Back in the day
A less militant version of myself,
used to check six different timeframes before placing a trade.
15-minute, 1-hour, 4-hour, daily, weekly, monthly.
Trying to find "confluence."
What I was actually doing was procrastinating because I had no idea where the market was going.
Now I spend 3 minutes every morning and know exactly which direction to trade.
The rest is just execution.
Does it come with time?
Definitely
But there's an enhancing mechanism you probably have some idea about
Let me show you what changed.
The Question Nobody Asks
Ever take a perfect liquidity sweep setup and still lose?
Clean structure. Textbook entry. Proper risk management.
Price just... grinds against you for hours before stopping you out.
Then reverses exactly where you thought it would.
Ever wonder why that happens?
Most traders blame execution. Or timing.
Or "the market was choppy today."
That's not real
You were trading in the wrong direction.
The setup was perfect. The direction was backwards.
The Difference Between Guessing And Knowing
Two traders. inside iron forged*
Same strategy. Same pair.
One made $4,200 yesterday. The other lost $800.
Both caught the liquidity sweep. Both entered on the FVG. Both used proper stops.
Different outcomes.
Why?
One knew where the market wanted to go before the session opened.
The other was hoping his setup would work out.
Hope is expensive in this game.
Direction is everything.
What Actually Determines Direction
Not your 15-minute chart.
Not the liquidity sweep you just spotted.
Not the fair value gap forming right now.
Those tell you when to enter.
They don't tell you which way to trade.
For that, you need to see what the market's been building toward for days.
The Three-Timeframe Reality
Weekly chart shows you the truth.
Strong trend or choppy mess.
If it's chopping, you already saved yourself money by walking away.
If it's trending, you have your first piece.
Daily chart gives you confirmation.
Are order blocks being respected?
Are FVGs holding?
If weekly says bullish but daily structure is breaking down, something's wrong.
You don't trade confused markets.
4-hour chart shows you the target.
Where's the liquidity sitting?
Above old highs?
Below recent lows?
That's where price needs to go.
Not where you think it should go.
Where it has to go.
The Manual Work Problem
This process works.
But it's tedious.
Marking weekly structure. Checking daily OBs. Identifying 4H liquidity zones.
Takes time most traders don't have. Or don't want to spend.
I automated the liquidity identification part years ago.
FluxCharts handles what used to take me an hour every morning.
Shows me exactly where liquidity is pooling across timeframes.
Sends alerts when setups align.
Not required. But it removes the grunt work.
The Part That Makes Money
You have direction now.
Bullish or bearish. Clear trend. Liquidity target identified.
Now you wait.
Before every significant move, price will sweep liquidity in the opposite direction.
Not sometimes.
Every time.
Go look at your charts. Find any major move.
You'll see the sweep that preceded it.
If you're bullish, expect a 5-minute low to get taken out first.
If you're bearish, expect a quick run above recent highs.
Once the sweep completes, you enter.
FVG, OB, OTE, VWAP doesn't matter which pattern you use.
As long as you're trading in the direction the market already committed to.
Stop goes at the sweep level.
Always.
If price comes back there, your thesis was wrong.
No reason to stay in.
Target is your choice. 3:1 works.
Opposing liquidity works better.
Same process multiple people inside have used to pull $20k months after 3 months of joining.
Direction first. Entry second.
Talk Tuesday,
Atif
P.S. If you're still trading without knowing where the market's going, you're not trading. You're gambling with extra steps.
