The exact chart, timeframes, levels and platform settings you trade from. Get this identical to the manual before you take a single trade — a VWAP method only works if everyone's VWAP matches.
Learning objective
Build the one chart this whole system runs on: the right timeframes, the right session, the exact board of levels plotted every morning, and — most important — a platform whose hard risk lockout enforces discipline for you when willpower won't.
Lesson 2.1
Timeframes
Two charts, two jobs: the 1-minute is where you pull the trigger, the 15-minute is where you read the context.
Execution · 1-minute
Every entry trigger — a close through VWAP, a defended bounce — is read here. A 2-minute is an acceptable substitute if the 1-min is too noisy for you.
Context · 15-minute
The opening range, the trend, and multi-day structure are read here.
Some higher-timeframe context — daily and weekly key levels — is marked once and left alone. You'll spend the session on the 1-minute with the 15-minute open beside it. Turn on a countdown-to-bar-close timer — the method triggers on closes (a close through VWAP, a 15-minute close beyond the range), so knowing exactly when the candle closes keeps you from acting a beat early.
Lesson 2.2
RTH vs ETH — Which Session to Chart
Keep the chart on the overnight (ETH) session for a complete view of everything price did before the open — then trade primarily during Regular Trading Hours, with the overnight/Asia session as a secondary playbook.
ETH — your default chart
Electronic / overnight hours. We recommend staying on ETH so you get a comprehensive view of the whole session — the overnight price action, the gap, and the Globex range going into the open. You want to see everything.
RTH — when you mainly trade
Regular Trading Hours, 9:30 AM–4:00 PM ET. This is the session the NY VWAP is anchored to and where the core edge lives. The overnight/Asia session is a secondary playbook (§4.8) — same tools, thinner tape, never forced.
Seeing ≠ trading
Charting ETH doesn't change your anchors — the NY VWAP still anchors to the 9:30 open and the opening range is still 9:30–9:45. ETH just keeps the overnight action on the screen so nothing about the day's context is hidden from you.
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Phantom Rule
Chart ETH for the full picture; trade primarily RTH, with the overnight/Asia session as a secondary playbook (§4.8). See everything overnight; the New York day is the core.
Lesson 2.3
Which Contract to Chart — Continuous & Back-Adjustment
Because the tradeable contract rolls every quarter (Module 01.3), you have to decide what your chart shows across those rolls. Two choices: which symbol to load, and how it's adjusted.
The single front-month contract
e.g. ESZ5 — shows exactly what's trading right now, at real prices. Perfect for the levels that must be exact (VWAP, the opening range). Its history only runs back to when that contract started.
A continuous chart
e.g. ES1! / @ES / /ES — the platform splices each expiring contract into the next so history never breaks. But the old and new contracts trade at slightly different prices, leaving a roll gap — and how the platform handles that gap changes what your old bars mean.
The three ways a continuous chart handles the roll gap
Unadjusted (raw) — leaves the gap in. Recent prices are real and correct, but there's a visible jump at every roll.
Back-adjusted ("b-adj") — shifts all the older data by each roll gap so the line is smooth and continuous. Great for reading long-term trend and running indicators across rolls — but the historical prices are offset from what actually traded (on a long history the old bars can even print negative).
Ratio-adjusted — the same idea but multiplies rather than adds, so percentage moves stay accurate.
What to use for this method
Trade off the real front-month price. The NY VWAP (anchored 9:30, OHLC/4) and the opening range are only meaningful on true prices — so load the actual front-month contract (or a front-month continuous feed that shows its real price), not a back-adjusted one, for the session you're trading. Use a back-adjusted continuous chart only for higher-timeframe context — weekly/daily trend, where price sits in the big picture — where the smooth history helps and the exact level doesn't matter. Never mark an intraday level off a back-adjusted chart — those numbers are shifted.
Know which one you're on
Platforms label this differently — TradingView's ES1! is the front-month continuous; brokers often default to the current contract; a back-adjusted series is usually flagged "cont / b-adj / adjusted." Set it once, and be sure your trading chart is showing real front-month prices.
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Phantom Rule
Trade off real front-month prices; use back-adjusted continuous charts for context only — never to mark a level.
Lesson 2.4
The Levels You Plot Every Day
Mark these before the open. They are the entire "board" — nothing else goes on the chart.
