Process.Protocol.v2.2

Trading Plan
Template

A trading plan is an operating protocol. Clear rules for setups, risk, and invalidation reduce discretionary drift and improve review quality.

Updated: 17 May 2026

Key takeaways

A plan defines what counts as a trade you are allowed to take.
Keep three things apart: where ideas come from, how much you risk, and how you execute.
Bump the version on every change, or the plan drifts and nobody notices when it did.
A checklist turns rules into yes-or-no questions, asked in the second before you click.
Each checklist item should match a journal field, so intention and outcome sit side by side.

Trading plan template for forex: setup definitions, risk constraints, and pre-trade execution checklist.

// Plan_01_Structure

What Goes Into
A Trading Plan

The core sections that define repeatable and auditable decisions.

A plan says what counts as a trade you are allowed to take. A good one keeps three things apart: where ideas come from, how much you risk, and how you execute.

Keep each rule in one place and you decide faster when it matters. You also stop arguing with yourself afterwards about what the rule was.

Template Core Sections

What you trade: which pairs, which hours, and when you stay out.

What a setup is: when you enter, when it is dead, when you skip.

How much you risk: the sizing method, and the daily loss that stops you.

How you review: what you tag, how often you look, how you change the plan.

Execution constraints: spread filter, news-event filter, and allowed order types.

What to do when it goes wrong: what turns everything off, and who you tell after rule breaches.

Documentation Standards

Every rule written so the answer is yes or no.

A version number and a date at the top.

A change log, with the journal entry that caused each change.

Bump the version on every change. Otherwise the plan drifts and nobody notices when it did.

// Plan_02_Checklist

Execution
Checklist

Pre-trade controls that verify rule alignment before order submission.

A checklist turns your rules into yes-or-no questions, asked in the second before you click. Every answered question is one less thing you decide on a whim.

Keep it short and blunt. Under pressure nobody reads a paragraph, and nobody should have to interpret it.

Each item should match a field in your journal. Then what you meant to do and what you did sit side by side.

Pre-Trade Checklist

The setup matches what you wrote down, including when it is dead.

The size matches your risk rule right now.

The hour and the spread are inside the limits you set.

You know where the stop goes before you send the order.

Trades that move together still fit under your total risk cap.

You checked the calendar and nothing big is due.

Post-Trade Reconciliation

Log the checklist for every trade you take.

Tag every miss with the reason behind it.

Count the misses each week and turn what repeats into a change of fixes.

A missed check is a process error, not bad luck. Write it down as one.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a trading plan template?

A document that spells out what a valid setup is. It also fixes how much you risk and what you check before each trade. It makes the same decision the same way every time.