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This episode of the Words of Rizdom podcast features trader Krishna Sharma—better known as RTD—sitting down in London to unpack how a 20-year-old became a mentor-level presence in the Viper Group. His “Road to Dubai” vision isn’t about a city; it’s a shorthand for no-ceiling ambition, disciplined work, and choosing the harder, better path. The conversation traces how Krishna went from spotting blue P/L numbers on a phone in school to building a reputation for self-awareness, leadership, and consistency that older traders respect.
In this piece, you’ll learn the strategy beneath Krishna’s results: how eliminating the fear of success keeps you from self-sabotage, why stepping outside your comfort zone is a trading edge, and how a clear vision compounds tiny daily improvements into real account growth. We’ll distill his playbook into beginner-friendly takeaways on mindset, risk framing, and habits—so you can copy what works, skip the fluff, and trade with intent from your very next session.
Krishna Sharma Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
Daily Prep That Builds Edge
Krishna keeps the edge simple: show up prepared, trade only when conditions match your plan, and let data guide risk. The goal is to remove guessing before the bell so execution feels automatic.
- Define a “trade window” (e.g., London 7–10 am, New York 9:45–11:30 am) and don’t trade outside it.
- Pre-mark three levels: prior day high/low, session VWAP, and first hour high/low; trade only when price is interacting with one of them.
- Write a one-line bias before open: “Bullish above X while above VWAP; neutral in chop; bearish below Y.”
- If the first two 5-minute candles have overlapping bodies >70% of their range, label the open “choppy” and stand down until a level breaks and retests.
- Set alerts at levels; no chart dragging, no chasing.
A+ Setups Only (Everything Else Is a Pass)
He filters hard. The edge is a repeatable context—not a hunch. If the market isn’t offering his context, he does nothing.
- Trade only two structures:
- Break–Retest–Go: level breaks on increased relative volume (>1.2× 20-bar average), pulls back to the level, prints a rejection wick or inside bar, then resumes.
- Fail–Back-In Range: price pokes above/below a key level, immediately fails back inside, and closes back through VWAP.
- Require confluence: level + VWAP alignment + relative volume signal; if any one is missing, skip.
- Limit to 3 trades max per session; if the first trade is an A+, the second must be an A+ or you’re done.
- No new trades in the final 15 minutes of your window—protect the day’s P/L and headspace.
Risk That Survives Bad Days
Consistency comes from sizing that doesn’t punish learning. Krishna keeps risk small, scales when the market proves him right, and cuts when it doesn’t.
- Risk 0.25R–0.5R per starter; build to 1R–1.25R only after the retest confirms (close back through level/VWAP).
- Hard stop beyond the invalidation (tick beyond level for breaks; beyond wick extreme for fail-back-in). No widening.
- If price touches your entry a third time without progress, scratch to -0.1R/flat—“third touch, no go” means context weakened.
- Daily loss cap = 2R or first C-grade trade attempted—whichever comes first.
- After a full 2R day, the next session starts at half size until a green day resets.
Trade Management You Can Repeat
He manages winners with pre-planned scaling and mechanical profit locks to reduce decision fatigue.
- On a +1R move, take ⅓ off and move the stop to breakeven minus fees.
- At next target (prior H/L or measured move = distance from level to first pullback), take another ⅓; trail final ⅓ behind VWAP or a 9/20 EMA cross on your execution timeframe.
- If the candle closes through VWAP against your position and relative volume spikes, exit remainder—context flipped.
- Never add to losers; only add after a close confirms your level.
Psychology: Kill the Fear of Success
Krishna talks openly about self-sabotage when trades start working. The fix is pre-commitment and environment.
- Pre-commit in writing: “If price reaches +1R, I will take one scale. No exceptions.”
- Use a countdown (e.g., 3 deep breaths) before clicking any early exit that isn’t in the plan.
- Hide P/L until session end; display only R-multiple and checklist status.
- When you catch yourself “protecting gains,” ask: “Did my invalidation hit?” If not—hands off.
Journal Like a Builder, Not a Poet
The journal exists to change behavior tomorrow, not to write essays. Keep it structured, score it, and iterate.
- Log five fields only per trade: setup tag (BRG/FBR), level used, R planned/realized, reason to enter (one sentence), reason to exit (one sentence).
