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In this interview, veteran New York Stock Exchange floor broker Peter Tuchman—often called the “Einstein of Wall Street”—walks us through nearly four decades on the NYSE, from open-outcry chaos to handhelds and algorithmic speed, and why that evolution matters for anyone pressing the buy or sell button today. Filmed on the floor he calls home, Tuchman blends vivid history with hard-won trading truth, cutting through myths about market makers and “secret” edges with straight talk on discipline, risk, and professionalism.
Read on to learn the exact day-trading habits Tuchman says separate winners from blow-ups: planning every trade, using hard stops, scaling out into strength, and avoiding revenge trading. You’ll also pick up his simple technical toolkit (EMAs, pivots, support/resistance), how to think when markets swing 1–7% in a session, why “never get emotional about money” still rules, and how to pivot your strategy as the game changes—without chasing hype.
Peter Tuchman Playbook & Strategy: How He Actually Trades
The Core Operating System
Here’s the big picture of how Peter approaches the day: show up prepared, trade the plan (not opinions), and manage risk like a pro. This section gives you the non-negotiables he runs through every single session so you can copy the structure and reduce randomness.
- Define your A+ setups the night before and write them down (ticker, bias, trigger, stop, target).
- Hard cap daily risk (e.g., max −1R or −2R); if hit, you’re done—no negotiations.
- Pre-market scan: note overnight ranges, gaps vs. prior day’s close, and the top catalysts (earnings, guidance, macro).
- Mark levels: prior day high/low, overnight high/low, pre-market high/low, VWAP, and first hourly high/low.
- Decide size before the open (small, normal, or half) based on expected volatility; never scale up mid-tilt.
- Use live checklist at the open: “Trend? Breadth? Liquidity? News tape calm or hot?” If two+ are unclear, stay light.
Pre-Market Prep (15–30 Minutes That Set Up the Whole Day)
Success is front-loaded. Peter doesn’t guess once the bell rings because the heavy lifting happens before it. These bullets show you exactly what to do so the open feels like execution, not discovery.
- Build a one-page game plan: 3–5 names only, each with long/short plans; ditch the rest.
- Map risk: place provisional stops on the chart; if a stop would sit inside noise, skip the trade.
- Set alerts at key levels (not on price every 5¢); use them to avoid screen hypnosis.
- Write your “no-trade scenarios” (e.g., unresolved gap fill, whipsaw around VWAP, headline risk) and respect them.
- Pre-decide where you will add (only on confirmation: reclaim of level + volume, not just “it’s cheaper now”).
The Open: First 30 Minutes
Open drives most of the day’s character. Peter treats it like a controlled burn: fast, decisive, rule-bound. Use this playbook to avoid getting chopped up in the chaos.
- If the first 1–3 minutes are disorderly (wide spreads, fake breaks), do nothing; wait for a first pullback/first bounce.
- Long only above VWAP + prior level reclaim; short only below VWAP + failure at a key level—no counter-trend sniping.
- First trade risk = smallest size of the day; only scale after your trade is working and the structure is clean.
- Use opening range: break + hold of the 5-minute opening range with volume = green light; wick through = trap risk.
- If stopped on trade #1, require a fresh setup (not a re-entry) to trade again in the first 15 minutes.
Entries That Stack Odds
Peter prioritizes simplicity: clear levels, confirmation, and tape that agrees. These rules help you avoid “cute” entries and stick to high-probability triggers.
- Trigger = level break + hold + volume expansion; don’t hit on first touch.
- Prefer “break → retest → continuation” over blind breakout chasing.
- Use confluence: level + VWAP/EMA cluster + breadth confirmation (e.g., index ticking your way).
- If spread widens at trigger (illiquidity), pass—bad fills ruin edges.
- Never enter headlines alone; price must confirm within your structure.
Stops, Targets, and Trade Management
This is where careers are made. Peter is mechanical about exits, so emotions never hijack the trade. Lock in your own “if X then Y” rules with these templates.
- Initial stop goes beyond the invalidation level, not a random %; if that makes the risk too big, the trade is disqualified.
- After +1R move, take 1/3–1/2 off and ratchet the stop to breakeven; you can’t let winners flip red.
- Trail remainder behind structure (last swing, VWAP, or a 9/20 EMA combo) rather than a fixed tick.
