Trader Drysdale
The fastest-growing educator in futures, Chris Drysdale took his channel from four thousand subscribers to sixty-seven thousand in fourteen months on the strength of one idea: the VWAP Wave System.
Compiled by MarketFramework editorial · Last reviewed Oct 8, 2026
▶ Featured video · Jan 31, 2026Editorial profile. Trader Drysdale is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by MarketFramework or MyFundedFutures, and this profile is not endorsed by Drysdale. MarketFramework is operated by MyFundedFutures, a futures prop firm. Compiled from public sources; performance figures are as stated by the creator and are not independently verified. Corrections & removal requests.
Trader Drysdale is Chris Drysdale, a South Florida futures day trader, author and educator who has been in the markets since 2010 and now scalps NQ and ES using his own VWAP Wave System, a discretionary framework built on auction market theory, VWAP bands, volume profile and order flow. He wrote the book of the same name in 2025, streams live every weekday, and runs the Drysdale Trading Group community.
Trades
NQ & ES
also gold · MNQ
Style
VWAP Wave System
auction market theory · scalping
Trading since
2010
futures full time · self-reported
Based
South Florida
YouTube
70.2K
subscribers · Oct 2026
Author
2 books
VWAP Wave System · From Gambler to Trader
Streams live
Mon–Fri · ~10 am ET (plus Asia-open evenings)
Next stream: Mon–Fri · ~10 am ET (plus Asia-open evenings) · open channel
LIVE FROM MYFUNDEDFUTURES
Where prop traders are positioned in NQ right now
Drysdale's market, read from thousands of live MyFundedFutures evaluation and funded accounts.
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BEST KNOWN FOR
The VWAP Wave System
Drysdale’s contribution is a complete, named framework for reading the market as an auction: VWAP and its deviation bands, volume profile, the initial balance and cumulative delta, resolved into four setups a trader can actually execute. He published it as a book in June 2025, followed it with From Gambler to Trader in 2026, streams it live every weekday morning, and has had it built into toolkits for TradingView (with Flux Charts) and NinjaTrader 8 (with WavePoint Analytics). Two of his teaching videos have passed 440,000 views each, tastylive brought him on as a guest trader, and he keynoted the 2026 Futures Bootcamp in Tampa.
IN DRYSDALE'S WORDS
“Trading isn’t hard. It’s basic math. But most traders never learn the math because the industry makes more money selling complicated systems.”
YouTube, April 2026
“Discipline isn’t a personality trait, it’s a function of risk.”
YouTube, August 2026
“No need to force trades. Some days were one trade. Some were a handful. Consistency comes from protecting capital, not needing action every day.”
YouTube community post, September 2026
Trader Drysdale's featured video
“Trading Smaller Made Me Consistent — Trading Big Almost Ended My Career” · published Jan 31, 2026 · 491K views
Who is Trader Drysdale?
Chris Drysdale, who publishes as Trader Drysdale, has been in the markets since 2010, when he started as a prop-firm trainee. His first public reputation was in equities: he built a following as a small-cap short seller and educator alongside Ross Cameron and Warrior Trading, taught a short-selling course, and, as he tells it, had a summer in 2022 in which he made roughly a quarter of a million dollars on the short side. That same year he sold the seven-figure social-media marketing agency he had founded, and a hard loss, the one he now teaches from, pushed him to rethink risk and commit fully to futures.
What came out of that rethink is the VWAP Wave System. The premise is auction market theory: at any moment the market is either discovering price or accepting value, and the trader’s first question is which. VWAP and its standard-deviation bands map value; volume profile and the initial balance locate the levels that matter; cumulative delta confirms who is in control. From that he distilled four setups (Price Discovery Continuation, Fade Value Area Extremes, Return to Value and VWAP Bounce) and one rule for the first hour of trading that he calls "The Madonna": wait for the initial balance to form before touching anything.
