How to Write a Trading Plan (Free Template Inside)
A practical, one-page trading plan template: markets, setups, entry and exit rules, risk limits and a review routine — with an example you can copy.
Most traders don't lose because they lack a strategy. They lose because they change the strategy mid-trade — widening a stop, doubling a position, chasing a move they weren't planning to take.
A written trading plan is the fix. Not a 40-page document, but a single page of rules decided when you're calm, so you don't have to make them up when you're not.
Why write it down
A plan in your head bends. A plan on paper doesn't. Writing it down does three things:
- It removes in-the-moment decisions. You already know what you'll do if the stop is hit.
- It makes you measurable. You can't review whether you followed rules you never defined.
- It separates bad trades from bad luck. A losing trade that followed the plan is a cost of doing business. A winning trade that broke it is a warning.
If the emotional side of this is what you struggle with, trading psychology covers it in more depth.
The seven sections of a trading plan
1. Goals and constraints
Why are you trading, and with what? Be specific about account size, time available per day, and what you're trying to achieve in the next three months — ideally a process goal ("follow my rules on 90% of trades") rather than a profit target.
2. Markets and timeframes
List exactly what you trade and on which charts. "Anything that moves" is not a market list. A short, focused watchlist is easier to know well.
3. Setups
Describe each setup you take in one or two sentences, with a screenshot if possible. For example: "Retest of a broken daily resistance, with a 1-hour higher low forming at the retest." If a trade doesn't match a written setup, you don't take it.
4. Entry rules
What exactly has to happen before you enter? A candle close beyond a level, a retest, a specific time window? Write the trigger down.
5. Exit rules
- Stop: where the idea is invalidated.
- Target: where you'll take profit, fully or partially.
- Time stop: optional — if the trade does nothing within a set period, you close it.
6. Risk rules
These are the rules that protect the account:
- Risk per trade (for example, 1%) — see how to calculate position size
- Maximum trades per day
- Maximum daily loss — hit it and you stop for the day
- Maximum open risk across all positions
- What you do around high-impact news
7. Review routine
When and how you'll review. A trading journal is the natural home for this: log every trade, then review weekly.
A one-page template you can copy
TRADING PLAN — v1 (date: ______)
GOAL (next 3 months)
- Process goal:
- Account size: Time per day:
MARKETS & TIMEFRAMES
- Markets:
- Higher timeframe (bias): Execution timeframe:
SETUPS (max 3)
1.
2.
3.
ENTRY TRIGGER
-
EXITS
- Stop goes:
- Target(s):
- Time stop:
RISK
- Risk per trade: %
- Max trades/day:
- Max daily loss: % → stop trading for the day
- News rule:
REVIEW
- Journal every trade: yes
- Weekly review day/time:
- Rule I'll focus on this month:
An example, filled in
Here's how a part-time swing trader might fill in a few sections:
- Markets: EURUSD, XAUUSD, BTCUSD, and five large-cap US stocks.
- Timeframes: daily for bias, 4-hour for entries.
- Setup: pullback to a daily support zone in an uptrend, with a 4-hour higher low.
- Entry trigger: 4-hour candle closes back above the prior candle's high.
- Stop: below the 4-hour higher low. Target: the most recent daily swing high; move stop to breakeven at 1R.
- Risk: 1% per trade, max 3 open positions, max 2% daily loss.
- News: no new entries 30 minutes before a high-impact release on that currency.
It fits on one page. That's the point.
Keep it alive
A trading plan is a living document. Once a month, look at your journal and ask:
- Which setup made or lost the most?
- Which rule did I break most often?
- Is there a rule that sounds good but I never follow?
Change one thing at a time, and put a version number and date at the top so you can tell which plan a trade was taken under.
How ChartPilot fits in
ChartPilot's AI chart analysis returns the same structured breakdown every time — structure, key levels, patterns and scenarios — which makes it easy to check whether a chart actually matches one of your written setups. The built-in journal lets you log trades and review them against your plan. The plan, and the discipline to follow it, are still yours.
This article is for educational purposes only and is not financial advice. Trading involves risk, including the loss of capital.
Educational content only. ChartPilot is an educational tool. Nothing in this article constitutes financial or investment advice. Always do your own research before making any trading decisions.