- If price returns to entry after taking partials and loses structure, exit—don’t “hope” it comes back.
- Never widen a stop. Flatten first, then reassess for a fresh entry if setup rebuilds.
Scaling and Position Sizing
Edge compounds when size is earned, not guessed. Peter scales only when the market proves him right. Use these bullets to keep sizing disciplined.
- Start small on first entry; add only on higher-low (for longs) or lower-high (for shorts) with volume confirmation.
- Each add must tighten blended risk; if adds push risk beyond your daily cap, you’re oversized.
- No “doubling down” on losers—ever. Adds are for momentum continuation, not repairs.
- Cap total concurrent risk across all positions (e.g., 2R total); correlated names count as one bet.
Tools and Levels (What Actually Goes on the Chart)
Peter favors clean charts and widely respected levels. Keep the toolkit minimal so your reads are fast and repeatable.
- Price + volume + VWAP + 9/20/50 EMAs; remove anything you don’t act on.
- Key levels: prior day H/L, opening range H/L, gap fill, pre-market extremes, and major daily/weekly pivots.
- Intraday trend filter: above rising VWAP = long bias; below falling VWAP = short bias until proven otherwise.
- Breadth/context: watch the index future tied to your stock; don’t long weakness vs. a tanking index.
News, Tape, and Volatility
Headlines matter—but only through price. Peter reads the tape for confirmation and adjusts aggression to volatility. Here’s how to avoid getting steamrolled on event days.
- On scheduled news, cut the size in half or wait one minute post-release for spreads to normalize.
- Trade reactions, not predictions: if a stock gaps on earnings but fails at pre-market high with heavy selling, short the failure.
- If realized volatility spikes (ATR expanding, 1-minute ranges widening), decrease size and widen structure-based stops.
- Avoid the first headline spike; let the second move confirm real direction (the first move is often a liquidity hunt).
Psychology and Daily Process
“Never get emotional about money” isn’t a quote—it’s policy. Peter treats mindset as a risk tool. Bake these habits into your routine so discipline becomes automatic.
- Write a pre-market intention: “I will trade only my A+ setups, accept stops, and close platform at max loss.”
- Use a physical checklist before each order: setup match, size set, stop in, catalyst known.
- If you violate a rule, halt for 10 minutes and journal exactly why; one violation = reduced size for the next trade.
- Protect confidence: stack small wins; avoid “home-run” thinking after a drawdown.
Afternoon Session and Into the Close
The afternoon demands a different rhythm—less noise, cleaner rotations, then closing flows. Peter shifts gears so he doesn’t force trades when the tape is thin.
- Midday: trade only if the trend is intact and liquidity is healthy; otherwise, protect morning P&L.
- Power hour (last 60 minutes): look for trend continuation or clear reversal at VWAP/OR levels.
- Avoid holding weak intraday trades overnight; if it wasn’t an explicit swing plan, flatten by the bell.
- If a name trends all day and closes strong through HOD with volume, plan it for next-day continuation.
Review, Metrics, and Iteration
Peter treats trading like a craft: measure, refine, repeat. Use this framework to make tomorrow better than today.
- Post-market: screenshot entries/exits and annotate what you saw vs. what actually happened.
- Track three metrics daily: win rate, average R per trade, and rule-violation count. Goal: violations → zero.
- Promote or demote setups monthly: keep only those with positive expectancy; kill the rest mercilessly.
- Build a 10-trade sample for any new idea at 1/4 size before promoting it to full risk.
Size Risk First: Let Position and Daily Limits Control You
Peter Tuchman stresses that sizing is the steering wheel—without it, the market will drive you. Decide your maximum daily drawdown in advance (e.g., −1R or −2R) and hard-stop trading when it’s hit, no exceptions. Pre-assign risk per trade before the open and compute size from the distance to your invalidation, not from gut feel. If the stop is too far for your planned risk, the trade is disqualified—discipline beats FOMO.
Start the day with the smallest risk until the tape proves cooperative, then earn the right to scale. Never add to a losing position; only add when price confirms and your blended risk tightens. Lock partial gains at +1R and trail your stop so winners can’t flip red. If you violate a sizing rule, step away and reduce size for the next trade—your edge is your process, not your opinion.
