TL;DR
A trading plan template works when it fits on one page, names three setups or fewer, and sets a daily loss limit before the market opens; this free fill-in version gives you every section and the risk math to complete it in about 45 minutes.
Key Takeaways
- 1.A usable trading plan covers markets, setups, risk limits, a daily routine, and a review schedule.
- 2.Set your daily max loss first, then divide it by the losing trades you will accept to get risk per trade.
- 3.Write each setup as a gradable checklist, plus a list of what disqualifies it.
- 4.Common risk caps are 0.5% to 2% of equity per trade, and 1% is the most cited default.
- 5.Print it, sign it, and review it every Friday, or it becomes a document you never read.
A trading plan template is a one-page document that fixes your markets, setups, risk limits, daily routine, and review schedule before you place a trade. Fill in each section with specific numbers, keep it to three setups or fewer, and decide your maximum daily loss before the open.
Most traders do not fail because they lack a strategy. They fail because the plan lives in their head, and under stress the head negotiates. A written plan takes the negotiation away. This guide gives you a complete fill-in sheet, worked risk math you can copy, and a short process for turning the blanks into rules you will follow. Everything below is plain text, so you can paste it into Notion, Google Docs, or a printed page.
We built this from the sections that the major plan guides agree on, then tightened it for active traders who place several trades a week. Where we quote a number, it is either basic arithmetic you can check yourself or a commonly cited guideline, and we label which is which.
What should a trading plan include?
A trading plan should include seven parts: your trading style and account, the markets you trade, your setups with exact entry and exit rules, risk limits, a daily routine, psychology rules, and a review schedule. Guides from TradeZella, FXPro, and Trade Ideas all converge on that core. Anything beyond it is optional.
| Section | What you write | Example entry |
|---|---|---|
| Style and account | Timeframe, account size, hours | Day trader, $25,000 account, 9:30 to 11:30 ET |
| Markets | Exact symbols you will trade | SPY, QQQ, and two large-cap stocks |
| Setups | Entry, stop, target, disqualifiers | Opening range breakout, VWAP pullback |
| Risk limits | Per trade, per day, per week | 1% per trade, 3% daily stop |
| Daily routine | Pre-market, session, post-market | Scan at 8:30, journal at 4:15 |
| Psychology rules | What you do after a loss | Two losses in a row means a 15 minute break |
| Review schedule | Weekly and monthly checks | Friday review, monthly stats |
Notice that every row asks for something specific. Vague entries such as 'trade good setups' cannot be graded, and an ungradable plan cannot be followed. If you cannot answer a section with a number, a symbol, or a time, you are not done writing it.
Keep it to one page
Several plan guides argue that the best plans have three setups or fewer and fit on a single page. Length is not the goal. If you cannot scan it in two minutes before the open, cut it down.
A trading plan is complete when every section holds a number, a symbol, or a time instead of an intention.
How do you set your risk limits in the plan?
Set the daily loss limit first, then work backward. Divide the daily limit by the number of losing trades you are willing to take in one day, and the result is your risk per trade. Many sources cite 0.5% to 2% of equity per trade as the common range, with 1% the most frequent default.
A worked example with real arithmetic
Take a $25,000 account with a 3% daily loss limit. That limit is $750. If you will accept at most three losing trades before stopping, your risk per trade is $250, which is 1% of the account. These are arithmetic results, not performance claims, so you can recompute them with your own numbers.
| Account size | Risk per trade | Dollar risk | Daily stop (3 losers) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $5,000 | 1% | $50 | $150 |
| $10,000 | 1% | $100 | $300 |
| $25,000 | 1% | $250 | $750 |
| $50,000 | 0.5% | $250 | $750 |
| $100,000 | 0.5% | $500 | $1,500 |
Next, convert dollar risk into position size. The formula is dollar risk divided by stop distance per share. If you risk $250 and your stop is $0.50 below entry, you buy 500 shares. If the stop is $1.00 away, you buy 250 shares. The stop comes from the chart, and the size comes from the stop, never the other way around.
Fill in your risk section
- 1
Step 1: Write your account size
Use the cash you can actually lose, not a number you hope to reach. For a funded account, use the evaluation balance.
- 2
Step 2: Choose a daily loss limit
Pick a percentage such as 2% or 3%. Write the dollar amount next to it so there is no math at 10 a.m.
- 3
Step 3: Choose a loss count
Decide how many losing trades end the day. Three is common because it forces a stop before tilt sets in.
- 4
Step 4: Divide to get risk per trade
Daily limit divided by loss count gives your dollar risk per trade. Check that it falls inside 0.5% to 2% of equity.
- 5
Step 5: Add weekly and open-trade caps
Write a weekly loss limit and a maximum number of open positions. One FXPro example uses a 1% risk per trade and a limit of 3 open trades.
Prop firm accounts have their own rules
If you trade a funded account, your plan limits must sit inside the firm's drawdown rules. Read the exact definition of daily and trailing drawdown, because they differ between firms. Use a max drawdown calculator to test your worst case.
Your risk per trade equals your daily loss limit divided by the number of losers you will accept, and 1% of equity per trade is the most commonly cited default.
How do you write setups you can actually follow?
Write each setup as a checklist a stranger could grade. Name the setup, list the exact entry conditions, set the stop location, and define the target. Then add what disqualifies it. Most plans skip the disqualifiers, and that is where the worst trades hide.
Vague versus gradable
Compare two versions of the same idea. The vague one says 'buy when price breaks above resistance.' The gradable one says 'buy when a five-minute candle closes above the prior day high, volume on that candle is above the 20-bar average, and price is above VWAP.' You can check the second one in two seconds, and so can your journal.
