Desk Routine
Every trader has seen a twenty-item pre-market checklist and used it twice. A checklist works when it is short enough to finish and specific enough to change a decision. This one takes about twelve minutes and has four sections.
One — the calendar, with a decision attached
Do not simply note that there is a data release. Decide in advance what you will do about it. Write the decision down, because at 13:29 you will negotiate with yourself otherwise.
- Which releases fall in my trading window?
- Am I flat into them, reduced, or explicitly trading them?
- If I hold a position through one, what is the specific reason?
Two — the levels that matter today
Mark no more than five levels per instrument. Yesterday high and low, the session open, one higher-timeframe level and one round number in range. A chart with thirty lines on it contains no information.
Three — the state of the book and the trader
Two questions, answered honestly, in writing. What is my current open risk, per currency and in total? And what is my state today — rested, distracted, angry about yesterday, or fine? The second question is not self-help. Adherence to rules collapses in predictable conditions, and knowing you are in one is what lets you halve size instead of discovering the problem at the close.
01
Green
Rested, no open drawdown, no distractions. Normal size, normal setups.
02
Amber
Tired, recent loss, external pressure. Half size, A-setups only.
03
Red
Angry, sleep-deprived, needing money. No trading. Review only.
Four — the single sentence
Finish by writing one sentence describing what you expect today and what would prove you wrong. Not a prediction — a frame. At the end of the session you will read it back and learn more from that one line than from the equity curve.
The checklist does not tell you what will happen. It tells you which version of yourself is trading.
Written by Adrian Vestberg — former interbank FX dealer, now running a two-person discretionary desk.