Table of Contents
Omar Agag sits down to unpack how he turned ICT/SMC concepts into a simplified, repeatable edge that actually gets paid. Known for marrying higher-timeframe bias with clean intraday execution, Omar explains why “Power of Three” (PO3) and his Engulfing Bar Play (EBP) anchor his decision-making across indices, FX, crypto, and gold. He’s candid about the prop-firm reality, trade frequency, and why trade management—not prediction—is what separates decent traders from consistent ones.
In this piece, you’ll learn how Omar builds a daily/weekly bias with PO3, uses EBP to anticipate the next candle’s high/low with objective stats behind it, and then times entries on the “backside” after displacement—so stops can be tighter and adds can be aggressive when the context aligns. We’ll cover his dynamic-risk protocol (adding only when the first position is at break-even), the pros/cons of wider stops, practical profit-taking (why letting 3R float back to zero is a tax on your edge), and how he juggles assets to keep quality high without forcing trades. By the end, you’ll have a beginner-friendly blueprint you can test tomorrow: set the bias, wait for confirmation, manage the trade like a pro, and let position sizing do the heavy lifting.
Omar Agag Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
Core Framework (PO3 bias + clean execution)
Omar’s edge starts with a simple, repeatable structure: set a higher-timeframe bias, then execute a compact intraday plan. The goal is to be directionally right more often by aligning with the session’s likely accumulation–manipulation–distribution cycle rather than predicting every tick.
- Start each week by marking the weekly open, previous week’s high/low, and a weekly fair-value gap you care about; carry those levels forward.
- Each day, anchor bias to the Daily/4H “Power of Three” (PO3): identify accumulation range, likely stop run, and intended distribution.
- Only take longs when the price is above daily open and building a higher-low structure after a stop run; only shorts when below daily open with a lower-high structure after a stop run.
- If HTF bias is unclear, reduce the size by 50% or skip the first setup until a clean session sweep prints.
Pre-Market Checklist (context before clicks)
This is the 10-minute scan that keeps you from forcing trades. You’re defining the playground (levels, volatility, news windows) so entries are decisions, not guesses.
- Mark HTF levels: prior day high/low, weekly high/low, session high/low, daily open, and the nearest clean FVG/OB on H1–H4.
- Note scheduled impacts (CPI, NFP, FOMC minutes). If a high-impact release is <30 minutes away, stand down until the first post-news sweep completes.
- Check average session range (ASR) and today’s ATR(14) vs yesterday’s true range; if range is already 80% exhausted by London close, cut NY risk by 30%.
- Choose one or two symbols with the best confluence (e.g., GU if DXY is heavy): never open three new positions at once.
Entry Model: Engulfing Bar Play (EBP)
EBP is Omar’s simple trigger to stop hesitating. You’re looking for the candle that swallows the opposing attempt right after a sweep or displacement, then you place risk where it belongs.
- For longs after a downside sweep: wait for a bullish engulfing on M5–M15 that closes above the prior candle’s body and inside/above an HTF FVG.
- Long stop goes a few ticks/pips below the sweep low or below the EBP candle’s low—whichever is tighter but still beyond noise.
- For shorts after an upside sweep: mirror the logic—bearish engulfing closing under the prior body and into/below an HTF FVG.
- If the engulfing forms without a prior sweep or clear displacement, skip it—EBP without context is just a candle.
Confirmation: Displacement, FVG, and Backside Re-test
You don’t need five indicators—just strong movement, a gap it leaves behind, and the first controlled pullback. This filters out most fakeouts.
- Require at least one impulsive candle that breaks micro-structure (BOS) and leaves a visible M5–M15 fair-value gap in your bias direction.
- Enter on the first controlled pullback into the FVG/OB zone; if price deep-fills more than 75% of the gap, halve size or pass.
- Add only on “backside” re-tests of the broken structure line (prior swing high/low) that hold on a closing basis.
- If three consecutive closes fade back through your displacement candle’s midpoint, invalidate the setup and stand aside.
Risk & Sizing (dynamic, not reckless)
The account survives by sizing rules, not hero calls. These steps protect you while still letting you press when market conditions warrant.
- Baseline risk per initial position: 0.5% (max 0.75% on A+ days with HTF alignment and clean session conditions).
- Add-only-at-breakeven rule: You may add a second unit (0.25–0.5% risk) only after the first position is at BE with partials taken.
- Hard daily drawdown: 2R or 1.5%—once hit, stop trading for the day regardless of “perfect setups.”
- Weekly heat cap: max 4% open risk across all pairs; if hit, no new risk until at least one position is reduced to BE + partials.
Trade Management (how profits actually show up)
Most edges die in management. These rules keep winners intact while preventing big give-backs.
