Every guide on this site ends the same way: decide things before the trade, not during it. The trading plan is where those decisions live — one page, written down, followed or consciously revised, never quietly ignored.
Why written beats remembered
Under an open position, the mind renegotiates: the stop was 'probably too tight', the target 'deserves more room', the stake 'could double, this one's certain'. Psychology does this to everyone. A written plan doesn't argue back — it just makes the deviation visible, which is usually enough to stop it.
The template
One page per trade, or one page per setup you trade repeatedly. Every line decided before entry:
The two lines that matter most: the stop goes where the idea is proven wrong — a level, not a pound amount — and the stake is calculated from the risk budget and the stop distance, which the position-size calculator does in three fields. If the resulting stake is below your provider's minimum, the answer is a smaller trade list, not a wider budget.
Prove it on the demo first
A plan you haven't tested is a hypothesis. Run it on a demo account for at least twenty trades, journalling every one — enough to see whether the setup occurs often enough to matter and whether you can actually follow your own rules when the price wobbles.
Changing the plan
Plans should evolve — between trades, in the journal review, with the position flat. Changing a plan mid-trade isn't revision, it's the cardinal sin wearing a clipboard. If you find a genuine flaw while a position is open, close the position, then fix the plan.
A written plan plus an honest journal is the whole edge available to a retail trader. It won't make markets predictable — it makes you predictable, which is the half of the equation you control.
The plan's first number is what the trade may cost you.
Position-size calculator →