Table of Contents
Marcus Fetherston—Director of Operations at Eightcap—sits down for a straight-talking interview on how traders can approach crypto the right way. From why crypto’s 24/7 market creates a unique opportunity to how Eightcap prices, executes, and supports trading across hundreds of crypto CFDs, Marcus shares what actually matters for retail traders: liquidity, spreads, swaps, leverage, execution, and realistic expectations around stops. If you’re curious how a seasoned operator thinks about the line between long-term investing and short-term trading, this conversation is your on-ramp.
You’ll learn Marcus Fetherston’s practical trader strategy for crypto: when to treat coins as long-term tech bets versus trading them tactically with derivatives; how to use tight spreads and daily swap structures to your advantage; why 20:1 leverage can be a smart midpoint; and how to size positions down to tiny increments while respecting the reality that stops aren’t guaranteed in fast markets. Expect clear guidance on navigating “crab seasons,” trading both directions, and fitting crypto alongside forex and indices without blowing up your account.
Marcus Fetherston Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
Market Lens: When to Trade vs. When to Wait
Here’s the big picture Marcus keeps in mind before placing risk. He frames crypto like any 24/7, high-beta product where opportunity clusters around volatility and liquidity. If conditions are stale, he conserves bullets and waits for the tape to wake up.
- Identify regime first: expanding (trend/impulse), contracting (“crab”), or reversal.
- Only trade when the average true range (ATR) is at or above your 20-day median.
- If spreads widen beyond your pre-set max (e.g., 1.5x normal), stand down.
- Skip the chop: if the last 3 hours print overlapping candles with <0.6x normal range, do not initiate.
- Favor sessions with historically tighter spreads and deeper liquidity (overlap windows).
Instruments & Account Setup: Tools That Fit the Job
Marcus treats instrument choice and configuration as part of the edge. If the instrument, leverage, or lot size fights your plan, you’re sabotaging execution.
- Trade a short, familiar list: 3–5 crypto majors plus 1–2 indices/FX for diversification.
- Use position sizing that allows micro-increments; if you can’t scale in/out by 10–20% tranches, your size is too coarse.
- Cap account leverage to a “sane” ceiling (e.g., 10–20:1 notional exposure) to keep one loss from wrecking the week.
- Prefer venues with consistent spreads, minimal slippage, and transparent margin rules—test them in off-peak and peak hours.
- Enable partial close hotkeys and hard OCO (one-cancels-other) brackets by default.
Setup Selection: Trend Continuation and Mean Reversion
He keeps setups simple and repeatable: continuation when momentum is alive, mean-reversion only with clearly defined boundaries.
- Trend: 20/50 EMA alignment + price holding above/below a 20-period VWAP band after a range break.
- Mean-reversion: two failed pushes at a range edge plus RSI divergence and a wick rejection into a prior 4-hour level.
- Only trade the first or second signal after regime change; pass on the fourth or later attempt.
- Require confluence from one higher timeframe (HTF) level—prior daily high/low or HTF VWAP.
- If a setup doesn’t allow a 1:1 to the next logical level, skip it.
Entry Triggers: Let Price Pull You In
Entries are about timing around liquidity, not guessing tops or bottoms. Marcus waits for the price to show its hand, then commits.
- Use stop orders at the break of your trigger candle; avoid market orders in thin tape.
- For trend trades, only enter on a pullback to the 20 EMA or VWAP midline after a clean impulse.
- For mean-reversion, require a second rejection (double test) with decreasing tick spread before entering.
- If slippage > 0.25R on fill, cancel the idea unless the reward expands accordingly.
- Never chase: if price moves 0.5R without you, abandon and wait for the next setup.
Stop Placement: Honest, Mechanical, Non-Negotiable
Marcus treats the stop as a price where his idea is wrong—no exceptions, no “just in case” wiggle.
- Hard stop goes beyond invalidation: below/above the wick that defines the level, not the body.
- Add a volatility buffer equal to 10–20% of the 14-period ATR on your execution timeframe.
- If the stop cannot live outside market noise without exceeding 1% account risk, the trade is too large—reduce size or pass.
- Do not move stops to breakeven unless the structure supports it (new swing printed in your favor).