- Score the process (A/B/C) separately from the P/L; only A-process setups are eligible for size increases next week.
- Weekly review: export screenshots of winners and losers, mark what the best had in common (e.g., VWAP alignment + volume spike). Turn those into rules or filters for next week.
- Maintain a “Stop Doing” list (max 3 items). Example: “No trades 5 minutes after news” or “No counter-VWAP trades.”
Scaling Without Blowing Up
He earns the right to size up. Size follows proven execution, not a good mood or one hot day.
- Require 10 consecutive A-process trades (not all winners) before bumping size by +25%.
- If a week closes red or you break a cardinal rule twice, step size down one notch for the next 5 sessions.
- Cap total open risk at 1.25R across all positions; no overlapping bets on the same thesis (e.g., multiple pairs/stocks tied to one risk event).
- Keep a pilot account or SIM lane to test any new idea for 20 trades before bringing it live.
Environment & Routine (Make Winning Your Default)
Surroundings shape decisions. Krishna emphasizes a clean routine, a tight circle, and fewer distractions.
- Fixed start: desk 30 minutes before your window; chart markup done the night before.
- Close socials, silence phone, and keep one news source with alerts only for pre-defined high-impact events.
- Use the same workspace template every day: watchlist left, execution middle, higher-timeframe right, journal pane below.
- End-of-day 10-minute reset: mark best trade screenshot, update “Stop Doing” list, set tomorrow’s levels, shut down.
When Not to Trade (Edge Preservation Rules)
Not trading is a skill. He’s explicit about standing down when his edge is statistically weaker.
- No trades on 3+ overlapping sessions (ATR < 80% of 20-day average and daily body < 40% of range).
- Stand down 15 minutes pre-/post scheduled high-impact news unless the plan was set before the day started.
- If your first two trades violate plan elements (e.g., no confluence), end the session; review immediately.
- Skip any day you can’t complete the full pre-market routine—edge starts with prep, not charts.
The Two-Track Growth Plan
Krishna runs a simple dual focus: master one playbook now, build a broader skill stack over time.
- Track A: trade one instrument/timeframe with the rules above until you’ve logged 200 A-process trades.
- Track B (off-hours): study one new context per quarter (e.g., opening drive, VWAP fades). Create a one-page rule card and SIM it for 20 days before going live.
- Every 90 days, prune: keep the top 2 setups by expectancy, drop the rest, and rewrite the rule cards.
Leadership & Feedback Loops
He treats trading like a team sport even when trading solo. Feedback accelerates growth and keeps standards high.
- Do a weekly debrief with a trusted peer: share your top 3 charts, one broken rule, and one improvement for next week.
- Create a public commitment (private group is fine): post your pre-market levels and post-market scorecard (process only).
- Mentorship rule: you can ask for advice after you’ve done the work—bring charts, stats, and a specific question.
- Protect your circle: mute any chat that celebrates lotto gains, revenge trades, or rule-breaking.
Size Risk First: Let R, not P&L, drive every decision
Krishna Sharma is blunt about where real control lives: position risk, not price predictions. He frames every trade in R—predefined risk units—so the math stays the same whether the account is up or down. That keeps him from “revenge sizing” after a loser or getting reckless after a big win. He decides the invalidation first, then backs into size so the stop equals a fixed R, never the other way around.
When Krishna says “let R lead,” he means your day, week, and session all have hard caps long before the charts open. If a setup can’t fit inside that risk box, it’s not a setup for him. He measures progress in process and R-multiples, hiding cash P&L so emotions have less room to hijack decisions. And when the trade moves in his favor, he scales only if the context strengthens, keeping total live risk bounded by the same R logic that started the idea.
Use Volatility to Allocate, Not Feelings—ATR and IV set size.
Krishna Sharma treats volatility as the throttle, not the thrill. He sizes positions off ATR or implied volatility, so stop distance and contract count adjust automatically to current conditions. If ATR expands 2×, his unit size halves; if ATR compresses, size scales up—same R, different quantity. He won’t override this with a “strong feeling,” because feelings don’t settle margin calls.
