Every setup below gets the same treatment: what it is, how you enter and exit, and the specific way it breaks. That last part matters more than the rest combined. Click into any one for the full page.
“How a setup fails beats how it works. Read the failure mode on every setup before you ever risk a trade on it.”Jason Parker · Founder
The first candle or two of the session prints a box. You trade whichever side it breaks.
Momentum & BreakoutPrice separates from VWAP with volume behind it and doesn't come back. You ride the separation.
Momentum & BreakoutThe level every other trader is already watching finally goes, and the stops behind it go with it.
Momentum & BreakoutThe stock opens far from yesterday's close and keeps running in that direction through the first bars.
Trend ContinuationA sharp move, a tight pause that barely gives anything back, then the same direction again.
Trend ContinuationPrice rides a moving average, taps it, and keeps going. This idea is the whole TQQQ system on this site.
Reversal & Mean ReversionPrice stretches too far from VWAP, stalls, and snaps back. You're fading the stretch, not the trend.
Reversal & Mean ReversionPrice hits a level that's held before and holds again. The oldest setup in trading, still working.
Reversal & Mean ReversionTwo pushes to the same price, the second one weaker than the first. That weakness is the signal.
Reversal & Mean ReversionThe breakout that pokes through, fails, and snaps back through the level it just cleared.
Range & ConsolidationThe asset chops between two clear levels for an extended stretch. Buy one side, sell the other, no hero trades.
Range & ConsolidationA small candle tucked entirely inside the prior one. The next bar usually says which way it breaks.
Order FlowSkip the candles. Watch the order book directly, and trade what the size at a price level is doing.
Order FlowPrice drifts back into a high volume node built up over many bars, and either the level still holds or it doesn't.
Order FlowPrice prints a fresh high or low that cumulative buy/sell delta doesn't confirm. You trade the failure once delta rolls over.
Order FlowThree or more price levels in a row print the same lopsided buy or sell ratio. You trade the direction that pressure is already pushing.
Order FlowA large resting bid or offer cancels off the book without a print just as price reaches it. You fade the move once the size disappears.
Order FlowCumulative volume delta keeps confirming the trend through a pullback. Trade the resumption once price and order flow agree again.
Order FlowPrints per second accelerate into a level before volume or delta confirm anything. Trade the breakout on the speed alone.
Volatility & NewsA headline hits, price spikes on the initial reaction, and overshoots. Fade the first, panicked print.
Momentum & BreakoutYesterday's high or low breaks today, and every trader who's been watching it since the open finally has to react.
Momentum & BreakoutNo gap at the open, no obvious level breaking. Just a sudden burst of volume that says something changed right now.
Momentum & BreakoutA level breaks with RVOL already running well above its normal pace for the time of day. Volume, measured against its own baseline, confirms the move before you take it.
Trend ContinuationA higher timeframe tells you which way to trade. A lower timeframe tells you exactly when.
Trend ContinuationA stock ripping higher doesn't pull back for long. One or two bars, barely a dent, then it's gone again.
Reversal & Mean ReversionPrice doesn't need a reason to react to a round number, and often it doesn't get one.
Reversal & Mean ReversionPrice pokes past an obvious swing point far enough to trigger every stop sitting behind it, then reverses hard.
Range & ConsolidationOne formula, three or four lines on your chart, and half the day's turning points marked before the open.
Range & ConsolidationA volume profile marks the band holding most of the session's trading. Fade the edge, target the point of control.
Range & ConsolidationVolume dries up after the morning session and the range keeps shrinking bar over bar. Trade the break, not a guess at the direction.
Range & ConsolidationOne bar's range is tighter than each of the last seven. That coil is the setup. Trade the break of that single narrow bar, either side.
Range & ConsolidationThe high and low an index future prints while the cash market is closed. Trade the break of that overnight range once the cash session opens.
Range & ConsolidationTwo trendlines angle toward each other over several bars until almost no range is left. Trade the close beyond whichever line breaks first.
Volatility & NewsThe bands compress to their tightest reading of the session, then snap back open. You trade the release.
Volatility & NewsA bar's range already steps well past its own recent average. Trade the continuation, sized off that same reading.
Volatility & NewsA stock halts on a violent move. The reopen print either confirms it with size, or gets swallowed instantly. Trade the confirmation.
Volatility & NewsA scheduled release spikes price, reverses it hard, then reverses again. Trade the move that survives the whipsaw.
Volatility & NewsA sharp, catalyst-free spike moves several times the normal bar range, then stalls. Fade it back toward the range once volatility compresses.
Volatility & NewsThe stock gaps hard at the open, then gives it back. Fade the failure once a full bar closes back through the opening print, the mirror trade to gap and go.
Trend ContinuationA diagonal line finally breaks, then price comes back to touch it from the other side before continuing.
Trend ContinuationPrice pulls back to anchored VWAP inside a trend, reclaims it with a strong close, and you get back in with the trend.
Trend ContinuationPrice pulls back into the 38.2% to 61.8% zone of the last impulse leg inside a trend, then resumes. You trade the resumption, not the touch.
Reversal & Mean ReversionAn outsized volume spike prints a fresh extreme in a bar or two, then gives most of it back. You're fading the spike, not the level.
Three of these have an exact, ticker-and-timeframe version. The opening range breakout, the VWAP reversion fade, and the EMA pullback continuation are each worked out to the tick on the Scalping Systems page. Everything else here is the concept. Read it, then decide if it fits how you actually trade before you risk anything on it.
Common questions about picking and trading a scalping setup, answered straight.
There's no single best strategy, but a good starting point is one setup from one category instead of all 43 at once. Opening range breakout and VWAP breakout are the most straightforward to spot on a chart, which is also why they're the two worked out into full systems on the Scalping Systems page. Pick one, backtest it, then run it in the simulator before risking anything live.
One or two, not all 43. Depth on a single setup, knowing exactly when it works and exactly how it fails, beats a shallow grasp of a dozen. Add a second setup only once the first one is boring to execute.
A setup is the concept: what the pattern looks like and why it works, independent of any specific ticker. A system takes one setup, or a short list of them, and locks it to one instrument, one chart timeframe, and exact stop and target math, no judgment calls involved. Every system on this site started as a setup on this page.
Momentum and Trend Continuation setups (opening range breakout, VWAP breakout, flag continuation) need a market that's actually moving. Range and Reversal setups (support/resistance bounce, VWAP reversion, double top/bottom fade) are built for the opposite condition: a market stuck between two levels. Check the market's type on the Market Reader page before picking which category to trade.
It can be, but nothing on this site promises a return, and no setup or system here is financial advice. Profitability comes down to execution, costs, and risk management more than which setup you pick. Read the Risk Management page before trading any of it with money you can't afford to lose.
The setups themselves are instrument-agnostic; a liquidity sweep or an opening range breakout looks the same on a chart whether it's a stock or a futures contract. The Scalping Systems page has the tick and point math worked out for three futures contracts (ES, NQ, RTY) alongside stock and ETF systems, since futures price in ticks, not cents.
It depends on the setup and the instrument, not a fixed rule. The systems on this site range from a 1-minute chart to a 15-minute one. Faster timeframes mean more signals and tighter risk, but less time to react to the same information.
Every setup page on this site includes its specific failure mode: the exact way that pattern fools traders, not a generic "the market moved against me." Read that section before trading any setup, since knowing how a setup fails is what tells you when to cut it rather than hope it comes back.
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