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Boris Schlossberg—veteran intraday trader and educator—sits down for a straight-talk interview about what actually works in today’s markets. Known for his pragmatic approach and transparent live trading, Boris explains why “buy the dip” is broken, why focusing on a single instrument (he favors US30) sharpens your read of price, and how he’s engineered steadier results without fancy indicators. If you’re new to trading or you’ve been spun around by conflicting YouTube advice, this conversation cuts through the noise with rules you can use tomorrow morning.
You’ll learn the core of Boris’s playbook: trade only two price behaviors (continuation or reversal), anchor your decisions around the day’s fresh highs and lows, and pair a simple 1:1 risk/reward with a small statistical edge. He shows how algorithmic execution removes fidgeting, how to size like a pro-firm candidate to keep drawdowns tiny, and why journaling both your system and your own behavior is the real unlock. Most of all, you’ll leave with a beginner-friendly blueprint for resilient consistency instead of lottery-ticket thinking.
Boris Schlossberg Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
One Instrument, All-In Focus (US30 as the workhorse)
Boris keeps it ultra-simple: one primary instrument so your pattern-recognition gets razor sharp. Fewer variables, faster feedback, tighter execution. Mastery beats menu.
- Pick one index future/CFD (e.g., US30) and stick with it for 90 trading sessions.
- Log session times, volatility ranges, and news windows specific to that instrument.
- Ban “chart tourism”: do not open other tickers during your session.
- Build a single template chart: only what you truly use (price, session high/low, time).
- Review 50 recent sessions of your instrument and tag your A+, B, and C conditions.
Two Setups Only: Continuation or Reversal
Every trade Boris takes is either a continuation or a reversal—nothing in between. Cutting the menu to two behaviors makes decisions faster and rules stricter.
- Pre-label your bias: “I am hunting continuation” or “I am hunting reversal”—never both at once.
- For continuation, trade in the direction of the last impulsive move after a shallow pause.
- For reversal, trade a clear rejection at a key level with momentum flipping the other way.
- Keep different checklists for each setup; if the list doesn’t pass, there is no trade.
- Cap at two valid attempts per setup per session to avoid grind-and-chop.
Anchor to Today’s High/Low (Auction Theory in action)
Intraday price is an auction; the day’s high and low are the poles of that auction. Boris builds entries and invalidations around these two levels.
- Mark the current session high/low on your chart; update live, not from memory.
- Continuation longs: look for pullbacks holding above VWAP/structure after taking out the high.
- Reversal shorts: look for failed breaks above the high that snap back below it with speed.
- Use the opposing pole as the “no-go” line: if the price is accepted beyond it, your idea is wrong.
- Avoid mid-auction chops: if price is ping-ponging between mid and VWAP, wait.
Simple, Repeatable Risk: 1R Target, 1R Stop
Boris emphasizes a small statistical edge repeated many times with modest risk. He targets a clean 1:1 and lets frequency do the compounding.
- Predefine R in cash (e.g., $100 per trade); do not alter it mid-session.
- Stop goes beyond the invalidation of your setup, not a random fixed number.
- First target at +1R; flatten—no scaling when you’re learning the playbook.
- Daily stop: 3R max loss; daily win cap: 5R. When hit, the session ends.
- Track win rate and expectancy weekly; adjust only after 100+ trades.
Zero Leverage Creep, Zero Martingale
The fastest way to blow up is to “make it back” with size. Boris bans leverage creep and any form of averaging down that worsens risk.
- No adding size to losers—ever. If you add, it’s only with house money after +1R banked (advanced).
- Keep contract/lot size constant for a full month before any change.
- If you breach your daily stop, the next session opens at the prior, smaller size.
- News minutes (CPI, NFP, FOMC): default to flat unless this is a tested sub-strategy.
- If you feel the urge to “get it back,” you’re done for the day.
Algorithmic Execution to Remove Fidgeting
Rules don’t matter if your fingers override them. Boris uses automation to execute the exact plan and eliminate hesitation or revenge clicks.
- Convert entries, stops, and targets into bracket orders or an algo script.
- Use “if–then” conditions only: no discretion once the order is armed.
- Require a minimum resting time in trade (e.g., 90 seconds) unless stop/target hits.
- Log “manual overrides”; three in a week trigger mandatory sim for two days.
- Deploy a kill-switch hotkey that instantly flattens all positions.
Session Routine: Prepare, Hunt, Close
Boris treats each session like a professional shift. Set the map, hunt your two behaviors, and shut it down clean.
- Pre-market (15–20 min): mark prior day high/low, overnight range, today’s economic events.