When options are involved, Krishna lets IV rank determine which strategies even qualify: high IV favors defined-risk premium plays; low IV pushes him toward directional debit structures or spot. He aligns targets to volatility too—wider ATR means wider take-profit bands and fewer trades, while quiet regimes demand tighter targets and faster exits. He avoids stacking multiple positions that all key off the same vol shock to prevent correlated drawdowns. And before he scales in, he requires both price confirmation and stable—or improving—vol metrics, keeping total live risk consistent with his volatility-based plan.
Diversify by Underlying, Strategy, and Duration to Smooth Equity
Krishna Sharma spreads edge across uncorrelated levers so one idea can’t sink the week. He mixes underlyings (indices, a couple of liquid single names, and one FX pair) so drivers aren’t identical. Then he diversifies by strategy—trend continuation, mean reversion around VWAP, and a defined-risk options play—so payoff shapes differ. Finally, he staggers duration: intraday A+ setups, swing holds of 2–5 days, and occasional options structures that work over 10–30 days.
Krishna tracks correlation like a risk hawk: if two positions move off the same macro impulse, he treats them as one and caps total R. He avoids duplicating the same thesis in three tickers; one clear bet is cleaner than correlated clutter. He rebalances attention weekly—promote what’s working across regimes, bench what’s bleeding expectancy. And when volatility clusters, he shortens duration and trims the menu to the lowest-correlation plays, keeping the equity curve steadier without killing upside.
Trade Mechanics Over Prediction: Trigger, Entry, Stop, Scale, Exit
Krishna Sharma doesn’t chase calls; he executes checklists. His bias means nothing without a trigger—break-and-retest at a level or a fail-back-in through VWAP—printed on real volume. Entry waits for confirmation, not anticipation: close back above/below the level or an inside-bar break with relative volume >1.2×. The stop goes where the idea is dead, not “where it hurts less,” usually a tick beyond the invalidation wick or level.
Once in, Krishna manages by rules, not vibes. First scale at +1R, stop to breakeven minus fees; second scale at the next objective (prior high/low or measured move), then trail the last piece behind VWAP or a 9/20 EMA cross. If price closes through VWAP against him on a volume spike, he’s out—context flipped. No adds to losers, only adds after fresh confirmation. Five boxes—trigger, entry, stop, scale, exit—keep his focus on mechanics, so predictions stay optional and profits stay repeatable.
Prefer Defined Risk; Tame Undefined with Hedging, Time, and Size
Krishna Sharma prefers trades where the worst-case is known upfront. He’ll pick a debit spread, a credit spread with a protective wing, or a hard-stop spot trade so the downside is pre-priced. When he does touch undefined risk—like a short naked leg—he overlays a cheap long option, caps size to a fraction of normal (≤0.5R), and sets an event timer so he’s flat into binary news. Time is a tool: he chooses expirations that let theta or momentum work without forcing panic decisions in the final hours.
Risk gets boxed in three ways: structure, contingency, and exposure. Structure defines the loss; contingency adds a hedge that activates on volatility spikes or level breaks; exposure limits total open R across correlated ideas. Krishna won’t “roll and hope”—he exits when the invalidation hits, then re-enters with a cleaner structure if the thesis reappears. He also scales winners synthetically—locking spreads or converting to butterflies—to protect gains while keeping a runner. That way, whether the market snaps or drifts, the account’s worst day is controlled and the best days aren’t left to chance.
Conclusion: What Krishna Sharma Actually Teaches You to Do
Krishna Sharma’s edge isn’t a magic indicator—it’s a rulebook that makes good outcomes more likely and bad days survivable. He sizes everything in R so one loss never spirals, lets ATR/IV dictate allocation so position size adapts to regime, and spreads exposure by underlying, strategy, and duration so one thesis can’t wreck the week. His entries are mechanical—break-retest or fail-back-in with real volume—paired with hard invalidations, staged scales (+1R, objective, then trail), and zero tolerance for adding to losers. Most importantly, he favors defined-risk structures and boxes any undefined risk with wings, time, and smaller size.
The meta-lesson is process over prediction. Krishna shows that tight trade windows, pre-marked levels, and A+ filters beat “gut feel” over time. Journaling focuses on decisions, not prose; reviews turn screenshots into new rules; and psychology is engineered, not hoped for—hide P&L, pre-commit scales, and cap daily R. If you copy only a few things, copy these: set risk in R, let volatility set size, demand confluence before entry, define your exits before you click, and protect the downside with structure and discipline. Do that consistently, and the results stop feeling random.
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