- First partial at +1R or first stall at a key intraday level (e.g., PDH/PDL; 0.25–0.33 off); move stop to entry.
- Trail below/above structure pivots (M5 swing lows/highs) rather than fixed pip amounts; ratchet only on closes.
- If price tags are intended distribution level (session range extension or measured move = 1.5–2.0× initial risk), take another 25–35%.
- Never allow a +2R open gain to turn negative; if momentum collapses, scratch remainder at +0.3R to +0.7R.
Time Windows & Sessions (when the edge is alive)
Omar focuses on the windows where liquidity transfers actually occur. Trade when the market is paying attention.
- Primary sessions: London Open (first 90 minutes) and New York session from 9:30–11:30 ET; avoid lunch chop.
- News protocol: no fresh entries 15 minutes before red-folder events; hunt only the first post-news sweep + displacement.
- If no displacement by 11:30 ET, stand down; probability of forced trades rises while ASR typically decays.
Instruments & Conditions (pick your battles)
Not every chart deserves your attention. Favor instruments whose macro driver aligns with your bias and whose session structure respects levels.
- For GU/EU longs, prefer when DXY is below its daily open and printing lower highs; for shorts, the opposite.
- On gold, treat US session yields and DXY inflections as a context filter; if both support your bias, you can allow slightly wider stops with reduced size.
- Indices: only trade when the cash session is open; require a clear opening drive or sweep of ONH/ONL before entries.
The “Two-Strike” Day Rule (reset discipline)
Bad days snowball when you chase. This rule forces a reset before tilt shows up.
- If you take two consecutive losing trades (or one violation), stop for the day and journal why the context wasn’t clean.
- If the first trade is a small green but rule-breaking, it still counts as a strike; process > PnL.
Scaling Protocol (press only with house money)
Adding to winners can compound returns—if the market actually earns it. You’re scaling into strength, not hope.
- Scale only after a fresh displacement in your favor and a clean backside hold; never scale into a fade.
- Keep add-ons smaller than the initial clip (50–75% of initial risk).
- After the second add, freeze size; manage via partials/trailing to avoid pyramiding into reversal.
Stop Logic (wide when needed, narrow when earned)
Stops live where the idea is wrong, not where your nerves calm down. These rules keep them honest.
- Place the initial stop beyond the sweep source or structure pivot invalidation—not a round number.
- If spread/volatility widens (e.g., during news), widen the stop by a fixed factor (e.g., ×1.25) and reduce size proportionally.
- Don’t tighten stops mid-trade unless you’ve taken partials and the price has accepted above/below a new structure level.
Journaling & Stats (proof over stories)
You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Track the exact behaviors your edge promises to exploit.
- Log every trade’s PO3 context (accumulation/sweep/distribution), entry model (EBP or other), and whether displacement + FVG was present.
- Tag session window, ASR usage, reason for partials, and whether add-ons followed the BE-first rule.
- Review weekly: win rate with vs. against daily open, average R per session, and give-back after +2R; cut the bottom 20% of patterns.
Prop-Friendly Structure (pass, then sustain)
Consistency beats fireworks in prop evaluations. Simplify your rules to protect daily/overall drawdown.
- Cap risk to 0.35–0.5% per trade during evaluation; target 0.8–1.2R/day average over 10–20 days rather than home runs.
- One clean setup per session is enough; no revenge trades after a rule-based stop-out.
- Stop trading for the day the moment your trailing daily target is hit (e.g., +1.2R realized).
Mindset & Process (make boredom profitable)
The edge is patience plus repetition. These behaviors keep you aligned with the plan when emotions spike.
- “If no sweep, no trade” as a default; context first, trigger second.
- Speak your checklist out loud before clicking; if any item is a “maybe,” size down or pass.
- End every session by marking tomorrow’s likely stop pools and the single level you’d trade against in either direction.
Size Risk First: Cap Daily Heat and Let R-Multiples Compound
Omar Agag treats risk like oxygen—you don’t notice it until it’s gone. His first move each day is setting a hard daily heat cap so one or two bad trades can’t torch the week. That usually means a small, consistent initial clip (think 0.25–0.5% per position) and a firm stop to end the session if the cap is hit. By deciding the maximum loss in advance, he frees up focus for execution instead of firefighting emotions mid-trade.
The flip side is letting winners breathe so R-multiples can do the heavy lifting. Omar takes early partials at +1R to de-risk, moves to break-even, and then trails behind structure so one trend day can pay for several small scratches. He refuses to let a +2R open profit round-trip to red; if momentum fades, he banks what the market offers and walks. Do this repeatedly and your distribution shifts: small, controlled losses and a few outsized winners that stack into a clean equity curve.
