---
title: 'Live Futures Trading | Market Walkthrough'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=GATwpLwiXZE'
video_id: 'GATwpLwiXZE'
date: 2026-08-05
duration_sec: 2115
---

# Live Futures Trading | Market Walkthrough

> Source: [Live Futures Trading | Market Walkthrough](https://youtube.com/watch?v=GATwpLwiXZE)

## Summary

In this live trading session, the trader walks through a short position on NQ futures, explaining the execution, management, and eventual outcome. The video covers key concepts such as optimal trade entry (OTE), fair value gaps, SMT divergence, and the importance of trailing stops. The trader emphasizes a disciplined approach, accepting risk, and not overmanaging positions, even when the trade reverses to break even.

### Key Points

- **Trade Setup and Entry** [00:04] — The trader is short NQ, up around $3K, trailing stop soon. Entry based on 4-hour FVG rebalance to OTE (62.79) and bearish reversal patterns.
- **Bearish SMT and Displacement** [01:01] — Market took internal high, formed bearish SMT (divergence between assets), then broke lower with displacement, confirming bearish bias.
- **Rejection at OTE** [01:38] — Price rebalanced to OTE of the price range and started rejecting, setting up for a short. Trader looks for bearish order flow and change in state of delivery.
- **Stacked Lows as Liquidity** [02:07] — Equal lows left in the morning act as high-probability liquidity targets. Trader wants to see inefficiencies run to the left before shorting.
- **Entry on 5-Minute FVG** [02:21] — Entry on pullback to 5-minute bearish FVG. Trader explains turtle soup: internal manipulation towards opposing draw on liquidity.
- **VIX Above 20** [03:16] — VIX above 20 signals expected efficiency and volatility. Trader expects market to hunt liquidity aggressively.
- **Trade Management Plan** [04:10] — Main target is resting equal lows. Trader plans to take partials (60%) at internal low, leave runners, and trail stop. Uses standard deviation projection.
- **Risk-Free Trade** [06:40] — Trade is risk-free after moving stop to break even. Trader emphasizes not being attached to outcome and letting market play out.
- **Bullish SMT on ES** [19:00] — Internal low taken on ES but not NQ, creating bullish SMT. Could rebalance price higher, but trader sticks to plan.
- **Trailing Stop Mistake** [27:40] — Trader admits failure to trail stop when first objective (low on ES) was taken. Should have moved stop to highs, resulting in profit instead of break-even.
- **Trade Outcome and Journaling** [32:32] — Trade stopped at break even. Trader journals the mistake: recognize SMT and objective taken as signal to trail. Emphasizes not being frustrated and accepting risk.

### Conclusion

The trade ultimately stopped at break even due to a trailing stop mistake, but the trader emphasizes the importance of discipline, accepting risk, and journaling mistakes to improve. The video provides a real, unedited look at live trading and the psychological challenges involved.

