Table of Contents
This episode features Ceri Bryans, a full-time day trader who built her edge by treating trading like a business. In a candid sit-down, she explains how she shifted from running a manufacturing company to focusing almost exclusively on the DAX, why that singular market focus clicked, and how a data-first approach helped her turn the corner. Expect straight talk on discipline, routine, and the realities of getting consistent.
You’ll learn the nuts and bolts of Ceri’s strategy: why rigorous backtesting underpins every decision, how to “know your numbers” to size risk per strategy, and the reason she rotates multiple playbooks based on conditions. We’ll also cover her execution tricks for staying hands-off during trades, the daily routine that keeps her sharp, and how selective automation buys back time without becoming a black box. If you want a beginner-friendly blueprint for building a real process—fast—this breakdown of Ceri Bryans’ approach is your shortcut.
Ceri Bryans Playbook & Strategy: How She Actually Trades
Treat It Like A Business (Process First, Profits Second)
Ceri Bryans runs trading the way she ran her prior company: with numbers, routines, and clear rules. This section shows how to anchor your day around business-like inputs so outcomes take care of themselves.
- Write a one-page “trading operating procedure” and review it before the session (setup filters, risk limits, start/stop times).
- Record every trade the same day; update your spreadsheet before placing the first new order.
- Classify losers as “cost of business” and move on; no revenge trades after a loss.
- Predefine session start/finish times and break windows—and actually stop when the clock says stop.
- Ban ad-hoc tweaks: any rule change must be tested and signed off on in your spreadsheet first.
Know Your Numbers Before You Risk a Penny
Ceri’s turning point was accepting that backtesting and data review are non-negotiable. Here’s how to gather the few stats that matter and turn them into concrete position sizing.
- Backtest each strategy for win rate, trade frequency, and worst losing run; log them in a single “Strategy Sheet.”
- Size risk per strategy from its stats (not a blanket %). Higher win-rate + shorter worst-run = slightly higher risk; the opposite = lower risk.
- Set a “strategy off” threshold: pause a playbook when live losses equal 75–100% of the historical worst-run.
- Review the sheet weekly; only re-enable a paused strategy after either a rules refinement or a fresh validation run.
- Keep a rolling sample of at least 100 trades per strategy before you scale size.
One Market, Many Playbooks (Ceri’s DAX Focus)
Instead of chasing 20 charts, Ceri goes deep on the DAX and rotates multiple strategies. If you’re juggling too many markets, steal this approach for clarity and consistency.
- Pick one primary market for three months; learn its session rhythm, volatility pockets, and fake-out times.
- Build 2–4 simple playbooks for that market (e.g., open drive, mean-revert window, breakout continuation).
- Track which playbook works best in which condition (trend day vs. range day); only deploy matching strategies.
- Maintain a “bench”: keep rarely used strategies ready but inactive until their conditions return.
- Review overnight range on your market and use it to set the day’s default stop distance and initial profit targets.
Session Timing & Trade Windows (Reduce Noise, Boost Quality)
Ceri avoids the chop around the UK cash open and lets a couple of mechanical rules fire at set times. You don’t need her exact templates to benefit—copy the structure.
- Define trade windows by the clock (e.g., mechanical entries at 07:00 and 08:00; manual trading begins ~08:15–08:20 once opening chop settles).
- Set a hard stop for the morning session (e.g., 11:45) and resume after a scheduled break (e.g., 13:30).
- If the market is flat and off-plan, switch to backtesting or review—do not force a trade to “get your daily action.”
- Decide the day’s stop size from the overnight ATR or range; if range halves, cut stops and targets proportionally.
- Cancel unfilled orders after their validity window; no “zombie” orders lingering into the next regime.
Execution Discipline (Hands Off Once You’re In)
Ceri’s edge compounds because she keeps her hands off during the trade. Your execution rules should prevent meddling, not invite it.
- Place stop and target with the entry; forbid manual exits except for predefined invalidation events.
- No moving stops to “avoid a loss”; only trail according to a tested rule (e.g., structure break or fixed multiple of initial risk).
- Use an automation aid only for your rules (bracket placement, time-in-force, partials); don’t outsource discretion to a black box you don’t understand.
