The Importance of a Trading Plan

Key Takeaways:

• Trading Success = Trading Plan: A well-structured trading plan is a roadmap to consistent success because it guarantees disciplined decision-making and proper risk management.
• Simplicity & Structure: Your trading plan must be unequivocal, plain, easy to follow, specific, measurable, and flexible enough so you can remain true to your process as you adapt to changing market conditions and evolve as a person.
• Live Testing: Participate in trading competitions like BullRush to help fine-tune your trading strategies and gain invaluable experience under pressure.

Blueprint for Success: The Importance of Having a Winning Trading Plan, and How to Write One

“If you fail to plan, you should plan to fail.” 

This is one of my favorite sayings, and it was something I had been taught, quite literally, on Day One of my trading journey, over thirteen years ago now. 

I remember just about every major twist and turn I’ve experienced in my journey thus far. And that day, my very first day, is no exception. I had just finished going through all the educational content and was now beginning to receive coaching from one of my mentors. I was trained in very much the same manner that I train my students today, which is to say, I learned market theory first, but then was able to apply the theory to the real world, with the help of my mentors.

Having a mentor is something I highly recommend to anyone at any stage in their trading journey, but especially in the beginning! I was fortunate enough to have a few really good mentors from the very beginning.

Anyway, my mentor had just returned from his afternoon gym routine and was devouring an apple as though he hadn’t eaten in three weeks. He was an extremely regimented, disciplined guy, and as someone who had always traditionally faced difficulty with discipline, I admired this about him. I marveled at how steadfast his commitment to his goals was. 

He would wake up, complete his morning getting ready rituals and then come in to start the day at the office, usually before anyone else arrived. He liked the quiet he got to enjoy in the mornings by arriving before everyone. He always said it gave him the peace and space to focus and achieve mental clarity for the day.

He also arrived early every day because he liked to catch the overlapping of the London and New York Trading Sessions (between 7am and 9am EST), as this is one of the best times to trade every day because of the increased volume and volatility. 

At that time, he was also hosting a live online trading show, broadcast to hundreds of clients across the globe (something I would later come to do, myself, once I became a trader and eventually, trading coach). 

At exactly 10:30 am each day, he would drop whatever it was he was doing, grab his gym bag, head out to the gym, and he would return at noon. He did this regardless of whatever was going on, or at least he certainly tried to, with the odd exception here and there, if there was perhaps an emergency, or if getting away from the office was otherwise impossible. 

He had his routine, then, which was all part of his plan not just to be successful at trading, but in life generally. And no matter what, he stuck to his plan. Every day, rain or shine, he stayed true to his plan. 

When I asked him about this, he explained that, since he was a busy guy, he had to stay disciplined. He was a very goals-driven person, and if he had any hope of achieving both his personal and professional goals, he would need to have a plan, and then he would need to stick to that plan. He told me that it is incredibly important, and often overlooked, that traders have a trading plan. 

I was skeptical, because at the time I had not yet experienced trading the markets for myself. But, he said something that I not only thought was profound then, it’s something that has stuck with me since, and something I would come to understand more with each passing year in my trading journey. 

He said, “trading without a plan is a bit too much like gambling for me.” 

I was very intrigued. “What do you mean?” I asked.

“If you think about it,” he said, “as a new trader you begin your journey from a place of having 50/50 odds in the markets. If you have any hope of improving those odds, you need an education, you need some mentorship and real-world experience, and crucially, you need a plan.”

He then went on, “Your plan should be easy to understand. You will naturally understand your own plan, as you’re the author! But the trick is to write your trading plan in such a way that anyone can understand it.” 

“It should be easy to execute and stick to,” he added. “Your plan can’t be too vague, but it also shouldn’t be overly complicated, either.”

The last thing he said was, “It should be easy to replicate, meaning, you should be able to rinse and repeat your process every day and achieve consistent results.” 

Why Having a Trading Plan Improves Performance in Real-Life Trading and Trading Competitions 

This is something I teach my own students – your trading plan is like your blueprint for success. It should act as your roadmap for daily trading, and it should include everything from why you’re trading or becoming a trader in the first place, to what you’re looking to trade, how you will trade it, how you will make gains while protecting your capital, and at what intervals you will review and amend your trading plan, among other things. 

