The Setup Checklist

Print this page. Before every trade, tick each box only if you can write the answer in one sentence. An empty box means there is no trade today. That is the checklist working, not failing.

Before the order

• ☐ 1. Is there a zone? Price is at a box, drawn on the higher timeframe, where it has reacted before. Not approaching. Not in the middle.
• ☐ 2. Which way is the trend on the higher timeframe? One word: up, down, or range. The zone agrees with it, or it is the edge of a range.
• ☐ 3. Is there a catalyst, or is it noise? Earnings date checked. Macro calendar checked for the holding window. The move in front of me can be explained in one sentence, or I am ignoring it.
• ☐ 4. Where exactly is the entry, and what invalidates it? Trigger: a price and a condition. Stop: on the far side of what I am leaning on. Both written down.
• ☐ 5. What is the reward against the risk? One R is the distance to the stop. The first realistic target is at least two R away, using the entry and stop I will actually use.
• ☐ 6. Does the structure fit the thesis? Thesis in one line: direction, target, time, wrong-line. Debit for a move, credit for no move. More time than the plan needs. I can draw the payoff. The chain is liquid.
• ☐ 7. What does the plan say about size and exit? Risk is a fixed fraction of the account; size is what it buys at this stop. Where I take part off, where the stop moves to, the deadline, and the journal entry written.

After the trade

• ☐ What happened, in one line.
• ☐ Did I follow the plan? Yes or no, and which question I fudged if not.
• ☐ One thing I would do differently next time.

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