Table of Contents
This interview brings together Kyle — a prop-firm trader since 2011 with over $5M in funding and ~$800K in verified payouts — and Raja Banks for a straight-talk conversation recorded while a wave of traders were in Dubai. Kyle breaks down how he built a two-year safety net, left a high-end construction career, and scaled across multiple prop firms, while Raja adds seasoned perspective from the broker and gold-trading trenches. Why it matters: you’re hearing concrete, bankable habits from operators who actually manage size, risk, and withdrawals — not just theory.
Reading this, you’ll learn how Kyle frames the weekly range, times entries around session liquidity, and uses news as a catalyst (while sidestepping CPI/FOMC/NFP). You’ll also pick up his core confirmations — premium/discount, fair-value gaps, and structure — plus how both guests manage profits, size risk by day and context, and convert prop payouts into personal capital without blowing discipline. It’s a practical, beginner-friendly blueprint for turning “ICT-style” ideas into a repeatable trader strategy, and for building real financial maturity alongside your edge.
JadeCapFX Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
Core Market Framework
This section lays out the instruments, sessions, and timeframes so you can mirror the same environment and avoid decision fog. Knowing when and where you hunt keeps you from forcing trades in dead zones.
- Trade focus: XAUUSD and major FX pairs, with gold as the primary driver for daily opportunity.
- Timeframe stack: HTF bias from H4/H1 → execution on M15/M5 → refine on M1 only if spread/vol permits.
- Session windows: Pre-London impulse (07:00–09:30 UK time) and New York AM (08:30–11:30 NY time) are prime; stand down when range is already expanded.
- Maximum active pairs: 1–2 at a time to keep management tight; anything more is drift.
- Broker model: Tight spreads, reliable fills during session opens; skip illiquid rollover and late NY.
Bias & Context: The “Weekly Range” Game
Before any setup, define where the price sits inside the week’s range and who is trapped. This gives you the directional tailwind that makes entries work faster and cleaner.
- Mark the prior week’s high/low and the current week’s developing high/low; treat them as liquidity magnets.
- Determine premium/discount relative to the H1/H4 dealing range; prefer shorts from premium, longs from discount.
- Identify the session narrative: expansion → pullback → continuation; avoid fading day-one expansion without evidence of distribution/accumulation.
- Note external catalysts on deck (CPI/FOMC/NFP); if they are within two hours, reduce size or pass.
- If Asia creates a tight box, expect London to run one side; trade with that expectation, not against it.
Set up Triggers: Liquidity → Imbalance → Entry.
You’re looking for a simple three-step story: sweep the money, leave an imbalance, then give you a clean risk marker. This keeps trades repeatable and measurable.
- Liquidity sweep: Wait for price to run a prior high/low or session high/low to harvest stops.
- Imbalance/FVG: After the sweep, look for a clear M15/M5 fair-value gap in the direction of the intended move.
- Structure shift: Confirm with a market structure break (MSB) on execution timeframe; no MSB, no trade.
- POI selection: Use fresh OBs/imbalances left by the impulse candle that engineered the sweep.
- Time filter: If the setup appears outside your session windows, log it, but do not chase.
Entry Tactics & Order Placement
Execution should be boring and rule-based. You’ll use the POI/FVG as your risk anchor and let price come to you.
- Entry style: Limit at POI edge or refined FVG; use market orders only if spread is stable and MSB just printed.
- Stop-loss: Tuck it beyond the swing that invalidates the idea (above the sweep high for shorts, below the sweep low for longs).
- Initial risk: 0.25%–0.5% per idea; scale up only after a green week, never after a loss.
- Add-ons: Only on fresh MSB + new FVG in trend direction; each add-on must carry its own protected stop.
- If spread widens > normal by 2x at entry, cancel and re-queue; bad fills ruin good ideas.
Trade Management: Paritals, BE, and Letting It Run
You’ll extract cash early to de-risk and then aim for the session or daily target. The goal is staying in the move long enough to matter without giving it all back.
- First partial at 1R or at opposing session high/low; move stop to break-even only after first partial fills.
