Table of Contents
In this YouTube sit-down, the guest known as Scarface (Tony) joins Jack for a straight-talk interview on how they actually trade options. Tony lays out why he trades only from 9:30–11:00, builds a top-down bias on the daily/4H, and executes on the M1 with a clean break-and-retest play. They also dig into transparency (live logins, broker statements), why they prefer regulated stock-options over unregulated FX setups, and how correlating single names to the Nasdaq keeps them on the right side of momentum.
You’ll learn the core of Tony’s trader strategy: precise one-minute entries with higher-timeframe targets, why partials matter for options (Theta/Delta realities), and how a ~57% win rate paired with ~2R can still compound when you size up only on A+ trending days. We’ll also cover his rules for avoiding consolidation chop, the specific execution windows that catch opening-drive momentum, and the practical differences between stocks, futures, and forex for beginners looking to build a mechanical plan without the fluff.
Scarface Trades Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
Core Identity & Market Focus
Here’s the bird’s-eye view so you can copy the parts that actually move the needle. Scarface Trades is a U.S. equity options day trader who builds a higher-timeframe bias and executes with surgical precision on the 1-minute chart.
- Trades stock options on large-cap, high-beta names (think tech leaders with tight spreads and heavy volume).
- Index tether: confirms single-name direction against QQQ/NQ to avoid fighting market flow.
- Avoids illiquid weeklies and low-volume chains; prioritizes tight bid-ask and ≥ 1,000 OI on chosen strikes.
- No overnight risk; all positions are intraday.
Time Windows & Screens
Short, defined windows keep focus high and errors low. If the market isn’t aligned during these windows, he stands down.
- Primary execution window: 9:30–11:00 ET; secondary: 14:00–15:30 ET only if A+ trend persists.
- Mandatory 5–10 min post-open observation before first entry; no chasing the first 60 seconds.
- Maximum trading days/week: 3–4; if Monday is sloppy, reduce size or skip.
- Stop trading immediately after two consecutive losers or after daily profit target is hit.
Top-Down Prep (Daily → 4H → 15M → 1M)
Bias comes from higher timeframes; entries live on the 1-minute. This prevents marrying a scalp idea that’s swimming upstream.
- Daily/4H: mark key swing highs/lows, gaps, and prior day high/low (PDH/PDL).
- 15M map: draw intraday structure levels (opening range high/low, VWAP interaction zones).
- 1M execution: trade only in direction of the 15M + index confirmation.
- If higher-timeframe bias flips mid-session (news, break of structure), flatten and reassess—don’t “average understanding.”
A+ Setups Only
The playbook is intentionally simple. You’ll trade fewer signals, but each is cleaner and easier to size.
- Break-and-Retest: price breaks HTF level, pulls back shallow, 1M momentum candle confirms; enter on retest failure.
- Liquidity Sweep to Level: quick wick through PDH/PDL or pre-drawn liquidity pool, immediate reclaim in bias direction; enter on first 1M HL/LH.
- Trend Continuation at VWAP: in strong trend, first clean pullback to VWAP with confirming index push; avoid counter-trend.
- If signal quality < A: skip. B-setups are the tax on your equity curve.
Options Selection & Strikes
Picking the wrong contract will sabotage even perfect reads. Keep it mechanical.
- Use near-term weeklies, but not zero-day unless spread/volume are pristine.
- Choose strikes with Delta ~0.30–0.45 for trend moves; shift to ~0.20–0.30 for opening drive momentum.
- Avoid contracts with > $0.05–$0.07 spread (name-dependent) or erratic prints.
- If IV is spiking on news, reduce size and widen partials to compensate for premium decay swings.
Entry, Stops, and Exits (Precision on the 1M)
Execution is rule-bound so you can size up without flinching. One candle does not equal confirmation.
- Entry: after the signal candle closes; no “anticipation fills.” Use limit at structure or market if momentum is accelerating with tape.
- Initial stop: beyond invalidation wick/level on the underlying chart, not the option premium.
- First partial: +0.8R to +1.0R; move stop to breakeven on the underlying after partial hits.
- Second partial: +1.8R to +2.2R or at next HTF level; trail below 1M swing lows/highs.
- Hard exit if the index diverges (e.g., single name pushing up while QQQ stalls/fades for 3–5 minutes).
Risk Limits & Sizing Ladder
Risk keeps you in business; the ladder tells you when to press. This is how the same edge compounds.
- Base risk: 0.5% account per trade; max 1% on A+ trends with HTF + index + volume alignment.