Your trading plan should be well considered, and you must commit to adhering to it, but you should also allow the flexibility to adjust/amend as a) market conditions change and b) your experience and skill level improve.

I always tell my students that the difference between a dream and a goal is a plan. If you’ve always dreamt of trading for a living, the way to turn that dream into a goal that can be realized is to develop a plan. 

In the case of competitions, such as those by BullRush, a good trading plan would keep one’s mind focused and ensure good execution even in such a pressure-packed environment. Most of the time, on-the-job daily trading becomes so unmanageable and is out of anyone’s control, while this often is externally timed and pressured to deliver in competition time that also brings disturbances through various competitive activities. With a very well-defined trading plan, these disturbances are filtered out by sticking to what one was planning to do ahead, which puts one over many others, who mostly depend on being reactive rather than proactive.

Most of the trading plans underline the importance of risk management and emotional discipline-the same critical factors during those hot competitions. Without these safety measures in place, even a potentially winning strategy can, in an instant, become a losing one because emotions or overconfidence took over.

With a live trade, the stakes are higher-it’s your trading capital. In a trading plan, you are assured you’re not acting on whims to try to play every market fluctuation. The cornerstones of a trading plan involve risk control and trade management; this means you’ll be so far from falling into the bad practice of overtrading that you will protect your capital for a very long period of time. Whether it’s a trading challenge or the ups and downs of real market conditions, the trading plan keeps one anchored with regard to sanity. Let’s explore how to write a good trading plan. 

A Winning Trading Plan: Core Elements

The trading plan is your roadmap to success. It shows how to identify your objectives and plans for managing risk in regard to psychological preparation. Without a plan, a trader doesn’t do anything but gamble on the market; everything is just a game.

The ingredients required to develop a comprehensive trading plan are given below:

Start with an overview.

Overview

You need to begin by answering the questions, “what are you doing?” “Why are you doing it?”  and “what are your expectations from trading?”

Be specific, be realistic, and be honest. 

Saying “I want to trade to make a lot of money” doesn’t help anybody. But saying, “I want to achieve 1% per day” makes it specific, it gives you something by which to measure the success or failure of your plan (and your execution of it!), it’s certainly achievable, relevant and realistic, and time bound. 

By updating your thinking to this latter approach, you are adopting the SMART goal mentality. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant/Realistic, and Time-bound. 

Trader Psychology

The next section should focus on your trader’s psychology and emotional well-being. Your strategy is one thing, and we’ll get to that soon, but a healthy trader’s psychology is actually the most important component of a successful trader’s overall makeup. 

Answer these questions: “when is trading fulfilling for you? When is it distressing?” 

Next, name three of your biggest strengths and three of your biggest weaknesses.  

Writing this in black and white will help bring you clarity as to what you should be focusing on to improve your trading game. 

I then have my students write a Statement for Good Days and a Statement for Bad Days. 

The idea here is simple. We’re all going to inevitably experience bad days, just as we do good ones. By having a statement – something we’ve written to ourselves at the beginning, it can help to ground us, and refocus us on what’s important, and how we can improve. 

Trading Strateg(ies)

It should go without saying that, if you’re going to tackle trading the markets successfully and consistently, you really ought to have a strategy. 

I do not recommend trying to trade more than 1-2 strategies in the beginning. In fact, if you can, I would highly recommend focusing on just one strategy. As you move beyond proficiency into expertise, you will then be able to move on and expand the trading strategies available in your arsenal. 

Next, it’s important to answer the following: 

What Asset(s) are you trading? (Don’t take on more than you can chew, especially in the beginning! I recommend starting with 1-3 assets, maximum, when you are first starting out). 

What time frame(s) are you trading? (There is no right or wrong answer here – because of the fractal nature of markets, theory is applicable to all time frames, and all time frames are, of course, tradable). 

