Trading styles
A trading plan is a written set of rules for how you trade: which markets and times, what setup you take, how you enter and exit, how much you risk on each trade and each day, and how you review results. Its purpose is to make decisions before the market moves, not under pressure during a trade.
Fill in every line. A blank line is a decision you will end up making mid-trade.
| Section | What to write down |
|---|---|
| Markets | The instruments you trade, and the ones you do not |
| Times | The sessions you trade, and the scheduled releases you avoid or trade |
| Setup | The exact conditions for a trade, specific enough that someone else would take the same one |
| Entry and exit | Order type, stop placement, target or exit rule |
| Risk per trade | A fixed amount or percentage, and how position size follows from the stop |
| Daily and weekly limits | The loss, or number of losing trades, after which you stop |
| Review | What you record for each trade, and when you review it |
An illustrative plan, not a recommendation.
Most plans cover entries in detail and everything else vaguely. The parts that decide whether an account survives - daily limits, what happens after a loss, and what to do around releases - are the ones most often missing. See revenge trading for what fills that gap when it is left open.
Step by step
Test a plan by asking whether it answers these without improvising.
Worked example
An illustrative session in words. It is not a record of real trades.
The plan did not prevent losses. It capped the day at a size the account could absorb many times over.
Common mistakes
A plan adjusted to justify trades is a diary, not a plan.
Without one, the worst day is decided by mood.
Review against whether you followed it, over many trades.
Limitations
No chart concept predicts price. These are the limits worth keeping in view.
In an evaluation
Write the account's rules into the plan. On a $100,000 GFN account the daily loss limit is $3,000 on Instant or $5,000 on 1 Step and 2 Step; a personal daily stop well inside it, and a note of the news window on funded accounts, belong in every plan.
Trading rule
What is the daily loss limit?
The account limit your own daily stop should sit inside - 3% on Instant and 5% on 1 Step and 2 Step.
Trading rule
Can I trade the news?
The window around high-impact releases on funded accounts.
Trading rule
What is maximum drawdown?
The overall floor your weekly limits protect.
Questions
Keep learning
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Backtesting a Trading Strategy
How to test a strategy's rules on historical data, the costs and biases a fair test must include, and why a good backtest is not a forecast.
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Swing Trading vs Day Trading
How swing trading and day trading differ on holding time, screen time, costs and overnight risk - and why neither is the easier route.
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How Much Do Day Traders Make?
An honest answer to the income question: what large studies of retail day traders found, and why a per-month figure is the wrong thing to look for.
Sources
Educational content only, not investment advice or a recommendation to trade. Chart concepts describe what price has done; none of them predicts what it will do, and trading any strategy can lose money. Get Funded Now accounts are simulated and trade virtual funds. Last reviewed 22 September 2026.
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