How New Students Should Start Part 4 \ Pillars Of Daily Log Entries

Main ideas / lessons

• The speaker addresses new trading students who feel overwhelmed by how much content they could study.
• He argues that students don’t need to learn everything at once; instead, they should focus on a small set of daily “logging” pillars that repeat in predictable ways.
• The core learning mechanism is:
  • Daily annotation + screenshotting (or writing down numbers) of specific chart behaviors
  • Building pattern recognition by repeatedly seeing the same phenomena across many days
  • Developing “regime awareness” (understanding the market’s state/phase behind each behavior)
• He emphasizes consistency over “system hopping” and discourages watching endless tutorial videos without doing the work.
• The method is framed as working in multiple markets (he personally uses regulated US futures rather than CFDs), with the expectation that learners match details to their specific market.

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Methodology: “Three pillars” for daily log entries (smart money concept student)

Overall timeline / how to schedule the pillars

• Do not try to learn all pillars at once.
• Start with one pillar for the first 1–2 weeks.
• Then add another pillar, continue for two more weeks (so you’re running two pillars).
• On week 5–6, add the final third pillar.
• After ~6 weeks, maintain a steady daily diet of logging the three pillars.
• Because these phenomena repeat every trading day, daily logging conditions your eye and improves anticipatory reading of price action.

Daily logging requirements (general)

• He recommends 3 screenshots per day (when applicable).
• Students should annotate charts and record:
  • The relevant time window
  • Key liquidity levels (high/low pools, “relative equal lows/highs”)
  • The market phase (trend vs consolidation, etc.)
  • How price reacts later (e.g., where it revisits or how long it takes)
• If using electronic journaling, he suggests storing entries with keywords and searching by date/topic later.
• He recommends spending time after the market (especially on weekends) reviewing what was missed while the market was static.

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Pillar 1 (Pre-market hours phase): Relative equal highs/lows & range behavior (7:00–9:00 ET)

Purpose

Use a consistent pre-market time window to identify:

• Pools of liquidity: relative equal highs and relative equal lows
• Whether the market is in trend/expansion or consolidation

Treat this as a “clue” for what may happen after the regular open.

Instructions

• Every trading day (excluding Sundays), focus on 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
• On a chart (logic generalizes; he uses futures as an example):
  • Draw a vertical line at 7:00 and another at 9:00.
  • Inside that window:
    • Identify and annotate the highest high and lowest low.
    • Identify relative equal lows and relative equal highs (liquidity pools).
  • Determine the market condition inside the 7–9 window:
    • Trending / expansion (price moves upward or downward rather than going sideways)
    • Consolidating / rangebound / chopping (sideways behavior)
• Later, after the regular open (notably around 9:30 ET), observe what happens:
  • Does price expand and trend?
  • Or does it consolidate?
• Record reactions:
  • If relative equal lows/highs are swept, note that.
  • Track how long it takes after 9:30 for price to react to the logged key levels.
• He notes a simple “target” concept:
  • If price sweeps one side of the pre-market range, it may travel toward the opposite side.
  • (Presented as an easy “bread-and-butter” idea once you identify the range endpoints.)

Key output of this pillar

A daily “map” of:

• Pre-market liquidity pools (relative equal lows/highs, highest high, lowest low)
• The pre-market phase (trend vs consolidation)
• The subsequent post-9:30 behavior

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Pillar 2 (RTH opening range gap): Opening range gap & consequent encroachment delivery

Purpose

Analyze the Regular Trading Hours (RTH) opening range gap and how price returns (“encroaches”) toward halfway of the gap. He highlights this as an often repeatable early-day behavior.

