The master desk

One idea

A master student has one written idea. A beginner has five, and adds a sixth after a loss.

Lesson 3 of 5 • 9 min

One written plan on a desk — Example. The written idea is the euro, the 15-minute chart, rising swings only. After a loss you do not open oil, gold, and a news trade. Those three are a new sample, not the one you started.

Study material only. It is not a signal to buy or sell. AcademyTrade is education. It is not a broker, not investment advice, and not a promise that you will make money. Trading can lose the money you deposit.

One idea means one market, one pair of timeframes, one condition, and one invalidation. You can study other markets. You do not trade a new one because yesterday's idea lost.

Adding a market, an indicator, or a news story after a loss is a search for relief. The journal will show it: the rule on Monday is not the rule on Thursday. Expectancy cannot be calculated on a rule that keeps changing its name.

Stay with the idea for a sample you decided in advance. Thirty practice trades is a reasonable first sample. If you abandon it at trade eight, you learned nothing about the idea. You learned that you dislike losing, which you already knew.

Boredom is part of the work. An idea that needs a new chart every day is entertainment.

Write the idea in one paragraph.
Count the sample before you start.
Do not add a market inside that sample.