Table of Contents
In this interview, Moritz Czubatinski sits down on the Desire To Trade podcast to unpack his path from pro poker to full-time markets. He’s the co-creator behind Edgewonk and Tradeciety, a futures day trader in Hong Kong who swing trades Forex, travels light, and treats journaling like a trader’s QA department. You’ll hear why he favors tick charts, trend-following, and price action over prediction, and how healthy routines and tight execution keep his edge sharp.
In this piece, you’ll learn the core of Moritz’s strategy—trend trades built on tick-chart structure, tight stops, exits by price action (not fixed take-profits), and simple confirmation indicators—plus the review process that makes it work: 50-trade samples, standard-deviation guardrails, and ruthless post-trade analysis. We’ll translate his journal rules into beginner-friendly steps (track win rate, risk-reward, risk per trade, alternative outcomes, and whether your management helps or hurts), show how to align strategy with your lifestyle, and highlight his “motivation comes from doing” mindset so you can build momentum now—not someday.
Moritz Czubatinski Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
Markets, Sessions & Timeframes
Moritz is selective about where and when he plays. He focuses on liquid markets and sessions where his patterns repeat, and he builds structure from tick and intraday charts so each day offers enough high-quality swings to trade. This section shows you how to pick markets, sessions, and chart scales that keep you on your edge and out of the noise.
- Trade liquid futures (e.g., indices/currencies) or major FX pairs during their primary session; avoid off-hours.
- Use tick or 1–5 minute charts for entries; keep a 15–60 minute chart for bias and key levels.
- Pre-define the session window you trade (e.g., first 2–3 hours of London/NY open); no trades outside it.
- Build a weekly “universe” of 3–6 instruments and stick to them; remove anything with widening spreads/slippage.
- Skip days after major platform, internet, or schedule disruptions; protect execution quality first.
Trend Structure & Trade Bias
He trades with the path of least resistance: identify trend, then trade pullbacks into structure. You’ll define what “uptrend/downtrend” means before the day starts, so decisions become mechanical when the price moves.
- Define uptrend as: higher high (HH) + higher low (HL) on your bias chart; downtrend as LH + LL.
- Only look for longs in an uptrend and shorts in a downtrend; no counter-trend unless a full reversal structure forms (break of swing + retest + continuation).
- Draw the active swing (impulse) and the pullback channel; entries must occur within that channel.
- Mark two reference levels before the session: prior day high/low and session open range; trade in their direction or stand down.
Entry Triggers: Pullback Into Value
Moritz favors clean, repeatable entry patterns that can be logged and studied in 50-trade samples. This keeps discretion limited and reviewable.
- Long setup: pullback to prior swing high/structure zone, shallow rejection wick, then break of the pullback trendline; enter on break + 1 tick.
- Short setup: mirror of the long—pullback to prior swing low/structure zone, rejection wick, break of pullback trendline; enter on break − 1 tick.
- Only take entries where the stop can sit beyond the most recent swing (not arbitrary points).
- If spread/volatility widens such that stop distance > 1.5× your typical risk, skip the trade.
Risk Sizing & Initial Stop
His risk is small, consistent, and placed where the setup is proven wrong—not where it “feels” safe. You’ll cap daily damage and keep samples statistically meaningful.
- Risk 0.5%–1.0% of account per trade; never exceed your daily max loss of 2R or two losing trades (whichever comes first).
- Initial stop: beyond the invalidation swing high/low + a small volatility buffer (e.g., 2–4 ticks on futures; adapt by instrument).
- If the valid stop requires > 1R to target the next structure level, skip the trade; do not widen stops to “make it fit.”
- Reduce size by 50% during news windows or unusually high volatility; keep the same stop logic.
Trade Management: Let Winners Work, Cut the Rest
He doesn’t babysit entries; he manages risk and lets structure pay him. This section standardizes how to move to breakeven, scale, and trail without second-guessing.
- Move stop to breakeven only after price closes beyond the impulse high/low and forms a higher low/lower high (structure confirmation, not PnL).
- Take partial (25%–33%) at the first opposing structure level; leave the rest to trail behind swing lows/highs.
- Trail only on candle closes; never on intrabar spikes.
- If price returns to your entry zone without structure confirmation, accept the full risk; do not scratch early out of fear.
Exits: Price Action Over Fixed Targets
His exits are built on the same structure that produced the entry. That keeps the system coherent and testable.