Trade the Mechanics, Not the Forecast: Sweep, Displacement, Backside Entry
Omar Agag doesn’t predict; he tracks repeatable mechanics. He lets the market tip its hand with a liquidity sweep first, proving where weak hands sit. Then he wants displacement—a strong break in one direction that clears structure and leaves a fair-value gap. No sweep and no real displacement means no trade, even if the chart “looks good.”
The entry comes on the backside retest of that break, not during the burst. Omar waits for the price to pull back into the gap or reclaim the level and only commits when a decisive candle closes in the trend’s direction. Stop goes just beyond the sweep or the structure, low/high that defines the idea. If the price closes back through the midpoint of the displacement candle, he treats the setup as invalid. This way, the process enforces patience and keeps him trading what happened, not what he hopes will happen.
Volatility-Based Allocation: Scale Exposure When Range Expands, Cut When It Shrinks
Omar Agag sizes positions around volatility so the market’s mood dictates his aggression, not emotions. When ATR and session range expand, he allows slightly wider stops but increases total risk only if displacement and structure confirm the bias. If the range compresses or the session is already 80% exhausted, he automatically trims exposure and accepts that smaller wins are the right outcome. This keeps his equity curve steady through quiet days and lets him punch harder on trend days.
He applies simple triggers to keep it objective: rising ATR and clean PO3 context allow adds after the first trade is risk-free; falling ATR or choppy internals force half-size or no-trade. Omar Agag also respects time windows—if volatility dies after late morning, he doesn’t push size into midday chop. He scales down again around major news until the first post-release sweep completes. Net effect: risk follows realized movement, so he’s never oversized when the tape is thin and always ready when the market opens up.
Diversify Smart: Underlying, Strategy, Duration, One High-Quality Setup Per Session
Omar Agag diversifies like a practitioner, not a collector of tickers. He rotates across underlyings that respect session structure—GU, gold, and indices during cash hours—so he isn’t hostage to one market’s mood. He also diversifies by strategy and duration: a clean sweep-displacement-backside setup might be intraday, while a higher-timeframe bias trade carries overnight with smaller size. The point is selective breadth—multiple ways to get paid, but only one high-quality trade per session.
He keeps correlation in check by aligning risk to the driver, not the symbol name. If DXY is the engine, Omar Agag avoids doubling EURUSD and GBPUSD as if they’re independent. If an index long and a USD short are essentially the same macro bet, he treats them as one risk unit and chooses the cleaner tape. This discipline spreads opportunity without spreading recklessness, so the portfolio feels diversified while the process stays tight.
Defined Risk Only: Entry, Stop, Partial, Trail—No Hope Trades
For Omar Agag, a trade isn’t valid until risk is defined in writing—entry, stop, first partial, and trailing logic are decided before clicking. He puts the stop where the idea is objectively wrong, not where it “feels safe,” and sizes the position to that distance so the dollar risk stays constant. The first partial typically comes at +1R or the first sticky level, which takes the emotional edge off and frees the rest of the position to work. If price erases momentum and closes back through a key midpoint, he doesn’t negotiate—he reduces or exits.
The trail is structure-based, not arbitrary, moving behind swing points only after market acceptance at new levels. Omar Agag refuses to let winners round-trip: a +2R unrealized gain that stalls becomes banked PnL, not a story. If volatility expands, he widens stops and cuts size proportionally; if it compresses, he tightens plans and scales down expectations. No averaging down, no removing stops, no “it’ll come back” trades. The result is a rule set that keeps losses small, profits real, and the process repeatable.
Omar Agag’s core lesson is to simplify an ICT/SMC toolbox into a rule-based engine: set a higher-timeframe bias, let the session mechanics reveal a sweep and displacement, then execute on the backside retest with predefined risk. He stresses that trade management, not a sky-high win rate, is what turns a workable edge into consistent payouts—your R distribution matters more than guessing every candle right. He anchors bias with Power of Three across daily/weekly/4H, watching the market rally above the open into resistance, print confirmation via structure break or displacement, and then rotate into distribution; this framework is portable across timeframes and keeps you aligned with order flow instead of fighting it.
On triggers, Omar’s Engulfing Bar Play (EBP) converts bias into entries by anticipating the next day’s high/low behavior; he cites dataset-backed probabilities for the next candle taking out a prior candle’s extreme, while clarifying that context and execution—not the raw percentage—create the realized edge. Rather than “front-side” top-picking, he prefers to wait for the sweep and a decisive break, then act on the first pullback—often after the Asia/London manipulation has printed and New York offers a continuation. He couples that with pragmatic capital choices (including prop-firm structures as a risk buffer) and with risk controls that cap daily heat so one session can’t derail a week. The takeaways are blunt: bias first, mechanics over prediction, data-tested triggers, confirmation before commitment, and management rules that harvest R when the tape cooperates.
