The one-page format

The plan is one page. Not "about a page", not "a short document". One printed page, or one index card if you trade a single setup. The constraint is the point: one page has no room for hedges, caveats or "use judgment", and it is short enough that you will actually read it at 9:25am every day.

The template

Every line is a heading and one or two sentences of numbers or checklist items. Here is the skeleton.

TRADING PLAN  v1.0  (valid from 1 Oct)      Account basis: $______

MARKET     ______________________________________________
SESSION    ______________________________________________
NO-TRADE   ______________________________________________

SETUP (all must be true)
  [ ] ________________________________________________
  [ ] ________________________________________________
  [ ] ________________________________________________
  [ ] ________________________________________________
FILTER     ______________________________________________
INVALID IF ______________________________________________

RISK       1R = ___% = $____   Max heat ___%   Max positions __
           Daily stop __R   Weekly stop __R   Monthly stop __R
ENTRY      ______________________________________________
STOP       ______________________________________________
EXITS      Target ______  Trail ______  Time ______  EOD ______

LIMITS     Max trades/day __   After 2 losses: __________
ROUTINE    Pre-market ______  Post-market ______

REVIEW     Weekly ______  Monthly ______  Rules change only at ______

The version number and the valid-from date are not decoration. Module 5 depends on them.

Rules for filling it in

Numbers, not adjectives. Every blank should contain a number, a level, a time, a list of tickers or a yes/no. If you find yourself writing "strong", "clear", "reasonable" or "when appropriate", stop and ask what number you actually mean.

Every blank filled. An empty line is a decision deferred to the worst moment. If you genuinely have no rule for time stops, write "none, v1.0" so it is a decision rather than an omission, and so the monthly review can ask whether it should stay that way.

No line longer than two sentences. If a rule needs a paragraph, it is two rules, or it is a wish dressed up.

The setup is a checklist. Four to six boxes, all of which must be ticked. Module 2 shows how to write them. An "any three of five" setup is a way to take trades that are not the setup.

Include what you will not do. The NO-TRADE line is the most-read line on the plan by the end of the first month. First two minutes after the open, scheduled data releases, the afternoon before a holiday, any instrument not on the MARKET line.

Key idea: One page, every blank filled with a number or a checklist, no adjectives. If it does not fit, it is not finished.

Where it lives

Printed, next to the screen. Not a file you would have to open. The plan's value is highest at the moments you are least likely to go looking for it, so it has to be where your eyes already are.

A second copy in the journal (Module 4), so that every trade is logged against the version of the plan that was in force.

What the page is not

It is not the place for your notes, your analysis, your reasons or your watchlist. Those go in the journal or the pre-market sheet. The plan is the constitution; everything else is legislation. When a note starts to look like a rule, it gets promoted at the next review, with a new version number.

It is also not a target. There is no "goal: $X per month" line and there never will be. The plan describes behaviour. Outcomes are what the journal measures.

A note on templates from other people

You will see plans online that are ten pages long, with sections on mindset, affirmations and market philosophy. They are not useless, but they are not plans. Most of them fail the "could a stranger follow it" test on every page. Borrow structure if you like; do not borrow rules, because a rule you did not derive is a rule you will abandon the first time it costs you money.

Try it: Copy the skeleton above into a text file and fill in only the MARKET, SESSION and NO-TRADE lines for how you trade today. Make them specific enough that you could hand the file to a friend and they would know exactly which instruments and which minutes are in play. Leave the rest blank; the next modules fill them.

Recap

• The plan is one printed page with a version number and a valid-from date.
• Every blank holds a number, a level, a time, a list or a checklist item. Adjectives are not allowed.
• An empty line is a deferred decision. Write "none" rather than leave it blank.
• The setup is an all-must-be-true checklist, not "any three of five".
• The plan lives next to the screen and in the journal. Notes, analysis and watchlists live elsewhere.