Allocate by Volatility: Scale Exposure When Markets Breathe, Not When Hype Screams
Peter Tuchman frames position size around realized volatility, not headlines. When ranges expand and spreads widen, he automatically cuts size and widens structure-based stops. When ranges compress and tape is orderly, he earns the right to scale up within pre-set caps. The goal is stable risk per trade, so a wild candle day doesn’t sneakily turn one trade into three.
Practically, he checks the stock’s average true range and opening range behavior to bucket the day as quiet, normal, or hot. Quiet day = normal size; normal = base size; hot = half size or wait for secondary confirmations. He only adds after a higher low or lower high with volume, ensuring blended dollar risk stays constant as volatility shifts. If volatility regime flips mid-trade, Peter pares back to core and lets the trend prove itself again.
Diversify Smart: Mix Underlyings, Strategies, and Durations to Smooth Equity Curves
Peter Tuchman emphasizes diversification you can measure, not just more tickers for comfort. He mixes underlyings—index leaders, liquid single names, and an occasional sector ETF—so one headline can’t take down the day. He diversifies by strategy too: trend continuation, opening-range break + retest, and mean-reversion at well-defined daily levels. Each playbook has different failure modes, which keep the P&L from riding a single idea.
Duration matters just as much: Peter will run quick scalps at the open, intraday swings mid-session, and only occasionally plan an overnight with explicit risk boundaries. He limits correlated exposure (e.g., treats semis as one bet) and caps total concurrent risk across all positions. If one strategy goes cold, he throttles it to quarter-size while promoting the setups showing positive expectancy. The result is a steadier equity curve where no single narrative—or mistake—owns the outcome.
Trade the Mechanics, Not Predictions: Rules, Triggers, and Repeatable Execution
Peter Tuchman insists that prediction is entertainment; mechanics make money. He waits for rules to fire—level break, hold, and volume confirmation—before committing capital. If a setup lacks one piece of the trigger sequence, he passes, no matter how convincing the narrative sounds. Orders are staged with predefined size, stop, and first target, so execution is a button press, not a debate. When price action invalidates the setup, he exits without commentary and lets the next signal come to him.
Peter’s workflow is built to be cloned: mark prior day high/low and VWAP, define opening range, then hunt for the break→retest→continue pattern. He times adds only after a higher low (for longs) or lower high (for shorts) to keep risk tightening, not expanding. All decisions are recorded against a checklist—setup match, context alignment, liquidity acceptable, catalyst known—so he can audit discipline, not just P&L. If slippage or spread risk appears at the trigger, he waits for the next clean rotation rather than forcing fills. The edge isn’t the call; it’s the repeatable process that makes the same trade look the same every time.
Choose Defined Over Undefined Risk, Then Journal Process Discipline Every Session
Peter Tuchman favors trades where the invalidation is obvious and the loss is bounded. He avoids undefined-risk situations—no naked “hope it comes back” exposures, no averaging down, no holding losers overnight without a plan. Each position has a pre-plotted stop beyond structure, a first target for partials, and a trailing method so gains don’t evaporate. If the structure breaks, he flattens immediately and looks for the next clean setup instead of negotiating with the tape.
Equally important, Peter journals every session to enforce discipline. He records entry rationale, stops math, partials, adds, and any rule violations, then tags each trade to its playbook for review. The goal isn’t therapy; it’s engineering—find which rules produced expectancy and promote those, demote the rest. By combining defined risk with a written feedback loop, he keeps drawdowns shallow, confidence steady, and the process sharper with every trading day.
In the end, Peter Tuchman’s edge isn’t a hot tip—it’s a repeatable machine. He sizes first, plans second, and only then presses the button. Volatility sets his aggression, structure defines his stops, and VWAP/levels provide the map. He diversifies by instrument, playbook, and time frame so no single narrative—or mistake—can hijack the day. When price confirms, he executes; when it invalidates, he’s flat. Simple, strict, and scalable.
The durable takeaways are clear: cap daily risk and enforce it; let realized volatility decide size; trade mechanics over predictions; choose defined risk with obvious invalidations; and journal like a craftsman, promoting what has positive expectancy and killing what doesn’t. If you copy anything, copy the discipline: do the pre-market work, wait for your trigger sequence, manage winners mechanically, and treat every session as a feedback loop. That’s how Peter turns a noisy market into a steady process.
