Table of Contents
Coach Mike sits down for a straight-talk YouTube interview on the day-trading vs. swing-trading debate—and he brings receipts from years of scalping ES futures, using depth of market, and coaching traders. He argues you can keep screen time tight, stay flat by day’s end, and still compound—so long as you only take A-plus setups with positive expectancy. He also explains how short, tactical scalps can hedge long swing exposure and smooth the equity curve, all while staying grounded in risk management and lifestyle reality.
In this piece, you’ll learn Coach Mike’s step-by-step approach to scalping (3–5-minute perspective, DOM for context, only trade when everything lines up), how he uses intraday shorts to balance a portfolio that’s otherwise long on swings, and why “positive expectancy” beats prediction. You’ll also pick up his playbook for dealing with stress, avoiding over-trading, and thinking like a risk manager—plus candid views on prop-firm rules versus longer-term positioning. If you’re a newer trader deciding between speed or patience, this breakdown shows how to choose a style that fits your personality and schedule—and how to blend both without burning out.
Coach Mike Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
The Core Edge: Positive-Expectancy Scalps
Coach Mike treats scalping as a repeatable business: take only the best intraday opportunities, get flat by day’s end, and let the math do the heavy lifting. The goal is a smooth equity curve built from frequent, controlled wins—not hero trades.
- Only take A-plus setups; if it’s not obvious, it’s not a trade.
- Trade a 3–5 minute perspective for structure and use the tape/DOM for timing.
- Be flat by the close; no overnight holds from scalps.
- Predefine risk in R; 1R hard stop, 1R+ first scale, and let runners work only if the tape stays in your favor.
- Maximum two attempts per idea; if the market says “no,” stop listening to that setup today.
- If three consecutive trades don’t follow plan quality (A), shut down for the session.
Setup Criteria & Timing (3–5 Min + DOM Confirmation)
He builds the picture on the 3/5 and lets the tape confirm the entry. Momentum, location, and liquidity alignment must all say “go” before he clicks.
- Trade only at pre-marked levels (prior day high/low, opening range extremes, VWAP deviations).
- Require confluence: structure break or rejection on the 3/5, plus DOM/volume confirming the push.
- Enter on the second effort (retest) rather than the very first poke to reduce fakeouts.
- Skip the first 3–5 minutes after the open; wait for the initial imbalance to show its hand.
- If DOM stalls or flips against you for ~10–15 seconds at your level, scratch early—small loss beats planned loss.
- No market orders in chop; use limit-at-level and accept the miss rather than chase.
Risk & Portfolio-Level Balance
He thinks like a risk manager first. Intraday shorts can offset a swing book that’s net long, keeping total “delta” in check while still harvesting intraday opportunity.
- Daily loss limit: 2R hard stop for the day; hit it and you’re done.
- Position risk per scalp: 0.25R–0.5R when liquidity is thin; up to 1R only in A+ conditions.
- If swing exposure is heavily long, prioritize short scalps near intraday resistance to stay closer to delta-neutral.
- Never add to losers; add only at pre-planned add zones after a favorable push-and-hold.
- Size by volatility: widen stops in higher ATR and reduce size so R stays constant.
- If cumulative open swing drawdown + intraday drawdown > 3R, stop scalping and manage swings.
Trade Management & Exits
Entries are planned, but exits are engineered. He scales methodically and lets structure—not hope—decide when the trade is over.
- First scale at +1R; move stop to break-even only after price accepts beyond your entry (e.g., closes a 3-min bar above/below).
- Trail behind micro-structure (last swing high/low or VWAP band). If structure breaks, flatten.
- If a runner doesn’t make new progress within two bars on your trigger timeframe, take it off.
- Partial profits are mandatory into prior day levels and opening range extremes.
- If the DOM thins out in your direction (no more fuel), prioritize exit over target.
- End-of-day rule: no holds from scalps—flatten regardless of unrealized P&L.
Routine That Keeps You From Over-Trading
He compresses his screen time and raises the bar for action. Most days are preparation, patience, and one or two clean shots.
- Pre-market (15–20 min): mark levels, define bias, write one sentence for what would prove you wrong.