## Transcript

So, I'm currently in a short that I want to walk you guys through. Um, I'm up around 3K. Going to be trailing my stop soon once we work our way towards these equal lows. But, let me kind of run you guys through uh the execution here and
guys through uh the execution here and what I am looking to see with with this trade. So, so far bigger time frame in the morning when we look at the overall price action and going into the morning. wanted to
see the market rebalance back to this 4hour fap. When we kind of zoom out here and look at the overall price action from the week we had rebalanced back to um OTE of this price leg. So when the price ends up rebalancing back to 62.79
we call this OT which is optimal trade entry. It's an area in which I want to reversal patterns. Right? So what is a Well, I'm looking for manipulation higher to then break lower to give me a
bias that is bearish. So, market ends up having this internal high that gets taken. We end up taking this internal high, putting in a bearish SMT where there's a divergence between the assets and then
we end up breaking and having a lot of displacement lower to see this displacement lower to see this continuation. Now on the lows we came down initially took this form of sellside liquidity but there's also
what what normally happens when this when this plays out right the market will go to take internal sellside liquidity rebalance price back to again liquidity rebalance price back to again what OTE of the price range right so we
come back to OT of the price range and then we start to now reject this now going into today what am I looking for for a rejection of that inefficiency I'm looking for bearish order flow and a change in the state of delivery so when
the market ends up leaving these equal lows in the morning right we stacked thought that we were going to go ahead and take these lows, right? The market internal high, we start to sell off, but we leave all of these stacked lows. And
I know that this is going to act as high probability area of liquidity. So, when the market starts to sell off and we run these inefficiencies to the left of us, right, these fair value gaps here, this is what I want to see to take a short.
Now you can see I basically topt ticked um the entry on that pullback. Now why did I enter there where I did? Well on the 5m minute there is a 5minut bearish fair value gap that got opened up. Right? So we run
through the inefficiencies to the left of us. We start getting below these down the fiveminute for valley gap. Now once we pull back to the fiveminute for valley gap we sell back off. we come back up and we what this is what we call
turtle soup. So turtle soup is basically this internal manipulation to go towards the opposing draw in liquidity. Right? If I know that the relative equal lows, right? Because we're rejecting from the 4 hour for
value gap or an OTE of the bigger time frame, we start having very big displacement here, right? And a lot of the times if if I can't recognize clean recognize a clean market maker model
want you to understand is the volatility and something that you need to pay attention to with where we are in price action right now is above 20. When the VIX is above 20, everybody should go on
VIX is above 20, everybody should go on the VIX and put a line on 20. Anytime the VIX is above 20, I'm expecting efficiency. I'm expecting the the market whatever the objective is, right? What is efficiency? Efficiency is how
efficient something is at doing its job, right? So the job quote to say for NQ is to hunt liquidity, right? And liquidity is acting as the objective for
the market to push efficiency and volatility forward. Now when I can notice that the VIX is above 20, again aligning all these things, my bias, we're rejecting the 4hour VI gap. I'm looking for reversal. It's just as it's
basically all comes down to order flow affirming and denying what I'm looking about, you know, how I'm going to manage this trade. Now, the main area that I want to see the market go to is those resting equal lows, but I think the
market can go a lot lower than that if we want to play this out as a bigger time frame market maker sell model. So, we can end up selling a lot lower through this because there is still sellside liquidity resting below us.
could take these lows. We could sweep them. Again, there's an inefficiency here as well. There's a 15-minute for volume gap. So, we can come down, tap this, and then maybe rebounce higher. But if we displace
through this low, it will become a change in the state of delivery. Right? So if we end up displacing through this low, I would want to see the market go lower to then finish this as the
external sell model. So how do I go about managing this trade? What I'll do is I will take partials once these lows are taken once these lows are taken and then I will leave my runners and I
will start trailing my stop loss to go lower. So, I'm in 14 microcontracts um on my main account. You can see at the bottom corner, this is AMP live
on a live account. This is in paper trade. Um but if I'm around in 14 contracts or so, I'm going to take off around 8 to 10 at this internal low and then let the rest of my contracts go. So, what this will look like is we'll
So, what this will look like is we'll put eight contracts here. And I also marked out standard deviation. So the standard deviation is this last leg higher, right? So from this low to the high that we got put in, this is my last
leg higher acting as a possible projection for the market to go. And I liquidity, right? There isn't really a lot. The only really thing is all the way back to the lows. So if the market does decide to be super bearish and we
