How to Build a Trading Plan (One Page Is Enough)
Short answer: a trading plan is a short written set of rules you make before the session: what you trade, when, your setup, how much you risk, and when you stop for the day. One page is enough. If you can't follow it with a racing heart, it's too complicated.
Why write it down
In the moment, every rule feels negotiable. A written plan is your calm self making decisions for your stressed self. It also makes your results measurable: you can't judge a strategy you keep changing.
The one-page template
1. Market and timeframe
One market, one chart timeframe. For example: "NQ futures on the 5-minute chart." More markets means more decisions and fewer reps.
2. When I trade
Your window, with a hard stop time. For example: "From the New York open to 11:00 a.m., done by 1:00 p.m. no matter what."
3. My setup
Describe your one setup in two or three sentences, specific enough that someone else could spot it. If it takes a paragraph, it's not one setup.
4. Risk per trade
A fixed amount you can lose on any one trade, and how you size to it. Where the stop goes and the rule that it never moves further away.
5. Daily loss limit
The amount at which you stop for the day, no exceptions. This one rule prevents most blown accounts.
6. Exits
Where you take profit, and whether you ever move a stop to break-even. Decide now, not mid-trade.
7. When I don't trade
Big news releases, after two losses in a row, when you're tired or angry. Write your own list; you know your triggers.
8. After the session
Log every trade in a journal and answer one question: did I follow the plan?
How to know if the plan works
Run it unchanged for at least 30 sessions, ideally on paper first, then look at your expectancy. Change one rule at a time, and only between sessions, never during one.
The test
At the end of each day, the question isn't "did I make money?" It's "did I follow my plan?" A red day with every rule followed is a good day. A green day where you broke your rules is a warning. Mark that answer on every session for exactly this reason.
Education only, not investment advice. Most people who day trade lose money.
Indy Karveli — husband, dad of seven, day trader. Nasdaq futures, plain price, no indicators. Learned on paper first. More »
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