The RTC Journal
Learn to read the market, one lesson at a time
19 free lessons, from your first chart to Wyckoff and Smart Money. Each one has a live animation with every example, clear diagrams and a quick check at the end.
19 lessons5 learning paths108 chaptersFree · no sign-up
Start hereBeginner
Smart Money Concepts: market structure, BOS and CHoCH
Before any order block or FVG, you need to read structure. Here is how trends are built and how they break.
Start the first lesson →Start here
Five lessons every new trader should read first, in this order.
5 lessons
Smart Money Concepts
Structure, zones and the patterns built on them.
6 lessons
SMC
Smart Money Concepts
Market structure, BOS and CHoCH
Beginner5 min→
SMC
Order blocks
How to find and grade them
Intermediate4 min→
SMC
Fair value gaps (FVG)
Imbalance you can see
Intermediate4 min→
SMC
Breaker blocks, inversion FVG and BPR
When zones flip
Advanced3 min→
SMC
Quasimodo (QML)
The over-and-under reversal
Advanced4 min→
SMC
Liquidity sweeps and swing failure (SFP)
PDH, PDL, Asia and equal highs
Intermediate4 min→
ICT: location and timing
Where in the range and when in the day to look for entries.
4 lessons
Volume and Wyckoff
Read the effort behind every move.
5 lessons
VSA
Volume Spread Analysis
Effort versus result
Intermediate4 min→
VSA
Every VSA signal explained
Climax, stopping volume, tests, no demand and more
Intermediate7 min→
VSA
High, ultra high and news volume
Reading the big bars
Beginner5 min→
Wyckoff
Wyckoff basics
Accumulation, the spring and markup
Intermediate4 min→
Wyckoff
Wyckoff events step by step
SC, AR, ST, spring, SOS, LPS and distribution
Advanced4 min→
Risk and mindset
The part that keeps you in the game long enough to win.
3 lessons
All lessons
Sorted from beginner to advanced. Search or pick a topic.
01Trading psychology: discipline, patience and the journalMost mistakes happen between the analysis and the click. Build a process that protects you from yourself.PsychologyBeginner4 min→02Risk to reward: why 1 : 2 changes everythingWith 1 : 2, you can be wrong two times out of three and still break even. Here is the maths.RiskBeginner4 min→03Risk management: the 1% rule and position sizingThe maths of losses is not fair. A 50% drawdown needs a 100% gain to recover. Here is how to stay small.RiskBeginner4 min→04Forex sessions and killzones: when gold really movesThe same setup behaves differently at 4 AM Pakistan time and at the London–New York overlap. Time is part of the trade.ICTBeginner4 min→05Premium and discount: buy low, sell high, properlyThe 50% line of a range tells you whether price is expensive or cheap. Simple, and often ignored.ICTBeginner4 min→06Liquidity: why price hunts your stop lossEqual highs, equal lows and obvious swing points are where stop losses cluster. Smart money needs them.SMCBeginner5 min→07Smart Money Concepts: market structure, BOS and CHoCHBefore any order block or FVG, you need to read structure. Here is how trends are built and how they break.SMCBeginner5 min→08High, ultra high and news volume: reading the big barsNot all big volume is the same. How RTC separates high, ultra high and news volume, what each one means, and how to use the volume profile.VSABeginner5 min→09Wyckoff basics: accumulation, the spring and markupA century-old way of seeing ranges. Learn the phases and the spring, the trap before the move.WyckoffIntermediate4 min→10Trading the news: NFP, CPI, FOMC and goldHigh-impact US data can move gold in seconds, in both directions. How to prepare for news days.NewsIntermediate4 min→11Volume Spread Analysis: effort versus resultA big volume bar with a tiny candle is a warning. VSA teaches you to read what the candle is hiding.VSAIntermediate4 min→12Fair value gaps (FVG): imbalance you can seeThree candles, one gap. Why price often returns to fill an imbalance, and how to use it.SMCIntermediate4 min→13Order blocks: how to find and grade themNot every last candle is an order block. Learn three checks to make before trusting a zone.SMCIntermediate4 min→14OTE and the midnight open: where to enter inside the rangeThe optimal trade entry retracement, the New York midnight open and the weekly open, and how they combine with premium and discount.ICTIntermediate3 min→15Liquidity sweeps and swing failure (SFP): PDH, PDL, Asia and equal highsWhere stops rest, why price runs them, and how to read a sweep. Previous day high and low, the Asia range, equal highs and lows and the swing failure pattern.SMCIntermediate4 min→16Every VSA signal explained: climax, stopping volume, tests, no demand and moreFifteen bars that tell you who is in control. What each VSA signal looks like, what it means, how to confirm it and the mistake most traders make with it.VSAIntermediate7 min→17Breaker blocks, inversion FVG and BPR: when zones flipA failed order block or gap does not disappear. It flips. How breakers, inversion fair value gaps and balanced price ranges work.SMCAdvanced3 min→18Quasimodo (QML): the over-and-under reversalLeft shoulder, higher high, lower low. How the Quasimodo pattern forms, why the left shoulder level matters and how RTC AI tracks it.SMCAdvanced4 min→19Wyckoff events step by step: SC, AR, ST, spring, SOS, LPS and distributionEvery event inside a Wyckoff range, in the order it happens, with what to look for on volume and where the low-risk entries are.WyckoffAdvanced4 min→
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