- Accept that stops may slip in fast markets; size assuming worst-case slippage of 0.2–0.4R.
Take-Profits & Scaling: Bank Progress Like a Pro
He prefers systematic partials to smooth equity and reduce tail risk while letting a runner capture trend.
- Pre-place OCO: first take-profit (TP1) at +1R, scale 25–40% off; move stop to just beyond the new swing after TP1 prints.
- TP2 at the next HTF level or +2R, scale another 25–40%.
- Let the final tranche trail behind the 20 EMA or last swing until structure breaks.
- If price stalls for two full rotations near TP1 without follow-through, manually reduce by 10–20%.
- Never turn a winner into a loser—if structure fails, flatten the remainder.
Risk Per Trade: Keep the Account Bulletproof
Marcus keeps the downside small and consistent so the law of large numbers can work for him.
- Base risk = 0.25–0.75% of account per idea; new traders start at 0.25–0.5%.
- Daily loss cap = 2R or 1.5% of account (whichever comes first).
- Weekly drawdown halt = 5%—switch to sim and review.
- No adding to losers, ever. Scaling only occurs after partial profits or a new structure in your favor.
- If two trades in a row violate the plan (process error), stop trading for the day.
Leverage Discipline: Power With a Seatbelt
Leverage is a tool, not a lifestyle. Marcus fixes max notional and lets position size float with volatility.
- Calculate notional exposure so a full stop equals your risk budget—even at max leverage.
- Reduce gross exposure by 30–50% during event risk or weekend holds.
- If ATR doubles week-over-week, halve position size until conditions normalize.
- Keep cross-asset exposure correlated: do not hold BTC, ETH, and a high-beta alt in the same direction at full size.
- Use an isolated margin per position when available to firewall mistakes.
24/7 Market Tactics: Trade Windows That Pay
Crypto never sleeps, but you should. Marcus narrows activity to windows with consistent behavior.
- Primary trading windows: London open + NY overlap; avoid random overnight drifts unless a catalyst hits.
- If volatility dries up for two sessions, plan for a breakout day and reduce mean-reversion attempts.
- On Sundays and late Fridays, either trade tiny or not at all due to thin books and gap risk.
- During holidays or major macro events, size down and widen stops—or stand aside.
- After a major impulse day, expect consolidation; switch to fade edges until a fresh break.
News & Catalyst Handling: Respect the Blast Radius
Catalysts can create edge—or chaos. Marcus plans around them, not through them.
- Know the day’s major scheduled events and earnings/macro prints affecting correlated indices or USD.
- Flatten or cut size by 50–80% at least 5–10 minutes pre-event.
- No fresh entries in the 15 minutes immediately after a high-impact release; let spreads normalize.
- Post-event, trade continuation only if impulse breaks and holds an HTF level on retest.
- If a sudden headline spike spreads, cancel all resting entries and reassess.
Swap/Funding & Holding Costs: Quiet P&L Killers
Carrying trades have a cost. Marcus treats swaps/funding as part of R, not an afterthought.
- Before holding overnight, check projected carry; if daily cost > 0.15R, either tighten target window or pass.
- Convert carry into “hours to breakeven” math so you know when the hold stops making sense.
- Avoid multi-day holds in low-conviction ranges—scalp the edges intraday instead.
- If funding flips against you intraday, accelerate partials to offset cost drag.
- Weekend holds require an explicit thesis and half-size (or less).
Execution Quality: Make Slippage Boring
Edge leaks through sloppy execution. Marcus standardizes entries and exits, so fills are predictable.
- Use limit-to-market logic: attempt a limit at the trigger, auto-promote to market only if price trades through and spread is within bounds.
- Pre-define max slippage (ticks or percentage of R); cancel if exceeded.
- Avoid trading during spread spikes or book-thin minutes at the top of the hour.
- Log every fill: time, spread, slippage, and whether the venue performed as expected.
- If average slippage > 15% of R over 20 trades, adjust triggers or change venue.
Position Review & Journaling: Turn Data Into Edge
Marcus is process-first. He reviews like a coach, not a critic, converting logs into upgrades.
- Journal every trade with screenshots: HTF context, trigger, stop, targets, and emotions rated 1–5.
