Table of Contents
Andrea—an Italian order-flow specialist with roots in FX/CFDs and deep experience in futures—sits down for a candid interview about what really moves markets and why most “smart money” labels miss the point. He breaks down passive vs. aggressive liquidity, the mechanics of stop runs, and how shifts in his own career—from scalping to more swing-oriented trading alongside software and education work—shaped a practical, testable approach to execution and risk.
In this piece, you’ll learn how Andrea reads order flow to spot book sweeps, liquidity voids, and absorption—and why he prefers striking just after a stop run rather than guessing beforehand. We’ll translate the wonky parts into beginner-friendly takeaways you can apply even if you still trade FX: what a “news gap” really is, why liquidity lives everywhere (not just above highs/below lows), and how daily candles hint at longer-term positioning—so you can build a simple, rules-driven strategy that actually holds up.
Andrea Cimitan Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
Core Beliefs: Order Flow Over “Smart Money” Myths
Andrea Cimitan cuts through jargon by focusing on how orders actually match, not on labels. This section lays out his first principles so you can filter noise and make decisions from what the tape is telling you in real time. You’ll see how liquidity behaves, why stop runs form, and how to turn those into structured trades.
- Trade what the tape proves: prioritize executed volume, delta, and absorption over drawings or narratives.
- Liquidity is everywhere: don’t assume it only sits above highs/below lows—watch where it appears and disappears on the book.
- Stops are fuel, not signals: react to the after-effect of a sweep instead of trying to predict it.
- Think in auctions: price moves when fresh counterparties meet; consolidation = agreement, impulse = new participation.
- Always tie the micro (order flow) to the daily candle’s net positioning to avoid fighting higher-timeframe flow.
Instruments, Sessions, and Timeframes
You need structure before you need nuance. Andrea chooses liquid markets and clear sessions so order-flow signals print cleanly and slippage stays tame. Use this to decide where and when his method performs best.
- Prioritize highly liquid index futures and FX majors; avoid thin hours that distort delta/footprint.
- Anchor bias with the daily; execute on 1–5m for precision, and sanity-check with 15m/1h structure.
- Focus on session opens (e.g., cash equities open) when participation spikes and sweeps are common.
- Note scheduled data (CPI/NFP/PMI): spreads widen, books get pulled, and signals behave differently—adjust or stand down.
- Keep a “do-not-trade” clock window 1–3 minutes before and after high-impact releases unless you have proven stats.
The Stop-Run Reversal (S-R²) Setup
This is Andrea’s bread-and-butter: let price poke a high/low, then trade the reversion when the book shows imbalance → absorption → shift. It matters because you’re no longer guessing; you’re responding to verified behavior.
- Condition: recent swing high/low taken with a burst in aggressive volume (buying through the offer on highs, selling through the bid on lows).
- Evidence 1 (Imbalance): footprint prints stacked single-price imbalances (e.g., 3+ consecutive levels) in the sweep direction.
- Evidence 2 (Absorption): next rotations show large resting liquidity absorbing aggressors (e.g., heavy offer absorption after a buy sweep).
- Trigger: first rotation that fails to extend the sweep and closes back inside prior range/structure.
- Entry: use a limit at the fair-value re-test of the absorption zone; if missed, use the next micro pullback.
- Invalidation: hard stop just beyond the extreme of the sweep (not “somewhere above”—beyond it).
- Targets: 1) close the nearby void/imbalance, 2) mid-range, 3) opposite side of the prior balance. Scale out 50/30/20.
- Metrics: aim for ≥1.8R average; expect ~45–55% win rate if rules are followed and news is filtered.
Trading News Gaps and Liquidity Voids
Around news, market makers often pull quotes, creating “voids.” That’s why candles look gappy on the tape. This section shows how to avoid traps and when a gap-fill is actually not the base case.
- Pre-news: flatten discretionary risk; widen stops only if backed by data—don’t spontaneously “trade the news.”
- During the print: if the order book thins (void), ignore the first impulse; there’s no real two-sided market yet.
