Hanzo Strategy - Volume & Smart Money

📊 HANZO STRATEGY - Complete Description

## 🎯 Strategy Overview

The **Hanzo Strategy** is an advanced institutional trading system that combines Volume Profile analysis, Smart Money Concepts, and Price Action patterns to identify high-probability trade setups. This strategy is specifically designed for trading Gold (XAUUSD), NAS100, and US30 on the 15-minute timeframe.

---

## 🧠 Core Trading Philosophy

The Hanzo Strategy operates on the principle that **institutional money leaves footprints** in the market through:
- Volume accumulation at key price levels
- Liquidity sweeps and stop hunts
- Order block formations
- Strategic wick rejections at support/resistance

By identifying these institutional behaviors and combining them with precise volume analysis, the strategy aims to trade **with** the smart money, not against it.

---

## 🔑 Key Components

### 1️⃣ **Fixed Range Volume Profile (FRVP)**
- **What it does:** Analyzes the last 2 days of price action and calculates where the most volume traded
- **Point of Control (POC):** The price level with the highest trading volume - acts as a magnet for price
- **How we use it:** Price tends to revert to POC. When price is far from POC and starts moving toward it, we prepare for entries
- **Visual:** Yellow cross line on the chart marking the POC

### 2️⃣ **Wick Cluster Detection**
- **What it does:** Automatically identifies price levels where multiple candle wicks have rejected (2-6+ wicks)
- **Why it matters:** Multiple rejections at the same level indicate strong institutional support/resistance
- **Upper wick clusters:** Resistance zones where price was rejected downward
- **Lower wick clusters:** Support zones where price was rejected upward
- **Visual:** Dashed lines (red for resistance, green for support)

### 3️⃣ **Session Volatility Boxes**
- **London Session (8:00-16:00 UTC+3):** Captures European market volatility range
- **New York Session (13:30-20:00 UTC+3):** Captures US market volatility range
- **How we use it:** These ranges often act as support/resistance for the rest of the day
- **Visual:** Blue box for London, Orange box for New York

### 4️⃣ **Smart Money Zones**

**Order Blocks:**
- Strong institutional areas where banks and hedge funds placed large orders
- **Bullish Order Block:** Area where smart money bought heavily before a strong upward move
- **Bearish Order Block:** Area where smart money sold heavily before a strong downward move
- **Visual:** Green/Red filled boxes with "Bull OB" or "Bear OB" labels

**Liquidity Sweeps:**
- Price breaks above recent high or below recent low, then quickly reverses
- This is a "stop hunt" - institutions triggering retail stops before moving in the real direction
- **Bullish Sweep:** Price dips below support, grabs stops, then reverses up
- **Bearish Sweep:** Price pops above resistance, grabs stops, then reverses down
- **Visual:** Triangle markers (green up = bullish, red down = bearish)

### 5️⃣ **Engulfing Pattern Recognition**
- **Bullish Engulfing:** Large green candle fully engulfs the previous red candle - shows strong buying pressure
- **Bearish Engulfing:** Large red candle fully engulfs the previous green candle - shows strong selling pressure
- **How we use it:** Confirmation signal when combined with other factors
- **Visual:** Small circles below/above candles

### 6️⃣ **Trend Bias Indicator**
- Dynamically calculates market bias based on price position relative to POC
- **Bullish:** Price > 0.2% above POC
- **Neutral:** Price within 0.2% of POC
- **Bearish:** Price > 0.2% below POC
- **Visual:** Label at top of chart showing current bias

---

## 📈 Entry Signal Logic

The strategy generates **LONG** and **SHORT** signals based on confluence of multiple factors:

### 🟢 LONG ENTRY CONDITIONS:
1. **POC Break:** Price crosses above POC from below + Trend Bias is Bullish
**OR**
2. **Support Bounce:** Price touches a lower wick cluster + Bullish Engulfing pattern forms
3. **Additional Filter:** Trend Bias must NOT be Bearish

### 🔴 SHORT ENTRY CONDITIONS:
1. **POC Break:** Price crosses below POC from above + Trend Bias is Bearish
**OR**
2. **Resistance Rejection:** Price touches an upper wick cluster + Bearish Engulfing pattern forms
3. **Additional Filter:** Trend Bias must NOT be Bullish

---

## 🎯 Risk Management

### Stop Loss:
- **Calculation:** 2 × ATR(14) from entry price
- **Logic:** Uses Average True Range to adapt to current market volatility
- **Example:** If ATR = 10 points, stop loss is 20 points away