What are the indicators, if any, you plan on using? (I highly recommend not using too many indicators, if any, when you are first starting out. I believe you should learn to become an expert in price action itself, since price is king. You can then introduce more indicators down the line). 

Will you be using Expert Advisors (EAs)? (Again, in the early days of your journey I recommend limiting your use of these until you have become fully proficient in market theory and analysis). 

Next, talk about setups. What does an ideal setup look like for you? How will you enter your positions? Are there any variations to the setups or to your approach under certain market conditions?

Crucially, don’t overlook this part – When should you avoid trading? Where are you placing your take profit? And finally, where are you placing your Stop/Loss for each trade? 

Trade Management

If you’re a scalper, this section likely isn’t all that relevant to you. That’s because you are not interested in the swings of the markets, you are just interested in quick moves and high volatility to facilitate high profits. But, if you’re anything other than a scalper, you’ll want to specify how you will manage your trade. These questions should help: 

1. Will you move your S/L to breakeven, and then ultimately to lock in profit? Or, 
2. Will you leave the trades alone to let them run either to their Stop/Loss or Take/Profit? 

Risk Management

This next section is really important, as well, because it will introduce controls and parameters for each of your trades. 

If you are placing small trades followed by huge trades, without any rhyme or reason, or plan, then you are gambling, not trading as a business. You must have an approach to risk management that is both conservative and consistent. Wild, erratic position sizing is a recipe for disaster! 

You’ll also want to introduce: 

• Daily Limits – both for losses and for gains. Don’t be greedy when things are going your way, and likewise, don’t expose yourself to a situation where you could potentially just keep compounding losses, making things worse. 

I recommend even going as far as to consider introducing limits on the number of trades you are placing in a day. (Watch those transaction costs!)

• Daily Targets – what is your target for the day? Would making 1% in a day be sufficient? I say it is, but of course, it depends on your level of education, experience, and your overall goals.  
• Time Limits – Are you going to hold trades overnight? Will you take trades at any time of the day or night, or will you only trade during specific trading sessions? 

Finally, you should keep a trade journal that allows you to not just maintain, but study, a log of every trade you take. Try to take something away from your losses, rather than just chalking it up to it being a loss, and there being nothing else to think about or consider. 

All of this is essential for crafting a winning trading plan. 

Why Participating in BullRush Trading Challenges Can Improve your Trading Strategies?

BullRush Trading Challenges and Competitions are more than just winning prizes; they’re a great opportunity to improve your trading skills in high-stakes conditions. Challenges are similar to the real market environment but controlled, where one can practice, learn from mistakes, and refine their strategies.

Some of the key benefits from participating in BullRush Trading Challenges are:

• Discipline improvement: Trading under competition conditions compels you to adhere to your trading plan and avoid impulsive decisions. You must follow your strategy when the clock is ticking, thereby developing the emotional discipline necessary for constant profitability.
• Sharpening decision-making skills: In competitions, one is forced to make decisions rather fast. The skill in executing your trading plan will be very direct to life trading, where market conditions could change very fast.
• Learn from experience: Every challenge, win or lose, provides an avenue for growth. By reviewing your trades and understanding what worked and what did not, you can further refine your trading plan for success in the future, just as you would after any live trade.
• Testing real-time strategies and trading plans: The competition format allows the testing of various strategies and trading plans and the observation of how they will go through under actual market conditions. That provides invaluable insight into whether your strategy is working and where adjustment is needed.

You are not competing only for prizes when you are on the BullRush challenges but training to be a better and more disciplined trader, improve your trading plans and skills. You learn, adapt, and perfect your approach in every given trading challenge.

A Trading Plan is Your Blueprint for Success

Your trading plan is way more than a set of rules; it’s your blueprint to consistent success. It would be the backbone that guides you through the ups and downs of the markets, whether you trade in a live market or in some kind of competition, such as BullRush.

A dream without a plan is simply a wish. Take the time to write a trading plan that fits your goals and personality. Be sure to stick with it, stay disciplined, and be willing to make adjustments. Trading with a plan certainly helps one increase the probabilities of success not only in trading competitions but more importantly, in real-world trading.

Good luck, and as always, happy trading!