- Primary exit: opposite swing break against your position (LL after a long or HH after a short) on your entry timeframe.
- Secondary exit: exhaustion signal at a higher-timeframe level (e.g., prior day high/low) combined with failure to make progress.
- Time-based exit: if, after N bars (e.g., 20–30 on a 1–2 min or equivalent ticks), the price hasn’t made a new extreme or reached the first target, close the trade.
- Never exit solely because of “round P&L numbers.” Structure rules first.
Playbook Filters: Volatility & Conditions
He uses simple filters to avoid low-quality periods and to size expectations. These guardrails boost your average trade quality.
- Trade when ATR(14) on the entry timeframe is within your normal band; if it’s < 70% of your median, skip trend-continuation plays.
- Avoid first trade in the first 2 minutes of the session; let liquidity shape the opening range.
- Skip trades during tier-1 news candles; reassess on the next close.
- If two consecutive trades come from “late pullbacks” (chasing after an extended run), enforce a cooldown of one full session.
Daily Routine & Preparation
Consistency is built outside the trade. A short, repeatable routine makes execution automatic and calm.
- Pre-market (15–20 min): mark key HTF levels, define trend bias, note news times, and write one sentence: “Today I’ll only take pullbacks to structure with room to first target.”
- Mid-session reset (2 min): if flat, re-draw active swing and confirm bias; if in a trade, check management rules only.
- Post-session (10 min): tag trades, screenshot entries/exits, and jot one improvement for tomorrow.
Journaling: Tags, Samples & Guardrails
He treats journaling as the engine of improvement. You’ll capture the details that move the needle and review them in manageable batches.
- Tag each trade with: setup type (PB-trendline break, etc.), context (trend, range, news), R multiple, MAE/MFE, and management action (BE move, partials).
- Review in 50-trade samples per setup; track win rate, average R, and expectancy; compare to your last 50 to detect drift.
- Set guardrails from your stats: e.g., if MAE routinely < 0.6R, any trade requiring > 1.2R stop is low quality—skip.
- Build a “Top 3 Mistakes” board and assign pre-trade checks to kill each mistake (e.g., “Is there room to first target?”).
Cleaner Charts, Cleaner Mind
He keeps charts minimal, so decisions rely on structure, not indicator noise. Use indicators only if they clarify—not complicate.
- Use one momentum/volatility tool max (e.g., ATR for buffers); remove anything that duplicates information price already shows.
- Fixed templates: entry timeframe shows price, session open, prior day high/low, and your drawn swings; no extra panels during live trading.
- If you add a tool, define its rule in one sentence and log 50 trades with/without it to prove value before keeping it.
Risk & Money Management Rules
Good trades can’t save bad risk discipline. Lock in simple arithmetic that compounds over months, not minutes.
- Hard stop on the day: −2R or two consecutive losers; stop trading immediately.
- Weekly loss cap: −5R; review the journal before resuming the following week.
- Increase size only after two green weeks with expectancy ≥ +0.3R and drawdown < 3R; raise risk by 0.25% increments.
- Withdrawals/re-capitalization scheduled monthly; never mid-drawdown changes.
Personal Edge Maintenance
Edge decays without deliberate upkeep. Protect your process the same way every session.
- Sleep, nutrition, and a consistent start time are part of the system; if any are off, cut size to 50% or sit out.
- One improvement focus per week (e.g., “no counter-trend”); measure it daily in the journal.
- Quarterly playbook audit: keep setups with positive expectancy, drop or rework anything below zero after 100+ trades.
Quick Checklists (Use Before & After Every Session)
Tiny checklists prevent big mistakes. Print these and keep them in sight.
- Pre-trade: trend confirmed? Pullback into structure? Room to first target ≥ stop distance? risk ≤ 1%? news clear?
- In-trade: stop unmoved until structure confirms; partial at first opposing level; trail on closes only.
- Post-trade: screenshot, tag, note one behavior win and one fix; update running 50-trade sample metrics.
The size risk is small and consistent; the cap daily drawdown is automatically
Moritz Czubatinski keeps his edge by sizing like a professional risk manager, not a gambler. He commits to a fixed percentage per trade so losses are predictable, and he never widens stops to “make a setup work.” By locking risk at the account level first, he avoids the emotional spiral that comes from random bet sizes. Consistency is the point: same process, same risk, clean data to review.
