Practice — Put It to Work · Workbook 8 of 10
Weekly Review & Checklists
Pre-market, pre-trade, post-trade checklists — plus the end-of-week review page.
Checklists exist for one reason: on your worst day, your brain will not show up for work — but a checklist always does. Pilots and surgeons use them for the same reason traders should. You do not need to feel disciplined. You need to run the list.
Print this document. Run the three daily checklists every day you trade. Do the end-of-week review once a week, on the same day, at the same time — it takes about 20 minutes and it is where most of your actual learning happens. The monthly review at the end takes five minutes more.
Your trading plan should be open next to you while you use every page here. If a checklist item mentions something your plan does not cover yet, that is a note for your next monthly plan review.
Pre-Market Checklist
Run through this BEFORE the market opens. (US stock market regular hours are 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern Time; adjust if you trade other hours.) Its job is to make sure you arrive prepared, with a plan, instead of reacting to whatever the first candle does.
- [ ] I slept enough, and I feel clear-headed enough to trade today
- [ ] I checked today's economic calendar for big reports (jobs numbers, inflation, central bank announcements) that can move the whole market at once
- [ ] I checked overnight news on the tickers I plan to trade
- [ ] I marked my key levels on my charts (yesterday's high and low, the pre-market high and low)
- [ ] I know the ONE setup I am looking for today
- [ ] My max risk per trade and my daily loss limit are written down, and I know both numbers
- [ ] My trading plan is open next to my screen
Pre-Trade Checklist
Sixty seconds before you enter ANY trade, every time. This list is the last gate between a feeling and a trade.
- [ ] This trade matches one of the setups written in my trading plan
- [ ] I can say my reason for entering out loud in one sentence
- [ ] My stop loss price (the price that proves me wrong and gets me out) is already decided
- [ ] My size was calculated from my risk amount and my stop distance — it is not a guess
- [ ] My profit target is decided before I enter, not after
- [ ] Even if this trade loses in full, I stay inside my daily loss limit
- [ ] I am calm — if I am angry, bored, or trying to win back a loss, I do NOT take this trade
Post-Trade Checklist
Right after every exit, before you look at another chart. This is what turns one trade into one lesson.
- [ ] I wrote the trade in my journal — every column, including Result $ and Result R
- [ ] I marked "Followed plan?" honestly, Y or N
- [ ] I wrote my one lesson in the journal
- [ ] I checked whether I am still inside my daily loss limit
- [ ] If I hit my daily loss limit, or my stop-for-the-day number of losses, I am DONE trading today
- [ ] I am taking a short break before even looking at another trade
End-of-Week Review
Do this once a week — Friday after the close, or over the weekend, works well. Every number below comes straight out of your journal pages. Do not estimate. Count.
Quick reminders: win % means your winning trades divided by your total trades (6 winners out of 10 trades = 60%). Average R means add up the Result R column for every trade this week, then divide by the number of trades — it tells you what a typical trade earned or lost, measured in units of your planned risk.
| This week's number | My result |
|---|---|
| Trades taken | ____________________ |
| Win % (winning trades ÷ total trades) | ____________________ |
| Average R per trade (total R ÷ number of trades) | ____________________ |
| Total R for the week | ____________________ |
| Biggest winner (in R) | ____________________ |
| Biggest loser (in R) | ____________________ |
| Trades that followed my plan | __________ out of __________ |
- My biggest rule break this week was:
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
- Why did it happen? (What was I feeling or thinking at the time?)
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
- The one lesson from this week:
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
- One thing I did WELL this week that I want to repeat:
____________________________________________________________
- My ONE focus for next week (pick just one — one focus gets fixed, five focuses get ignored):
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
- Anything changing next week? (My hours, my limits, a report or event I need to be careful around):
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Monthly Review (Short)
Once a month, after your last weekly review of the month. Five minutes, honest answers.
- My Followed-plan percentage this month was: __________%
- Is my main setup making or losing R across the whole month? (Add up its R results only):
____________________________________________________________
- My biggest lesson of the month:
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
- The ONE thing I will change next month (change one thing only, so you can tell whether it worked):
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
- Date I re-read my trading plan and updated it: ______________________________