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This interview dives into Hugh Kimura—founder of Trading Heroes and co-host of the Think Profit podcast—on a candid YouTube conversation about how his approach has evolved from classic forex setups to flexible hedging, plus why he’s allocating thoughtfully into crypto. You’ll hear why he prefers tight-spread pairs like EURUSD and USDJPY, how he balances books without obsessing over single entries, and what his day looks like when he’s toggling between charts, research, and content.
You’ll learn Hugh’s trader strategy in plain English: how hedging can cap risk while letting you step away, when to skim profits and use them to unwind losers, and the simple support-resistance logic guiding entries. He also lays out his crypto game plan—long-term bias, scale-in/scale-out around key levels, where staking might fit, why privacy coins could matter, and a pragmatic allocation mix that includes metals, tools/real assets, and cash for optionality. The goal: give retail traders a repeatable framework they can start applying today without getting lost in jargon.
Hugh Kimura Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
Core philosophy: probability, process, and optionality
Hugh Kimura focuses on building a repeatable edge first, then using structure (not prediction) to let probabilities play out. He prioritizes process discipline, risk containment, and keeping future choices open through techniques like hedging and incremental scaling. The aim is steady compounding without needing to be “right” on every trade.
- Define your edge in one paragraph: instrument(s), setup, trigger, and management rules.
- Commit to a fixed routine: premarket, execution window, and review block; same times daily.
- Use “optionality checks” before entries: if wrong, do you still have a low-damage path to exit or repair?
- Track only the four numbers that matter weekly: expectancy, win rate, average win/avg loss, and maximum adverse excursion.
Market selection & timeframes
Hugh built his approach around liquid FX pairs and later added a crypto sleeve. Liquidity and clear levels matter more than chasing action; he favors timeframes where signal-to-noise is high and hedging is viable.
- Start with 2–3 highly liquid markets; add only after 3 profitable months.
- Anchor analysis on H4/D1 for structure; execute on H1/M15 for precision.
- If spread/fee > 10% of the typical stop, skip the instrument.
- No correlated exposures: if you’re long USD on one pair, avoid doubling that bet elsewhere unless deliberately basket-hedging.
Set up & entry triggers
He keeps entries simple: clear support/resistance, momentum confirmation, and a pre-defined invalidation. The entry isn’t the hero—the management is.
- Mark swing levels on the higher timeframe; trade only the two clearest zones per instrument.
- Entry triggers must be binary: e.g., break-retest with close beyond level, or rejection wick plus follow-through.
- Place the initial stop where your idea is wrong (structure break), not at a fixed pip distance.
- If the setup appears mid-range with no nearby structure, pass—preserve bullets for A-grade spots.
The Zen8 hedge: how he limits damage while staying in the game
Hugh’s trademark is an elegant hedge “repair” workflow. Instead of panic-closing losers, he opens a controlled opposite position, works winners, and uses realized gains to roll off the losing side until flat at a net profit.
- When price invalidates the thesis but structure remains tradable, open a hedge equal to the losing side (1:1 units).
- Manage the hedge like a new trade; do not average the loser.
- On every hedge winner you close, immediately “roll off” 50% of that realized gain to reduce the size of the original losing position.
- Never widen the initial stop on the original leg; the roll-off reduces exposure until the bad leg is closed.
- If both legs stagnate inside a range for N bars (set N=10 on H1), flatten and reassess the structure.
Risk & position sizing
He treats sizing as the keystone: small, repeatable risk keeps you alive long enough for the edge to compound. The hedge does not replace risk control—it complements it.
- Cap initial risk per idea at 0.5%–1.0% of equity; halve it if volatility (ATR) > 1.5× your 20-period baseline.
- Risk is calculated off structural invalidation distance; adjust the lot size, not the stop.
- Daily loss limit: 2R or 2% (whichever comes first); stop trading for the session when hit.
- One active hedge per instrument at a time; no pyramiding until the first scale-out has banked 0.5R.
Trade management: scaling, profit taking, and exits
Management rules do the heavy lifting. Hugh’s playbook favors partials at logical targets and a trailing plan tied to structure, not P&L emotion.