He published the framework as VWAP Wave System: Day Trade the Futures Market with Structure, Context, and a Discretionary Edge in June 2025, and the channel took off. Two teaching videos, "Trading Smaller Made Me Consistent" and "Trading Isn’t Hard, It’s Basic Math", have each passed 440,000 views. The channel grew from about 4,000 subscribers in July 2025 to more than 67,000 by September 2026 on a steady cadence: weekday live streams, evening "Asia open" sessions, Shorts and one substantial tutorial a week. A second book, From Gambler to Trader, followed in 2026.
The system has become a product line. Flux Charts released the VWAP Wave System Toolkit for TradingView in November 2025, and on 14 September 2026 WavePoint Analytics launched the official NinjaTrader 8 implementation. The Drysdale Trading Group on Whop bundles an eight-module course, live streams and a members’ trading room from 9:30 to noon Eastern, and carries a 4.9 rating from nearly 200 reviews. His "VWAP Wave Trader Success Stories" series interviews members who have gone on to prop-firm payouts. He trades funded accounts at Top One Futures, Apex and Tradeify and shares codes for each.
The industry has noticed quickly. tastylive featured him as a guest trader in July 2026, the ASFX Day Trading Show has hosted him twice, Behind The Charts devoted an episode to his take on auction market theory, and his Futures Bootcamp 2026 keynote in Tampa has been watched more than 20,000 times. For a channel that had four thousand subscribers in the summer of 2025, it is a remarkable arc, and it rests on something rarer than growth tactics: a method clear enough to write down, teach and code.
How Drysdale trades
Discovery or value?
Everything in the VWAP Wave System starts with one question: is price in discovery or in value? VWAP is treated as the market’s fair-value magnet and its deviation bands as the edges of accepted value; volume profile shows where the auction has done business and where it has not. When price is inside value, the system fades the extremes and trades the return to VWAP. When price has left value with conviction, with the initial balance broken and delta confirming, it trades continuation.
The four named setups map onto those states. Price Discovery Continuation rides a confirmed breakout; Fade Value Area Extremes and Return to Value trade the reversion back to VWAP; VWAP Bounce takes the first clean test of the line. Cumulative delta is the confirmation layer, and his rules for reading a "delta flip" or a price-delta divergence are among his most-watched tutorials.
Patience, size and the first hour
He is emphatic about waiting. "The Madonna" is his name for the first touch of the initial-balance high or low after the first hour has formed. His most-viewed video argues that trading smaller is what made him consistent, and he describes discipline not as a personality trait but as "a function of risk." Some days are one trade. He trades NQ primarily, with ES, gold and micros, on 2-minute charts through the New York open and, several evenings a week, the Asia open.
Tools are TradingView and NinjaTrader with the VWAP Wave toolkits, plus TickStrike and FinancialJuice for order-flow and news context. As with every trader profiled here, the method is described from his own material and is not a recommendation; futures trading involves substantial risk of loss.
See how the wider prop-trading field is positioned in NQ while you study a method like this: MarketFramework's Positioning Edge shows live long/short splits across ES, NQ, MES and MNQ from real evaluation and funded accounts, and Prop Backtest scores strategies against prop-firm rules.