- If price is choppy at entry, use a stop-order trigger above/below structure; avoid market orders into noise.
- Enforce a two-strike rule: two execution mistakes in a session = end the session and debrief.
Risk Sizing That Matches Reality (Not Hopes)
Ceri varies risk per strategy because their distributions differ. Adopt that mindset so you’re not overbetting a streaky system or underbetting a stable one.
- Assign each strategy a base risk % from its backtested profile (e.g., 0.25% for choppy mean-revert, 0.5% for robust breakout).
- Cap total portfolio risk at any time (e.g., max 1.0% across all open DAX plays).
- Reduce risk by 50% after two consecutive losses in the same session; restore only after a clean A-setup win.
- Hard daily loss limit: 1.5–2.0× your average risk per trade; hit it and stop trading for the day.
- Weekly drawdown brake: at −3R on the week, trade only your highest-win-rate setup until back to breakeven.
Routine, Journaling & Fast Feedback
Ceri isn’t big on diary essays; she uses tight spreadsheets and quick reviews. Make journaling serve you—not the other way around.
- Morning: log yesterday’s trades, update P&L, R multiples, and error tags before placing any new orders.
- Tag every trade with setup code, condition (trend/range), and any mistake flag (late, early, off-plan).
- End of week: sort by setup code and condition; keep only the top two playbooks live for next week.
- Replace paragraph journals with a “three bullets” debrief: what worked, what failed, what to test.
- If you break a rule, write the replacement safeguard into the checklist (timer, alert, order template).
Strategy Rotation & Adaptation (Stay Aligned With Conditions)
Ceri keeps a stable of strategies and swaps them according to what the DAX is doing. You can rotate intelligently without curve-fitting.
- Define activation criteria for each playbook (e.g., 10-day ATR above/below threshold, opening gap size, prior day’s range type).
- Before the open, mark which playbooks are eligible; trade from that shortlist only.
- If three eligible setups don’t appear in your window, stand down; absence of signal is a signal.
- When conditions flip mid-session, stop trading for 15 minutes; reassess which playbooks remain valid.
- Archive any playbook that underperforms for 200 trades vs. its historical edge; re-test before reviving.
Mindset You Can Execute (Rules That Survive Real Days)
Ceri emphasizes that the mindset game makes most traders quit. Bake resilience into your plan so you don’t rely on willpower in the heat of battle.
- Pre-commit to a minimum sample size (e.g., 50 trades) before judging a strategy live.
- After a losing trade, run a 60-second reset (stand up, breathe, re-read the entry checklist); no instant re-entries.
- Use a “green light” checklist before each click (market condition, setup, risk, exit plan, time window).
- Keep a trading buddy or small room check-in; announce start/stop, hit daily limits, and share your weekly stats.
- Celebrate rule-following, not P&LL: track a “process score” and raise size only when it stays above your threshold.
Size Risk From Real Stats, Not Hopes; Protect Capital First
Ceri Bryans treats risk like rent—non-negotiable and due every trade. She starts by pulling the win rate, average R, and worst historical losing streak from her logs, then sizes position risk to survive that losing run with room to spare. If a setup shows a choppy profile, she cuts its risk allocation rather than forcing equal size across everything. The goal is simple: stay in the game long enough to let the edge compound.
Ceri Bryans also predefines a daily loss cap and a “strategy off” threshold based on those same stats. If live performance hits that line, she pauses the playbook and reviews before another dollar goes at risk. Stops and targets are set at entry and never widened to “give it space,” because that’s just hope in disguise. By sizing from actual data—not feelings—she keeps capital safe and lets discipline do the heavy lifting.
Rotate Playbooks By Volatility Regime And Time Window, Not Feelings
Ceri Bryans doesn’t ask “How do I feel about the market?”—she asks “Which regime are we in, and what time is it?” When DAX volatility expands, she deploys breakout or open-drive plays; when volatility contracts, she favors mean-reversion with tighter brackets. Each playbook has a preferred clock window, so eligibility is based on both ATR/range conditions and session time, not vibes.