- Second partial at 2R–3R or at mid-week high/low; trail behind new M15 swing structure.
- If price closes back through the origin OB with momentum, exit remainder—idea is invalid.
- Daily profit lock: If equity is up ≥1R on the day, do not let the day go red; close remaining if needed.
- End-of-session rule: Flatten before lunch in NY unless strong trend day with range expansion still in progress.
News & Events Handling
Major data can pay or punish. The edge comes from respecting timing and volatility so you don’t turn a good week into a bad hour.
- Avoid opening new positions within 30–60 minutes before tier-1 releases (CPI, FOMC, NFP, rate decisions).
- If already in a trade pre-news, cut risk by half or take a partial and widen to a logical swing if structure supports.
- Post-news, wait for a clear MSB and fresh imbalance before re-engaging; the first spike is often noise.
- For gold, treat 08:30 NY prints as potential regime shifts; don’t counter the first clean expansion.
- If a news bar erases your setup zone, invalidate the idea and re-map.
Prop-Firm Constraints & Scaling
Trading under rule sets means respecting daily loss and consistency targets. The objective is longevity—keep your seat and compound.
- Hard stops on platform; never “mental stop” under prop rules.
- Daily loss cap: risk ≤ 30–40% of daily limit across all open trades; once hit, power down for the day.
- Consistency: Keep position sizing stable across the week; avoid one huge outlier day that flags your metrics.
- Payout pipeline: Convert prop profits to personal account capital; keep prop risk steady while building personal size.
- No revenge days: After a max-loss day, next session risk = half of normal until back green.
Position Sizing & Volatility Adapters
Markets speed up and slow down; sizing must respond. This keeps your average loss steady even when ranges expand.
- Base size from recent ATR or average session range; higher ATR → smaller size; lower ATR → normal size.
- Cap stop distance to a fixed fraction of ATR (e.g., 0.5–0.8× ATR M15) so risk stays consistent.
- If spread/volatility spikes at session open, delay entry by 1–3 candles to avoid slippage.
- When the week’s range is already > average by Thursday, tighten targets and skip late fades.
- Never widen stops after entry; exit and re-enter on the next valid POI if needed.
A-Setup Checklist (Only Trade This)
Clarity beats activity. This checklist filters out the 60% of charts that waste mental capital.
- HTF bias aligned (H1/H4), and we’re at a premium for shorts or a discount for longs.
- Clean liquidity sweep just occurred at a meaningful level (prior day/week/session high/low).
- Visible FVG/imbalance forms in the bias direction, plus a clear MSB on the execution timeframe.
- Time is within your session window, and no tier-1 news is imminent.
- Risk is predefined, the stop is protected by structure, and the first partial target is obvious.
B-/C-Setup Rules (What to Skip)
Most losses come from forcing trades in the middle of nowhere. Here’s how to stay out of trouble.
- Skip mid-range “nothing” trades with no sweep and no imbalance.
- Skip counter-trend scalp attempts after a fresh expansion leg without distribution evidence.
- Skip any setup requiring M1 heroics to justify the stop; if it’s not clean on M15/M5, pass.
- Skip days with overlapping wicks and no session expansion by 10:30 local time.
- Skip traders’ FOMO—if you missed the move, the market will print another tomorrow.
Journaling, Stats, and Iteration
What gets measured gets improved. The goal is to tag behaviors, not just outcomes, so you can scale the right patterns.
- Tag each trade with: session, setup type (sweep→FVG→MSB), premium/discount, news proximity, and partials taken.
- Track R multiple by setup type weekly; cut the lowest-performing tag for the next 10 trading days.
- Screenshot pre-trade map and post-trade result; annotate where the idea would be obviously wrong.
- Maintain “green-week rule”: size up only after two consecutive green weeks with stable drawdown.
- Review every Sunday: map last week’s weekly range behavior and how your entries aligned (or didn’t).
Process & Mindset Guardrails
Simple rules prevent spirals. This keeps your equity curve and headspace intact.
- Two-strike rule: two consecutive losses in a session → stop trading for that session.
- Timebox rule: if no A-setup appears in your windows, close charts; boredom costs money.
