Consistent performance requires original thinking and seeing. Maintain an open mind and allow intuition to point out new trade prospects. Then apply technical tools to filter bias and confirm the obvious. Traders miss many opportunities when tactics depend on rigid definitions or narrow systems. Each setup looks different than the last one. Never trade anything the same way twice.

Avoid head games and just enter at the ET when a setup presents major convergence. Consider the trade on price alone when an ET cross-verifies in 4 or more ways. Setups produce a very high signal-to-noise ratio when they point repeatedly to a single number. This sharply raises the odds for a successful position. However, this strategy can also trigger major discomfort. It often requires buying a down gap or breaking a personal strategy rule. So take care to require narrow precision through each verifying element and pinpoint entry to within a few ticks. Then exercise defensive risk management should the trade go badly.

Profits depend on your ability to smell new opportunities with only small bits of key information. Cross-verification can come quickly and without warning. For example, extreme TICK can point to a market turn just when you're looking for a reversal on your Nasdaq favorite. Or an opening gap can drop a promising setup right onto your Execution Target. Even an unexpected comment by the Fed chairman can cross-verify a key point on your intraday chart.

Experiment with many execution methods until they embed themselves firmly into your subconscious mind. Effortless entry comes when the skilled intellect can quickly digest complex information in original ways. Fortunately the trading puzzle only contains a limited number of important pieces. Focus on those key concepts that exert influence over and over again. The trend-range axis, S/R and cross-verification highlight repeating tactics through all market opportunity.

The perfect trade rarely exists, so learn to execute in shades of gray. Setups depend on different levels of market inefficiency. Get off the sidelines and pull the trigger when enough ducks sit in a row. Reduce position size if you're not fully confident of your trade analysis. Increase it when your intuition tells you to jump in with both feet.

Know the price that violates the pattern. Keep both risk and reward in sight at all times. Look for trades where price must move only a short distance to show that it was a mistake. Then look the other way to find a profit target and apply this math to every opportunity. Limit execution to positions with high profit potential but low risk. Then manage the trade by updating your analysis with each new tick.

Traders fail when they lose vision. The scientific mind assumes so much control that all price movement starts to look alike and excellent setups fade from view. Perfect trading conditions rarely appear in the modern market environment. Learn to execute comfortably in a debris-filled landscape. Alternatively, don't chase every crossover as a major signal or see meaningless bars as textbook setups. When the eyes start to play unfortunate tricks, get away from the execution terminal and head for the beach until they can be trusted again.