# A one-page trading plan > Write five things on one page before you trade: what you trade, when you enter, where you exit, how big you go and when you do not trade at all. - Course: [Trading Basics: How It Works, How Not to Lose Everything](https://productovi.com/courses/trading.md) - Module: How do I turn an idea into a plan I can test? - Lesson 25/32, ~26 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/trading/one-page-plan ## A mood is not a plan **Alex Tutor:** Back on your Pebble practice account, today we write something before the next trade: a plan that fits on one page. Nora, what's your plan right now? **Nora:** Easy. I buy what's going up and sell when it feels like time. It worked last week. **Alex Tutor:** That's a mood, not a plan. A **trading plan** answers five questions before you click, so the decision is made while you're calm, not while the price is moving. ![Nora writes a five-line plan on a clipboard next to the practice phone, while Alex points at the phone and Marc approves: the plan comes before the click.](https://productovi.com/courses/trading/diagrams/m7-l1-scene.png) **Marc:** My test for each line: if I hand the page to someone else, would they place exactly the same orders? If not, the line is too vague. **Alex Tutor:** The five parts. What you trade. When you enter. Where you exit, both for a loss and for a win. How big you go. And when you don't trade at all, which most beginners forget. > **Exercise:** Match each part of the plan with a line that fills it. ## Checkable, not clever **Alex Tutor:** Every line must be checkable: yes or no, no feelings. "Buy when it looks strong" fails. "Buy when the close is above the highest close of the last 10 days" passes. **Sofia:** Does a checkable rule mean it's a good rule? **Alex Tutor:** No. Checkable comes first, good comes later. Only a rule you can check can be tested on past prices and in a journal. A vague rule can never be proven wrong, so you never learn anything. **Alex Tutor:** Let's run Marc's hand-over test on two entry lines. Which one would two different people trade the same way? > **Exercise:** Which entry line passes the hand-over test: would someone else place exactly the same order from it? **Nora:** Fine. My exit is "sell when I've made enough". Is that checkable? **Alex Tutor:** How much is enough? Write a number: a target price, or a time limit such as "after 5 days". And write the stop before you enter, not after the price drops. ![Vague lines fail: "looks strong", "made enough", a stop added after a drop. Checkable lines pass: a 10-day-high close, a target or 5-day exit, a stop written before entry.](https://productovi.com/courses/trading/diagrams/m7-l1-checkable.png) *Would someone else place exactly the same orders?* **Nora:** But a fixed target means I'll sometimes sell too early. **Alex Tutor:** Sometimes, yes. But a fixed exit lets you count results later. "When it feels right" gives you nothing to count, so you can't tell skill from luck. > **Exercise:** Which plan lines are checkable? Pick all that apply. **Alex Tutor:** Back to Nora's worry about selling too early. Why keep a fixed exit anyway? > **Exercise:** Nora says: "With a fixed target I'll sometimes sell too early." Why does a plan still use a fixed exit for a win? ## How big you go **Alex Tutor:** The size line never says "buy 100 shares". It starts from how much of the account you're willing to lose if the stop is hit, usually 0.5–2%. That's your **risk per trade**. **Alex Tutor:** On 10,000 with 1%, the risk is 100 dollars. Entry 50.00, stop 48.00: 2 dollars a share. 100 ÷ 2 = 50 shares. That's the **position size**: it comes from the risk and the stop, not from a hunch. ![Risk 1% of 10,000 = 100. Entry 50.00, stop 48.00: 2.00 a share. Size = 100 ÷ 2 = 50 shares, so the stop costs 100, whatever the stop distance.](https://productovi.com/courses/trading/diagrams/m7-l1-position-size.png) **Marc:** And I round down, never up. Costs and slippage add a little on top, so the real loss at the stop is slightly more than 100. **Sofia:** So a wider stop means fewer shares, and the same risk. > **Exercise:** Your plan risks 0.5% of a 10,000 account per trade. Entry is 40.00 and the stop is 38.50. How many shares do you buy? Round down to a whole share. ## When you do not trade **Marc:** My favorite part is the no-trade list. Report days, when gaps jump over stops. After two losses in one day. When I'm tired, angry or can't watch the screen. **Nora:** But then I'd miss trades! **Alex Tutor:** Some, yes. A skipped trade costs nothing; a bad one costs money. And add one more line: when you stop the whole plan, for example after a 10% fall in the account, and go back to practice. > **Exercise:** If the plan tells you not to trade today, the plan has failed. **Sofia:** Why a line for stopping the whole plan? Isn't a bad week normal? **Alex Tutor:** It is normal. That's why the line uses a number chosen in advance, not the mood of a bad week. Without it, people either quit after three losses or keep going all the way down. **Alex Tutor:** So what does a good "stop the plan" line look like? Here are four candidates. > **Exercise:** Which line belongs in the "when I stop the whole plan" part of a plan? **Alex Tutor:** Before every trade, the page is read top to bottom, in the same order every time. Put the steps in that order. > **Exercise:** Put the steps before a trade in the order the plan uses them. > **The one-page plan: fill it in** > > 1. **What I trade:** which instruments, which hours. > 2. **When I enter:** one condition I can answer yes or no. > 3. **Where I exit:** the stop (written before entry) and the exit for a win (a target or a time limit). > 4. **How big I go:** risk __% of the account to the stop; size = risk ÷ stop distance, rounded down. > 5. **When I do not trade:** days, moods and limits (e.g. after 2 losses in a day). > 6. **When I stop the plan:** e.g. after a __% fall in the account; review after 30 trades, not before. **Alex Tutor:** Your turn to fix Nora's plan. Keep her idea, just make it checkable. > **Exercise:** Nora's plan: "Buy what's going up, sell when it feels like time, size depends on how sure I am." Rewrite it as three checkable lines: entry, exit (stop and win) and size, for a 10,000 practice account. > **Key ideas** > > - A **trading plan** answers five questions before the click: what, when in, where out, how big, and when not at all. > - Every line is checkable: someone else could place the same orders from it. > - Size comes from risk: a small share of the account (0.5–2%) ÷ the stop distance, rounded down. > - The no-trade list and the "stop the plan" line protect the account when you're not at your best. > - Checkable is not the same as good: the next step is testing the rule. > **Educational, not advice** > > This course explains how trading works; it never tells you what to buy or sell. A written plan doesn't make trading safe: most people who trade lose money, and you can lose all of it. For taxes and rules, ask a licensed professional where you live. - Previous lesson: [Case: choose at most three tools](https://productovi.com/courses/trading/choose-your-tools.md) - Next lesson: [Backtest basics and traps](https://productovi.com/courses/trading/backtest-traps.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.