- Daily loss cap: 1.5% (one A-grade loser + one scratch). Hit it? Flat screen time.
- Max contracts determined by worst-case slippage to stop—if you can’t exit cleanly, size down.
- Scale up only after 4 consecutive green weeks with < 15% drawdown and ≥ 1.6 profit factor.
No-Trade Filters (Capital Preservation Mode)
These filters delete your worst trades. If one triggers, step aside.
- Opening chop: first 15–20 minutes forms overlapping 1M bars around VWAP with no index lead.
- News spikes: major data within ±5 minutes—no fresh entries.
- Spread/volume deterioration: bid-ask widens materially or tape goes patchy—contracts off-limits.
- Inside-day drift against your bias: if the 15M can’t print structure, there’s nothing to do.
Pre-Market Checklist (10 Minutes, Max)
Preparation is fast and repeatable. You’re hunting the same behaviors, not reinventing the wheel.
- Mark PDH/PDL, overnight high/low, pre-market swing levels; note gaps and obvious liquidity pools.
- Pick 2–3 tickers with strongest relative strength/weakness to QQQ; discard the rest.
- Predefine A+ trigger levels and the exact invalidation points; pre-compute contract size from stop distance.
Live Execution Rules (At the Hard Right Edge)
This is how you avoid emotional decisions once the market starts moving.
- Speak the trigger out loud (or type it): “Break-and-retest long at PDH; stop below retest wick.”
- If price misses your level by > 0.2R, let it go. Chasing is how R multiples vanish.
- One add-only rule: add once at +0.8R on continuation with stop moved to original invalidation.
- If a trade lingers > 12–15 minutes without progress, trim or exit—time is risk in options.
Managing Options-Specific Realities
Options behave differently than shares. Bake those differences into your rules.
- Theta awareness: if midday chop sets in, reduce hold times and take faster partials.
- IV crush risk: if the move was news-driven, sell into the IV spike rather than waiting for textbook targets.
- Early exercise/assignment irrelevant intraday; focus on liquidity and slippage at exits.
- Never scale into red options hoping Delta “catches up.” Only add when the underlying thesis strengthens.
Post-Trade Journaling (Keeps You Honest)
The journal turns anecdotes into edge. Keep it quantitative and brief.
- Log: setup tag, HTF bias, index confirmation (Y/N), entry time bucket, R multiple, hold time.
- Weekly stats: win rate, average win/loss in R, profit factor, time-of-day expectancy, ticker expectancy.
- Promote/demote setups: only A-setups with PF ≥ 1.8 stay; anything < 1.2 gets benched.
Scaling the Business, Not Just Trades
Treat trading like a firm. These rules protect focus as size increases.
- Ticker whitelist: cap to 3–5 names with proven liquidity & expectancy; no random flavor-of-the-day.
- Withdrawals: skim 20–30% of monthly PnL once equity curve makes new high; build war chest for dry months.
- Process > outcome: green day that violated rules counts as a process loss—review and reset size next session.
One-Page Intraday Card (Print This)
This is the operational snapshot that sits next to the screen. It removes hesitation.
- Bias: ___ (Daily/4H) | Key levels: ___ | Index state (QQQ): Trend / Range / Diverging
- A+ triggers today: ___ at ___; invalidation: ___ ; target zones: ___
- Contract: ___ strike, expiry ___, spread ≤ ___ ; size: ___ ; max risk: ___
- First partial at +1R, second at HTF level; stop to BE after first partial; quit time: 11:00 ET or after target/drawdown hit.
Size Risk Like a Pro: Fixed R, Scale Only on A+
Tony “Scarface” keeps it simple: every trade risks a fixed R so the outcome is measured in multiples, not dollars. That means your stop is set by structure on the underlying, then position size is calculated to equal the same fraction of equity each time. He’ll only bump size when the setup is A+—higher-timeframe alignment, clean level, and confirmation from the index—never because he “feels good.” This keeps the equity curve smooth and kills the impulse to revenge trade.
The rule is strict: one unit of risk per trade until the data proves your edge, then a preplanned scale ladder on A+ conditions only. If Tony takes two losses back-to-back, he’s done for the day or halves risk—process over ego. Winners are managed in R as well: partial at +1R, trail to breakeven, then aim for +2R at the next level, allowing the occasional runner to pay for the scratches. The punchline is discipline—size by math, not mood, and let the market earn any increase in risk.