do end up selling all the way through them, then I would be, you know, letting loss here, too. I wouldn't want to see the market come back up. I could probably move this to break even. Um, I want to see these act as
propulsion blocks. So, these down close candles on the 5m minute, I want to see these act as areas in which the market just will pull back to and then uh quickly reject and continue towards the overall draw liquidity. So, we'll see
how this ends up playing out. Again, this is pretty much a risk-free trade now. um which is always the best position to to be in when you can have a move your stop and just let the market do its thing. So if the market does want
to sell off and have a big move, I'm able to take advantage of it and uh even if it comes back and stops out, I don't lose anything. Again, my secured profit of when I'm in this trade and I can see that I'm up $3,000, I'm not viewing that
as that's secured, right? This trade is going to play out however it wants to. I'm not attached to the outcome of it. If we end up coming back getting stopped losing anything on it and I'm not going to perceive it as a loss because I was
lot of traders do is like we'll play tricks on us, right? The model is valid. There's no reason for me to overmanage this position just to let the market do its thing um and continue to kind of watch price action. So, with watching
price action, my goal is a couple things. Um, number one, not to be over consumed by it, right? When you're in a position, you don't want to be over consumed by price action. Meaning, you don't want to consistently try to see
know, look look for what's going to benefit you. Um, as soon as you take the entry, you accept the risk. Don't overmanage. Don't overlook for confluences. Just let the market play out the way it needs to be. I think
there's a clean draw in liquidity being these relative equal lows here. So, that's going to be my main price target. take off uh the majority of the position and then let the rest of the contracts go. So, we'll take off around 60% of the
position and then let the rest of the contracts kind of run if we want to contracts kind of run if we want to continue to sell off through them.
So, here is just uh now the waiting game and sitting pretty
looking at ES again. Assets are pretty correlated today.
start trailing my stop depending on depending on how aggressive the move is.
just some other things that we can kind of touch on here. We're pretty we're at midnight open from Asia session. Asia session high had gotten taken. London with the weekly opening gap. So, if we want to end the week down at the weekly
opening gap, that could be something that we we see. Again, all depends on the reaction from this low. Right? If we are bullish, if we are bullish and this wants to be a rebalance to go back higher and for
example, this would be turtle soup to go to all-time highs if that's the case. Um, we would soup this low, right? So, I would expect if the market is bullish, expect this low to get taken kind of immediately. See something like this
and then my uh I would probably my my I would get stopped and profit for my last would get stopped and profit for my last couple contracts.
this, which I'm hoping to see, then we'll validate this bigger time frame we'll validate this bigger time frame model.
want to notice any inefficiencies that have not been tapped yet. So, this fair value gap would be possible next target with a
would be possible next target with a follow through.
is obviously depends on uh all going to depend on if how much we break through this, right? If the market really starts to speed up here towards the downside and we break through this change, I really want to see lower. I want to see
this bigger time frame model play out, right?
not touching anything, letting the market do what it wants to letting the market do what it wants to do.
we do have is this internal low did get taken on ES. So this low did not get taken on NQ. So there is technically a bullish SMT here there is technically a bullish SMT here which could rebalance us higher.
And if the market is bullish then we would probably get bought up from here.
conversation where what happens in this type of position when you enter position comes almost close to your PT doesn't get hit starts to reverse back on you. So, when I look at this, there's
depends on the trader. Like, and and I'll be honest with my trading, the way that I did the way that I trade is when I enter a position like this and I and I trail my stop loss, like for example, if I if I've been trailing my stop loss, I
would have probably be stopped out right now. Um, so it'd be up like a 2K trade. But for me, I would rather let this position do its thing and not over overmanage it. Even if there is an SMT here, I could scale
at these lows um when that low gets taken. But in my opinion, it's it's hindsight because all of these stacked equal lows, there's no reason for this to not get taken. If the market wants to play games, that's fine, right? This is
a risk-free trade. Now, if it comes all the way back up and stops me at break even, it is what it is. Um, I don't believe like when it comes to the idea of of taking partials, I believe in taking partials, but I don't believe in
taking partials, but I don't believe in breaking your plan um to do so. Right now, the market hasn't invalidated anything. I still believe we're in sell side of the curve. This SMT could be here just to rebalance price and then