- Trading window: 90–120 minutes max; if no A+ setup appears, don’t force it.
- Use a quality checklist (location, momentum, liquidity, risk) and take the trade only if all boxes are green.
- Journal each trade with three tags: setup, reason for entry, reason for exit; screenshot optional but encouraged.
- Weekly review: tally plan-adherence, not P&L; raise or lower size next week based on adherence score.
Blending Swings With Intraday
He lets swings express the bigger idea and uses scalps to fine-tune risk and collect “crumbs.” The two styles are separate ledgers with different job descriptions.
- Swings: build on daily/4H structure with partials at weekly levels; overnight holds allowed.
- Scalps: intraday only, primarily used to reduce portfolio concentration and harvest volatility.
- Never let a scalp turn into a swing; if you missed the exit, flatten and re-frame a true swing entry.
- Cap combined exposure: if swings are >70% long beta, prefer short-side scalps until you’re closer to neutral.
- Rebalance on strong trend days by taking one or two high-probability counter-scalps rather than dumping swing winners.
Execution Tools & Triggers That Actually Matter
He keeps charting minimally and leans on order flow for timing. Clean mechanics beat complex indicators.
- Base chart: 3-minute for structure, 5-minute for context; no more than one moving average (optional) and VWAP.
- DOM/tape: look for stacked bids/offers and speed of prints to confirm continuation at your level.
- Opening range: trade breaks and retests, not first touch.
- Avoid mid-range trades; if the price sits between levels, wait.
- One active idea at a time; no more than two correlated instruments simultaneously.
- Hard stop lives on the exchange; do not “mental stop” a scalp.
Funding/Prop Constraints Without The Drama
He adjusts tactics for prop rules while remembering the goal is long-term growth, not just passing a test.
- If your account requires flat before events/weekends, scale earlier and avoid late-session entries.
- Keep per-trade risk smaller when rule-sets penalize drawdown spikes; favor more A-only trades over frequency.
- Build a personal track record with both swing and scalp stats; show positive expectancy at the strategy level.
- Don’t chase targets to “hit the daily.” When in doubt, skip: prop risk limits punish marginal trades most.
- Separate rulesets: one checklist for prop (tighter) and one for personal/family-office (broader), but never mix them mid-day.
Psychology You Can Actually Execute
He keeps stress low by narrowing decisions and letting structure think. Community and accountability raise the bar.
- Pre-commit to the day’s playbook (bias, A-setups, invalidation) before the open.
- Use a timer: if you’re scanning for more than 10 minutes without a plan-quality setup, step away for five.
- Enforce a “green or gone” policy after your first clean winner—protect your best mental state.
- Weekly accountability: share stats with a small group; reward adherence streaks, not dollar P&L.
- If emotion spikes (revenge, FOMO), switch to observation mode for 15 minutes—no exceptions.
Scale Risk Like a Pro: Fixed-R Sizing and Daily Drawdown Guardrails
Coach Mike keeps sizing simple: every trade risks the same fixed R, so performance is measured in execution quality, not dollar swings. He explains that fixed-R turns chaos into a routine—your stop is pre-defined, your size is calculated from that stop, and there’s no “feel-based” tweaking once price is moving.
He also stresses a daily drawdown guardrail that forces discipline when the market isn’t paying. For example, if 1R equals $200, a -2R or -3R daily stop ends the session, period, protecting the weekly plan and your headspace. Coach Mike prefers two attempts per idea at most and will not increase size to “get it back,” because compounding only works when risk stays constant. The result is a clean feedback loop: fixed-R tells you if the edge is working, drawdown guardrails keep you in the game, and consistency—not prediction—drives the equity curve.
Let Volatility Lead: Adjust Stops, Size, and Targets to Market Pace
Coach Mike builds his plan around the day’s actual speed, not yesterday’s memory. When markets expand, he widens stops to the structure that truly invalidates the idea and reduces position size so the R stays constant. When things slow down, he tightens stops to nearby pivots and can size slightly larger while keeping the same risk. He watches range, ATR, and impulse on the tape to decide whether today is a “stretch for runners” day or a “hit singles” day.