- Take the first scale at 1R or first opposing level; move stop to breakeven only after a higher-timeframe close beyond the level.
- Trail behind swing structure or a 3-bar low/high; never inside random noise.
- If momentum stalls and MAs compress while RSI diverges at your target zone, exit remainder—don’t donate gains back.
- Journal every exit with a screenshot and one sentence: “Why here?”
The crypto sleeve: long-bias, scale-in, and treasury mindset
Hugh added crypto with a pragmatic portfolio view. He treats it like a separate sleeve: long-bias core, tactical adds/trims around key levels, and strict sizing to avoid equity shocks.
- Keep crypto exposure ≤ 20–30% of total trading/investing equity unless you’ve proven a higher tolerance through cycles.
- Build core positions via DCA at weekly levels; reserve 30–40% cash for capitulation wicks.
- Trim 25–33% into prior supply zones; redeploy on pullbacks to reclaimed support.
- No leverage on alts; if you must use leverage, confine it to majors and only for hedges.
Psychology & routines
Mindset is a standing pillar in Hugh’s work; consistent routines beat bursts of intensity. He emphasizes deliberate practice, review, and environment design.
- Pre-market: 10 minutes of breath work, then top-down markups; no social feeds before first trade.
- During session: one checklist before each order—setup name, risk, invalidation, management plan.
- Post-market: record R-multiple, screenshots, and a one-line lesson; weekly, compute expectancy and tag A/B/C setups.
- Maintain a “kill list” of behaviors (e.g., revenge trades); if any appear twice in a week, reduce size by 50% next week.
Tooling & record-keeping
He leverages simple, durable tools that keep him honest: charts for structure, a journal for data, and occasional automation to speed testing—not to replace thinking.
- Use fixed templates: one clean chart per timeframe with the same indicators and colors.
- Journal in a spreadsheet or app with forced fields: setup, R risked, MAE/MFE, notes, screenshot link.
- Backtest one small improvement at a time (e.g., new scale-out rule) over at least 100 historical trades before going live.
- Review monthly: prune the bottom-quartile setup or rule and double-down on the top-quartile performer.
Playbook to go: your first 30 days
Hugh’s approach is modular—start small, build consistency, then layer complexity like hedging and multi-market baskets. The goal is a controlled ramp, not heroics.
- Days 1–7: pick one FX pair, map levels, define a single entry trigger, risk 0.5% max.
- Days 8–14: execute 10 trades; journal everything; no hedges yet.
- Days 15–21: introduce the Zen8 hedge on invalidations; practice the 50% roll-off rule on winners.
- Days 22–30: add scale-outs and a second instrument or a small crypto core; run a weekly expectancy review and refine.
Size Risk First: Fixed R Per Trade, Adjust For Volatility
Hugh Kimura keeps it simple: pick a fixed R—the amount you’re willing to lose per idea—and protect it like your life depends on it. He sizes every position from the stop back to entry so the dollar risk remains constant, no matter the instrument. When volatility spikes, Hugh dials down size instead of widening stops randomly. The goal is consistency in risk, not heroics in position size.
Kimura also treats risk like a thermostat: if ATR balloons to 1.5× the 20-period baseline, he turns the heat down by cutting size in half. He caps the day with a hard stop—hit 2R down and he’s done—so one bad session can’t spiral. After a small drawdown, he trades “crawl mode” with reduced R until the equity curve regains higher ground. This way, his edge can compound steadily without being wrecked by a single outlier move.
Hedge Smart: Repair Losers With Controlled Opposite Positions
Hugh Kimura doesn’t panic-cut a loser the moment it turns; he builds a controlled hedge on the opposite side and manages it like a fresh idea. The hedge is sized one-for-one with the original position, so he can stop the bleeding without guessing tops or bottoms. Instead of averaging down, Hugh treats the hedge as the only “active” trade and works it toward logical targets. When the hedge pays, he uses part of those realized gains to reduce or close the original losing leg.