### Take Profit:
- **Calculation:** 3 × ATR(14) from entry price
- **Risk:Reward Ratio:** 1:1.5 (risking 2 ATR to make 3 ATR)
- **Example:** If ATR = 10 points, take profit is 30 points away

### Position Sizing:
- **Default:** 2% of account equity per trade
- **Adjustable:** Can be modified in strategy settings

---

## ⚙️ Strategy Settings & Customization

### Volume Profile Settings:
- **Lookback Days:** How many days to analyze (default: 2)
- **Profile Rows:** Resolution of volume calculation (default: 24)
- **POC Distance Threshold:** Minimum distance from POC for "far from POC" status (default: 0.3%)

### Wick Cluster Settings:
- **Min Wicks for Cluster:** How many wicks needed to form a cluster (default: 3)
- **Lookback Bars:** How far back to search for wicks (default: 50)
- **Tolerance %:** How close wicks must be to cluster together (default: 0.15%)

### Session Settings:
- **London Session:** 08:00-16:00 (adjustable)
- **New York Session:** 13:30-20:00 (adjustable)
- **UTC Offset:** Timezone adjustment (default: +3)

### Smart Money Settings:
- **Order Block Lookback:** How far back to search for order blocks (default: 20)
- **Toggle On/Off:** Can enable/disable order blocks and liquidity sweeps independently

---

## 📊 Performance Metrics Display

The strategy includes a real-time **Information Table** (top-right corner) showing:

| Metric | Description |
|--------|-------------|
| **Trend Bias** | Current market direction (Bullish/Neutral/Bearish) |
| **POC Price** | Current Point of Control price level |
| **Distance from POC** | How far current price is from POC (%) |
| **ATR (14)** | Current volatility measurement |
| **High Wick Clusters** | Number of resistance clusters detected |
| **Low Wick Clusters** | Number of support clusters detected |
| **Current Signal** | Active signal (LONG/SHORT/None) |

---

## 🚨 Alert System

The strategy can send alerts for:
1. **LONG Signal Triggered** - When all conditions met for long entry
2. **SHORT Signal Triggered** - When all conditions met for short entry
3. **Price Touching Support Cluster** - Warning that price at key support
4. **Price Touching Resistance Cluster** - Warning that price at key resistance

**Alert Frequency:** Once per bar (prevents spam)

---

## 📅 Best Trading Timeframes & Instruments

### ✅ Recommended Timeframes:
- **Primary Entry:** 15-minute chart
- **Trend Confirmation:** 30-minute or 1-hour chart
- **Higher Timeframe Filter:** 4-hour for major trend direction

### ✅ Recommended Instruments:
1. **Gold (XAUUSD)** - High volatility, respects key levels well
2. **NAS100 (US Tech 100)** - Strong trends, good liquidity
3. **US30 (Dow Jones)** - Reliable institutional participation
4. **EUR/USD, GBP/USD** - Can work on major forex pairs with adjustments

### ⏰ Best Trading Sessions:
- **London Open (08:00-12:00 UTC+3)** - High volatility, clear directional moves
- **New York Open (13:30-17:00 UTC+3)** - Strongest moves, highest volume
- **Overlap (13:30-16:00 UTC+3)** - Best liquidity and movement

### ⚠️ Avoid Trading:
- Asian session (low volatility)
- Major news events (first 15 minutes after high-impact news)
- Sundays and holidays (low liquidity)

---

## 💡 Pro Trading Tips

### 1. **Multiple Timeframe Confirmation**
- Check 1-hour chart for overall trend before taking 15-minute signals
- Only take LONG signals if 1-hour is bullish
- Only take SHORT signals if 1-hour is bearish

### 2. **POC Strategy**
- Best entries occur when price returns to POC after being far away
- Wait for POC touch + confirmation pattern (engulfing, order block)
- POC acts as support in uptrends, resistance in downtrends

### 3. **Wick Cluster Strategy**
- Strongest signals occur when wick clusters align with POC
- Look for 4+ wicks at the same level for highest probability
- Recent clusters (formed in last 2 days) are stronger than old ones

### 4. **Order Block Strategy**
- Fresh order blocks (just formed) are more powerful
- Wait for price to return to order block zone before entering
- Best when order block + wick cluster occur at same level

### 5. **London/NY Box Strategy**
- If price breaks above session high → look for LONG pullback entries
- If price breaks below session low → look for SHORT pullback entries
- Price often returns to session mid-point before continuing

