Iaroslav starts looking for a trade with liquidity hunting. For him, it should happen inside an imbalance zone – what he calls a "fair-value inefficiency."

"By imbalance, I mean the classic gap between three candles. I try to make sure the liquidity hunt happens specifically in that kind of zone."

He works from higher timeframes down to lower ones: the 1H, 4H, and sometimes the daily chart show where the meaningful liquidity zones are located. On lower timeframes, Iaroslav looks for only one thing – confirmation of a reversal.

"If you look for liquidity on the 15M chart, what are you really going to see? Not much. The 1H, 4H, or even 1D will show you more reliable zones. On the lower timeframe, I only look for the reversal – confirmation that price is actually starting to turn."

One of his key rules is not to enter immediately after liquidity is taken. Instead, he waits for an inversion retest.

"An inversion is when the imbalance gets filled in the opposite direction. You need to wait and make sure it really is a reversal. There's no guarantee that liquidity was taken, price pulled back, and then won't just continue pushing further. That's why you need to wait for the retest."

Iaroslav places Stop Losses conservatively: he places them beyond a local high or low. If the entry happens after an inversion retest, he puts the Stop Loss beyond the extreme of the retest candle.

"I try to place my stops more conservatively. If I open a chart tomorrow and start shorting or buying every liquidity sweep, I'm pretty sure I'll eventually blow the account."

Iaroslav also uses a pattern he calls rejection. It is a zone formed by a long candle wick, where he looks for a price reaction.

Most of the time, he waits for price to move roughly halfway into that zone before evaluating a possible reversal.

"I like it when price enters about 50% of the zone. Sometimes it fills the whole thing, of course, but in my experience, around 70% of the time it reaches roughly the middle of the zone and reverses."

Alongside the chart, Iaroslav keeps CoinGlass open and tracks open interest, delta, and the liquidation heatmap.

"Open interest shows where money is currently flowing. If open interest rises together with price, it means real money is entering longs. If price is rising while open interest is falling, then that move is happening because shorts are being closed – it's a short squeeze, and there isn't real new money behind the move."

According to Iaroslav, delta shows the difference between shorts and longs and should always be analyzed together with price and open interest:

But both tools have clear limits.

"Neither of them is a standalone signal. They're more of a confirmation in the moment. You can look at the 4H or daily chart and see whether money is genuinely moving from one liquidity zone to another or whether the move is fake."

Iaroslav pays attention not only to the liquidity level itself, but also to how price approaches it. In his experience, this can help determine whether the market is preparing for a reversal or for continuation.

If price moves toward the level quickly, with sharp candles that leave imbalances behind, Iaroslav sees it as a deliberate liquidity hunt.

"If price is hunting specific liquidity, it will approach it aggressively – with sharp candles and imbalances. For me, that's a liquidity hunt."

If the move toward the level is slow and candles constantly overlap, he sees a different scenario: liquidity may still be taken, but price could then consolidate briefly, build volume, and continue in the same direction.

"But if price approaches slowly and the candles keep overlapping each other, that's more of a sign that the level is going to break."

Iaroslav's main market is forex. He spends around 70% of his time trading EUR/USD, while occasionally looking at gold and silver.

He personally calls gold one of his least favorite assets. Over the past year, he has taken only 8–9 trades on it, and says he understands currencies much better.

"Currencies feel more technical to me. They move more calmly and smoothly, without the same kind of aggressive manipulation you see in crypto. Crypto likes to fake you out. I need more confirmation there than I do in forex."

In crypto, Iaroslav mainly trades Bitcoin and Ethereum. He occasionally looks at Solana and XRP, but tries not to spread his attention across too many assets.

"There's no point analyzing 30 different coins. Pick 2–3 pairs you really like, keep a journal, study them in detail, and focus on mastering those."

Even though crypto trades around the clock, Iaroslav prefers trading it during the active London and New York sessions.

He uses the Asian session more as a way to understand the broader context and see what price did before Europe opens.

Recently, he has liked the New York session less. In his observation, price is more likely there to sweep levels multiple times and change direction sharply. That is why London remains his main trading session.

Iaroslav did not move into crypto prop trading because forex was no longer enough for him. He wanted to expand into another area and had also received strong recommendations from people he knew.

"People recommended it to me, so I listened and gave it a try."

Iaroslav is happy with the Hash Hedge terminal and says the platform is convenient for everyday trading.

Across his Hash Hedge Funded Accounts, Iaroslav has withdrawn a total of $1,683:

Outside forex and crypto, Iaroslav also monitors S&P 500 and NASDAQ stocks. For now, it is mostly for general market awareness rather than active trading. He admits that adding a third market on top of forex and crypto would overload his focus.

Still, he shared one specific idea during the interview: Take-Two Interactive, the gaming company behind GTA, ahead of the expected release of GTA 6.

"When GTA 5 came out in 2013, the stock was at $10.59. Now it's around $233. By my calculations, that's roughly a 2,200% move, and a lot of that growth started around the fifth game's release. GTA 6 is supposed to come out in November 2026. If it doesn't get delayed, it may be worth watching."

This is Iaroslav's personal observation, not a ready-made investment idea. He openly admits that he is not yet fully sure where he would place a Stop Loss on a stock he does not trade often, and for now he only holds a symbolic position.

He takes a more systematic approach to long-term investing. For the past two years, he has been buying $10 worth of BTC every day using a DCA strategy, and he plans to apply a similar approach to the S&P 500.

"If you want to secure your future, you need to invest. If it's stocks, then the S&P 500. If it's metals, then gold. If it's crypto, then BTC. I don't touch altcoins at all – they're high risk."

Iaroslav highlights three key rules that helped him pass his first Challenge:

"If you can see that the day just isn't going your way, it's better to stop, close the computer, and go outside for a walk."

According to him, one of the biggest mistakes a trader can make is continuing to open trades when the market is not offering clear opportunities or when emotions are already starting to influence decisions.

At the same time, Iaroslav admits that discipline never becomes completely automatic, even with experience.

"Over the years, I've become much more disciplined, but of course there are still days when it's difficult. This isn't a place for gamblers who don't know when to stop."