- Setup name: ______
- Market and timeframe: ______
- Entry trigger (exact condition): ______
- Stop location (price or indicator): ______
- Target or exit rule: ______
- Minimum reward to risk: ______
- Disqualifiers (when I skip it): ______
- Time window allowed: ______
Limit yourself to three setups. A short list gives you more repetitions of each pattern, and your journal then has enough samples to judge each one. If you add a new setup, retire an old one, or the page grows past what you can scan in two minutes.
Pros
- Three or fewer setups give you more data per pattern
- Disqualifiers remove the worst impulse trades
- Gradable rules make journal tagging objective
Cons
- Feels restrictive at first
- Takes thought to write precisely
- Needs updating when your results change
A setup belongs in your plan only if a stranger could read its checklist and grade a past trade as pass or fail.
What belongs in your daily routine and psychology rules?
Your routine should cover what you do before the open, during the session, and after the close, with a clock time beside each item. The psychology section should name the specific triggers that hurt you and the action you take when they occur, such as a mandatory break after two consecutive losses.
| Phase | Time | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-market | 8:00 to 9:15 ET | Check news calendar, mark levels, review the plan |
| Opening | 9:30 to 9:45 ET | Observe only, no entries |
| Session | 9:45 to 11:30 ET | Trade only listed setups |
| Post-market | 4:00 to 4:30 ET | Log trades, screenshot, rate execution |
| Weekly | Friday evening | Review tags, update plan |
For psychology rules, write if-then statements. If I lose two trades in a row, then I stop for 15 minutes. If I hit the daily stop, then I close the platform. If I feel the urge to double size, then I reread this page. The rule must name an action, because a vague promise to stay calm does not survive a drawdown.
Add an outage contingency
Some plan guides recommend writing what you do if your platform or internet fails mid-trade. Note a backup broker app, the phone number of your broker's trade desk, and a rule to flatten the position first.
The most reliable psychology rule is a written if-then statement, because a named action beats a vague intention to stay calm.
How do you review and update your trading plan?
Review the plan every Friday against your journal, and revise it only once a month. Weekly reviews check whether you followed the rules, and monthly reviews decide whether the rules themselves need to change. Mixing the two leads to constant tinkering after every loss.
Start the weekly review with compliance, not profit. Count how many trades matched a listed setup and how many broke a risk rule. A week where you followed every rule and lost money is a good week. A week where you broke the daily stop and won is a warning.
- Did every trade match one of my listed setups?
- Did I respect the daily loss limit every day?
- Did any trade exceed my risk per trade?
- Which setup had the best and worst results this week?
- What was my most common mistake, and what is the fix?
- Do I need a plan change, or just better execution?
At month end, look at the sample sizes. Ten trades is not enough to judge a setup. Wait for at least twenty to thirty examples before you cut or change a rule. A free trading journal template or journaling tool makes this step quick because you can filter by setup tag.
Reviewing compliance before profit keeps the plan honest, because a rule-following loss teaches you more than an undisciplined win.
How should the plan change for different trader types?
The structure stays the same, but the numbers shift with your style and account. A scalper placing twenty trades a day needs a tighter risk per trade and a hard trade-count cap. A swing trader holding for days needs a wider stop, a smaller position, and a rule for overnight gaps. Adjust the blanks, not the sections.
| Trader type | Typical risk per trade | Key extra rule |
|---|---|---|
| Scalper | 0.25% to 0.5% | Maximum trades per day, such as 15 |
| Day trader | 0.5% to 1% | No new entries after a set time |
| Swing trader | 0.5% to 1% | Overnight and earnings gap rule |
| Funded account trader | Inside firm drawdown | Daily stop tighter than firm limit |
| Part-time trader | 0.5% | Trade only two fixed windows a day |
Part-time traders deserve a special note. If you only have ninety minutes before work, your plan should say so. Write the exact window, the single setup you will trade in it, and a rule to skip the day if you miss the start. A plan that assumes six hours of screen time will be broken by Tuesday.
A short sample, filled in
Here is a compact example for a part-time day trader with a $10,000 account. Style: day trading, 9:45 to 11:00 ET. Markets: SPY and QQQ only. Setup one: opening range breakout, entry on a five-minute close above the range high with volume above the 20-bar average, stop under the range midpoint, target at 2R. Risk: 1% per trade ($100), daily stop of $200, two losers ends the day. Routine: read the news calendar at 9:00, journal at 11:15. Review: Friday at 5 p.m., plan edits on the first Sunday of the month.
Why a small example works
The sample above has a symbol list, a time window, a dollar risk, and a stop rule. A new trader can follow it without interpreting anything, and that is the standard every section of your own plan should meet.
The same seven sections fit a scalper, a swing trader, and a part-time trader, and only the numbers inside the blanks change.
What to do next
Set a timer for 45 minutes. Fill the seven sections of the table above, run the risk arithmetic with your own account size, and write at most three setups with disqualifiers. Print the page and keep it next to your screen. If you trade a funded account, check every limit against the firm's rules before you sign.
Then trade the plan for 30 days without changing it. Log each trade with a setup tag and a compliance tag. At the end of the month, review the numbers and edit one rule at a time. Pair the plan with a pre-trade checklist for the five-second check before each entry, and use a journal so the review has data behind it.
A trading plan that fits on one page, sets the daily loss limit first, and is reviewed every Friday will do more for your consistency than any new indicator.
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