A trading plan is the difference between executing a strategy and reacting to price. Professionals don't decide what to do when price arrives — they decide before, so that execution becomes mechanical and emotion plays no role.
When you pre-define the exact price, stop, and target, the entry becomes mechanical. You're executing the plan, not making a real-time decision under pressure.
A written plan gives you something to measure against. Without it, every bad trade can be rationalized. With it, you can objectively ask: 'did I follow the plan?'
Planned trades produce data. Was the setup right but the entry bad? Was the idea wrong entirely? You can't improve what you can't measure — plans make trades measurable.
Every trade plan should answer four questions: What am I trading? Where are the key levels? How much am I risking? and Why does this trade make sense right now? The fields below map to those questions.
This journal's Plans feature lets you build structured multi-section plans before the session and link them directly to your trades, so every closed position is traceable back to your pre-trade thesis.
A consistent pre-trade routine is what separates traders who consistently follow their plans from those who don't. Run through these steps before each session — not while price is moving.
Check higher-timeframe structure (daily, 4H). Is price at a premium or discount? What are the key levels above and below? Don't open a chart and immediately look for entries.
Identify the levels that matter for today: prior day high/low, key S/R zones, FVGs, order blocks. Mark them before the session opens — not while price is moving.
Which session are you trading? What killzone does that imply? Know the likely time window for your entries before you sit down so you're not trading low-volume hours.
Write down IF-THEN scenarios: 'If price sweeps X and rejects, I'll look long targeting Y with stop below Z.' Having the plan written before price arrives removes emotion from the entry.
How much are you willing to lose today? 1%? 2%? If you've already taken one loss, what's left? Set a hard daily stop-loss before you trade, not during.
How is your energy and focus today? High-quality trading requires full attention. If you're stressed, tired, or distracted, reduce size or don't trade. Log a check-in to track this over time.
Risk rules are the non-negotiable layer of your plan. They apply to every trade, every session, every day — regardless of how confident you feel.
This is the single most important rule. A 2% risk with a 50% win rate and 1.5R average means you're profitable. Exceed this consistently and no strategy saves you.
Define a hard number before the session. When hit, stop trading. No exceptions. Bad days spiral because traders try to 'make it back' — they don't, they dig deeper.
If your target isn't at least 1.5× your stop distance, don't take the trade. Low R:R setups require a very high win rate to be profitable — most traders don't have it.
Cutting size to 50% after two losses in a row protects capital during cold streaks and prevents emotional over-trading from compounding the damage.
FOMC, NFP, CPI — spreads spike, stops get hunted, and moves are chaotic. These events invalidate technical analysis temporarily. Either be flat or wait for the dust to settle (15–30 min).
Once the trade moves 1R in your favor, move stop to entry. You've earned a free trade. Let it run to target without the risk of giving back the initial risk amount.
The post-trade routine closes the loop. Without it, you accumulate trades but no learning. With it, each trade — win or loss — contributes to your edge.
Record every field while the trade is fresh: entry, exit, P&L, size, setup type. Waiting until end of day guarantees incomplete logs and rationalized entries.
Rate entry, risk management, trade management, and exit independently. A winning trade with poor execution is a warning. A losing trade with excellent execution is a success.
Did price do what I expected? If not, why? What would I do differently? Write this in the comments field — not as criticism, but as calibration.
After a loss: are you tempted to revenge trade? After a win: are you overconfident and looking to 'keep it going'? Both states lower trade quality. Recognize them and reset.
Scroll through the week's trades. Look for patterns in your losing trades — same time of day? Same session? Revenge trades after a first loss? The journal only works if you read it.
You can't think clearly when price is at your level and moving. Plans written in real-time become reactions, not decisions. Plan before the session, execute during it.
A plan without a specific price, stop, and target is not a plan — it's a guess. If you can't define the invalidation level before you enter, you haven't done the work.
The most common mistake: you plan a long, price hits your level, and then you hesitate or take a short instead because 'it looks different now.' Trust the pre-market analysis.
Trading without a hard stop for the day is the fastest way to a large drawdown. One bad session can wipe a week of gains. Set the number before you open your charts.
Without review, you repeat the same mistakes. The journal is only as useful as your commitment to reading it. 5 minutes per trade, 15 minutes per week — that's all it takes.
A plan for Asia should look very different from a plan for the London open. Size, target distance, and expected volatility all change by session. One-size-fits-all plans underperform.