Plan Your Trade, Trade Your Plan

First off, apologies: my postings will be disrupted by the week’s long Hong Kong holiday for Chinese New Year. If you are trading in this part of the world, be prepared for smaller than normal range is for at least Monday and Tuesday.

I’ll complete the section on “what you know” in the next few days. Today, I’ll answer the question: “Ray, how do you prepare for a trade?”

The first thing I do is to identify the three main timeframes on which I rely. For example, in the current USDCAD trade, I’m relying on:

• The 5-d
• The 5-p in the 290-minute
• The 5-p in the to 60-minute

I then dump all I observe in a mindmap. Once I have emptied the knowledge from mind to paper, I then started to make connections and draw some conclusions. (See chart below)

Once I’m satisfied that I have exhausted my conclusions, I organise my mind map and insert my plan of action. I then visualise the various scenarios for entry and trade management. This includes seeing my being stopped out of the trade.

Trust this helps.

I would ask a favour: I’d be grateful if you would post questions and comments to the blog rather than email me. If you wish to remain anonymous, let me know by email (just once), and I will ensure to make the necessary changes before posting your comments publicly. Thank you.

The post Plan Your Trade, Trade Your Plan appeared first on Ray Barros’ Blog for Trading Success.