window.
- If you catch yourself “hoping,” reduce to half size or exit; hope is a position in the wrong asset.
- After any 3-trade losing streak, take a 15-minute pause and journal before continuing.
Public Accountability & Idea Publishing
Sharing ideas forces clarity and consistency. Treat it as an execution tool, not a vanity metric.
- Before market: publish a plan snapshot (bias, key levels, setups you’re allowed to take).
- After market: post a debrief with marked-up charts and a single lesson learned.
- Never rewrite history. If a plan was wrong, state it plainly and capture the fix in tomorrow’s checklist.
Scaling Capital & Risk Step-Ups
Consistency first, capital second. Grow size only when the data backs it, not when you “feel ready.”
- Step-up rules: Need 6–8 winning weeks, Expectancy ≥ +0.2R, and Max DD ≤ 6% to increase risk by +0.1% per trade.
- If Max DD exceeds the threshold, revert to the previous risk tier until equity makes a new high.
- External capital is only available after 6+ months of meeting targets with verified tracking and clean process metrics.
Tools & Checklists (Operational)
Keep your workflow lightweight and repeatable. The goal is less friction, more discipline.
- Maintain one checklist per setup and one daily checklist; both must be completed before the first trade.
- Use alerts at key levels so entries are planned, not hunted.
- Limit yourself to 2–3 instruments per session to maintain focus and data quality.
- Archive each week’s screenshots into setup-labeled folders for faster pattern review.
Size every trade small; cap daily losses and protect monthly drawdown
Rauan Khassan isn’t chasing hero trades—he’s stacking controlled risks that keep him in the game month after month. He sizes each position so a single stop-out is a blip, not a wound, which lets him take the next valid setup without hesitation. Daily loss caps act like airbags: once he’s down the limit, he’s done for the session, emotion off the wheel. That discipline protects the real prize—preserving the monthly equity curve so gains aren’t erased by one bad day.
This approach also sharpens execution because Rauan Khassan never needs to “make it back” on the next trade. Small, consistent risk keeps decisions binary: plan the stop, take the stop, move on. When the edge is working, compounding does the heavy lifting; when it’s not, the drawdown stays shallow and recoverable. That’s how you trade tomorrow with the same confidence you had today.
Trade the setup, not the forecast; let volatility dictate position size
Rauan Khassan treats opinions like background noise and setups like green lights. He builds a simple checklist—context, level, trigger, stop—and acts only when all boxes are ticked. No thesis chasing, no “it should” narratives, just patterns with clear invalidation. When the setup fires, he executes; when it doesn’t, he waits.
Position size follows volatility, not feelings, which is why Rauan Khassan stays consistent across changing markets. If ATR expands and stops must sit wider, size steps down so the R risk stays constant. If volatility compresses and stops are tighter, size can step up, still capped by his per-trade risk. This keeps each trade’s bite the same regardless of market mood and stops the “one big loss” from ever hijacking the month.
Diversify by instrument, strategy, and timeframe to smooth equity curves.
Rauan Khassan spreads his risk so no single market or idea can bully his P&L. He rotates across a small basket of liquid instruments and runs them through different setups—trend continuation, breakout-retest, and range fades when conditions warrant. Each play has its own rules and invalidation, so correlations don’t stack at the worst time. The goal is simple: multiple small edges humming in parallel instead of one big bet.
Timeframe diversification is the quiet engine in Rauan Khassan’s approach. He aligns a higher-timeframe bias with a lower-timeframe trigger, and when the regime changes, he can step out or shift to a slower tempo without forcing trades. If one lane goes cold, another can still produce, keeping the equity curve from getting jerky. That mix of instruments, strategies, and timeframes makes consistency a feature—not a fluke.
Use defined risk with hard stops; never widen, only trail or exit
Rauan Khassan treats the stop as the contract with himself—set before entry and respected after. He places the stop where the setup is invalid, not where the P&L feels comfortable, and accepts the loss the moment the order is live. If price tags the level, he’s out without debate, because debating after entry is how small losses become career-threatening.
When trades work, Rauan Khassan only moves one way: tighter. He trails under structure, not tick-by-tick, letting the market breathe while protecting realized R. There’s no averaging down, no “give it a little more room,” and no late-night hope sessions. Defined risk keeps the downside fixed, the mind clear, and the playbook consistent across any market mood.
Build daily routines and journals; measure expectancy, adherence, and improvement.
Rauan Khassan makes consistency a habit, not a hope. He starts with a short checklist every morning—bias, key levels, allowed setups—and won’t place a trade until each item is confirmed. During the session, he logs decisions in real time so the journal shows what he actually did, not what he remembers later. After the close, he does a quick debrief with screenshots and one process fix for tomorrow.
The numbers keep him honest. Rauan Khassan tracks expectancy in R, plan adherence percentage, and the count of impulsive trades to see whether execution—not the market—is the problem. If adherence slips, he shrinks in size and focuses on one setup until the stats recover. Weekly reviews promote the best-performing plays and pause the laggards, turning the journal into a feedback loop that steadily raises the floor on performance.
In the end, Rauan Khassan’s edge isn’t a single indicator or magic entry—it’s the discipline to run a tight process every day. He argues for realistic, percentage-based goals and accepts that “unsexy” consistency beats flashy P&Ls that implode on the next drawdown. Across the interview, he hammers home defined risk with hard stops, a steady R per trade, and the humility to size down when volatility widens or results slip. He separates the analyst from the executor: think about the trade, then follow the checklist without negotiating with the market. Publishing plans and post-trade reviews creates accountability, keeps emotions in check, and turns ideas into measurable execution.
Rauan Khassan also pushes breadth without bloat—diversifying by instrument, setup, and timeframe so no single lane can wreck the month. He favors continuation and breakout-retest structures with clean invalidation, scales only when trades are working, and caps the number of attempts to avoid revenge loops. Progress is proven by stats, not stories: expectancy in R, plan adherence, impulse counts, and maximum drawdown. Only after many steady months does he consider stepping up risk or managing more capital. If you adopt his playbook—small, repeatable risk; volatility-aware sizing; strict stops; public accountability; and relentless journaling—you’ll trade tomorrow with the same confidence you had today, and that’s how a strategy becomes a career.
Related posts:
- Pierce Crosby Trader Strategy: How TradingView Shapes the Modern Playbook
- Trader Strategy Playbook: James Bentley’s Keep-It-Simple Approach for the Everyday Trader
- Trader Strategy Playbook: Ross Maxwell on Edge, Risk, and Scaling as a Trader
- Trader Strategy Playbook: How a World Cup Futures Trader Finds Edge Over Wall Street
- Kathy Lien Trader Strategy: The Momentum-Meets-Macro Playbook Every Forex Trader Should Know
- NYC Day Trader Strategy: Carmine’s Risk-First Playbook
- The Scruffy Trader’s Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
- Trader Strategy Roundtable: Inside SMB Capital’s Playbook
- Trader Strategy Playbook: Lessons from Lance Breitstein
- Trader Strategy Playbook: Lessons from Axel Rudolph
- Trader Strategy Playbook: Mindset, Macro, and Discipline
- Trader Strategy Playbook: Lessons from The Viper Group’s Cal