- Health rule: no trades on <6 hours of sleep or when emotionally charged; mark calendar as “no-trade”.
- Environment rule: same desk, same checklist, same routine; ritual removes noise.
- Growth rule: one improvement focus per week (e.g., partial timing) and hold it steady for five sessions before changing.
Raja Banks Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
Core Market Framework
Here’s the fast way to mirror the environment Raja uses so your decisions stay clean and consistent. You’ll define instruments, timeframes, and session windows before you even think about entries.
- Primary instruments: XAUUSD (gold) first, major FX pairs second.
- Timeframe stack: Bias on H4/H1 → execution on M15/M5 → refine on M1 only when spread is stable.
- Session focus: London open drive (approx. 07:00–09:30 UK) and New York AM (08:30–11:30 NY); step aside when range is already extended.
- Max watchlist: 1–2 symbols at a time to keep trade management tight.
- Broker conditions: Tight spreads at session opens; avoid late NY and rollover illiquidity.
The “Wicks Don’t Lie” Read
Raja’s edge leans on reading candles honestly: wicks reveal intention and trapped participants. You’ll learn to stop guessing and let candle structure tell you who’s in control.
- Bullish continuation clue: upper-body closes with small lower wicks forming at/above the mid-body of prior candles.
- Bearish continuation clue: bodies closing below prior mid-body with rejection wicks on top.
- Rejection = location + context: a big wick into HTF level without follow-through is a fade signal only if structure aligns.
- No trade on indecision: multiple overlapping wicks and small bodies mean wait for a decisive break/close.
- Always pair wick signals with session timing and nearby liquidity (highs/lows, clean ranges).
Weekly & Daily Levels First
Big levels decide the day’s story. Map them before entries so you’re trading toward liquidity, not into it.
- Mark the previous week’s high/low and the current week’s developing high/low.
- Plot the prior day’s high/low and the Asian session range; expect London/NY to raid one side.
- Identify clean, untested zones (breakers/mini supply-demand) left by impulsive candles.
- Trade from discount to equilibrium for longs, premium to equilibrium for shorts on H1/H4.
- If the price is mid-range with no clean magnets ahead, reduce size or skip.
Setup Engine: Break, Close, Retest, Go
You want a repeatable sequence that fits news and sessions. This keeps entries mechanical and stops tight.
- Wait for a body close through a session/HTF level (not just a wick poke).
- Retest the level or a fresh M15/M5 fair-value gap/imbalance left by the break candle.
- Confirm a micro market structure shift (MSB) in the intended direction on the execution timeframe.
- Enter on the retest with the stop beyond the invalidation swing (above/under sweep wick).
- If the spread blows out or the retest prints a full-body against you, cancel and wait for the next rotation.
Gold-Specific Playbook (Raja’s Bread & Butter)
Gold moves cleanest when the session injects liquidity. You’ll use time-of-day and range behavior to choose when to press and when to chill.
- Expect Asia to box the range; look for London to run one side, then NY to extend continuation.
- Prime triggers near 08:30 NY prints; don’t fade the first clean expansion bar without distribution.
- If the daily range is already > average by late morning, tighten targets and stop hunting reversals.
- Use dollar/real-yield tone only as backdrop—price action and session levels still lead execution.
- Manage partials aggressively on gold; it runs fast in your favor and against you just as quickly.
Risk, Size, and Daily Limits
Longevity beats hero trades. You’ll define caps that keep your account—and head—steady across good and bad days.
- Initial risk per idea: 0.25%–0.5%; never size up after a loss.
- Daily loss cap: allocate ≤ 30–40% of daily max loss across all open risk; once hit, shut down.
- Two-strike rule: two consecutive losses in a session → stop for that session.
- “Green day lock”: once up ≥ 1R on the day, do not let the day go negative.
- Never widen stops; kill the idea and re-enter only on a new valid setup.
Profit Taking & Trade Management
The goal is to collect cash early, de-risk, and let the rest ride toward obvious magnets. You’ll avoid round-trips and still catch runners.
