Why a checklist matters
The moment right before you hit "buy" is when emotion is strongest. Running through a checklist you defined in advance forces a pause before emotion completely takes over the decision.
A basic checklist to start with
- Can I state my reason for entering in a single sentence?
- Have I already hit today’s planned loss limit?
- Is my leverage within the range I planned for?
- Is this trade an attempt to make back a previous loss?
- Have I already decided my stop-loss level before entering?
Shorter checklists survive longer
A list of 10 or 20 items gets skipped in the heat of real trading. Keep only the 3–5 items that genuinely matter and cut the rest. A short checklist you actually follow beats a long one you ignore.
Log whether you followed it
Note in your journal whether you passed your own checklist before each trade. Over time you can compare the performance of "checklist trades" against "skipped trades" — and that comparison becomes the data that proves whether the checklist is actually working.
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