overexamination. um where again the original plan stays the price. If we get stopped at break even, we're stopped in profit. It is what it is. If we end up rejecting and go lower, it is what it is, right? So,
entered the position. I want to see um the bias play out, which is again, I draw liquidity. So, I'm just going to let the market do its thing. And from there, we will let the market either affirm or deny that. But there's no
fearful or get scared. All right, before I even enter the trade, I accept the if this comes back and stops me up at break even. There is there fine, right? Like I have no attachment to whatever the outcome of this position is, right?
I see the trade, I enter it. I don't care and and like acknowledge this as oh, I was up 4K and then up this. It doesn't matter. That's all noise, right? entry and what happens at the close of the trade. So, we'll let this trade play
again, right now rebalancing price. We do have a uh internal SMT, so I want to see this spark us lower. If we want to hold it, we could come up tap the five minute for Valley Gap, but we'll see. And we'll we'll continue to watch.
pressure, if that's the term you want to use, after taking this low, it is looking like we do want to possibly rebounce like we do want to possibly rebounce higher.
failing to break lower. and close below.
right? When it comes to trailing, normally I'll only trail my stop after the objective is taken. So technically, the objective has been taken, right? So the tricky thing about this is technically the low is taken on ES and
this SMT gets put in. So, could I have scaled this or or or trailed stop? Yeah, scaled this or or or trailed stop? Yeah, I could have. Um, but it kind of went probably get stopped um at break even or in profit. A little bit in profit. Stops
a little bit below it. Um, but probably will get stopped here. So, again, this the cost of doing business. I'm glad I recorded this so I can um, you know, post this so that you guys are able to kind of see this trade.
because I didn't recognize this low getting taken sooner. This low getting taken should have probably been the the sign to trail, objective gets taken is when I trail. So, since the first objective is this
low on ES, um I probably should have moved the trailing stop to these highs.
Looks looks like ES wants to go run these highs here.
market. Looking like this wants to be the soup to go higher.
If this gets stopped at break even, what I would journal for this is recognizing I failed to see in the moment that the first objective in which I'm taking
right which is if we're targeting and volatility is pushing towards again the efficiency of whatever the objective is the objective is sellside liquidity. The obviously I want to see this become low resistance liquidity um but this first
low is the objective for sellside. So, as soon as this low gets taken and we put in an SMT, that's my sign to trail my trail my stop. So, I should have been my trail my stop. So, I should have been stopped in profit around this Hi.
And there it is. All right. So again, journal for this should have been moved at this high when this initial low was taken. Again, overall model, super super clean trade.
overall model, super super clean trade. just kind of a one of those again I one notice about this type of trade and whenever you find yourself in this whenever you find yourself in this situation is I can sit here and be
ball to the game in the temptation of being frustrated and oh my gosh I can't believe that this happened right the market was five points away from my PT stopped at break even right there's probably going to be a bunch of comments
being like Justin you were up $5,000 $4,000 and you guys stopped to break even. I can't believe you did this. This is just normally how I trade right now. The mistake was there was a mistake, right? The mistake was I did not
recognize in the moment this low getting taken. Um, which should have been my sign to trail my stop loss, right? The sign to trail taken. That is when I trail my stop loss, my the first objective. So, should
have been stopped and profit around uh this area. But I'm going to post this whole thing on YouTube so you guys can can see it and look at it. But this is played out so that you guys able to see like this does happen sometimes. And
like this does happen sometimes. And it's up to you to allow it to affect you again I can sit here and be super frustrated and be tied to the outcome of tied to the money. But like I said before I even enter the trade I'm
I'm putting on the table I'm expecting to lose. It's not mine. So this trade that I go back and journal it as I look at okay where should I been trailing my stop loss when this does happen there is an SMT in the opposing direction that is
the moment until later now you might have said Justin when you did recognize it why didn't you take it off here if I fail to recognize it normally I will fail to recognize it normally I will just let the market um play it play its
times when we could put this SMT in we could rebounce price and then we can normally again I don't want to overmanage the position unless it's manage which should have been this initial objective getting taken. But
I'll post this whole thing so you guys can watch it again crystal clear. There's, you know, this is as as real as as what it gets. So hopefully you guys enjoyed watching this little uh this little trade, you know, demo live um of
session. So, I'll start doing uh more of trading and try to post some some more recordings in in the moment for it and analysis. So, enjoy your day and I will talk to you guys later. Ace.