- Define regime: trend day vs. range day (using breadth/tick/trend filter you trust).
- Set your “allowed windows” (e.g., first 90 minutes, power hour); do not drift.
- Maximum attempts: 4 total trades per session (e.g., 2 continuation, 2 reversal).
- Post-market: tag each trade with “setup, quality, compliance” and screenshot.
Entry Triggers That Don’t Lie
Boris wants objective triggers—prints that are either there or not—so you can’t rationalize your way into a maybe-trade.
- Continuation long trigger: break of micro-range high following a higher low above the session mid.
- Reversal short trigger: failed breakout above the day’s high, followed by an engulfing down bar.
- Require confluence: trigger + position vs. high/low + momentum cue (e.g., delta/RSI shift).
- One bar of confirmation max; if it hesitates, skip it—continuations that stall often fail.
- No limit-catching knives; let price prove your bias, then hit the market order.
Trade Management: Fast, Mechanical, Bored
The edge is in the entry and the stop; management should be almost boring. Boris aims to avoid tinkering once he’s in.
- Do not move the stop unless you’ve banked +1R; then trail to breakeven only.
- If price stalls for N bars (predefined), scratch at -0.2R to -0.3R.
- If momentum overshoots +1R, do not chase a runner—bank and reset (beginners).
- Only one re-entry per idea; the second miss means the market disagrees.
- If slippage worsens beyond your threshold, reduce size next trade.
Statistics, Journaling, and Review
Boris thrives on fast feedback. The journal is where the edge gets sharpened from “good idea” to “profitable habit.”
- Track: setup type, R multiple, MAE/MFE, time-in-trade, compliance (yes/no).
- Weekly: export 20–50 trades; sort by setup and time window to find your A+ slice.
- Kill any tactic with a <52% win rate at 1:1 after 100 trades unless variance explains it.
- Build a “Do More / Do Less” card; put it next to your screen every session.
- Record a one-minute audio debrief after each trade to capture headspace data.
Personality Fit and Timeframe
Boris is a fast-feedback trader who prefers quick scalps; the same logic scales to slower charts if that’s your style. The key is aligning behavior with temperament.
- Choose a trade duration that matches you: ~10 minutes (scalp), 30–90 minutes (intra), or multi-hour (swing intraday).
- If you hate waiting, run smaller targets with more samples; if you prefer patience, widen stops/targets but cut attempts.
- Noise tolerance test: if a -0.5R wiggle makes you anxious, your stop is too tight or the size too big.
- Keep your lifestyle in mind: restrict trading to windows you can defend every day.
- Rehearse your exact setups on the sim for 10 sessions every time you make a change.
Funding & Risk Discipline
Boris often highlights how prop-style rules harden execution. Treat your account like it has a daily loss limit committee watching.
- Adopt a hard daily loss limit (e.g., -3R) and a weekly drawdown cap (e.g., -9R).
- No “news hero” trades require a separate, stats-backed playbook for event minutes.
- If you breach rules, enforce a 24-hour lockout and a mandatory rules rewrite.
- Withdraw profits on a schedule (e.g., monthly) to reinforce “trade like a business.”
- Keep a “rule violations” counter on your screen; three in a day ends the session.
Trade Only Two Behaviors: Continuation or Reversal Around Day’s Extremes
Boris Schlossberg keeps the menu tight: you either trade continuation or reversal, nothing in between. He anchors both ideas to the session’s high and low, so decisions are binary—price is accepting near an extreme or it isn’t. For continuation, Boris waits for a shallow pause after an impulsive push through the day’s extreme, then enters with the trend as momentum reengages. For reversal, he wants a failed break at the high or low, followed by a decisive snap back, using that failure as the invalidation line.
He treats each behavior with a separate checklist and never hunts both at once during the same sequence. Entries are objective—break of a micro-range for continuation, engulfing flip after a failed breakout for reversal, and stops live just beyond the extreme that proved or disproved the idea. Attempts are capped to prevent grind: one initial try and, at most, a clean re-entry if the structure resets. Anything mid-auction is skipped; if the price is ping-ponging away from the extremes, Boris Schlossberg simply waits for the next test or move to qualify.
Size Small, Target 1R, Cap Daily Losses To Protect Edge
Boris Schlossberg treats risk like oxygen—you don’t notice it until it’s gone. He sizes small enough that any single loss is just background noise, then aims for a clean 1R target so the math is simple and repeatable. The stop goes where the idea is wrong, not where it “feels” comfortable, and the target mirrors that distance to keep expectations grounded. By removing the temptation to chase 3R home runs, Boris keeps his focus on high-quality entries and consistent execution.
