Thank you so much, I will keep it in mind. And what do you do before making a Trading Plan? Define the objectives? Determine the strategy?
OMG, it started with one page and now is like huge binder of rules, equipment failure, cell phone failure, brokerage failures, charting failures(internal indicators or price bars corrupted), cat hitting keyboard, locking office door(this alone has cost me over $50k from GFs nagging about whatever), report days, people stealing my plants in front yard cause I didn't answer the door(installed PA system with cameras with recording of Police is on route), chart examples of what is a good signal on each and dozen of what makes for a signal not to take, Money Management is biggest section as it takes up 90 percent of binder, what music should I play for concentration. What an abundant of traders seldom think about is what is price doing as far as patterns, support & resistance that would make a trend trade bad risk, but counter-trend trades had same requirements of what is good trade and less examples of why not taking some of them. Now many will say "oh yeah, I would never take this trade" BUT what evidence do you have to show why you would not take that trade? Whereas I can show myself that 10,823 tries of fighting "V" 97% would be losing trades, now I have good evidence that show signal does not work well. The larger the sample size, more you should feel confident something does not work or does work.
Yes, you have some type of strategy, now I have NEVER been good at calling trades from the hip, plus I can't test those, like those who read fundamentals, companies have gotten too good at handing out non truths.
I start with signals now as I have same pieces of what ifs something goes wrong and money management rules don't change, but when first starting out, best to have two thinner notebooks for signals and other, with biggest being Money management as that will contain why you don't take signals,
catastrophic stops, I prefer to use this name than protective stops as too often we know we should get out and don't, so I make two stop numbers one way outside of what I care to lose and mental stops of how much I am willing to lose, but I always advise to use hard stops for enough years till one has good strict mental habits.
Early years you are adding much to your notebooks and as decades goes by, less so.
Keep a journal called "Dumb Journal", when you have a thought you should take a non system trade, write it in this journal, I am hitting 95% losers in mine, LOL.
