Risk: your loss limit in per trade and the total dollar loss per day. What you will do after x number of losses in a row. Your strategy for increasing and decreasing your trading size.
Goals: how many R’s you are trying to make today. How many trades do you plan to make. How long do you plan to hold winners and losers
Reporting: your plan for writing a brief narrative of the day’s trading your plan to keep statistics of your trades (hold times, results, et cetera). How you will mark your trades on the same charts you use to trade.
Contingencies: what phone number do you call to get out of trades should your system crash. Who can you contact to troubleshoot or repair your computer. Who do you call to get your Internet connection checked and fixed, if needed.
With a well developed, clear plan you will be ahead of the majority of traders and, through this detailed planning, you can concentrate on achieving your stated goals.