- Post-print: trade only after liquidity returns (tightened spread + restored depth) and you see absorption against the impulse.
- No automatic “gaps fill”: treat gap-fill as conditional on renewed two-way flow; if higher-timeframe net positioning agrees with the impulse, skip reversals.
- If trading, use half-size and require cleaner confirmation (two rotations holding absorption).
Execution Checklist (Footprint + DOM)
Great reads die without great execution. Here’s the pre-trade to post-trade flow you can apply immediately so your process is repeatable.
- Pre-trade: mark session ranges, overnight high/low, prior day value area; define one favored direction from the daily.
- Tape tells: look for sweep → stacked imbalance → absorption; confirm decreasing ability to push at the extreme.
- Order type: use passive limits at retests to improve expectancy; switch to market orders only on clear reclaim breaks.
- Positioning: start 0.5–0.7R risk on initial tag; add 0.3–0.5R on the first higher low/lower high after reclaim—only if delta supports.
- Management: move stop to breakeven after first target; trail behind most recent micro swing on remaining size.
- Kill switch: two consecutive rule-breaks or three sequential losers = stop trading the session.
Risk, Sizing, and Drawdown Rules
Order-flow precision doesn’t replace risk control. These rules keep you solvent while variance plays out.
- Daily loss cap = 2–2.5R; stop immediately when hit.
- Max consecutive trades per day: 6; if no A-setups by trade 4, call it.
- News filter: stand down if spreads widen >2× normal or best bid/offer depth collapses.
- Single-trade risk 0.25–0.5% account; intraday total at risk capped at 1.0–1.5%.
- Never widen stops post-fill; scratch instead and re-enter only with fresh confirmation.
Swing Framework from a Daily Anchor
Andrea blends a daily read with intraday execution so the micro aligns with the macro. Do this to avoid fading trend days and to hold winners longer.
- Determine daily bias from net positioning (close vs. open, range relative to prior day, and response to levels).
- Only take S-R² in the direction of daily bias unless daily is neutral—then trade both sides to value area.
- Hold a runner on trend days: if delta persists in your direction and value migrates, keep 10–20% for a session close or prior day level.
- Skip counter-bias trades during strong trend/momentum days (single prints on TPO, persistent delta, or one-time framing).
Journal, Stats, and Iteration
Edge lives in numbers, not impressions. Track these items so you can keep what works and cut what doesn’t.
- Tag each trade: setup (S-R² or other), context (trend/rotation), news state (pre/post/none), and liquidity state (normal/void).
- Record footprint features: number of stacked imbalances, absorption size, and delta shift at entry.
- Maintain distribution stats: expectancy by session, by instrument, and by confirmation count.
- Enforce rule review: one weekly block to prune behaviors with negative expectancy; promote those with stable >1.5R average.
- Build a premarket plan; don’t trade outside it unless a new, documented condition is added for the future.
Size Risk First: Position by Volatility, Not Conviction
Andrea Cimitan starts with risk, not opinions. He sizes positions using the instrument’s current volatility so a “small” trade in a quiet market doesn’t accidentally become a “huge” trade in a wild one. That means ATR or recent range guides the dollar-at-risk, while conviction stays out of the calculator. By normalizing per-trade risk, Andrea keeps drawdowns stable across different instruments and market regimes.
He then scales exposure only after volatility and structure justify it, not because a setup “feels right.” If realized volatility expands, he cuts size proactively so stops don’t balloon. If volatility compresses and structure improves, he allows a measured size increase while keeping the same risk per trade. This way, Andrea Cimitan ensures winners are earned by repeatable mechanics, not by oversized bets masquerading as skill.
Diversify Smartly: Underlying, Strategy, and Timeframe Work Together
Andrea Cimitan doesn’t spread trades randomly—he diversifies so that one idea’s failure doesn’t sink the day. He mixes indices with FX when correlations are moderate, and he pairs mean-reversion entries with momentum continuation, so he isn’t hostage to a single market behavior. He also staggers holding periods, running quick intraday rotations alongside occasional swing holds anchored to the daily bias. This way, he reduces path dependency while keeping execution simple.