Kimura keeps it mechanical: keep the original stop where the thesis is invalidated, never widen it, and let hedge profits do the repair work. If price compresses and both legs chop for too long, he flattens and resets rather than letting commissions and noise erode P&L. He also sets a time limit—if the hedge hasn’t produced a clean scale-out within a set number of bars, it’s a reset signal. The whole point is staying solvent and emotionally steady while the market sorts itself out.
Diversify By Instrument, Strategy, And Timeframe To Smooth Equity
Hugh Kimura spreads risk so no single idea can bully the account. He mixes uncorrelated instruments first—think one or two FX majors, a separate crypto sleeve, and maybe metals—then layers different play styles on top. That means a breakout method alongside a mean-reversion or pullback method, not just two flavors of the same thing. He also staggers holding periods so there’s always something intraday, something swing, and something longer-term working in parallel.
Kimura sets guardrails to keep diversification real, not cosmetic. He caps correlated exposure (e.g., USD longs across pairs) and won’t let any one “theme” exceed a set percentage of equity. Each sleeve has its own risk budget and review cycle, so a cold strategy doesn’t drain capital from a hot one. The result is a steadier equity curve where different engines take turns pulling the load.
Trade The Structure: Simple Levels, Binary Triggers, Mechanical Management
Hugh Kimura starts with clean support and resistance, then waits for the price to prove it. He wants binary triggers: either a break-and-retest with a close beyond the level or a firm rejection wick followed by immediate follow-through. Entries are placed only where the structure gives a clear invalidation point, so the stop lives at the moment the idea is wrong, not a random pip count. If the price is stuck mid-range with no nearby structure, Kimura simply passes and preserves his ammo.
Management is just as mechanical. Hugh Kimura takes partials at the first opposing level or 1R and only moves to breakeven after a higher-timeframe close confirms the break. He trails behind a swing structure or a recent 3-bar low/high, never inside noise, where he can get whipsawed. If momentum fades and compression builds at the target, he exits instead of “hoping,” then journals the decision with a screenshot for review.
Process Over Prediction: Routine, Journaling, Expectancy Metrics Drive Decisions
Hugh Kimura builds his edge around habits, not hunches. He runs a fixed daily routine—prep, execute, review—so decisions come from a checklist instead of mood. Every trade gets logged the same way: setup name, risk in R, target plan, outcome, MAE/MFE, and a quick note on what he’d do again. That creates a clean feedback loop where patterns in behavior show up faster than patterns on a chart.
Kimura then turns data into decisions with a few core metrics. Expectancy tells him which setups earn their keep; win rate and average win/loss reveal if sizing or exits need work. If a setup’s 20-trade expectancy dips negative, it’s benched or reworked before another dollar is risked. Weekly, he tags mistakes, and if the same error repeats, he automatically cuts the size the following week. The message from Hugh Kimura is simple: process first, predictions second—because consistency is what compounds.
Hugh Kimura’s core message is pragmatic: build a simple, repeatable edge, then protect it with structure and risk discipline. On the FX side, he concentrates on tight-spread majors—EURUSD and USDJPY—so hedging is cost-effective, and he keeps entries grounded in clear support/resistance rather than forecasts. The hedge isn’t a bailout; it’s a controlled, one-for-one counter-position he can work tactically while the original thesis is invalid, allowing him to repair the book without hope-trading. He backs this with a steady routine—brief chart review, then research and content blocks—so decisions come from process, not mood.
He treats crypto as a separate sleeve with a long-term bias: research projects, keep some exposure, take partial profits on pops, and rebuy on pullbacks. That stance sits on a bigger view—that crypto can serve as an alternative or complement to fiat over time—so having at least a little allocation preserves optionality. But he’s quick to warn against hype: avoid anyone promising “the next moon” or relentlessly pushing a single project, since financial incentives may be involved.
Put together, Hugh Kimura’s playbook is plain English and brutally usable: focus on liquid instruments and obvious levels, size from the stop so R stays constant, use hedges as mechanical repairs—not excuses—and let a separate, researched crypto sleeve compound in the background. It’s a toolkit built to smooth the equity curve and keep you solvent long enough for the edge to do its job.
