How Big Char Trades Became Profitable in Less Than a year
How Big Char Trades Became Profitable in Less Than a year
In this Process Over Profits interview, Big Chart Trades shares his journey from trading the 4-hour PO3 model to developing a profitable discretionary futures strategy. After struggling with evaluation resets and inconsistent setups, he rebuilt his process through focused backtesting, liquidity-based analysis, and strict psychological discipline. He explains how identifying the daily draw on liquidity, combining SMT divergence with fair value gaps, and enforcing clear execution rules helped him turn setbacks into a consistent, repeatable trading edge.
Disclaimer: The content in this video is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice, investment advice, or a recommendation to trade any specific strategy or security. Trading involves significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Always do your own research and due diligence before making any financial decisions. TradeZella and its affiliates are not liable for any losses incurred from trading decisions based on this content. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
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This week, we had the pleasure of speaking with BigCharTrades, a full-time futures day trader who rebuilt his edge by prioritizing process first. Known for his structured, data-driven approach, he has turned a rocky start and a string of evaluation resets into consistent execution grounded in backtesting and clear rules.
He walked us through the journey — early options blow-ups, a hot streak trading the 4-hour PO3, and then the harsh slowdown that forced him to adapt. Along the way, he explained how journaling, disciplined review, and a relentless focus on process over profits helped him move past setbacks, avoid revenge trading, and build a repeatable discretionary model that performs across changing market conditions.
Exclusive interview with BigCharTrades, who shared how he rebuilt his edge in futures by prioritizing process over profits, disciplined journaling, and backtested rules to create a consistent discretionary model.
From Marketing to Trading
Before becoming a full-time trader, he ran a marketing agency serving both local and online businesses. Over time, many of his clients were traders, and that exposure reignited an interest he first had at 18. Back then, a small graduation gift sparked his first attempt at options trading, an account he grew quickly but lost just as fast. With little capital and no clear structure, he eventually stepped away to focus on business.
By 2024, he returned with a stronger mindset and a clearer purpose. That’s when he discovered futures trading. Unlike options, which had previously required more capital than he was comfortable risking, futures offered an accessible entry point. With prop firms lowering the barrier to capital, it became possible to test his skills in a professional setting without needing a massive account. What began as a spark of curiosity quickly grew into an obsession. Once trading became serious, it was no longer something he could simply put down—he was determined to figure it out.
Early Strategies and Lessons Learned
When he returned to the markets in 2024, his first serious approach was trading the 4-hour model. At the time, it delivered well—between August and March he saw setups almost daily, sometimes catching massive moves of over 150–250 points. But as the market slowed, so did the model’s consistency. By April, he found himself constantly resetting evaluation accounts, chasing trades in New York sessions, and often blowing up by the end of the day.
That turning point forced him to adapt. Instead of clinging to a rigid setup, he began backtesting extensively and exploring a more discretionary model. He studied how price reacted to liquidity, fair value gaps, and session highs and lows, refining a framework that was less mechanical but better suited to changing market conditions.
Backtesting and Building a Discretionary Edge
Instead of hopping from strategy to strategy, he went back to basics: backtesting. For weeks, he studied liquidity draws, session highs and lows, and fair value gaps without even taking trades. That work revealed something crucial—he could build a discretionary model around liquidity, confluence, and execution rules.
Today, his approach is simple but effective:
Identify the daily and intraday liquidity draw.
Look for price to trade into a higher-timeframe imbalance (hourly or 15-minute).
Drop down to a lower timeframe (1–5 minute) for execution confirmation, such as fair value gap inversions or changes in state.
He isn’t chasing home runs. Instead, he focuses on consistent base hits — one-to-one or one-to-two R trades — that keep his psychology strong and his results steady.
Backtesting validated the edge, showing around a 66% win rate and a profit factor of 2.79.
The Role of Psychology
If there’s one lesson he emphasizes, it’s that psychology is everything. Strategies can evolve, but without discipline, no system will hold up.
He’s experienced firsthand how quickly emotions can derail trading—tilt, revenge trades, and forcing setups. To combat this, he’s built strong habits:
Journaling and review to track execution against rules, not just outcomes.
Daily walks of 12–13 miles to clear his head and reset after tough sessions.
Community support with trader friends, who help put big losses in perspective.
In his words, “Your feelings don’t matter. What matters is whether you let them affect your actions. If you can take losses without breaking your rules, you’ll last.”
A Defined Trading Process
He keeps a clear daily structure to avoid overtrading:
Trading window: 9:20–10:40 a.m. EST. Backtesting showed this is when the market delivers cleanest.
Pre-market trades: only taken if the setup is exceptionally strong.
Two-trade max rule: If the first trade is a winner, he’s done. If it’s a loss, he allows one more, but no more than that.
This routine keeps him consistent and prevents the spiral of chasing trades late into the day.
Process Over Profits
The biggest shift came when he stopped measuring success by daily profits and started measuring it by how well he followed his process.
Wins and losses became feedback instead of judgment. By committing to process-driven trading, he built consistency — not because every trade was a winner, but because his rules removed the chaos.
His Advice to Traders
Set a hard stop rule. If your first trade is green, stop for the day. If it’s red, take one more and then walk away. He believes this one rule alone could save most traders from blowing up.
Own your decisions. Every trade you take is your responsibility. Progress begins when you stop breaking your own rules.
Keep it simple. Retail setups, ICT concepts, order flow—they can all work, but only if you stay disciplined.
Think long term. Trading is a skill, not a shortcut. It takes persistence, review, and the ability to adapt as conditions change.
Final Thoughts
His journey shows that trading success isn’t about finding the perfect setup—it’s about building a system, testing it, and sticking to it. By focusing on process instead of profits, he turned repeated setbacks into a consistent career.
For anyone struggling, the message is clear: commit to the process, and the results will follow.
