A trading plan turns scattered ideas into a repeatable process. Without one you're gambling; with one you can measure, review and improve. This is where the Foundations and Charting skills come together.
What a plan must define
Your markets and timeframes, your setup (the exact conditions for a trade), entry and exit rules, position sizing, daily loss limit, and the hours you'll trade. If you can't write it down, you can't follow it.
Rules before emotion
The plan exists to make decisions before money and adrenaline are on the line. When a trade is live, you execute the plan — you don't renegotiate it. That separation is the whole point.
Review and iterate
A plan is a living document. Journal your trades, review weekly, and change rules deliberately based on evidence — never impulsively mid-trade. Process improvement is how edges are built.
Key takeaways
- Define markets, setup, entries, exits, sizing, loss limit and hours.
- Make decisions in the plan, before money and emotion are involved.
- Journal, review weekly, and change rules by evidence — not impulse.