Building your practice
Pre- and post-market prep in depth
3 min
The work that determines a session's quality happens before and after it, not during. The two bookends deserve their own focus.
Pre-market prep: setting the stage
The goal is to walk into the session having already decided what you are looking for, so the session itself is mostly waiting and executing — not improvising.
- Top-down chart read: start on the weekly/daily for context, then drop to your trading timeframe. Mark the levels that matter.
- News map: know the exact times of high-impact releases and plan to stand aside around them unless news is your strategy.
- Bias and scenarios: write a one-line bias ("I favour longs above this level, stand aside below") and the if-then scenarios that follow.
- State check: are you rested, calm, and not chasing a previous loss? Your own state is a trading variable.
Post-market prep: closing the loop
The session is not over when the screen closes — it is over when it is reviewed.
- Record every trade with entry, exit, size, and the reason you took it.
- Separate process from outcome: a losing trade taken correctly is a good trade; a winning trade taken against your plan is a bad one that will hurt you later.
- Flag any rule you broke and why — that emotional note is often the most valuable data you collect.
Done daily, these bookends compound into the single biggest driver of improvement.
This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not investment, financial, tax or legal advice. Trading and investing carry risk, including the possible loss of capital. Any performance shown by third-party tools is hypothetical and not a promise of future results. Do your own research and consider professional advice before making any decision.