My Pre-Trade Setup Checklist

Before I take any trade there's a checklist. And I don't skip it. Not on good days, not on slow days, not when I'm convinced I already know what the chart is doing.

Here's what's on it.

Is Price at a Level That Actually Matters?

Not a line I drew because I wanted a trade — a real level. A previous high or low, an institutional level, something price has respected before.

This one exists because it's the easiest box to fake. It's tempting to draw a line wherever price happens to be reacting in the moment and call it "a level," especially when you're eager to be in a trade. A real level has history behind it — price has actually done something there before. If I can't point to a previous reaction at that exact spot, it's not a level. It's a hope with a line drawn through it.

Is the Higher Timeframe in Agreement?

If I'm taking a buy on the lower timeframe but the daily is in a clear downtrend, that's a no. The higher timeframe bias has to support the direction.

This box has saved me from more bad trades than almost anything else on this list. A clean-looking setup on a lower timeframe means something completely different depending on what the bigger picture is doing. I don't override the daily just because the five-minute looks convincing. If they disagree, I wait.

Is the EMA Structure Clean?

Are the EMAs stacked and sloping in the direction of the trade? Or are they tangled and flat, which means the market hasn't decided yet.

Tangled EMAs are the market shrugging at you. I don't need it to be certain — nothing is — but I need it to have picked a direction. A flat, crossed-up EMA structure means I'm not trading a trend right now. I'm trading a guess.

Is the TDI Giving Me a Signal?

I want to see the shark fin. The curl from the extreme. Not a maybe — an actual signal.

This is a specificity check as much as anything else. "Kind of curling" isn't a signal. The whole point of having a defined signal is that it's supposed to remove ambiguity, and if I'm squinting at the indicator trying to convince myself it counts, it doesn't count.

Does the Math Actually Work?

Do I have a logical stop and a target that makes the risk-reward worth it? If the math doesn't work, I don't take it.

A perfect setup with a bad risk-reward ratio isn't a perfect setup. It's a setup I need to walk away from, no matter how clean everything else on this list looks.

Am I in the Right Headspace?

And then — honestly — am I in the right headspace? Because if I'm tired, frustrated, distracted, or I'm on my third coffee and haven't eaten, that goes on the checklist too. I trade better when I've moved my body, eaten something real, and I'm settled.

Every technical box on this list can be checked and it still won't matter if the person clicking the buttons isn't in a state to execute clearly. This box isn't soft. It's just as disqualifying as any chart-based one.

The Unofficial Indicator

Also my dog is asleep at my feet. I don't know if that's technically a trading indicator, but my win rate when he's there is suspicious.

I'll leave that one for you to make of what you will.

Every Box or None

Every box checked, I take the trade. One box missing, I wait.

The checklist doesn't slow you down. It protects you from yourself.