The whole board, marked before the open: the three VWAPs (NY solid, overnight & previous-day dashed), the opening-range band, yesterday's high/low, and the prior-day POC. The NY VWAP and OR lines draw themselves after the 9:30 open.
VWAPs — the engine (Module 03)
NY VWAP — anchored today 9:30 ET. The decision line.
Start-of-week VWAP — anchored Sunday 6 PM ET, used Tue–Fri. A slower weekly governor: while price is above the three fast VWAPs but still below it, up-day conviction is capped (Module 03).
(Optional, situational) HOD/LOD-anchored VWAP; an all-time-high VWAP only when price is near all-time highs.
Structure levels (Module 04)
15-minute Opening Range — high & low of 9:30–9:45; draw the moment it's set.
Yesterday's high & low — the directional gate.
High/low of week — and, near extremes, high/low of year.
Prior-day volume profile — POC, VAH, VAL (Module 04's overlay).
VWAP source setting
Set your VWAP indicator's source to OHLC/4 (open+high+low+close ÷ 4) for a smoother, more representative line. Use the same setting every day so your levels are consistent — and so they match every other trader running this manual.
Lesson 2.5
Automating the Levels
Hand-drawing the VWAPs and opening range every morning is tedious and error-prone. The PTM indicator set draws the whole board for you.
PTM VWAP — plots the VWAP stack automatically: the NY VWAP, overnight VWAP and previous-day VWAP (Module 03), on the OHLC/4 source.
PTM Daily Levels — draws the 15-minute opening range, yesterday's high/low, and the weekly extremes (Module 04) the moment they're set.
PTM PDVP — the prior-day volume profile: POC, VAH and VAL (Module 04's confluence overlay).
Cross-index status panel — a compact readout of where ES, NQ and YM each sit relative to their VWAPs (NY / overnight / previous-day), whether each is inside or outside its opening range, and the trend — so you read cross-index VWAP alignment at a glance instead of flipping between three charts.
For the situational anchors — HOD/LOD, a news release, an all-time high — add the standard anchored-VWAP tool on top. Between the PTM set and that one tool, your board draws itself.
A clean color convention helps you read at a glance — e.g. NY VWAP in one bold color, previous-day VWAP in another, overnight as a dotted line, opening range as horizontal lines.
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Phantom Rule
Pick a color scheme and never change it, so your eyes learn it. Consistency of the board is part of the edge.
Lesson 2.6
The Trading Platform & Hard Risk Controls
Use a platform that gives you hard-enforced risk controls, not just a chart. This is the single most important choice in this module.
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Phantom Rule
Set a personal daily loss limit and profit target that auto-liquidate and lock you out when hit. When you reach your max loss or your target, the platform closes you and blocks further trading for the day.
Willpower vs the machine
A platform lockout is the difference between a rule and a willpower-based rule — and willpower fails in the moment. Set it and let the machine enforce it. Prefer prop firms and platforms whose limits are hard-enforced (auto-liquidate + lockout) precisely so the discipline rules in Module 06 — the daily cap, the two-try rule — cannot be overridden when you're tilted.
Beyond the loss/target lockout, cap over-trading structurally with max/min trades per day, contract limits and symbol blocks. (More on firm selection in Module 09.)
Two per-trade settings that reinforce the discipline
Attach a bracket on entry — use the platform's market-order-with-bracket ("project order") so a stop and target attach the moment you enter, never a naked position; if the stop triggers it closes the whole bracket, making "always have a stop" (Module 06) automatic. And display P&L in ticks/points, not dollars — it keeps your focus on structure (where's my stop, where's my target) rather than the money, which steadies the psychology (Module 08).
Keep the layout minimal
Your order-entry ladder or one-click buttons, a lightweight chart, and your trades/executions tab. You don't need level-2 or time-and-sales to run this system.
Key takeaways
1-minute for execution, 15-minute for context (with a countdown-to-bar-close timer). Chart ETH for the full overnight view; trade primarily RTH (9:30–4:00 ET), with the overnight/Asia session as a secondary playbook (§4.8).
Plot the three core VWAPs (NY, overnight, previous-day), the opening range, yesterday's high/low, weekly extremes, and the prior-day volume profile — every day.
VWAP source = OHLC/4, consistent daily.
Automate the levels with the PTM indicator set (PTM VWAP · Daily Levels · PDVP) + the anchored-VWAP tool for situational anchors.
Trade on a platform with hard auto-lockout on a daily loss limit and profit target — enforce discipline with the machine, not willpower.