Trading plan and checklist: turning everything into an operating document

You've seen structure, liquidity, areas, timing, bias, model and management. That's a lot of pieces: without a document holding them together, you'll apply them inconsistently. The trading plan is your "constitution": it decides everything beforehand, when you're lucid, so in moments of stress you simply execute. In this lesson we build it, with a checklist and a journal designed for the SMC/ICT approach.

Why you need a written plan

• It reduces emotional decisions: when price rises and you feel you're missing a move, you already know what to do.
• It makes every rule testable: only what's written can be measured.
• It lets you distinguish bad luck from mistakes: if you followed the plan and lost, it's variance; if you didn't follow it, it's an error to fix.
• It makes you feel like a professional, not someone who "tries".

Plan structure (one page, six sections)

1. Goals and limits

• Learning and process goal (for example "follow the plan in at least 95% of trades"), not only a profit goal.
• Capital, maximum tolerable risk, time horizon.

2. Instruments and hours

• Pairs traded (for example EUR/USD, GBP/USD) and why.
• Chosen killzone (explicit time zone): "07:00-10:00 UK time".
• Days and situations when you don't trade (news, Friday afternoon, holidays).

3. Analysis (the bias procedure)

• Timeframes: D1 (context), H1 (area), M15/M5 (execution).
• Five-step procedure with score and thresholds.
• Reference levels (PDH/PDL, Asian range, opens).

4. Setup (the model)

• The model's yes/no conditions (with numbers).
• When not to enter.
• Permitted variants (none: only tested ones).

5. Risk and trade management

• Risk per trade, total risk, daily/weekly/monthly limits.
• Stop, target, partials, breakeven rules.

6. Behaviour and review

• What you do after two losses in a row.
• What you do if you break a rule.
• Preparation, closing and weekly review routine.

A plan example (excerpt)

The pre-trade checklist (ten seconds)

A control list to tick before every order. It must be short and binary:

1. Am I in my killzone and are there no news in the next 30 minutes?
2. Is today's bias defined (score ≥ |3|) and is this entry in its direction?
3. Was there a valid liquidity sweep (level, wick ≥ threshold)?
4. Is there an MSS with displacement on the execution timeframe?
5. Is price in the area (FVG/OB) and, if possible, in consistent discount/premium?
6. Is the stop where the idea is invalidated (not where it suits me)?
7. Is the R:R at the first target ≥ minimum?
8. Is size calculated from the stop with the set risk?
9. Do I still have daily risk and trade margin?
10. Am I in a good mental state (not angry, not euphoric)?

If an answer is "no", you don't enter.

The journal specific to the model

Besides the general fields (date, pair, direction, entry, stop, target, outcome, R, screenshots, emotions), add:

Record also the non-traded but valid cases ("missed setups") and those discarded by a rule: they tell you whether the rules are too restrictive.

The weekly review

Once a week (30-45 minutes):

1. Statistics: number of trades, win rate, average R of wins/losses, expectancy, drawdown.
2. Discipline: percentage of trades with the plan followed. Between two weeks with different results, high discipline and a negative result indicates variance; low discipline indicates an error.
3. Segmentations: by killzone, pair, bias score, type of area, displacement.
4. The most expensive mistake of the week and the rule to avoid it.
5. Plan changes: only every 30-50 trades, never after a single loss, and always after a test.

In short

• The written plan reduces emotional decisions and makes every rule testable.
• Structure: goals, instruments/hours, analysis, setup, management, behaviour/review.
• The pre-trade checklist is short and binary: a "no" means don't enter.
• The specific journal records bias, sweep, displacement, area, killzone and discipline.
• Change the plan only after a large sample and a test.

Practical exercise

1. Write your plan on one page with the six sections.
2. Prepare the checklist of 8-10 questions and print it.
3. For two weeks tick the checklist before every order and record missed setups in the journal too.