Coach Mike also adapts targets to volatility so the reward stays realistic. In high velocity, he expects swift pushes and holds partials for follow-through; in chop, he hits the first target quicker and scratches faster when momentum fades. He avoids mid-range entries on dull days and prioritizes retests at key levels during fast sessions. The point is simple: let volatility set the boundaries, and your sizing, stops, and take-profits will naturally match the market’s pace.
Diversify Smarter: Underlying, Strategy, and Holding Duration Work Together
Coach Mike treats diversification as more than holding many tickers; he diversifies by job description. He’ll keep a swing book aligned with a higher-timeframe structure while using intraday scalps to harvest volatility and smooth the equity curve. Different underlyings carry different betas and behaviors, so he pairs a trending equity swing with a mean-reversion futures scalp or a quick volatility fade when appropriate. The point is to avoid stacking the same risk in three places and calling it “diversified.”
Coach Mike also diversifies by duration and strategy rules. A daily or 4H swing can run for days, while a 3–5 minute scalp is flattened by the close, preventing overnight correlation shocks from nuking the whole book. He separates checklists so a scalp never morphs into a swing and a swing isn’t micromanaged like a scalp. When the portfolio leans too long, he hunts intraday shorts at resistance to pull net exposure closer to neutral. By mixing underlying, strategy type, and holding time, he reduces variance, stabilizes cash flow, and keeps risk where it belongs—defined and deliberate.
Trade Mechanics Over Predictions: Rules, Checklists, and Repeatable Execution Triggers
Coach Mike says prediction is optional; mechanics are mandatory. He builds trades from pre-marked levels, a simple timeframe stack, and a short checklist that either lights up green or sends him to the sidelines. Before entry, he requires structure, momentum, and liquidity to agree, then uses a repeatable trigger—like a retest that holds—to avoid chasing. By scripting the steps, he removes guesswork and ensures every click looks like the last winner he took.
Once in, Coach Mike follows the script with the same discipline. Stops live where the idea is wrong, not where the P&L feels uncomfortable, and partials come off at predefined targets that match the day’s pace. If execution slips—late entries, no confluence, chasing breakouts—he tags the error and stands down until the checklist is respected again. The edge isn’t in calling the market; it’s in running the same mechanical process, trade after trade, regardless of mood or outcome.
Define Your Risk: Clear Invalidation, No Averaging Down, Flatten By Close
Coach Mike insists every trade starts with the invalidation line drawn first. If price tags that line, the idea is wrong—full stop—and he’s out without negotiation. He refuses to average down because it turns a planned loss into a ballooning problem, and it muddies whether the strategy actually works. Instead, he sizes the position so the pre-defined stop equals a fixed R, then lets the trade prove itself without tinkering.
He also treats time as risk. Scalps are intraday instruments for Coach Mike, so he flattens by the close to avoid overnight gaps and news shocks that ignore stops. If the trade hasn’t reached targets or lost structure by session end, he exits and logs the outcome as part of the system, not an exception. The result is a clean loop: define the risk in advance, execute without averaging, and end the day flat so process—not hope—drives tomorrow’s decisions.
Coach Mike’s throughline is simple and powerful: treat trading like a business with fixed costs, clear rules, and a calm tempo. He risks a fixed R on every position, caps the daily drawdown, and gets flat by the close on scalps, so time never becomes the enemy. Entries are built from structure on the 3–5 minute view and confirmed at the level—no chasing, no averaging down, no “I’ll just give it a little more room.” When volatility expands, he widens stops and reduces size to keep R constant; when it contracts, he tightens everything and takes profits sooner. The scoreboard isn’t predictions—it’s plan adherence.
He also thinks in portfolios, not single trades. Swing positions carry the bigger thesis; intraday scalps harvest volatility and help balance net exposure so the equity curve stays smoother. Diversification isn’t five tickers that all do the same thing—it’s mixing underlying, strategy type, and holding duration so one pocket of risk can’t torch the whole book. Finally, the engine that makes it all work is routine: short prep, a simple checklist, two clean shots per idea, journaling the reasons for entry and exit, and shutting it down when the day’s risk is spent. In Coach Mike’s world, discipline isn’t a motivational quote—it’s the edge.
