Decide where you're wrong — before you enter.
Victor Sperandeo explains why setting exits in advance leads to bigger winners and smaller losers.
Discipline isn't optional.
It's the whole game.
If you haven’t watched “Trading in the Zone” by Mark Douglas, you’re missing the real foundation of trading.
Just 22 minutes.👇📊
But it can change how you think about the market forever.
Because your real advantage isn’t on the screen, it’s in your psychology. 🧠
This is exactly what I mean when I say “buy weakness in leading names”… and most people never actually show you what that looks like in real time.
So let’s use $TSEM from today.
This is a leader within a leading group (semiconductors), and that’s always where my process starts.
I’m not randomly scanning for setups or chasing whatever is moving... I’m first identifying where the money is flowing. If the group is strong and the name is showing relative strength versus both the group and the market, it earns my attention.
That’s step 1.
Everything else comes after.
From there, my system is built around trading weekly breakouts while executing on the 15/30 minute timeframe. The goal isn’t to chase strength at highs, but it’s to get positioned before the next leg higher, in areas where risk is tight and clearly defined.
Strong stocks don’t go straight up… they pull back, they compress, they shake people out. So, that's where my focus goes.
What I’m actually looking for (before entry):
> Leading group (Semis)
> Relative strength vs market + peers
> Clear trend + structure
> Tightness/digestion after a move
With $TSEM, the setup was simple. I defined my area of interest ahead of time and waited. No guessing, no chasing.
Price pulled back into:
- 9EMA support
- Gap support below
- Range lows acting as a pivot
That’s a high probability zone where I can lean on structure and define risk. And this is where most traders mess up…
They see the move and react.
But I wait for price to come to me.
Once price is in my area, then (and only then) I look for execution.
My trigger is straightforward.
- Break of the 15min pivot high
- Stop placed immediately at LOD
This gives me...
1) Tight risk
2) Clear invalidation
3) Asymmetric upside if it works
The quicker a trade moves in your favor after entry, the higher the probability it works.
This isn’t a secret formula. It’s just doing the simple things well, over and over again which can be summed up as...
- Trade leaders
- Wait for weakness into support
- Execute when momentum returns
- Cut quickly if you’re wrong
Buy strength → you pay up
Buy weakness → you get positioned
I used to overcomplicate entries a lot more than I do now. But the truth is, entries are just a tool for risk management. The asymmetric opportunity comes from being in the right names, in the right groups, at the right time.
If you can get that part right… the rest becomes a lot simpler.
Keep it easy and repeatable!
A pure golden nugget from a trading legend. Lots of traders have a high IQ, but what is needed is a high EQ. I'd also recommend checking out his Market Wizard interview as well as one of his books. I liked 'Trader Vic' the best.
Moving Averages are the compass of the market.
If price is above the MA → trend is strong.
If price is below the MA → trend is weak.
Simple tools.
Clear direction.
That’s why great traders like William J. O’Neil focused on trend instead of noise. 📈
I’m focused on my simple process:
1) Identify leading groups
2) Find the strongest names within them
3) Wait for pullbacks/tightness into support
4) Execute when momentum confirms
Names on my radar this week:
$CIEN, $CRWV, $INTC, $DELL, $MRVL, $AEHR, $LUNR, $FLY, $AAOI, $WDC, $TER, $TSEM, $VIAV, $NBIS, $SNDK, $CLS, $PL, $AMD, $BE, $GEV, $CAT, $YSS, $BKSY, $ASTS, $ARM, $AMPX, $AMZN, $GLW, $LWLG, $SEI, $SOLS, $AMKR, $HUT, $TTMI, $AXTI,
"How do you get into these leading names?"
Wait for price to get tight against a big pivot, watch for the 30min pivot intraday, then execute as it takes out highs.
Stop goes at LOD.
Keep it simple & repeatable!
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