Sample pages as text
The same six pages shown as pictures in "Look inside", transcribed from the books. Page numbers are the numbers printed on each page. Blank lines in fill-in pages are where the reader writes.
The pre-trade checklist
Master Yourself First, Start Here, page 8
- Not every day will have a second trade.
The table shows one thing: how half risk on the second trade changes the size of what can happen.
The checklist
Run this before every entry. The default answer is always no trade.
Before any trade. Default answer: no trade.
- My plan. I know today's setup, my trading window, my 1R and 0.5R in dollars, and my written A+ conditions.
- The setup. This setup meets EVERY rule of my strategy. Not most of them.
Level: ☐ A+ (I can name every A+ condition it meets) ☐ Valid, not A+ - My reason. Why am I taking this trade?
☐ My plan ☐ To win back a loss ☐ Fear of missing out ☐ Boredom ☐ I need the money
Only "My plan" allows a trade. - My count. Trades taken today:
- 0 → Trade 1: A+ = 1R. Valid, not A+ = 0.5R.
- 1 → Trade 2: only on a setup that meets my rules (A+ or valid). Normally 0.5R. 1R only if trade 1 was 0.5R, this is A+, and my plan allows the exception.
- 2 → I'm done for the day.
- No valid setup? I don't trade. A no-trade day by the plan is a process win.
Chapter 1: Master Yourself First
Master Yourself First, Part I: The Mind, page 10
It's Sunday night. You're reviewing last week.
You scroll through your trades and something uncomfortable becomes clear. The setups weren't the problem. Most of them were fine. The problem was the trade you took right after the loss on Tuesday. The size you used on Thursday because you felt sharp. The three trades on Friday that weren't in your plan at all.
You close the platform and tell yourself what you told yourself last Sunday: Next week, I follow my rules.
What's really happening
Most traders think they have a strategy problem. So they look for a better one. A new indicator. A new course. A new setup.
But look at your own week. Your strategy didn't take the revenge trade. You did. Your strategy didn't double the size. You did.
The damage rarely comes from the setup. It comes from a handful of specific moments when emotion takes the decision away from your plan:
- After a loss: you want the money back.
- After a big win: you feel like you can't be wrong.
- After a missed trade: you chase the next thing that moves.
- When nothing is happening: your hand needs something to do.
- When you need the money: fear starts making the calls.
Two tools for quiet sessions
Master Yourself First, Part II, page 26
Tool: The One-Sentence Test
Before you click, do one thing:
Explain the setup in one sentence, and why this trade fits your rules.
For example: "Price swept the morning low and reclaimed it inside my trading window, which is my main setup, and it meets my A+ conditions."
If you can't say it clearly in one sentence, take your hand off the mouse.
This works because vague trades can't survive being put into words. "It looks like it might go" is not a sentence about your rules. It's a sentence about your boredom.
Tool: The Boredom Plan
Decide in advance what you do when nothing is happening, so the empty time doesn't decide for you:
- Set alerts at your levels, then step away from the chart.
- Close extra timeframes. More charts create more "almost" setups.
- Write in your journal what you're seeing and why it's not a trade yet.
- Know your end time. If your trading window closes with no valid setup, the session is over. That's a process win, not a wasted day.
Your process win
A quiet session where nothing passed the One-Sentence Test, and you didn't click. Or a session where you waited through the boring part and took only the setup your plan described.
Tool: My Risk Table
Protect Your Capital First, page 19
| Line | Example | Mine |
|---|---|---|
| Starting cushion (C0) | $2,000 | (blank) |
| Risk % (plan default 10%) | 10% | (blank) |
| Full / half trade | $200 / $100 | (blank) |
| Planned worst day (1.5R) | $300 | (blank) |
| Reduced-risk line (half of C0) | $1,000 | (blank) |
| Return to normal | Close above $1,000 | (blank) |
| Slippage allowance (from my records) | Your own estimate | (blank) |
Your process win. Your risk table is filled in, and your next trade's size came from it. Not from the contract limit, and not from how good the setup looked.
Tool: My Money Record
Protect Your Capital First, page 62
One line each time money moves: a purchase, a fee, a payout that reached your bank. Not trades. Moving money to the test fund isn't an expense.
Net before the plan (from Chapter 1): $ (blank)
The page is a blank table with these columns, one row per money movement:
| Date | What / account | Spent | Received | Net since plan start |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (blank) | (blank) | (blank) | (blank) | (blank) |
Your Account Business Plan: My One-Page Plan
Protect Your Capital First, page 68
Fill it in once. Update it when a stage changes, a firm rule changes, or you add an account. Examples in grey come from the example plan.
Last updated: (blank). Reason: (blank).
My goal for this account right now (Chapter 1): (blank)
On the page, each line has a blank space on the right for your own value.
| Line | Example (grey on the page) |
|---|---|
| Account | |
| Plan name and date I checked the rules | Example plan · Oct 1 |
| C0 / floor type / lock level | $2,000 · end-of-day trailing · $50,100 |
| Payout terms: eligibility, min–max, required balance, firm share, limit | 5 winning days · $500–$2,000 · ≥ $52,100 · 10% · 6 |
| Risk | |
| Evaluation risk % → full / half | 10% → $200 / $100 |
| Funded risk % → stage 1 full / half | 8% → $160 / $80 |
| Reduced-risk line (half of C0) | Cushion closes at $1,000 or less |
| Slippage allowance and commission per contract | From my own records |
| Stops | |
| Weekly budget (3R) | $480 at stage 1 |
| Attempt budget, next 30 days | $300 |
| Stage now | |
| Stage / base / full and half risk | 1 · $2,000 · $160 / $80 |
| Next target T / after-payout A / drop below | $3,000 · $2,000 · none |
| Remaining amount waiting (if any) | (no example) |
| Payout plan this cycle | Ladder, or larger payout: total / smallest cushion to keep |
| Requests used / left · my top stage | (no example) |
| Business | |
| Combined loss cap per trade | $500 |
| Test fund target (evaluation + any activation fee) | $125 |
| Accounts now / my limit / firm limit | 1 · (blank) · 5 |