### 6. **Risk Management Rules**
- **Never risk more than 2% per trade**
- **Don't trade more than 3 positions simultaneously**
- **If 2 losses in a row, reduce size to 1% or stop for the day**
- **Move stop to breakeven after 1:1 profit reached**

### 7. **High-Probability Setups**
Look for **CONFLUENCE** - the more factors aligned, the better:

✅ **BEST LONG SETUP:**
- Price at lower wick cluster (support)
- Price at/near POC
- Bullish order block present
- Bullish engulfing pattern forms
- Trend Bias = Bullish
- 1-hour chart = uptrend

✅ **BEST SHORT SETUP:**
- Price at upper wick cluster (resistance)
- Price at/near POC
- Bearish order block present
- Bearish engulfing pattern forms
- Trend Bias = Bearish
- 1-hour chart = downtrend

---

## 📈 Performance Expectations

### Typical Win Rate:
- **Conservative Trading (high confluence only):** 55-65% win rate
- **Moderate Trading (good setups):** 45-55% win rate
- **Aggressive Trading (all signals):** 35-45% win rate

### Typical Risk:Reward:
- **Average R:R:** 1:1.5 (with 2 ATR stop and 3 ATR target)
- **Breakeven adjusted:** Often improves to 1:2+ when stop moved to BE

### Monthly Trade Frequency (15M chart):
- **Gold:** 60-100 signals per month
- **NAS100:** 50-80 signals per month
- **US30:** 40-70 signals per month

---

## 🎓 Strategy Philosophy Summary

The Hanzo Strategy is built on three core principles:

1. **Follow the Volume** - Trade where institutions are active
2. **Respect the Levels** - Key support/resistance zones matter
3. **Confirm with Price Action** - Wait for confirmation before entering

This is NOT a holy grail - it requires:
- ✅ Discipline to wait for proper setups
- ✅ Patience to let trades play out
- ✅ Risk management to protect capital
- ✅ Emotional control to handle losses

---

## 🛠️ How to Use This Strategy

### Step 1: Initial Setup
1. Add strategy to 15-minute chart
2. Check that all components are visible (POC, clusters, boxes, etc.)
3. Adjust colors if needed for your chart theme

### Step 2: Daily Routine
1. **Pre-Market (before 8:00 AM):**
- Check POC location
- Note wick clusters from previous days
- Mark London/NY session boxes from yesterday

2. **London Session (8:00-16:00):**
- Watch for POC interactions
- Monitor for order blocks forming
- Wait for confluence setups

3. **NY Session (13:30-20:00):**
- Highest activity period
- Best signal quality
- More aggressive entries allowed

### Step 3: Trade Execution
1. Wait for signal label (LONG or SHORT) to appear
2. Check confluence factors (minimum 3)
3. Enter immediately or on next candle
4. Set stop loss at 2 × ATR from entry
5. Set take profit at 3 × ATR from entry
6. Move stop to breakeven at +1.5 ATR profit

### Step 4: Trade Management
- **Don't move stop closer** (let trade breathe)
- **Can trail stop** after 2:1 profit reached
- **Can take partial profits** at 1.5:1 and let rest run
- **Journal every trade** for future improvement

---

## ⚠️ Important Disclaimers

1. **Past performance does not guarantee future results**
2. **This strategy involves risk** - only trade with money you can afford to lose
3. **Backtest thoroughly** on your specific instruments before live trading
4. **Start small** - test with minimum position sizes first
5. **Market conditions change** - what works today may not work tomorrow
6. **Use proper risk management** - this is the #1 key to long-term success


---

## 🎯 Quick Reference Checklist

Before taking any trade, ask yourself:

- ✅ Is there a clear LONG or SHORT signal?
- ✅ Are we in London or NY session?
- ✅ Is price at/near POC or wick cluster?
- ✅ Is trend bias aligned with my direction?
- ✅ Is there an order block or engulfing pattern?
- ✅ Is my risk:reward at least 1:1.5?
- ✅ Am I risking no more than 2% of my account?

**If 5+ are YES → Take the trade!**

**If 3 or fewer YES → Skip and wait for better setup!**

---

## 🚀 Final Words

The Hanzo Strategy is a professional-grade trading system that combines institutional analysis with precise technical execution. Success comes not from taking every signal, but from taking only the **highest probability setups** with proper risk management.

**Trade smart. Trade safe. Trade like an institution.**

📊 **Good luck and profitable trading!** 📊