# Trading With a Simple 9

A three-step trading framework for the 9:30 AM open: mark key levels, wait for a retest instead of chasing the breakout, and use a fixed entry model.

Source: https://mayday0329.top/trading-with-a-simple/ · 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

![Trading With a Simple 9](https://mayday0329.top/trading-with-a-simple/trading-with-a-simple.webp)

## Key takeaways

- The framework is built around the 9:30 AM New York open, when volume and volatility peak on US futures and large-cap stocks.
- The core premise: most losses come from chasing breakouts, so the edge is in waiting for a retest of a marked level.
- Setup requires pre-marked levels — prior day high and low (PDH/PDL) and the premarket range — before the bell.
- Entries are taken on a lower timeframe (1-minute or 5-minute) only after the level is reclaimed or rejected, not mid-candle.
- Backtesting and a written trade plan matter more than indicator count; the video's free Playbook course is the starting point.

Trading becomes simpler once you stop chasing price and start trading a fixed routine around the 9:30 AM New York open: mark your levels before the bell, wait for price to return to them, and enter only on a confirmed reaction. That is the core of the three-step framework Scarface Trades breaks down in the video "Once You Master This Strategy, Trading Becomes Incredibly Simple" — 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 that routine.

## Why most traders make trading harder than it is

The main problem for the majority of traders is not a lack of strategies but an excess of inputs — indicators, trendlines, news, and opinions competing for the same decision. When two oscillators flash sell while a single trendline says the setup is long, the trader freezes or flips, and the plan collapses. The video's argument is that a 6R winner can come from one clean trendline read while a stack of indicators produces an instant loss, so the goal is subtraction, not addition.

A second, quieter problem is hindsight bias. Setups look obvious on a finished chart and much less so in real time, which is why the channel stresses backtesting and forward testing before risking size. Traders who skip that step tend to abandon a valid method after two losses.

## Step 1: Setting up the trade before the open

Setup work happens before 9:30 AM, not during the first candle. The preparation is deliberately mechanical:

1. Mark the prior day's high and low (PDH and PDL) on the instrument you trade.
2. Mark the premarket high and low, plus any obvious overnight consolidation.
3. Note where price sits relative to those levels — above PDH, inside the range, or below PDL.
4. Decide in advance which levels are actionable and which are noise if price is stuck in the middle of the range.

That last point matters: if price opens in the middle of PDH and PDL, there is no clean reference, and the disciplined answer is to wait rather than force a trade. The 9:30 AM window is chosen because volume and volatility peak at the US cash open, which gives levels a better chance of producing a real reaction on futures and liquid large caps such as TSLA, AMD, AMZN, or AAPL.

## Step 2: The core strategy — trade the retest, not the breakout

The strategy is a retest model: a level is broken, price pulls back to it, and the trade is taken on the reaction rather than on the initial thrust. Chasing the first breakout candle is the single most common way traders turn a good idea into a bad entry, because the stop has to sit far away and the risk-to-reward collapses.

In practice the sequence looks like this:

- Price approaches a marked level (PDH, PDL, premarket high or low).
- The level breaks, and you do nothing.
- Price returns to the level, and you watch how it behaves — does the old resistance hold as support, or does the level fail?
- Only a clean hold or a clean failure generates a trade; a muddy, overlapping return is a pass.

This is a patience filter more than a signal generator, which is exactly why it survives contact with real markets. The stop goes just beyond the level that produced the reaction, so risk stays small and defined, and the target is the next marked level or a fixed multiple of risk.

## Step 3: The entry model and timeframe discipline

Entry execution is standardised so that two traders following the same plan take the same trade. On a lower timeframe — typically the 1-minute or 5-minute chart — you wait for the candle to close confirming the reaction at the level, then enter on the following candle. You do not enter in the middle of a candle, and you do not enter before the close, because an unconfirmed candle can reverse and leave you in a position with no structure behind it.

Risk is fixed as a percentage of account equity per trade, and the stop is placed from the structure, not from a round number of dollars. If the structural stop is too wide for your risk budget, the trade is skipped — that is the whole sizing rule. Position size on futures is driven by tick value and contract multiplier, so a stop of a few points on ES or NQ can still mean a large notional position; this is why the same setup can look trivial on a chart and require real capital in the account.

The 1-minute chart is not mandatory. Traders who find it too fast can run the identical level-and-retest logic on the 5-minute chart, accepting fewer setups in exchange for slower decision-making.

## Common questions and pushback from traders

Scepticism about this style of trading is reasonable, and most of it clusters around a few recurring points. The first is whether the setups only look easy in hindsight — the honest answer is that they do until you backtest them, which is why a sample of at least 50–100 logged trades matters more than any single example. The second is whether the method transfers to forex pairs such as EUR/USD: the level logic does, but session times and volatility profiles differ, so the 9:30 AM New York anchor has to be replaced with the London or New York session open depending on the pair.

A third question is which timeframe to use for drawing trendlines and levels — the higher timeframe sets the level, the lower timeframe times the entry. A fourth is time zone: all session references are New York time, so traders elsewhere need to convert the open to their local clock. And a fifth is instrument focus: rotating between many tickers dilutes attention, so concentrating on two or three liquid names you know well beats scanning a dozen.

## Useful links

- [Simple Trader Playbook — free course waitlist](https://events.scarfacetrades.com/the-simple-trader-playbook-waitlist)
- [The Accelerator — private Discord community and live trading](https://whop.com/scarfacetrades)
- [Scarface Unscripted — live trade breakdowns](https://www.youtube.com/@ScarfaceUnscripted/videos)
- [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/scarfacetrades_)
- [X (Twitter)](https://twitter.com/ScarfaceTrades_)

## Final thoughts

Trading gets simpler when the decision set shrinks to marked levels, a retest trigger, and a fixed entry model. The 9:30 AM open supplies the volatility, the prior day and premarket levels supply the reference points, and patience supplies the edge that most traders trade away by chasing the first breakout. Backtest the routine, log the results, and size positions from the structural stop rather than from conviction. Scarface Trades presents this framework as an educational breakdown, not financial advice — trading carries real risk of capital loss. If you want the written version of the routine, start with the free [Simple Trader Playbook course](https://events.scarfacetrades.com/the-simple-trader-playbook-waitlist) and paper-trade it before committing capital.

## Questions & answers

**What timeframe should I use for this trading strategy?**

Levels are drawn on the higher timeframe — prior day high and low plus the premarket range — while entries are timed on the 1-minute or 5-minute chart. Traders who find the 1-minute too fast can run the same retest logic on the 5-minute and simply accept fewer setups.

**Do I enter on the breakout candle or wait for a retest?**

Wait for the retest. The breakout candle is where most traders get a poor entry and a wide stop; the trade is taken only after price returns to the level and closes confirming it holds as support or fails as resistance. Entry comes on the following candle, not mid-candle.

**Does this approach work for forex pairs like EUR/USD?**

The level-and-retest logic transfers, but the 9:30 AM New York anchor does not — forex volatility is concentrated around the London and New York session opens. You would mark the prior session's high and low and apply the same confirmation rule.

**How much capital do I need for these setups to be worth it?**

It depends on the instrument. Futures contracts carry a multiplier, so even a small point stop can represent significant notional exposure, while stock positions can be sized in single shares. The rule is to size from the structural stop and a fixed percentage of equity, and to skip trades where the stop is too wide.