Before the bell, Ceri Bryans tags the day’s regime using overnight range or a short ATR and creates a shortlist of eligible strategies. If a setup doesn’t appear during its window, she stands down rather than forcing a late entry. When conditions flip mid-session, she pauses for a timed reset, then switches to the matching playbook or calls it a day. The rotation is mechanical: regime → eligible playbooks → pre-approved rules, so discretion never overrides the plan.
Diversify Across Setup, Holding Duration, And Entry Mechanic For Stability
Ceri Bryans doesn’t diversify just by tickers—she diversifies by how trades behave. She keeps a mix of fast open-drive plays, mid-morning mean-reversion, and trend-continuation setups so one market mood can’t sink the whole day. Each setup has a distinct holding duration, from minutes to multi-leg intraday swings, which smooths equity-curve noise. She also varies the entry mechanic—stop entries through structure for momentum, limit fades at extremes for mean-reversion—so not all fills are exposed to the same microstructure risk.
On any given session, Ceri Bryans caps exposure so only one setup per “bucket” can be live at full size, preventing correlated hits. If volatility compresses, she prioritizes shorter-duration plays with tighter brackets; when range expands, she leans on continuation with partials left to run. She reviews results by bucket, not just by setup name, to spot which combination of duration and entry style is carrying the edge. Over time, that blend turns a lumpy strategy into a steadier trading business.
Trade The Plan: Rules Before Prediction, Mechanics Over Opinions Every Session
Ceri Bryans treats forecasts as noise and execution as the job. She shows up with a prewritten checklist, runs it, and only takes trades that tick every box—setup, time window, risk bracket, and exit map. If a candle looks “tempting” but the rule isn’t met, it’s ignored, full stop. Orders are staged as brackets, so the stop and target are in the market before anything moves. Her mantra is simple: the market decides outcome; Ceri decides compliance.
When emotions spike, Ceri Bryans leans harder on mechanics. She uses timers to prevent early exits, fixed invalidation levels to block “give it one more tick,” and a session cutoff so the last hour can’t undo a good morning. Every trade gets a post-execution score on rule adherence, not P&LL, and size only increases after a streak of high process scores. By making rules, the driver and the passenger, she turns volatile days into another chance to run the same playbook cleanly.
Define Risk Brackets, Stops, And Targets Upfront; No Mid-Trade Tweaking
Ceri Bryans maps the entire trade before clicking buy: entry trigger, invalidation, profit objectives, and position size all locked in. She uses risk brackets—small, standard, and expanded—chosen from current volatility so stops and targets scale with the day, not emotion. Orders go in as brackets the moment she’s filled, which removes the temptation to “just nudge” a stop when price breathes against her.
Mid-trade, Ceri Bryans only acts on pretested rules. Stops are never widened; targets are only adjusted by a defined trailing rule or partial-taking schedule, not a feeling. If structure breaks, she’s out, even if the next candle rips—because keeping the rule intact is worth more than catching a rebound. By defining risk and reward up front and banning improvisation, she turns each position into a closed loop: plan it, place it, let it play out.
Ceri Bryans’ core lesson is simple: treat trading like a business and let the numbers run the show. She frames losses as a cost of doing business and builds everything around measurable edge—win rate, trade frequency, and worst losing run—so risk gets sized by reality, not hope.
Her daily routine is ruthlessly consistent: update yesterday’s results, set the day’s stop from the DAX’s overnight movement, let mechanical strategies run at 07:00 and 08:00, and delay manual trading until the opening chop settles—then stop for a firm midday break before the afternoon session. Flat day? She backtests or reviews instead of forcing a trade. The clock, not emotion, defines the windows.
Edge comes from focus plus flexibility: one market (the DAX) studied deeply, with multiple playbooks rotated by condition. That “one market, many strategies” approach fits her thinking and time zone, and it keeps her aligned with volatility instead of chasing signals everywhere. She diversifies by setup and execution style on the same instrument rather than by collecting tickers.
Finally, she closes the loop with fast feedback: logging live results against backtests, maintaining a “mistakes” column, and investigating patterns if the error count creeps above her threshold. The message is pure process: know your numbers, pick your windows, rotate only when the regime says so, and let prewritten rules—not mid-trade feelings—do the heavy lifting.
