Jesse RogersFounder and CEO of Smart Trading Blueprint

The Strategy Most Traders Overlook Daily

31 Dec 2025 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

1:55

A short how-to from Jesse Rogers (YouTube) teaching the "first candle rule": use the 5-minute candle that forms at 9:30–9:35am EST as the day's reference, mark its high and low, then drop to the 1-minute chart for entries. Wait for price to break a level creating a gap between candle wicks (a fair value gap), then enter on a retest when a candle engulfs the retest; target a fixed 3:1 risk-to-reward.

Questions this video answers

9:30am EST

The first 5-minute candle (9:30–9:35am)

The 1-minute chart

A gap between the candle wicks (fair value gap) after price breaks the level

Fixed 3:1 risk-to-reward

Chapters

I only use one candle to trade every single day. And it's so stupid simple that most traders completely overlook it. Because after nine years in the markets, what I've learned is that this one candle contains more information than any indicator or complicated strategy ever could. This is called the first candle rule. First things first, you're going to get to your desk right at 9:30am EST and on the five minute chart, you're going to wait for the first candle to form the the one that happens at 9:30 to 9:35am and believe it or not, this one candle is going to give you everything you need to find consistent winning trades. Once that candle closes, you're going to mark out the high and the low. And these are the only key levels that you need for the entire trading day. Next, you're going to drop down to the 1 minute chart and this is where we're going to find our entry. And this is also where most people mess this up. So I want you to pay very close attention. When price approaches one of these levels, you don't just jump in. You want to see a very specific type of behavior. You want to see price to break through your level and create a gap between the candle wicks, not just a wick or a candle closure. That is not enough. You need that gap formation because this tells us the market is moving with real force and we're able to know who is in control of the market, whether it's buyers or sellers. And once this gap forms, we only need to wait for one more confirmation to enter our trades. And this helps us avoid the losers. Once the market retests this fair value gap, we need to see a candle engulfing. And as soon as we get that, we enter the trade and we target a fixed 3 to 1 risk to reward. And trust me, when you follow this exactly as I'm showing you, the market does the heavy lifting for you. Now save this video so you can study this simple strategy again and again. If you want me to walk you through this step by step on my upcoming live class, comment the word class and I'll send you a free ticket before they're gone.