The LPFT
Playbook

Why a rulebook beats a feeling.

Most trading accounts don't die from a bad strategy. They die from a good strategy that got abandoned at the worst possible moment — skipped on a green day out of fear, oversized on a hot streak out of greed, revenge-traded back to zero after one red candle. The strategy was never the problem. The hundred small decisions around it were.

LPFT exists to remove those decisions, not to remove you. The bots find and execute the trades; you supply the discipline to run the system the same way, every day, whether it feels right in the moment or not. This playbook is that system, written down in full — nothing held back, nothing summarized. Every number here is the exact number our own Reversal Bot trades on, and the exact number the 90-Day Guarantee checks a claim against.

Followed exactly, for long enough, the numbers do the convincing. Your job is just to not get in the way.

Why Renko.

A normal candlestick chart prints a new candle every time the clock ticks, whether or not price actually went anywhere — which means most of what you're looking at is noise, not information. A Renko chart only prints a new brick when price moves a fixed number of points. No time axis, no wicks, no candles that argue with themselves. Fewer, cleaner decisions — which is exactly what a rules-based system needs to be tested and trusted.

We go deep on the mechanics — box size, why 1-second, why "wick off" — in its own chapter below (Chapter 7) and in a dedicated explainer. Read "Why Renko" in full →

The trading session.

Trade every market day, between 10:30 AM and 2:30 PM Eastern Time — the window where the strategy has been proven, session after session. Take no new trades after approximately 2:15 PM, and have the bot switched off by 2:30 PM.

Outside this window the bot stays off. Not because it can't place a trade — because we haven't proven it belongs there, and "probably fine" isn't a standard we trade our own money on.

The market filter.

Turn the Reversal Bot ON only when two conditions are both true:

• ADX is below the 23 level — a reading below 23 says the market is ranging, not trending hard in one direction. Above 23, trends can run through a reversal signal and keep going, which is exactly the condition this bot is not built for.
• Price is inside the pivot range — between the two pivot lines the strategy watches, not beyond either one.

If ADX rises above 23 while the bot is running, turn it off and take no new trades until it drops back below 23. If a trade is already open when ADX crosses above 23, manage that trade to its normal completion (or close it manually) — then turn the bot off. This single filter is what keeps the Reversal Bot out of the conditions it wasn't built to trade.

Trading through news.

Here's the honest answer: our published results already include high-impact news and earnings sessions. We don't trade around them, and we're not going to pretend otherwise — the numbers on the results page were produced trading through them. So this isn't a rule that tells you to avoid news. It's a briefing on what to watch for if you do.

News and earnings windows can move price faster and further than a normal session — that's exactly what makes them tradeable, and exactly what makes them worth respecting. Unexpected volatility can make the bot take a trade it normally wouldn't, or drop one it should have taken. Trade through these windows at your own responsibility, and stay at the screen — watch the bot's execution closely, confirm every entry and exit fills the way it's supposed to, and be ready to step in with the manual steps in Chapter 8 if something looks off.

If you'd rather sit a window out instead, that's a completely fine way to run it too — just pick one approach (trade through news, or filter it out) and stay consistent with it. Two calendars we check ourselves:

• investing.com/economic-calendar — high-impact ("3-star" / red-flag) economic releases.
• nasdaq.com/market-activity/earnings — upcoming earnings releases.

Whichever way you trade it, proper risk management — the daily loss limit in Chapter 6 — is what actually keeps a volatile session from becoming a bad day.

Risk & position sizing.

This is the rule that makes every other rule survivable. Set a daily loss limit in your Tradovate account under Risk Management (Account Risk) equal to 100 points for your size. When it's hit, the account locks and open trades exit automatically — the Circuit Breaker, built into the method, not bolted on after the fact.

Oversizing, or trading without the daily loss limit set, isn't a shortcut to a bigger result faster — it's the single fastest way to turn one bad session into a blown account. It's mandatory, not a suggestion.

Chart setup.

