Strategies and a trading plan

Here you assemble the rest of the course into a repeatable process. A track about the trading plan: how to write down rules, how to define a setup, how to test with a backtest and a forward test, and how to move from demo to live without chaos. Without a checklist you do not have a system — you have an opinion about candles.

Market knowledge without a plan quickly falls back into impulses: today looks different. A plan does not guarantee profit; it limits arbitrariness and lets you judge whether you have edge, bad luck or a broken process. This track closes the course: you turn knowledge into an operational standard for the day — with a risk limit and clear I-do-not-trade rules.

The material is educational. You do not get a ready-made strategy to copy exactly or a promise of a holy grail. The goal is a process document, one version of the setup and a review routine — so that you can measure decisions instead of guessing after three trades.

Who this is for

For people who have been through markets and risk and still know a lot but have no written process. Also useful after a streak of random trades: you return to the plan, not to another indicator.

It will suit someone about to move from demo to live, and a trader who wants to organise their session playbook after a period of overtrading. If you do not have a journal, first complete Risk and psychology. The track also helps people who keep changing the rules mid-session and need review windows instead of impulsive fixes.

What you will learn

• How to build a trading plan: markets, sessions, risk and clear I-do-not-trade rules
• How to define a setup so it can be repeated and measured
• Backtesting and forward testing without fooling yourself with equity curves
• Moving from demo to live: reducing size, a checklist and loss limits
• A session playbook: a routine before, during and after the market
• How to combine the journal with plan revisions — iteration, not impulse
• How to keep one version of the setup long enough to have a sample
• How to record the dates of rule changes so you can tell research from chaos

Prerequisites

In course order: after Options — or at least after Risk and psychology and one market track, such as Forex, Stocks and ETFs or Crypto and DeFi. A plan without market experience is sometimes empty; experience without a plan is sometimes expensive. The journal from the risk track should already exist in a basic form.

After the track you have one plan document and one setup in version v1. Do not add a second setup until the first has a sample and a review. Record rule changes with a date — otherwise you cannot tell iteration from session chaos.

Glossary

• Expectancy
• Drawdown
• R-multiple
• Stop-loss
• Slippage

FAQ

Does a trading plan guarantee profit?

No. A plan limits chaos and lets you evaluate the process. The market can still be difficult; without a plan you do not even know whether you have edge. Education about a plan is not investment advice or a promise of results.

How many trades do you need to evaluate a setup?

It depends on frequency and variance. More important: set the review criteria in advance — R, drawdown and process errors — instead of judging after three transactions. A small sample without criteria is just emotion.

Is a backtest enough for live?

No. A backtest is a hypothesis; forward testing and a small live account verify execution, costs and psychology. Jumping straight to full size tests ruin, not the strategy. Plan review windows — changing rules mid-session is usually emotion, not research.