How to simplify trading with a three-step 9

Video: Once You Master This Strategy, Trading Becomes Incredibly Simple

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Nov 2, 2026 · based on the channel Scarface Trades

Trading becomes simpler when you stop hunting for setups all day and instead trade one repeatable pattern around the 9:30 AM New York open: mark the opening range, draw a single trend line to define direction, and enter only on a clean retest with one fixed entry model. That is the core of the three-step approach Scarface Trades walks through in the video “Once You Master This Strategy, Trading Becomes Incredibly Simple,” and the free Simple Trader Playbook course is where the channel puts the written version of that framework.

Why most traders make trading harder than it needs to be

The first problem is not a lack of strategies but an excess of them: traders stack indicators, jump between timeframes and take every candle that looks like a signal. In the video the host argues that the average trader fails because there is no single filter deciding which setups are allowed and which are ignored. Two oscillators saying sell while one trend line says buy is not extra confirmation, it is noise that produces hesitation and late entries.

A second issue is timing. Random entries spread across the session compete with the moments when volume and volatility actually arrive. The 9:30 AM open on US futures and large-cap stocks concentrates order flow into a short window, which is why the strategy anchors everything to that period rather than to the whole trading day.

Step 1: setting up the trade at the opening range

Setup work happens before any order is placed. The idea is to let the first minutes after the 9:30 AM bell print a small range, then treat the high and low of that range as the reference levels for the session.

Wait for the opening candles to form and mark the high and the low of that initial range.
Note the previous day's high and low as context: if price sits in the middle of those levels, there is no clear edge and the setup is skipped.
Decide in advance which side of the range matters — the one aligned with the broader direction — and ignore the opposite break.

This is the part viewers tend to underestimate. The levels look obvious on a finished chart, but the discipline is in preparing them before the move and refusing trades that do not touch them.

Step 2: defining direction with a single trend line

The second step replaces indicator stacks with one drawn line. A trend line connecting the relevant swing points on the higher timeframe tells you whether a break of the opening range is a continuation or a trap. If the line supports the upside break, longs are allowed; if it points down, the same break is ignored or treated as a fade.

One line, one bias. That is the whole filter, and it is deliberately crude: the goal is not precision but a rule that can be checked in seconds and backtested over hundreds of sessions. Traders who ask which timeframe to draw the line on should pick the one they will actually review in testing and keep it fixed, because switching timeframes after a loss is how a simple rule turns back into noise.

Step 3: the entry model and the retest

The entry model is the only part of the strategy that is allowed to be mechanical. After the opening range breaks in the direction confirmed by the trend line, the trade is not taken on the breakout candle itself but on the retest of the broken level. Waiting for price to come back turns a chase into a defined risk: the stop sits beyond the retest, and the target is the next reference level such as the previous day's high or low.

This is where most of the win rate is made or lost. Breakout entries get filled at the worst price of the move and stopped out by the first pullback; retest entries get a tighter stop and a better average price. The cost is patience and the occasional missed runner, which is exactly the trade-off the strategy accepts.

What the strategy does not solve

A simple framework removes decisions, not risk. Three limitations matter before anyone applies it with real money:

Choppy sessions. When price whipsaws around the opening range without a clean break and retest, the model produces false signals; a hard rule to stand aside after a set number of failed attempts is part of the plan, not an optional extra.
Position size. Small intraday moves mean the result depends on size and costs, and leverage used to compensate turns a modest edge into a large drawdown.
Market and session fit. The 9:30 AM anchor is built around the US open; applying it to a pair like EUR/USD means re-anchoring the same logic to the London or New York session and retesting it there.
Hindsight bias. Setups look clean after the fact, and the only honest test is replaying the rules bar by bar on historical data.

Common questions traders raise about this approach

Can the method be traded on the one-minute chart? It can, but the faster the timeframe the more the result depends on execution speed and spreads; many traders find the same pattern easier to manage on five minutes.

Where exactly does the entry trigger? On the retest, after the candle reacting to the broken level closes — not in the middle of a live candle, where the signal can still disappear.

What if price is trapped between the previous day's high and low? That is a no-trade condition: without a clear reference level nearby, the risk-to-reward does not justify the position.

Do you need many instruments? A short watchlist of two or three liquid names followed consistently beats rotating through a dozen tickers, because familiarity with how a stock behaves around the open is part of the edge.

Useful links

Final thoughts

The strategy is not a secret pattern but a filter: one opening range, one trend line, one retest entry, and a fixed list of conditions under which no trade is taken. Its value is in what it removes — extra indicators, mid-session improvisation and the temptation to chase — and in the fact that each rule can be written down and backtested. Scarface Trades presents this three-step breakdown as a starting framework rather than a guarantee, and the free Simple Trader Playbook course is the natural next step for anyone who wants the rules in written form before testing them on a demo account.

Key takeaways

The strategy is built on the 9:30 AM New York open, when the first candles set the day's opening range.
Three steps: mark the setup, define direction with a trend line, then use one fixed entry model.
The edge comes from waiting for a retest of the range instead of chasing the breakout candle.
Most losing trades come from stacking indicators and forcing setups, not from a missing secret strategy.
The method needs backtesting on your own market and timeframe before any real risk is taken.

Source: Once You Master This Strategy, Trading Becomes Incredibly Simple · Markdown version

Questions & answers

How many trades should I expect from this 9:30 AM strategy?

The framework is selective by design: it looks for one clean break and retest of the opening range per instrument, and skips the session entirely when price sits between the previous day's high and low. On most days that means zero to two valid setups per ticker, so results depend on a short watchlist rather than constant activity.

Does the strategy work in forex?

The logic transfers, but the anchor does not: EUR/USD has no 9:30 AM New York opening range in the same sense as US equities. The equivalent is to mark the range at the London or New York session open, keep the same trend-line filter and retest entry, and backtest that version separately before risking money.

Do I need indicators to confirm the setup?

No. The point of the approach is to replace indicator stacks with a single trend line for direction and the opening range levels for location. Adding oscillators back in reintroduces the conflicting signals that make traders hesitate and enter late.

What is the biggest risk when trading this setup?

Choppy sessions where price repeatedly breaks the opening range and reverses, plus position sizing used to compensate for small intraday moves. A rule that limits failed attempts per session and a fixed risk per trade matter more than the entry itself.