Run the bots on a Renko chart, 1-second timeframe, configured exactly like this:

• Wick: OFF — this one is critical. A Renko chart with wicks re-introduces the noise Renko exists to remove.
• Source: OHLC
• Box Size Assignment Method: Traditional
• Box size: 10 points (NQ/MNQ)

Incorrect chart settings don't make the bot trade worse — they make it trade a different, untested method entirely, on a chart that only looks the same.

Entry protocol.

Turn the bot ON only when price is between the pivot lines with a Renko box already inside that range.

• Late start: if price has already touched a pivot for the second time and printed a Renko box before you turned the bot on, place that first entry order manually, 10 points from the pivot range — the bot manages everything from there, take-profit and stop-loss included. Otherwise the bot places the entry automatically on the second touch and continues on its own.
• Failsafe: the bot places the entry and its take-profit/stop-loss automatically about 99% of the time — occasionally there's just a short delay. If the TP/SL doesn't appear within a few seconds of an entry, place it yourself, 20 points from your entry in the appropriate direction. No need to cancel the trade or turn the bot off — just fill in the missing order and let the trade continue.
• Never turn the bot on while price is outside the pivot range — it will place exit orders with no entry to attach them to.

The kill-switch & the four manual actions.

The kill-switch is the TradingView alert you set up when you became a member — one alert that turns the entire system on or off, so you're never more than one tap from full control. Exactly four manual interventions are part of the method (and sometimes required); everything outside this list is outside the method:

1. The late-start first entry order (Chapter 8).
2. The failsafe manual TP/SL placement (Chapter 8).
3. Cancelling open or resting orders whenever you turn the bot off — turning it off stops new signals, but resting orders still fill unless you cancel them. Keep your Tradovate dashboard open in a separate tab to confirm everything is closed.
4. The kill-switch itself, used per these rules — session end, ADX above 23, unusual volatility, or a trade that didn't execute properly.

This is a disciplined, semi-automated system — about 95% automated — not a set-and-forget one. The bots do the hard work; staying attentive while they run is the other 5%, and it's yours.

The prop-firm path: eval to funded.

Most LPFT members are trading someone else's capital through a prop-firm evaluation, so here's how the method above maps onto that path specifically:

1. Pick a firm that allows automation — and do your own research. Many prop firms restrict or forbid bots outright, and firms change their rules over time. We don't recommend specific firms; that research is yours to do, directly with the firm, before you connect anything.
2. Size to the evaluation account, not the payout you want. Use the prop-firm sizing table in Chapter 6 — most eval failures come from oversizing to "get there faster," which is the opposite of what passes an eval.
3. Trade the eval exactly like Chapter 3–8. Evaluations are graded on consistency and drawdown control as much as on raw profit — the same discipline that satisfies the 90-Day Guarantee is what a funded desk is actually screening for.
4. Passing the eval isn't the finish line. Keep running the identical method on the funded account. The rules don't relax because real capital is now behind them — if anything, that's the moment they matter most.
5. Payouts follow your firm's own schedule and rules — LPFT doesn't control a firm's payout process, only the method you trade with while you're in it.

None of this is personalized investment advice. Choosing a firm, researching its rules and reputation, and dealing with its community and support channels are entirely your own responsibility — LPFT takes no responsibility for a prop firm's terms, eval rules, or payout decisions. If a firm denies, delays, or reduces a payout for any reason, that's between you and the firm — verify everything directly with them before you commit an account to it.

Discipline & the trade log.

Keep a complete record of every trade — your private copy of the LPFT Trade Log (yours from day one, living in your own Google Drive, visible only to you), or simply your Tradovate / prop-firm account statements. Your record should show every trade's date, time, direction, contract size, and result.

You don't need to send anyone anything while you trade — but if you ever want to claim the 90-Day Guarantee, this record is the whole case, and it needs to be complete. The log habit does double duty: it's also the single best way to catch yourself drifting from the method before it costs you anything.

Where to go from here.

That's the whole method — the same one we trade, published in full, before you ever pay a dollar. Three places to go next:

• See the live, tracked results the method above actually produces.
• Read the 90-Day Guarantee — the exact terms this playbook has to satisfy.
• Join the Discord community — setup help, playbook talk, and LPFT Jarvis answering questions 24/7.