- Tag setups (e.g., “trend-pullback,” “range-fade,” “breakout-retest”) and track win rate, expectancy, and average adverse excursion per tag.
- After 50 trades per tag, keep only the top two setups; retire or rewrite the rest.
- Weekly: pick one friction to fix (late entries, stops too tight, taking profits early).
- If a setup’s expectancy drops below 0.2R over 30 trades, pause it and re-spec.
Portfolio Construction: Mix Timeframes and Correlations
He blends a couple of intraday plays with swing ideas, so the book isn’t one-note.
- Cap correlated longs (or shorts) to a combined max of 1.5–2.0x a single position’s risk.
- Pair a trending crypto idea with an uncorrelated FX/index mean-reversion trade when possible.
- Limit concurrent positions to what you can actively manage; if you can’t update stops in seconds, it’s too many.
- Keep a “bench” of watchlist names, but only trade your A-list.
- Rebalance risk weekly toward what’s working—don’t average attention across losers.
Drawdown & Recovery Protocol: Protect Confidence
The plan for bad days is written on good days. Marcus uses automatic brakes to avoid spiral behavior.
- At −3R on the day: stop trading; do a 10-minute post-mortem; move to sim.
- Two red days in a row: cut size in half the next day and trade only A-setups.
- At −8R on the month: mandatory week of micro-size and a full system review.
- No new rules mid-drawdown; revert to the base playbook and execute it cleanly.
- Celebrate adherence, not outcome—log “perfect trades” regardless of P&L.
Daily Routine: Prep, Execute, Debrief
Consistency beats intensity. Marcus runs a simple clockwork rhythm, so decisions feel familiar.
- Pre-market (30–45 min): mark HTF levels, note catalysts, pick 2–3 A-setups, set alerts.
- During market: execute only planned setups; if an unplanned idea appears, write it down for testing—don’t trade it.
- Mid-session check: if realized volatility differs from plan by >30%, adjust size and targets.
- End of day: journal, tag, and grade process; export stats to update your setup leaderboard.
- Once a week: run a “what to stop/what to double-down” review and prune the playbook.
Beginner On-Ramp: Start Small, Learn Fast
Marcus’s approach scales down elegantly for newer traders. Start tiny, collect reps, then size with earned data.
- Risk a fixed dollar amount first (e.g., $5–$20 per trade) until you log 100 trades with consistent process grades.
- Trade one setup and one timeframe for 30 days before adding complexity.
- Use a checklist at order entry: regime, level, trigger, stop, R multiple, catalyst check.
- Record every deviation from the plan and fine yourself a symbolic amount to create friction.
- Increase size only when your worst week at the current size would still be emotionally trivial.
Size Risk First: Fixed R, sane leverage, tiny increments always
Marcus Fetherston starts every trade by deciding how much he can afford to lose, not how much he wants to make. He fixes risk per idea (his “R”) and then sizes position units to fit that number, so volatility can stretch but never snap the account. Marcus keeps leverage “sane” by capping total notional and letting position size float with ATR instead of emotion. That way, a single bad candle can sting, but it can’t crater the month.
In practice, Marcus likes small, repeatable increments that let him scale in or out without distorting the plan. Think 0.25–0.5% of equity at risk per trade, with micro-adds only after structure confirms and stops have advanced. He treats slippage and funding like part of R, not an afterthought, so he can’t be surprised when markets run hot. And if two trades break process in a row, Marcus cuts size and resets—because protecting the next 100 trades beats “winning” this one.
Trade Volatility Regimes, Not Wishes: Expand, Contract, Stand Aside
Marcus Fetherston frames every session by asking which volatility regime is running the show. If ranges are expanding and levels are breaking, he treats the tape as a trend day and looks for pullbacks to join strength, not to fade it. When ranges are contracting and price keeps ping-ponging, he switches to mean-reversion tactics with tight targets and faster profit-taking. If neither regime is obvious—or spreads and slippage spike—Marcus stands aside and preserves mental capital.