Trade the Mechanics, Not Predictions: Let Price Action Dictate
Tony “Scarface” doesn’t guess; he executes a checklist. He builds bias from the higher timeframe, then waits for a mechanical trigger—break-and-retest, liquidity sweep reclaim, or trend pullback at VWAP. No trigger, no trade, even if a “macro story” sounds convincing. The idea is to outsource decision-making to repeatable behaviors so emotions don’t creep in.
When a trigger fires, Tony manages it by rules, not vibes: enter after candle close, stop at structural invalidation, partial at +1R, then trail. If the index diverges or momentum fades for several minutes, he cuts without debate. Predictions can be fun, but his PnL comes from following the same mechanical steps every time. Tony treats discretion as a privilege earned by data, not a default mode.
Volatility-Based Allocation: Wider Stops, Smaller Size, Longer Holds
Tony “Scarface” adjusts risk to volatility so the trade fits the tape instead of forcing the tape to fit the plan. On fast, wide ranges he widens the structural stop on the underlying and cuts contract count so the dollar risk stays constant. That keeps him from getting wicked out by noise while protecting the downside when premiums are jumpy. He only takes tighter stops and larger size when the market is calmer and structure is clean.
With options, Tony lets volatility work for him rather than against him. In strong trends he accepts longer holds to let Delta build and IV stay elevated, but in choppy midday he takes quicker partials to dodge Theta bleed. He avoids overconcentrating in one name when volatility clusters; instead he rotates to tickers with smoother behavior or sits out. The result is a position that breathes with the market—same risk, smarter distance, and exits that respect both price structure and premium dynamics.
Diversify by Underlying, Setup, and Timeframe to Smooth PnL
Tony “Scarface” spreads risk across a small whitelist of tickers, a couple of proven setups, and two execution windows so no single mistake nukes the day. He’ll rotate between names that lead or lag QQQ, only trading those that show clean levels and steady options liquidity. If his A+ break-and-retest isn’t printing, he’ll wait for a liquidity sweep reclaim or trend pullback—same bias, different trigger—so the plan doesn’t depend on one pattern showing up. This keeps his expectancy stable even when a favorite name is stuck in chop.
Time diversification also matters for Tony. He prioritizes 9:30–11:00 ET for opening drive momentum and considers 14:00–15:30 ET only when the trend persists, avoiding the dead middle where Theta and noise chew up options. He caps exposure per ticker and per setup to prevent overconcentration, and he quits early if the day’s edge isn’t there. The mix—different underlyings, multiple but defined triggers, and selective time windows—creates more ways to win while keeping risk tightly boxed in.
Define Risk Upfront: Hard Stops, Partials, Daily Drawdown Kill-Switch
Tony “Scarface” treats risk like a pre-trade invoice—you pay it once, never renegotiate mid-trade. He sets a hard stop at structural invalidation on the underlying, not on the option premium, and sizes the contract count so that hit equals one fixed R. The first partial comes at +1R to bank momentum and push the trade to breakeven protection; anything after that is earned, not hoped for. If price wobbles but structure holds, he stays; if structure breaks, he’s out—no “giving it a little room.”
His kill-switch rules are equally blunt. Two losses back-to-back or a −1.5% daily drawdown triggers an immediate shutdown, screens off, stats later. News volatility within five minutes of a release? No fresh entries. If spreads widen beyond his preset threshold or QQQ diverges for several minutes against the idea, he exits rather than “wait and see.” That’s Tony’s edge in plain English: define the risk before the click, enforce it after, and let profit targets be optional—risk limits are not.
Tony “Scarface” makes trading simple by design: build bias on the higher timeframes, wait for a clean mechanical trigger, and only risk a fixed R when all conditions align. His calendar is as strict as his charts—most work happens 9:30–11:00 ET, with a possible late-day window only when trend quality stays A+. By keeping a tight whitelist of liquid, high-beta names and syncing them to QQQ/NQ, he avoids the random chop that wrecks options traders, and he never forces a setup that isn’t there.
Risk is the non-negotiable backbone. Tony sizes every trade from the underlying’s structural stop, takes the first partial at +1R, and trails into higher-timeframe levels while watching for index divergence. On volatile days he widens stops and cuts size so the same dollar risk breathes with the tape; on calm days he tightens up and presses winners. Two losses or a −1.5% drawdown flips the kill switch—screen off, ego off, process on. The result is a repeatable playbook: mechanics over predictions, defined risk over hope, and disciplined execution that lets a handful of clean A+ trades pay for the inevitable scratches.
