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At the FX Summit, I sat down with Jesse—better known online as “Casper”—for a Words of Rizdom podcast conversation about what really moves the needle in trading. He’s a futures-focused trader (NASDAQ first, with ES and occasional Gold) who blends a fighter’s discipline with a builder’s mindset. In this interview, Jesse talks candidly about the grind behind his rapid brand growth, why becoming a father sharpened his focus, and how he reframed trading from a quick-win chase to a lifelong craft.
You’ll learn why “no holy grail” isn’t a cop-out but a competitive advantage, how to prioritize psychology before piling on indicators, and the simple rule that stops strategy-hopping: pick a plan you actually believe in, then refine it. Jesse breaks down the mindset shifts that took him from scattered to systematic—treating success as a process, not an event—and shares the books, routines, and practical filters that keep him consistent in live markets. If you’re early in your journey or rebooting after a setback, this playbook gives you a clean starting point to build a durable, personal edge.
Jesse “Casper” Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
Market Focus & Instruments
Here’s where he plays and why. Jesse “Casper” keeps his universe tight so he can read flow like a local—mainly NASDAQ futures (NQ), with ES and occasional Gold when conditions fit. Fewer products, deeper context, faster decisions.
- Trade universe: NQ primary; ES and GC as secondary when the structure is cleaner.
- Sessions: New York open through first 2–3 hours; avoid mid-day chop unless a catalyst hits.
- Volatility filter: stand down if ATR(14) on NQ H1 is below a personal threshold; switch to ES on extreme NQ whips.
Core Setup: Trend + Pullback Into Value
He wants alignment, then a fair pullback into a spot where risk is defined and asymmetric. The game is to enter where the next impulse is statistically likely, not to chase candles.
- Directional bias from H4/H1 structure (higher highs/lows or lower highs/lows).
- Use 20/50 EMA stack on M5–M15: trade only in the direction of the stacked slope.
- Identify “value” = prior session VWAP/AVWAP or 50%–61.8% retrace of the impulse leg.
- Entry trigger: M1/M3 shift (lower-low failure for longs, higher-high failure for shorts) or delta flip on footprint.
- Invalidation: beyond last swing pivot or 1x local ATR; never “mental stops.”
Key Levels: Pre-Plan the Map
He comes to the session with a roadmap, so execution is about reacting, not guessing. Levels anchor conviction and make risk placement objective.
- Mark prior day high/low, overnight high/low, and session VWAP; draw a line, not a zone soup.
- Note weekly open and prior week value area extremes; bias is stronger when levels cluster.
- First touch of a major level: look for responsive flow; second/third touch: expect continuation or break.
- No trade if price is mid-range between all key references with no catalyst.
Risk & Position Sizing
Survival first, compounding second. The structure of the trade dictates size—wide stops get a smaller size, tight stops get a normal size.
- Risk per trade: 0.25%–0.5% of account; hard cap 1R daily loss before stopping.
- Position size = (max risk $) / (stop distance in ticks × tick value).
- Never widen stops; if context changes, exit, then re-enter on a fresh signal.
- If the first trade is a loss, cut the next risk in half unless a high-impact catalyst aligns.
Entry & Execution Rules
He looks for clean confirmations without overfitting. The checklist keeps him from impulse clicks.
- Don’t enter on the candle that tags a level—wait for a reclaim/ rejection pattern.
- Time-in-trade standard: if not +0.5R within 10–15 minutes during NY open, reassess or scratch.
- Use limit orders at pre-planned prices; switch to market only on news spikes with momentum continuation.
- Avoid long against a falling M15 VWAP or short against a rising one unless news flips the regime.
Trade Management: Scaling, Targets, and Exits
Clear targets reduce emotional drift. He prefers partials into objective measures so the rest can breathe.
- First scale at +1R or at prior swing; move stop to breakeven only after first scale.
- Target ladder: previous high/low → VWAP → measured move (length of prior impulse).
- If delta (or tape) stalls at a target and a higher-timeframe EMA flattens, take more off.
- Time stop: if price compresses into a wedge post-entry with falling volume, exit before the wedge breaks.
Psychology & Process
Edge dies when rules bend. He treats discipline like a muscle—trained daily with routines that make the “right” choice the easy choice.