Trader Drysdale's career timeline
Enters the markets as a prop-firm trainee; goes on to trade futures, equities and options (self-reported). source
A standout summer shorting small caps alongside Warrior Trading (self-reported); sells the seven-figure marketing agency he founded; opens the Trader Drysdale channel in December. source
Publishes VWAP Wave System in June; appears on the ASFX Day Trading Show in July; passes 10,000 subscribers in November with a Top One Futures giveaway. source
Flux Charts releases the VWAP Wave System Toolkit for TradingView in November. source
"Trading Smaller Made Me Consistent" (January) and "Trading Isn’t Hard, It’s Basic Math" (April) each pass 440,000 views; Behind The Charts episode in February. source
Keynotes the ASFX Futures Bootcamp in Tampa (video published June); guest trader on tastylive in July; publishes From Gambler to Trader. source
WavePoint Analytics launches the VWAP Wave System Toolkit for NinjaTrader 8 on 14 September; channel passes 68,000 subscribers. source
Second tastylive feature, "Trades Without an Opinion and Says That Is the Edge" (24 September); joins the ASFX three-trader roundtable (26 September); hosts his first live Q&A stream (28 September). source
Trader Drysdale's videos
LATEST
I Spent 6 Years Building This VWAP System (All 4 Setups Inside)
Live Futures Trading with VWAP Wave System
Live Futures Trading with VWAP Wave System
Live Futures Trading with VWAP Wave System
If I Wanted To Find The Best Trade Of The Day, I’d Do This
99% Of Traders Read Green Candles Wrong (Cumulative Delta Explained)
The Only 4 Volume Profile Settings I Use (TradingView Walkthrough)
MOST POPULAR
Trading Smaller Made Me Consistent — Trading Big Almost Ended My Career
Trading Isn’t Hard, It’s Basic Math (Why 90% Of Traders Fail)
How to Trade with Volume Profile (VWAP Wave System Edition)
The ONLY 4 Trading Setups You’ll EVER Need (15 Years in 10 Minutes)
15 Years of Day Trading Knowledge in 25 Minutes
SHORTS
Prop firms Drysdale works with
The three codes appear in the description of every live-stream replay from 3 to 14 September 2026. He is also a Flux Charts creator (TradingView) and a WavePoint Analytics partner (NinjaTrader 8).
We list a firm relationship only with dated public evidence from the last 30 days, re-checked each editorial pass.
TRADER DRYSDALE: FREQUENTLY ASKED
What does Trader Drysdale trade?
Nasdaq-100 futures (NQ) first, with ES, gold and micro contracts, scalped intraday on 2-minute charts through the New York open and, on several evenings a week, the Asia open. Everything runs through his VWAP Wave System.
What is the VWAP Wave System?
Chris Drysdale’s discretionary framework, published as a book in June 2025. It applies auction market theory through VWAP and its deviation bands, volume profile, the initial balance and cumulative delta, with four named setups: Price Discovery Continuation, Fade Value Area Extremes, Return to Value and VWAP Bounce. It is available as toolkits for TradingView (Flux Charts) and NinjaTrader 8 (WavePoint Analytics).
What is Trader Drysdale’s net worth?
He has not disclosed his net worth, and MarketFramework does not estimate net worth for the traders it profiles.
Which prop firm does Trader Drysdale use?
Top One Futures, Apex Trader Funding and Tradeify, whose codes appear in every one of his September 2026 live-stream descriptions. He has published payout series from Apex and Topstep accounts and co-hosted a giveaway stream with Top One Futures’ founder in June 2026.
When does Trader Drysdale stream?
Weekday mornings on YouTube from about 10 am Eastern for roughly an hour, plus "Asia open" sessions around 7 pm Eastern on selected evenings. Members of the Drysdale Trading Group get a lower-latency room from 9:30 am to noon Eastern.
SOURCES
- Trader Drysdale: YouTube channelaccessed Sep 14, 2026
- traderdrysdale.com, official siteaccessed Sep 14, 2026
- Goodreads: VWAP Wave System (2025)accessed Sep 14, 2026
- TradingView: VWAP Wave System Toolkit by Flux Chartsaccessed Sep 14, 2026
- WavePoint Analytics: NinjaTrader 8 toolkitaccessed Sep 14, 2026
- tastylive, guest trader segment (July 2026)accessed Sep 14, 2026
- ASFX: Futures Bootcamp 2026 keynoteaccessed Sep 14, 2026
- Behind The Charts: Ep 40 (February 2026)accessed Sep 14, 2026
- Whop: Drysdale Trading Groupaccessed Sep 14, 2026
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