Daily limits do the heavy lifting when emotions flare. Boris Schlossberg shuts the platform at a predefined loss cap, so one bad morning can’t become a bad week. He also sets a reasonable daily win cap to avoid victory tilt, banking edge instead of donating it back. With size fixed for a full review cycle, only the data—not mood—dictates when to scale. The result is a process that survives variance and compounds discipline, one 1R at a time.
Let Volatility Dictate Playbook: Adjust Attempts, Windows, and Expectations
Boris Schlossberg starts every session by asking one question: How fast is the price moving today? If volatility expands, he widens stops and targets proportionally, reduces the number of stabs, and shortens hold times to respect faster tape. If volatility contracts, he tightens risk, accepts smaller targets, and limits trades to the cleanest A+ structures. The goal is fit, not force—Boris trades the day he has, not the day he wants. He also trims expectations on slow days, acknowledging that 0.5R to 1R outcomes can be a win when ranges are compressed.
Timing windows flex with conditions. On high-volatility days, Boris Schlossberg focuses on the open and power hour when momentum is most reliable; in quiet sessions, he prefers mid-morning mean-reversion tilts and avoids news edges entirely. He caps attempts by regime—maybe two total in fast tape, up to four in slow tape—so he doesn’t churn when movement is erratic. If the realized range fails to reach a preset threshold by a certain time, he stands down rather than inventing trades. Volatility sets the rules, and he follows them.
One Instrument, One Template Chart, No Distractions During Session
Boris Schlossberg believes mastery comes from repetition on a single market, not from sampling twenty tickers. He builds a minimalist template chart—session high/low, VWAP, or a simple mid, and clean time markers—so he can read context at a glance. Sticking to one instrument means every nuance of pace, spread, and slippage becomes familiar, which tightens execution. Boris Schlossberg also bans tab-hopping; fewer inputs mean faster, more confident decisions.
The routine is simple: open the platform to your instrument, load the same layout, and trade only your two behaviors. If a setup isn’t present, he waits; if the tape turns to chop, he stands down instead of hunting elsewhere. Alerts do the scouting, so he doesn’t stare and impulsively click. By the end of a month, this focus compounds into cleaner entries, lower error rates, and a thicker playbook of screenshots for that one market. Boris Schlossberg’s message is clear—depth beats breadth when your edge lives in execution.
Journal Strategy And Self: Automate Execution, Ban Leverage Creep
Boris Schlossberg treats the journal like a profit engine, not a diary. He logs setup type, time of day, R multiple, MAE/MFE, and whether he followed rules—then highlights the screenshots that show clean compliance. The goal is to learn which slices of the day and which triggers pay him, so he can do more of that and cut the rest. Automation backs this up: bracket orders fire instantly with predefined stops and 1R targets, removing hesitation and “one more tick” fantasies.
Discipline means no leverage creep and zero adding to losers—two habits Boris Schlossberg says silently kill accounts. Size stays constant for an entire review cycle, and any rule breach triggers a smaller clip size or a brief return to sim. He keeps a visible violations counter; hit three in a session and he’s flat for the day. Weekly, he distills the notes into a “Do More/Do Less” card taped to the monitor, so the next trade is guided by evidence, not ego.
Boris Schlossberg’s core lesson is ruthless simplicity: master one instrument, trade only two behaviors, and let risk math—not hopes—do the heavy lifting. He prefers US30 because repetition sharpens intuition, then frames every decision around the day’s high and low: either a continuation after an impulsive break and shallow pause, or a reversal after a failed breakout that snaps back with intent. He bans averaging down and martingale, fixes risk in cash, and aims for a clean 1:1 so the edge comes from win rate and execution quality. Volatility sets the session plan—wider stops and fewer attempts in fast tape, tighter targets and patient selection in slow conditions. Attempts are capped, re-entries are limited, and chop in the middle of the range is skipped entirely. Automation enforces the plan with bracket orders and a kill switch, removing the fidgeting that ruins otherwise good ideas.
Equally important, Boris Schlossberg “trades himself” through data and discipline. He journals every trade with setup, time, MAE/MFE, and compliance to isolate the slices that actually pay, then adjusts only after a meaningful sample instead of chasing feelings. Daily loss and win caps protect the equity curve from tilt, while a visible rule-violations counter ends the session before damage snowballs. Stops sit beyond invalidation, targets are taken without negotiation, and profits aren’t given back, trying to force runners. The result is a playbook that’s boring by design: two clear patterns, objective triggers, strict risk, and a feedback loop that steadily narrows focus to what works—and cuts everything else.
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