- Morning priming: 5 minutes of “rules read-through” aloud; visualize one A+ setup and one hard stop.
- One strategy per session; no indicator shopping mid-day.
- After a red day, next session trades must be half-risk and A+ only.
- “No holy grail” mindset: score quality of execution, not P&L, in the journal.
Pre-Market Prep
Preparation carves the path for the first clean trade. He spends a short, focused window to set bias and scenarios.
- 20–30 minutes before open: define bullish/bearish scenarios and invalidations for each.
- Mark news: FOMC/ISM/CPI/NFP = trade only post-release unless pre-set breakout plan is on.
- Write a single-sentence plan for the open (e.g., “Long NQ on pullback to ONH/VWAP if M5 EMAs up.”)
- If the pre-market range is tiny, expect expansion; if it’s huge, expect mean reversion to VWAP early.
News & Catalyst Playbook
Catalysts change the tape. He adapts the trigger logic around event risk to avoid getting steamrolled.
- 2 minutes pre-major news: flat or hard stop in, reduce size 50% if holding.
- Post-release: wait for the first impulse and first pullback that holds VWAP/AVWAP.
- If the initial move runs 2× typical 1-minute ATR in <60 seconds, treat fade attempts as lower probability.
- Only take continuation if higher-timeframe bias agrees and delta shows follow-through.
Journal & Metrics
What gets measured gets better. He focuses on a few metrics that tie directly to execution quality.
- Record: setup type, level used, entry rationale, stop/target, R multiple, time-in-trade.
- Track stats weekly: win rate, average R, payoff ratio, time-of-day edge, by-setup edge.
- Flag three error types: late entry, stop moved, counter-trend. Aim for <10% error in trades weekly.
- Review the top 10 screenshots each weekend; update the playbook images for A+ examples only.
A+ Setup Checklist (Print This)
This is the fast filter that keeps you honest. If it’s not mostly green, it’s probably not your trade.
- Higher timeframe trend aligned (H1/H4).
- Clean level nearby (PDH/PDL, ONH/ONL, VWAP, weekly level).
- EMAs (20/50) stacked and sloped on M5–M15 in trade direction.
- Entry trigger present (reclaim/reject + micro shift or delta flip).
- Stop defined at structure; size calculated.
- First target and scale plan written; news checked.
- If not +0.5R in 10–15 minutes during NY open, consider scratch.
Example Day Plan (NQ, NY Open)
Turning the rules into a concrete plan makes execution simple. Here’s a sample that mirrors how he structures a session.
- Bias: bullish while above the prior day high and rising M15 VWAP.
- Key levels: ONH 18,250; VWAP 18,210; prior day high 18,230.
- Plan: Long on pullback to 18,230–18,210 zone if M5 EMAs remain stacked up.
- Entry: limit at 18,220 on reclaim; stop 18,195 (below swing/ATR).
- Scale: 1/3 at 18,260 (+1.6R), 1/3 at 18,300 (range extension), runner to 18,340 with trail under M5 20 EMA.
- Invalidate longs if M15 closes below VWAP and EMAs flatten; switch to mean-reversion short back to ONL only if delta turns decisively.
Size Risk First: Position by Volatility, Not Conviction
Jesse (aka “Casper”) drills this in before anything else: your size comes from market volatility, not how “right” you feel. If NQ is ripping with a wide ATR, he’ll trade smaller; if ES is calmer, he’ll allow more contracts at the same dollar risk. The point is to normalize outcomes so a quiet day and a wild day don’t blow up the equity curve just because the tape changed speed.
He sets a fixed dollar risk per trade, then backs into size using stop distance derived from structure and ATR. If the stop is wider, the position shrinks; if the stop is tighter, size can expand—never the other way around. Jesse also tags regime shifts: when volatility spikes for multiple sessions, he preemptively halves the size until stats confirm stability. Feelings never override the calculator; conviction is a note, volatility is the rule.
Diversify by Strategy, Underlying, and Duration to Smooth Equity
Jesse (“Casper”) doesn’t spread himself thin; he spreads his edge. He runs a small set of complementary plays—trend-pullback, VWAP reversion, and catalyst continuation—so when one cools off, another can carry the load. He applies the same thinking to products: NQ for momentum, ES for structure, and the occasional Gold when indices are choppy. The goal isn’t more trades; it’s a portfolio of uncorrelated P&L drivers.
