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I just watched a trader pull $2,000 in one session using nothing but round numbers on the NQ. |
Six months ago, this guy had never touched futures. Now he's trading the Golden Setup like it's second nature because the levels do exactly what I said they would. |
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You get the training, the live room, the coaching calls, credits for future services, and cold hard cash for proving it works. |
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It's Like Cheating on a Test
by Tony Rago |
A trader texted me something this week that made me smile. |
He was watching the NQ during Wednesday's session when price closed at 25,431 at 2:00 PM Eastern. The close above 25,412 opened the 25,500 level. Price dropped 150 points down to 25,350. Then it ripped straight back to 25,500. |
His text: "The Houdini show. It's like cheating on a test." |
That single observation captures exactly what makes round numbers so powerful. They're not predictions. They're not guesses. They're magnets built into the market's structure that pull price toward them with remarkable consistency. |
When you understand how these levels work, trading stops feeling like gambling and starts feeling inevitable. |
Why Round Numbers Actually Matter |
Most traders treat round numbers like suggestions. They see 25,000 on the chart and think it might be important. Maybe price bounces there. Maybe it doesn't. They never really commit to the level. |
That's not how institutional money thinks about round numbers. |
Big money clusters around psychological price points. The 25,000 level on the NQ isn't just a number. It's where option contracts concentrate. Where algorithms key their orders. Where retail traders place stops and targets because the number feels significant. |
All of that activity creates real support and resistance. Not because the number itself has magic properties, but because enough market participants treat it as important that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. |
"Notice on November 6th at 2:00 PM Eastern, the candle closed at 25,431, opening the 25,500. We went down to 750. And then what magic all the way back to 25,500." |
That's not luck. That's not coincidence. That's understanding that when price closes above 25,400 and opens the next major round number at 25,500, you have unfinished business. Price owes you a test of that level. |
The Trader Who Figured It Out |
The guy who texted me about the "Houdini show" has an interesting story. |
He never traded futures before. Never thought about trading futures. He trades on his Think or Swim account with a laptop. He doesn't even use stop losses in the traditional sense because he has a big enough account to manage size differently. |
Six months ago, he took my methodology to his simulator. Not because he believed it would work. Because he wanted to prove it wouldn't. He spent half a year testing the levels, watching how price interacted with the 50s, the round numbers, the opening ranges. |
Then he came back and told me the NASDAQ actually does exactly what I said it would. His words: "Holy crap, this is magic." |
It's not magic. It's probability. It's understanding that certain levels matter more than others and positioning yourself accordingly. |
Now he's pulling a couple thousand dollars a day out of the NQ trading the same simple methodology. Same levels. Same logic. No complexity required. |
How This Actually Works in Real Time |
Friday morning gave us another perfect example. |
Price was sitting right at the 24912 level. That's not a round number, but it's a key inflection point based on the expected move calculations. When price held that level on multiple tests, it told me exactly what needed to happen next. |
"Nice back test of the nine 12, here's the 25,000." |
From the 24912 hold to 25,000. Twenty handles. Straight shot. The round number acted exactly like the magnet it's supposed to be. |
Did everyone catch it? No. Some traders were too busy overthinking the entry. Others were waiting for more confirmation. A few got stopped out trying to short into strength because they didn't respect what the levels were telling them. |
The traders who made money were the ones watching the same simple framework. Hold at 24912 means 25,000 is in play. When price starts moving toward that magnet, you position accordingly. |
"So there's our 25,000. So just be careful today. There'll be plenty of setups, you guys." |
What Makes Someone Skip This Trade |
Here's what stops most traders from executing on these setups. They make it complicated. |
They add indicators. They look for divergences. They wait for the perfect entry that never comes because they're analyzing instead of acting. They see the level but don't trust it enough to take the trade. |
Or worse, they take the trade but don't give it room to work. They use a two-handle stop on a move that needs five handles of breathing room. Price touches their stop, reverses, and hits the target without them. |
"The issue for me was my stop was too tight though, using like a two handle stop trying to catch stuff. If it goes against you, you don't have any love." |
Managing risk doesn't mean using the tightest possible stop. It means using a stop that's appropriate for the volatility and the distance to your target. If you're trading into a round number 20 handles away, a two-handle stop isn't risk management. It's just getting stopped out more often. |
The Simplicity That Actually Works |
Wednesday's session reinforced something I tell traders constantly. You need to be able to explain your methodology in three sentences. If you can't do that, you've overcomplicated it. |
Here's mine: I watch specific levels that institutional money respects. Round numbers, the 50s, opening ranges, cash levels. When price closes above one level, it opens the next level as a target. I position as close to the origin of the move as possible with defined risk. |
That's the Golden Setup. No indicators. No complex chart patterns. No secret algorithms. Just levels, probability, and execution. |
The trader who texted me about "cheating on a test" gets it now. He spent six months proving the methodology works. Now he trades it with confidence because he's seen it play out hundreds of times. |
The levels work. The round numbers act as magnets. Price does what it's supposed to do far more often than it doesn't. |
The Golden Setup isn't complicated. It's just understanding that these magnets exist and positioning yourself to capture the move when price gets pulled toward them. |
Your job isn't to predict where price will go. Your job is to recognize when conditions align, position yourself with defined risk, and let probability work in your favor. |
What Monday Brings |
The market opens again Monday morning with new levels. The round numbers will still matter. The 50s will still act as inflection points. The methodology won't change because it doesn't need to. |
What changes is whether you're going to trust the levels or keep making it more complicated than it needs to be. |
Price closed above 25,400 and opened 25,500. It dropped 150 points and ripped straight back to that round number. Not because I'm smart. Not because the trader watching it is lucky. Because that's what round numbers do when you understand how the market actually works. |
It's like cheating on a test. Except you're not cheating. You're just watching the same levels that move billions of dollars every single day and positioning yourself accordingly. |
The answers are already on the chart. You just have to trust them enough to act. |
Tony Rago
Creator of the Golden Setup |
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