Andrea Cimitan treats time-of-day and session as additional diversification levers, avoiding overexposure to a single open or volatility pocket. He caps simultaneous positions that share drivers, trimming when cross-asset correlations spike or a macro event compresses true diversification. He requires each strategy to earn its keep with separate stats, cutting any “passenger” that drags down the basket. The result is a compact lineup of uncorrelated edges, each small on its own, but robust together.
Trade the Mechanic, Not the Forecast: Rules Beat Predictions
Andrea Cimitan doesn’t try to be right about the future—he tries to be consistent about the present. He trades repeatable mechanics like sweeps, absorption, and reclaim candles instead of guessing direction hours ahead. If the checklist isn’t met—context, trigger, confirmation—he passes, even when the “story” sounds perfect. Andrea Cimitan emphasizes that the market pays for execution, not opinions.
He breaks entries into simple, binary steps: level tagged, impulse printed, failure to extend, retest taken, stop placed beyond the extreme. Targets are pre-mapped to imbalance fills and range midpoints, so discretion can’t inflate expectations mid-trade. If the mechanic degrades—spread widens, delta flips hard, or value migrates against him—he scratches without debate. By treating each setup as a small engineering problem, Andrea Cimitan lets rules compound and predictions fade into the background.
Choose Defined Versus Undefined Risk Deliberately With Clear Exits
Andrea Cimitan is blunt about risk categories: you’re either capped or you’re not, so choose on purpose. In futures and FX, that means your stop is the only cap—so it must live beyond the sweep extreme, not inside noise where a routine wick knocks you out. He plans for slippage and news gaps in advance, using a smaller size when the book is thin, so an “undefined” risk profile doesn’t become existential. If he wants strictly defined risk, he expresses the idea with structures that cap loss by design, or he simply sizes the futures trade as if it were an option spread’s max loss.
Once in a trade, Andrea Cimitan makes exits unambiguous: breach the invalidation and he’s gone, no widen, no hope. If momentum stalls before the first target and liquidity deteriorates, he scratches rather than letting undefined risk linger. When conditions are jumpy, he chooses defined risk or cuts size so the worst case stays tolerable even through a gap. The point is simple: pick the risk type consciously, size to its reality, and enforce exits exactly as written.
Process Over Outcome: Plan, Execute, Journal, and Iterate Relentlessly
Andrea Cimitan treats trading like a repeatable project, not a daily guess. He starts with a premarket plan, defines one or two A-setups, and commits to a simple execution checklist he can follow under pressure. Each trade is graded on rules compliance first, P&L second, so “good loss” and “bad win” are easy to spot. When he breaks two rules or logs three consecutive losers, he hits the brakes and protects the day.
After the bell, Andrea Cimitan journals the mechanic, the context, and the emotions—then runs the numbers to see what truly pays. He tags trades by setup, session, and liquidity state to find where the edge is strongest and where it’s leaking. Weekly, he prunes low-expectancy behaviors, promotes what’s working, and updates his playbook with one small change at a time. The outcome takes care of itself because the process keeps improving.
Andrea Cimitan’s core message is simple: trade what the tape proves, not what a label promises. Liquidity isn’t hiding in one obvious pocket—it appears, disappears, and gets harvested wherever participation concentrates, especially around stop-runs. He rejects prediction games and pattern worship for auction logic, order-flow mechanics, and the cause-and-effect of imbalance → absorption → reclaim. His shift from FX scalping to futures and more swing-aware execution shows how the same principles scale across products and timeframes when you anchor to daily context and let the intraday tape handle timing.
For traders, the playbook is brutally practical: size by realized volatility, choose defined vs. undefined risk on purpose, and make exits binary—breach invalidation and you’re out. During news, respect voids and thin books; wait for two-way flow to return before trusting signals. Diversify by instrument, strategy, behavior, and holding period so one market regime can’t wreck your day. Most of all, do what Andrea Cimitan does after every session—journal the mechanic, tag the conditions, measure the expectancy—and let the numbers, not the narrative, decide what stays in your strategy.