Duration matters too, and Jesse mixes intraday scalps with hold-to-session swings when the tape supports it. A quick-paying scalp can cover risk while a higher-timeframe runner hunts a measured move. When he reviews results, he tags wins and losses by strategy, underlying, and hold time, then tilts risk toward the bucket with the cleanest distribution. That’s how Jesse keeps the equity curve smoother—by diversifying the how, the what, and the how long all at once.
Trade Mechanics Over Predictions: Rules, Triggers, and Repeatable Process
Jesse “Casper” keeps forecasts in the journal and mechanics on the screen. He builds a pre-market scenario (“if we reclaim VWAP and EMAs stack up, I buy the pullback; if we reject, I fade to prior low”) and then executes only when the trigger shows. The entry is a reclaim/reject pattern or a clean tape/delta shift at a planned level—not a hunch. If the trigger doesn’t print, Jesse doesn’t “anticipate”; he waits or walks.
Once in, Jesse manages by rules: first scale at a predefined R or prior swing, move stop to breakeven only after that scale, and exit on time-stop if momentum stalls. No adding to losers, no widening stops, and no “it should come back” narratives. He treats each trade like a manufacturing step—identical inputs, identical checks—so outcomes depend on process, not prediction. That’s how Jesse turns market chaos into a repeatable edge.
Define Risk Upfront; Avoid Unlimited Loss Structures Without Offsets
Jesse “Casper” treats risk like a bill that must be paid before the trade starts. He defines the invalidation level on structure, converts that distance to dollars, and sizes the position so the maximum loss is pre-agreed. If a setup can’t accommodate a hard stop in the book, he passes—no “mental stops,” no negotiating mid-trade. Jesse refuses naked, undefined-risk structures; if he uses anything with tail risk, it’s paired with an offset that caps the downside.
He preplans exits the same way: first scale at a specific R or objective level, then trail only if momentum and higher-timeframe context stay aligned. If volatility expands and the stop must widen, he cuts size rather than hope the market “calms down.” He never averages down; the only add is a planned scale-in after confirmation, while risk per idea remains fixed. For Jesse, clarity beats cleverness—tight definitions, capped exposure, and zero tolerance for unlimited loss profiles.
Daily Discipline Loop: Plan, Execute, Journal, Iterate with Metrics
Jesse “Casper” runs each session like a tight loop: plan the scenarios, execute only the A-setups, then journal with brutal honesty. Before the open, he writes one bullish and one bearish path with exact invalidations—no guessing once the bell rings. After the close, he scores execution quality (followed plan? respected stops? took scales?), so progress is measured by behavior, not P&L.
He tracks a few key metrics that actually change behavior: win rate by setup, average R, time-in-trade, and error rate (late entries, stop moves, counter-trend stabs). If an error shows up twice in a week, Jesse hard-rules it for the next five sessions. Green day or red day, he finishes by updating screenshots of A+ examples and removing mediocre ones, so the playbook stays sharp. That loop—plan, execute, journal, iterate—is how Jesse compounds skill long before he compounds capital.
In the end, Jesse “Casper” makes one lesson unmissable: trading success isn’t an event—it’s a process you commit to every day. He treats volatility as the governor of risk, refuses undefined exposure, and builds decisions around levels, VWAP, and clean structure instead of hunches. The “holy grail” is accepting there isn’t one; your edge is the repeatable routine—plan the scenarios, wait for your trigger, size off your stop, scale with intention, and record everything so tomorrow is sharper than today.
He’s equally clear about mindset and expectations: don’t treat trading like a quick paycheck, don’t outsource discipline to a prop challenge, and don’t let social media timelines rush your development. Jesse’s fuel is purpose—family, legacy, and building something that lasts—which naturally pushes him toward systems over dopamine. If you boil his playbook down, it’s this: simplify your universe, define risk before entry, let mechanics beat prediction, and measure your behavior with brutal honesty. Do that long enough, and consistency starts to feel less like luck and more like the only possible outcome.
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