A simple session-based plan

A trading plan does not need an edge in it to be worth writing. It needs to specify when you trade, what you trade, how much you risk and when you stop, so that whatever edge you eventually find can be tested rather than guessed at. Here is a plan template built around the session structure this course has described. It is a starting framework, not a promise that it makes money.

The shape of a session plan

The plan uses one session as the trading window, the prior session's range as the reference structure, and the calendar as the list of moments to avoid. It works for any pair; the example uses EUR/USD in the London session.

1. Window. Trade only between 08:00 and 12:00 London time (the London morning into the start of the overlap). No entries before 08:00; no new entries after 11:30; everything managed or closed by 12:00 unless the plan explicitly says a position is set-and-forget.

2. Reference levels. At 08:00 London, mark the Asian session high and low (roughly 00:00 to 08:00 London). Mark the previous day's high, low and close. These five levels are the map for the morning.

3. Calendar. Before 08:00, list every high-impact release on EUR or USD in the window with its time. No entries in the 15 minutes before a listed release. If a position is open through a release, its stop is already in place and its size was set knowing the stop may slip.

4. Setup. One setup, written in a sentence you can test. For example: "A 15-minute close beyond the Asian range in the direction of the previous day's close, entered on the close of that candle, with the stop beyond the opposite side of the breakout candle and no wider than 40% of the 20-day London range." Whether this setup works is exactly what the demo phase (next lesson) is for. Its virtue is that it is precise enough to log and review.

5. Stop and target. Stop distance from the setup, never from the money you want to risk. Target at a fixed multiple of the stop (2R is common for a first plan) or at the next reference level, whichever is nearer, chosen in advance.

6. Size. From the risk management course: dollars at risk = account × risk per trade; lots = (dollars at risk ÷ stop in pips) ÷ pip value per lot, rounded down. Risk per trade for a beginner: 0.5% on live money, 1% at most.

7. Limits. Maximum two trades per session. Stop for the day after two losses. Stop for the week if the account is down 3%.

8. Log. Every trade: date, pair, setup, entry, stop, target, size, exit, R result, and one sentence on whether the plan was followed.

Why the numbers are what they are

A worked morning

Account $3,000, risk 0.5% = $15 per trade. EUR/USD. 20-day London-session range: 52 pips, so maximum stop = 0.4 × 52 ≈ 21 pips.

• 07:45 London: calendar shows eurozone CPI at 10:00 London. Noted: no entries 09:45 to 10:00.
• 08:00: Asian range 1.0832 to 1.0851 (19 pips). Previous day closed at 1.0855, above the range; bias is up.
• 08:45: a 15-minute candle closes at 1.0857, above the Asian high. Setup conditions met. Breakout candle low 1.0846. Stop at 1.0843 (14 pips below entry, within the 21-pip cap).
• Size: $15 ÷ 14 pips = $1.07 per pip. Micro lot is $0.10 per pip, so 10.7, round down to 10 micro lots (0.10 lots). Actual risk = 10 × $0.10 × 14 = $14.
• Target: 2R = 28 pips = 1.0885, or the previous day's high at 1.0879 if nearer. It is nearer; target 1.0879 (22 pips, 1.57R).
• 09:40: price at 1.0871. Stop moved to breakeven per the plan's management rule (if the plan has one; otherwise leave it).
• 10:00: CPI prints in line; small wobble; target hit at 10:12. Result +22 pips, +$22, +1.57R.
• Log entry written. One trade taken; the second slot is available until 11:30 but no second setup appears. Done at 12:00.

The point of the walk-through is not the profit. It is that every decision was made by a rule that existed before 08:00, and that a losing version of the same morning would have cost $14 and produced an equally useful log entry.

Key idea: A plan is a set of decisions made in advance so that the only decision left at 08:45 is "does the setup match, yes or no." Everything else, from window to size to when to stop, was settled when you were calm.

Managing an open trade

Keep it simple:

• Stop and target in the platform, not in your head.
• No widening of stops, ever. Moving the stop closer (to breakeven or to lock in profit) is allowed only if the plan says when.
• If the trade is open at the end of the window and the plan says close, close it. If the plan says hold with the stop in place, hold, and know what the rollover and the afternoon calendar look like.

Reviewing the plan

Weekly: count trades, wins, losses, average R, and rule violations. Monthly: recompute the session range and ADR and update the stop cap; recompute the all-in cost from the statement; decide whether the setup has enough trades to judge yet (it usually needs 30 to 50 before a win rate means anything).

Try it: Copy the eight numbered items into a document and fill each in for your first pair, session and timeframe from the previous lesson. Where you do not yet have a number (session range, cost), write "measure by [date]" and go measure it. The plan is not complete until every item is a number or a sentence you can test.

Recap

• A session plan fixes the window, reference levels, calendar exclusions, one setup, stop and target rules, sizing, limits and a log.
• Stops come from the chart and are capped at a fraction of the measured session range; size comes from the stop.
• Risk 0.5% to 1% per trade, take at most two trades per session, and stop after two losses.
• Every decision is made before the window opens; the only live decision is whether the setup matches.
• Review weekly for rule adherence and monthly for updated ranges and costs; judge the setup only after dozens of trades.