He uses simple tells to decide quickly: ATR relative to its 20-day median, how candles overlap, and whether retests hold or fail. In expansion, he lets winners breathe and avoids counter-trend “hero” shots; in contraction, he insists on clear edges and exits on first hesitation. Marcus Fetherston repeats one mantra here: trade the market you have, not the one you wish you had.
Diversify By Instrument, Strategy, and Timeframe To Smooth Equity
Marcus Fetherston treats diversification as a volatility dam, not a trophy case of tickers. He mixes a couple of crypto majors with one index or FX pair, so the book isn’t leaning on a single beta. Instead of running five copies of the same breakout, he pairs trend-pullbacks with range fades or breakout-retests to spread outcome paths. Time also diversifies: one intraday idea and one swing can win and lose independently, even on the same symbol.
Marcus caps correlated exposure, counting BTC, ETH, and high-beta alts as one bucket and limiting total risk in that bucket. He assigns a fixed risk budget per “bucket” and refuses to exceed it, no matter how good the next setup looks. When realized volatility jumps, he rotates size toward the calmer instrument or the strategy with the higher current expectancy, not the loudest chart. He also staggers exits—banking partials on the short-term trade while letting the swing breathe—so gains don’t all hinge on one level. The result, Marcus Fetherston says, is steadier equity and cleaner headspace, which makes following the plan a whole lot easier.
Mechanics Over Predictions: Rules For Entries, Stops, Scaling, Exits
Marcus Fetherston doesn’t try to out-guess the market; he out-executes it. He uses pre-defined triggers—like a pullback to the 20 EMA with a clean rejection wick—to let price invite him in rather than chasing. Stops live beyond the invalidation wick with a small ATR buffer, so normal noise can’t knock him out. If the math won’t allow that stop within his fixed R, he passes without debate.
His scaling is mechanical: partial at +1R to de-risk, another partial at the next higher-timeframe level, and a trailing stop behind fresh structure for the runner. Exits obey the same clarity—if structure fails or slippage breaches his limit, he’s flat, period. Marcus Fetherston logs each fill, spread, and slippage against plan so adjustments are data-led, not mood-led. The net effect is calm execution that compounds small edges while predictions fight each other in the noise.
Respect Undefined Risk: News Windows, Funding Costs, Weekend Gaps
Marcus Fetherston builds his edge around what he can control and ring-fences what he can’t. He assumes spreads can balloon, stops can slip, and headlines can nuke liquidity with zero warning. That means he trims size ahead of high-impact events, avoids fresh entries in the first minutes after a release, and treats “no trade” as a high-quality decision. He also prices weekend risk like a fee he must willingly pay, not a surprise—if he can’t justify that fee in R terms, he closes or halves the position.
Funding and swaps get the same respect from Marcus Fetherston because they quietly erode expectancy when trades overstay. He calculates projected carry before holding and accelerates partials if carry turns against him mid-run. If slippage breaches his maximum or books thin out, he cancels resting orders and re-plans rather than forcing fills. Most importantly, he never widens a stop to “survive” chaos; he widens it only in planning, never in panic. By treating undefined risk as a constraint to engineer around, he keeps drawdowns shallow and his head clear for the next clean setup.
Marcus Fetherston’s core message is simple: protect the downside, then let structure do the heavy lifting. He anchors every trade with fixed risk and sane leverage, sizes in tiny increments, and treats slippage and funding as part of the cost—planned, not discovered. That discipline frees him to read the tape without fear. When volatility expands, he rides strength with trend-continuation pulls; when it contracts, he fades edges with tight targets; when neither regime is clear, he stands aside. The goal isn’t heroic calls—it’s stacking clean decisions that compound.
He also spreads risk across instruments, strategies, and timeframes, so his equity curve isn’t hostage to one idea or one market mood. Mechanics beat predictions: predefined triggers, stops beyond invalidation with a volatility buffer, partials at logical levels, and a trailing exit only when structure allows. Around events and weekends, Marcus assumes spreads can blow out and stops can slip, so he cuts size or goes flat rather than negotiating with chaos. Layered on top is a repeatable routine—prep, execute, debrief—that turns data into upgrades and keeps emotions out of the driver’s seat. Put together, Marcus Fetherston’s playbook is a blueprint for durable trading: small risk, clear rules, adaptive tactics, and relentless process.
