Write your trading plan
You will learn to
- The parts of a written plan
- A template to fill in
- How to review and change it
Why write it down
A plan turns decisions you make once, calmly, into rules you follow under pressure. It also makes your results testable: if you do not know what you were trying to do, the journal cannot tell you whether it works.
Template
| Section | Your answer (example) |
|---|---|
| Markets & timeframes | BTC, ETH, SOL · 4H direction · 1H timing |
| Setup | Confirmed 4H chart pattern in the direction of the 1D trend |
| Entry | At the confirmation close; no anticipation |
| Stop | Beyond the pattern + 0.2 ATR (1.2 ATR for boundary breaks) |
| Target / exit | 2R; time exit after 96 candles |
| Risk | 0.5% per trade; max 2 open; stop for the day at −2R |
| Do not trade | 30 min around high-impact US news; when tired or after 2 losses |
| Review | Every Sunday: journal, rule breaks, R by setup |
Changing the plan
Change it on a schedule (e.g. monthly), based on the journal and at least 30 trades of evidence — never in the middle of a losing streak. Paper-trade any change first.
Checklist
☐ Plan written
☐ Guardrails set to match it
☐ Paper-traded for 30+ trades
☐ Reviewed weekly
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Check yourself
1. When should you change your trading plan?
- After every loss
- On a schedule, with 30+ trades of evidence ✓
- Never
Evidence and calm, not emotion.
Terms in this lesson
- Trading plan
- Written rules for markets, setups, entries, exits, risk and review.
Practise it on real charts. In the app, this lesson comes with real examples (reveal what happened next), a graded drill and the track test. Open the Academy in NexusCore — free →