He also hard-caps the day with a pre-set drawdown limit, then stops trading the moment it’s hit—no exceptions. That rule protects psychological capital and prevents one rough session from snowballing into a weekly hole. Moritz treats the cap as a circuit breaker: once tripped, the only job left is journaling and recovery, not revenge trading. The result is survivability—smaller dents, faster bounce-backs, and a strategy that can compound without drama.
Trade trend pullbacks with structure; avoid prediction, follow mechanics
Moritz Czubatinski defines bias first, then lets the chart invite him in during a pullback to structure. He wants higher highs and higher lows (or the reverse for shorts) before he even thinks about an entry. The trigger is mechanical: a clean pullback into a prior zone, rejection, then a break of the pullback line. No guessing tops or bottoms, just partnering with momentum already in motion.
He keeps discretion tight by requiring room for the next structure level before committing. If the stop must sit beyond the swing and the reward can’t comfortably reach that next level, Moritz simply skips it. The focus is repeatability—same steps, same validation, same execution—so the edge survives good and bad days alike.
Use volatility buffers for stops; trail on closes, not spikes.s
Moritz Czubatinski places stops where the setup is objectively wrong, then adds a small volatility buffer so random noise doesn’t clip him out. He gauges typical wiggle—think ATR or recent swing volatility—and tucks the stop just beyond that, past the invalidation point. If the required stop becomes too large for his risk parameters, he passes rather than forcing size. The rule is simple: structure first, volatility second, ego nowhere.
For exits, Moritz trails only on candle closes to avoid reacting to intrabar spikes. He wants the market to prove a shift in structure before he surrenders open profit. If price wicks against him but doesn’t close beyond his trailing level, he holds; if it closes past it, he’s out without debate. This keeps winners breathing while cutting losers cleanly, letting the mechanics—not emotions—do the heavy lifting.
Diversify by instrument, setup, and timeframe; keep a tight universe.
Moritz Czubatinski spreads his edge across a small basket of liquid markets so one instrument never dictates his week. He diversifies by setting up too—trend pullback, breakout, retest, or failed retest—so if one pattern cools off, another can still fire. Timeframe diversification adds resilience: he hunts entries on ticks or 1–5 minute charts while the higher timeframe defines bias and targets. This mix reduces dependency on a single condition and smooths equity swings without diluting the core approach.
He keeps the universe tight on purpose, typically three to six instruments he knows inside out. The goal is fewer decisions with higher quality, not chasing every symbol that moves. If two markets are highly correlated, he’ll only take one position to avoid hidden overexposure. Moritz re-evaluates the list regularly, cutting anything with widening spreads or sloppy behavior and replacing it only after proper observation and rehearsal.
Journal every trade; review 50-trade samples to enforce discipline.
Moritz Czubatinski treats the journal like mission control, not a diary. He records setup type, context, stop location, MAE/MFE, partials, and the exact management decisions taken—then screenshots the chart so nothing is left to memory. Each note answers one question: did the trade follow the rules, and did those rules pay? By writing it down the same way every time, he creates clean data that tells the truth even when emotions don’t.
He reviews performance in 50-trade samples to spot drift, pressure points, and edge decay. If a setup’s expectancy slips, he tightens the criteria or pauses it; if management consistently leaves money on the table, he rewrites the trailing rule and tests the next 50. Moritz also tracks a short “behavior score” to measure process compliance, not just P&L, so good losses are protected and sloppy wins don’t get celebrated. The result is a self-correcting loop: rules → execution → journal → upgrade → rules, repeated until the edge sharpens.
Moritz Czubatinski’s edge isn’t a single indicator—it’s the system that wraps around his trades. He sizes small and steady, caps the day, and puts stops where the idea is objectively wrong with a modest volatility buffer. Bias comes first, then he executes a simple play—trade with the trend, buy/sell the pullback into structure, and only if there’s real room to the next level. Trailing happens on closes, not on fear.
He spreads risk intelligently: a tight universe of liquid markets, a couple of proven setups, and alignment across timeframes so entries are precise but context is solid. When volatility or conditions don’t fit the playbook, he sits out rather than forcing action. That restraint protects the equity curve as much as any winning trade.
And the engine behind it all is journaling. Moritz tags every trade the same way, reviews in 50-trade batches, and uses those stats to tighten rules, drop weak ideas, and reinforce what pays. The lesson is simple and repeatable: define structure, manage risk with math, standardize management, and let the journal upgrade your playbook week after week.