- First partial at 1R or at the opposing session high/low; move stop to break-even after first partial.
- Second partial at 2R–3R or into an HTF level (prior day/week level).
- Trail behind fresh M15 swings in trend; if price closes back through the origin zone with momentum, exit remainder.
- End-of-session flatten rule: if momentum stalls into lunch NY, close unless it’s a clear trend day.
- If news flipped structure and erased your zone, dump the trade—don’t negotiate.
News & High-Impact Prints
Data can supercharge or nuke a clean setup. You’ll respect the calendar, so volatility works for you.
- No new entries 30–60 minutes before tier-1 releases (CPI, NFP, FOMC, rate decisions).
- If already in, take a partial and reduce the size in the release; re-engage only after a clear MSB + imbalance.
- The first spike is often noise; wait for the second move that breaks and closes a level.
- If a news candle tags both sides of the Asian/London range, treat the day as distribution and trade lighter.
- Don’t marry a biased post-data; trade the structure now printing.
Session Execution Rules (Discipline Triggers)
Structure your day like a pro. These rules keep your focus crisp and your energy for the A-setups.
- Pre-session map: levels, liquidity targets, and the one or two scenarios you plan to trade.
- During session: alerts at levels only; no random scrolling or adding pairs mid-session.
- Post-session: quick review of prints vs. plan; tag whether you traded your plan or your mood.
- If no A-setup appears in your windows, close charts; boredom is a tax.
- One improvement theme per week (e.g., partial timing) and hold it constant for five sessions.
Prop Constraints & Payout Habits
Trading under rules means strict execution and clean records. You’ll avoid account killers and keep withdrawals flowing.
- Hard stops on the platform—no “mental stops.”
- Stable lot sizing for consistency scoring; avoid outlier days that flag risk systems.
- Stop trading the day you hit payout target; protect metrics and psychology.
- Sweep payouts on schedule and seed a personal account to build outside prop rules.
- After a max-loss day, the next session risk = half normal until back green.
Journal Metrics That Matter
You can’t scale what you can’t measure. Track the few stats that move the needle so you iterate on the right things.
- Tag every trade: session, setup (break-close-retest), wick context, proximity to news, partials taken.
- Track R by setup and session; pause the lowest-performing tag for the next 10 sessions.
- Screenshot pre/post with notes: where you were wrong, not just why you were right.
- Weekly audit: how weekly highs/lows interacted with your entries; fix late fades and mid-range chops.
- Aim for higher time-in-trade quality: fewer, cleaner positions with faster payoff to first partial.
Size Risk First: Fixed R, Daily Max, No Martingale
Raja Banks makes it simple: survival comes from sizing, not prediction. He insists on a fixed-R per idea, a hard daily max loss, and the discipline to power down once that line is crossed. By predefining the cash you’re willing to lose before you click buy or sell, the outcome of any single trade can’t wreck your week. Raja’s point is that consistency beats heroics; a capped-down day-to-day protects you for the trend day tomorrow.
Kyle (JadeCapFX) takes the same stance and adds practical guardrails that traders actually follow. He sizes smaller when volatility spikes, refuses to add to losers, and only scales after a green stretch—never right after a loss. Kyle’s playbook treats partial profits as risk refunds and uses break-even shifts to defend equity once the market moves. Together, Raja Banks and Kyle show that the “secret sauce” is simply enforcing fixed risk, a daily stop, and zero tolerance for martingale behavior.
Trade the Mechanics, Not Your Forecast: Levels, Triggers, Execution
Raja Banks pushes a simple rule: your opinion doesn’t pay—execution does. He maps last week’s highs/lows, the Asian range, and the nearest clean imbalance, then waits for a body-close break and a retest. When that retest lines up with time-of-day and a clear invalidation point, he pulls the trigger—no extra narratives, no macro monologues. Raja’s process strips away guessing and replaces it with a checklist you can repeat.
Kyle (JadeCapFX) echoes the same discipline with gold: identify the sweep, confirm the market structure shift, and enter at the fair-value gap or origin block with a tight, logical stop. If spread flares or the candle closes back through the zone, Kyle cancels the idea instantly. Both traders emphasize that the first partial is mechanical—hit 1R or the opposing session level and pay yourself. The edge comes from following these mechanics every session, not from predicting where price “should” go.