Instructions

• Ensure you’re viewing a 1-minute chart on TradingView.
• Toggle the session display to Regular Trading Hours (RTH) (not ETH/electronic trading hours).
• Identify:
  • The previous day’s final print around 4:14 p.m. ET
  • The next day’s RTH opening time (he uses 9:30 a.m. ET as the open reference point)
• Compute/draw the Regular Trading Hours opening range gap:
  • Draw a rectangle covering the gap from the prior close region to the RTH open region.
  • Use the rectangle tool option “always include the mid level” (midpoint of the range).
• Understand key labeled parts:
  • He calls the midpoint area “C period / E period” (middle of the range / “inefficiency”).
• Track “consequent encroachment”:
  • Monitor how quickly price pulls back into half the gap (the midpoint).
  • He suggests it often reaches the midpoint by around 10:00 a.m., but instructs students not to “hold him to” that exact percentage—log it daily and measure themselves.
• Use the logged behavior to inform targets:
  • If you anticipate lower prices, you can anchor targets using concepts like fair value gaps or bearish order blocks once learned.
  • The main assignment is to log screenshots, not immediately rely on complex trade management.
• Record additional notes:
  • Example: “This is the 3rd time this week it reached the RTH opening range gap by 10 o’clock, and that created an opportunity for a short idea.”

Key output of this pillar

Daily evidence of:

• How large the RTH opening gap was
• Whether and how often price encroaches to the midpoint by a certain time
• Opportunities that arise from that encroachment behavior

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Pillar 3 (“Silver bullet”): First fair value gap after 10:00 a.m. ET

Purpose

A highly focused rule: identify the first fair value gap (FVG) that forms after 10:00 a.m. ET, then log its behavior.

Instructions

• Use a 1-minute chart.
• At 10:00 a.m. ET:
  • Wait for the candle at 10:00 to close.
  • Check whether a fair value gap forms on that candle or immediately after.
• Rule for selection:
  • The “one you care about” is the first fair value gap that forms inside the 10:00 hour.
• Annotate the fair value gap:
  • Draw a rectangle showing the gap region.
  • Include the visual criteria:
    • If candle bodies don’t meet fully, include the “gap” region based on the volume imbalance / FVG condition (described as “sell sign deficiency” and tied to volume imbalance).
• Manage the annotation workflow:
  • Initially set rectangle to extend to the right for easier visibility.
  • After annotation, turn that extension off and resize/drag the rectangle to where price first returns into the gap region (as shown in his example).
• Track outcomes after the FVG appears:
  • Log where price forms a short-term low/high.
  • Observe how price returns to the FVG and whether it trades away afterward (sellside/buyside directional outcome).
• During the first 4–6 weeks:
  • Emphasize learning through logging after the fact, rather than forcing prediction early.
  • Record:
    • The exact time the fair value gap formed (example: 10:01 ET)
    • Time elapsed before price returns to the gap
    • The range size (from highest high to lowest low, “how many handles”)

Key output of this pillar

A repeated daily “event”:

• First FVG after 10:00 ET
• Its follow-through pattern (how price reacts and revisits)

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Review / reinforcement process (weekend + ongoing)

• On Saturday/Sunday (or when markets are not moving):
  • Review screenshots/notes to catch details you missed during live charting.
  • Look for improvements in what you notice over the first few months.
• Continue walking forward for six weeks and also review past data:
  • He suggests back-checking at least about six weeks back (example: one market like NASDAQ) so the student builds a larger dataset (~12 weeks total when combined with forward logging).

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Practical commitment and storage/journaling advice

• He sets expectations:
  • The daily routine takes about ~20 minutes total for all three pillars (with additional effort in reviewing and walk-forward/back data work).
• He stresses organization/neatness:
  • Treat journaling like a professional practice; write concise observations.
• Journaling tools:
  • He prefers electronic journaling for easier searching.
  • He notes his own method can be manual (writing numbers/observations by hand).
• Suggested structure:
  • “Silver bullet log 10 a.m.”
  • “Pre-market session condition / phase and pre-market liquidity pools”
  • “RTH opening range gap, consequent encroachment delivery”

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Speakers / sources featured

Primary speaker

• The YouTube channel mentor/instructor (identified only as “folks”/speaking directly; no name provided in the subtitles).

Sources referenced (conceptual/frameworks)

• TradingView: chart settings, session toggles, drawing tools
• Futures market: his chosen example market (contrasted with CFDs)
• Paid mentorship playlist (2016): earlier teaching on “four phases or conditions of what the market can do” (expansion, reversal, consolidation)
• ICT videos / ICT community: mentioned as other content students might watch; contrasted with the routine to avoid “Netflix and chill” video-watching
• NASDAQ: recommended example market for the dataset/back-walk-forward exercise