# How to Make Trading Simple in 2026 With a Three-Step 9

A practical breakdown of Scarface Trades' 9:30 AM opening-range trading strategy: setup, confirmation, entry model, risk and the questions beginners ask most.

Source: https://sfiwdey.top/how-to-make-trading/ · based on the channel [Scarface Trades](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI7bfebbOWLqw3m4zW7XjIg) · Video: [Once You Master This Strategy, Trading Becomes Incredibly Simple](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AXhoDnnSWw) · 2026-10-19

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## Key takeaways

- The strategy is built around the 9:30 AM New York open, the first hour of the US session when volume and volatility peak.
- Three steps: mark the opening range and key levels, wait for a confirmed break and retest, then enter with a defined stop and target.
- The approach is pure price action — no indicator stack, just structure, levels and candle confirmation.
- Most losses come from chasing the breakout instead of waiting for the retest, and from skipping backtesting.
- Risk is defined per trade before entry; position size is derived from the stop distance, not from a fixed share count.

Trading becomes simple when you stop hunting for setups all day and instead trade one repeatable sequence at a fixed time: mark the opening range after the 9:30 AM New York open, wait for a confirmed break and retest of a key level, then enter with a predefined stop and target. That is the core of the three-step model Scarface Trades walks through in the video, and the free [Simple Trader Playbook course](https://events.scarfacetrades.com/the-simple-trader-playbook-waitlist) is where the channel puts the written version of the framework. The rest of this article breaks that sequence into rules you can actually test.

## Why most traders make trading harder than it needs to be

Most traders lose not because they lack strategies but because they run too many of them at once and have no fixed time window in which a setup is valid. A chart covered in five indicators, three trend lines and a couple of oscillator signals will always produce a reason to click — and those reasons usually conflict. The video's argument is that the fix is subtraction: one session, one level type, one entry trigger, one risk rule.

The 9:30 AM open matters because it concentrates the day's liquidity. The first 30 to 60 minutes of the US session produce the widest ranges and the cleanest reactions at premarket highs and lows, the previous day's high and low (PDH/PDL), and the opening price itself. Outside that window, the same setup fires far more often and with far less follow-through. Restricting trading to that window is itself a filter — many bad trades simply never get taken because the clock says no.

## The three-step trading framework explained

### Step 1: Set up the trade by marking levels before the bell

Before 9:30 AM, mark the levels that price is likely to react to: the previous day's high and low, the premarket high and low, and any obvious swing points from the prior session. These are the reference points the whole strategy depends on. If price is sitting in the middle of the previous day's range with no nearby level, there is no trade — the middle of a range is where stops get hunted in both directions.

### Step 2: Wait for the break and the retest

The setup is a break of one of those marked levels, followed by a retest of it from the other side. A break alone is not a signal; it is a candidate. The retest is what separates a real move from a fakeout, because it shows whether buyers or sellers are willing to defend the level they just broke. This is the patience part of the strategy, and it is where most of the edge lives.

### Step 3: Use a fixed entry model

The entry model is the mechanical part: a candle closes beyond the level, price returns to it, and you enter on confirmation at the level rather than in the middle of the breakout candle. The stop goes on the other side of the level or the retest swing, and the target is the next marked level or a multiple of the risk. Because the stop is defined first, position size follows from it — this is what makes small accounts viable without oversized leverage.

## What the strategy looks like in practice

A typical sequence: price gaps or drifts into the premarket high, breaks it after the open, pulls back to the same level, and prints a rejection candle. Entry on that candle's close, stop below the retest low, target at the previous day's high or a fixed risk multiple. When the level holds, the trade runs; when the retest fails and price closes back inside the range, the idea is invalidated and the loss is small and known in advance.

The reverse is the failure mode worth studying. Price breaks the level, you enter mid-candle out of fear of missing the move, price snaps back through the level, and the stop is hit at the worst point of the swing. Same chart, same level — the difference is entirely in whether you waited for the retest or chased the breakout.

## Common objections from traders trying this approach

**"I can't trade off the 1-minute chart."** You don't have to. The levels are drawn on higher timeframes, and the entry can be confirmed on a 5-minute or 15-minute candle. The 1-minute chart only sharpens the entry; it is not the source of the idea.

**"The position size would have to be huge for this to pay."** That is usually a stop-distance problem, not a strategy problem. If the stop is wide relative to the target, the trade is simply not worth taking. The model only works when the level gives you a tight invalidation point and a target at least a couple of times the risk.

**"Where exactly do you enter — mid-candle or on the close?"** On confirmation, not mid-candle. Entering before the candle closes means you are guessing; the close is the only piece of information the market has actually committed to.

**"What if price is stuck between the previous day's high and low?"** Then there is no setup. Sitting in the middle of PDH and PDL is the classic no-trade zone, and forcing a position there is how a good strategy produces bad results.

**"The setups look obvious in hindsight."** They do, and that is exactly why backtesting matters. Scroll back through 50 to 100 sessions, mark the levels, log every break-and-retest, and count the winners and losers yourself before risking money. The strategy's value is only real once your own sample says so.

## Risk rules that keep the strategy simple

Simplicity collapses the moment risk becomes discretionary. Fix a maximum risk per trade as a percentage of the account, size the position from the stop distance, and stop trading after a set number of losses in the session. One target rule is enough: either the next marked level or a fixed multiple of the risk, decided before entry. Keep a written log of every trade with the level, the entry, the stop and the outcome — the log is what turns a chart pattern into a tested system, and it is also how you notice that your best trades all came from the same two or three level types.

## Useful links

- [Free Simple Trader Playbook course](https://events.scarfacetrades.com/the-simple-trader-playbook-waitlist)
- [The Accelerator — private Discord and live trading](https://whop.com/scarface-trades)
- [Scarface Trades on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/scarfacetrades_)
- [Scarface Trades on X](https://twitter.com/ScarfaceTrades_)

## Final thoughts on keeping trading simple

Trading gets simpler when the decision is made before the market opens: the levels are marked, the trigger is defined, and the only job during the session is to wait for the retest and execute the plan. Scarface Trades frames this as a three-step 9:30 AM model, and the value is less in the pattern itself than in the constraint — one session, one setup, one risk rule. Test it on historical charts, log the results, and only then decide whether it fits your account and temperament. Start with the free [Simple Trader Playbook](https://events.scarfacetrades.com/the-simple-trader-playbook-waitlist) if you want the framework written out before you trade it live.

## Questions & answers

**What time zone does the 9:30 AM strategy use?**

The reference is the New York session open, so 9:30 AM ET. If you trade from another region, convert that time to your local clock and keep it fixed — the point is to trade the first hour of US liquidity, not a random hour of your day.

**Does this work on forex pairs like EUR/USD?**

The logic — mark key levels, wait for a break and retest, enter on confirmation with a defined stop — transfers to any liquid market, including forex. What changes is the session: for EUR/USD the equivalent liquidity windows are the London and New York opens, so the levels and timing must be rebuilt around those.

**Do I need indicators to trade this setup?**

No. The framework is price action: previous day high and low, premarket high and low, swing points, and candle confirmation at the level. Adding indicators tends to produce conflicting signals that push you into trades the level structure does not support.

**How many trades should I backtest before using it live?**

A practical minimum is 50 to 100 historical sessions with every break-and-retest logged, including the losers. That gives you a rough win rate and average risk-to-reward, which is enough to judge whether the edge exists for you before any real capital is at risk.