Volatility-Based Positioning: ATR Stops, Smaller Size, Wider Targets
Raja Banks frames the size around what the market is actually doing, not what he hopes it will do. When ATR expands, he cuts position size and lets stops breathe at a fixed fraction of ATR so a single wick can’t shake him out. On quieter days, he normalizes size and pulls targets closer to keep cash flow steady. This dynamic sizing turns volatility from a threat into a tailwind.
Kyle (JadeCapFX) applies the same logic on gold, where session ranges can double without warning. He delays entries a few candles when spreads spike, anchors stops beyond the invalidation swing plus a slice of ATR, and widens targets only if the session is still expanding. If the week’s range is already stretched, Kyle tightens profit objectives and stops chasing reversals. Both traders treat ATR as a throttle: shrink risk when the tape is wild, press when it’s orderly, and let wider targets do the heavy lifting on trend days.
Diversify by Strategy, Underlying, and Holding Time to Smooth P&LL
Raja Banks keeps the risk curve stable by rotating across playbooks instead of forcing one setup every day. He’ll lean on continuation plays in trending sessions, switch to range-to-breakout sequences when liquidity compresses, and downshift to “scalp and go” if the tape turns choppy. Raja also toggles between gold and a couple of major FX pairs rather than marrying one instrument’s mood. By mixing these strategies and underlyings, his drawdowns stay shallow and recovery time short. The message is simple: diversify the way you make money, not just the symbols you click.
Kyle (JadeCapFX) adds a time component—some days he holds for a session target, other days he clips faster partials and exits by lunch if momentum fades. He treats holding time like another diversification lever, preventing one slow grind from hijacking the day’s results. Kyle also avoids stacking correlated positions that ride the same dollar move, preferring one clean exposure with better focus. Together, Raja Banks and Kyle show that spreading the edge across strategy type, instrument, and holding period smooths the equity curve without diluting discipline.
Define Risk Upfront: Hard Stops, Partial Takes, Trailing Structure
Raja Banks treats the stop as the first decision, not the last resort. He picks the invalidation swing before he even thinks about size, places a hard stop there, and refuses to move it once the trade is live. First partials are mechanical—at 1R or the opposing session level—to turn open risk into banked profit. Only after paying himself does Raja shift to break-even and let the idea prove it deserves more time.
Kyle (JadeCapFX) mirrors that discipline on gold by trailing behind fresh M15 structure instead of arbitrary pip counts. If the price closes back through the origin zone with momentum, he dumps the position without debate and waits for a new setup. He won’t “average down,” and he cancels entries the moment spread or candle behavior invalidates the edge he planned to trade. Both Raja Banks and Kyle make the same point in practice: define the loss, automate the first win, and trail what’s left so trend days can carry your week. That simple sequence protects the downside and gives upside room to breathe.
In the end, Raja Banks and Kyle (JadeCapFX) keep proving that consistency is built on rules you can execute every day: fixed-R risk, a hard daily max, and zero martingale. They map the weekly/daily levels, wait for a body-close break, retest, and a clean market-structure shift, then anchor stops at the true invalidation—not a hope. Volatility sets the throttle: when ATR expands, they shrink size and let stops breathe; when it contracts, they normalize size and tighten targets. News is treated as a timing factor, not a crystal ball—no new risk into tier-1 releases, and no fighting the first clean post-print expansion.
Their edge is also how they manage the business of trading. Paritals at 1R turn open risk into banked profit, break-even shifts protect equity, and trailing behind fresh structure lets trend days carry the week. They diversify across playbooks, instruments, and holding times to smooth the curve, avoid stacking correlated bets, and respect prop constraints with hard platform stops and daily caps. Most importantly, they journal like operators—tagging session, setup, wick context, and outcomes—then cut what’s not working and size only after green stretches. The lesson is simple: trade the mechanics, respect volatility, define risk first, and let discipline—not prediction—compound your account.
