In short. A trading plan is a set of written rules: what you trade, under which conditions you enter and exit, how much you risk and when you do not trade at all. A checklist is a short extract of the plan that you go through before the trading day and before every trade. If a trade cannot be checked against the checklist, it is off-plan.
Trading plan template
- Markets and time. Which instruments and timeframes, which hours and sessions you trade.
- Setups. For each one: context (trend, level, higher timeframe), entry trigger, where the stop is, where the targets are, the minimum reward-to-risk ratio and the condition that invalidates the scenario.
- Risk. Risk per trade (for example, 1% of the account), a daily loss limit, maximum trades per day and open positions, and the drawdown threshold at which trading stops.
- When I do not trade. Major news (for example, 15 minutes before and 10 minutes after), after a losing streak, during hours that are bad for you, when tired.
- Position management. When the stop moves to breakeven, partial closes, trailing, time-based exit.
- Review. What goes into the journal for every trade and when the review happens — for example, weekly.
The plan is written before trading and changes only after a review, not in the middle of a trading day.
Checklist before the trading day
- check the economic calendar — which news and when;
- define the higher-timeframe context for each instrument;
- open the trading plan: which setups are possible today and where;
- check the limits: how much room is left to the daily and drawdown limits;
- assess your state — not after a sleepless night and not to «win back yesterday».
Checklist before a trade
- the setup is in the plan and all its conditions are met;
- the stop is set and it is clear what makes the scenario wrong;
- the reward-to-risk ratio is at least your minimum — for example, 2;
- position size is calculated from risk, not by eye — lot size calculator;
- it is your session and there is no news in the next few minutes;
- this is not a re-entry right after a loss.
If even one item is not met, do not open the trade. If such trades still happen, mark them as «off-plan» in the journal: in a month you will see what they cost — more in «Tilt, overtrading and revenge trading».
A trading plan in Davinchu
- «Strategy». A «Trading rulebook» with «Context», «Entry confirmation» and «Discipline» sections, a description and «When I don't trade», a «News policy» (15 minutes before and 10 minutes after high-impact news by default) and a daily «Before the trading day» checklist of up to 30 items — the ticks reset every day.
- «Trading plan». A plan with instruments and setups: timeframe, entry zone, stop, targets, RR, trigger, scenario invalidation, expiry and a «Condition checklist» of up to 20 items. The «Check the plan» button shows «Strategy compliance» — 7 checks: scenario per strategy, stop, invalidation, trigger, RR of at least 2, session, news. The check advises, it does not block an entry.
- Link to the journal. The «To journal» button moves a setup into a manual journal with entry, stop and target, and the trade result in R returns to the setup. Every journal trade has «Followed the plan?», and the «Review» tab counts what violations cost.
- Limits. Risk per trade, the daily limit, trades per day and drawdown are set in the risk manager's «Risk and limits» block, separately from the plan, and T-Manager in MetaTrader 5 enforces them — it closes new entries through its panel.
Active plans: Free — 1, Plus — 5, Pro — 20, Elite — 50; setups per plan are unlimited. A setup or a plan can be shared by link. About the journal and «Review» — on the «Trading journal» page, about limits — in «How to limit losses in MT5», about risk — in «The 1% rule».