A trading plan assists you in selecting the right trades, timing, and volume. You can use someone else’s plan as a template, but a trading plan should be unique to you. Keep in mind that someone else’s mindset toward risk and available cash may differ from yours. Their strategies may deem useful to your trade plan, but they must also cover the following:
- Your driving force behind trading
- The time you want to give
- Your objectives in trading
- Your risk-taking behavior
- Your accessible trading capital
- Principles for managing personal risks
- Your preferred marketplaces for trading
- Your techniques
- Steps for keeping records
Table of Contents
Why is a trading plan necessary?
You should have a trading plan because it will enable you to establish your ideal trade’s specifications and make rational trading judgments. You may avoid making irrational decisions in the heat of the moment by having a solid trading strategy. A trading strategy specifies in detail how you should join and exit trades. A trading plan offers the following advantages:
- Trading is simpler because everything has been planned out in advance, allowing you to trade within your predetermined boundaries.
- You already know when to take profits and cut losses, so you can remove emotions from the decision-making process and make more objective choices.
- By being committed to your plan, you may learn why some trades succeed while others fail.
- Defining your record-keeping process gives you the opportunity to learn from previous trading errors and hone your judgment.
How to design a Trading Strategy
When putting together a good trading plan, there are some simple points to remember:
1. Describe your driving force
A crucial stage in developing your trading strategy is determining why you trade and how much time you are ready to invest. Write down your trading goals after asking yourself why you want to become a trader.
2. Determine the amount of time you can dedicate to trading
Determine the amount of time you can devote to trading. Do you have to execute your trades in the morning hours or the late hours of the night, or can you trade when you are at work? You will need extra time if you want to make a lot of trades per day. You might not require a lot of hours each day if you plan to utilize stops, limits, and alerts to minimize your risk and are going long on investments that will grow over a prolonged period. Additionally, it is critical to devote enough time to trading preparation, including education, strategy practice, and market analysis. But the most important thing is to find a broker, so get a list of brokers that don’t need ID verification and select the one which fits your needs.
3. Set your objectives
Any trade objective must be more than just a vague declaration; it must be explicit, measurable, realistic, relevant, and time-bound. In the following 12 months, for instance, I hope to enhance the value of my entire portfolio by 15%. This objective is smart since the numbers are precise, you can gauge your success, it is reachable, involves trading, and has a deadline. Identifying your trading style is another crucial step. Your personality, risk tolerance, and trading time commitment determine your trading style. Four major trading approaches are available:
- Position trading is keeping positions open for several weeks, months, or even years in the hope that they will eventually turn lucrative.
- Swing trading involves maintaining positions for days or weeks to profit from medium-term market movements.
- Day trading involves making a few trades and closing them all on the same day. By not holding any positions overnight, day traders can reduce expenses and risks.
- Scalping is the practice of making numerous trades every day for a brief period to generate tiny profits that add up to a significant sum.
4. Pick a risk-to-reward ratio
Determine how much risk you are willing to take before you begin trading, both for individual deals and your overall trading strategy. Determining your risk tolerance is crucial. Even the safest financial assets entail some level of risk because market prices are constantly fluctuating. It is entirely up to you if you want to take on a greater stake in the hopes of earning more gains or not. Some beginning traders like to do so to test the waters. Even if you constantly lose more games than you win, you can still turn a profit. It comes down to reward vs. risk. The risk-reward ratio that traders prefer to utilize is one of three or higher, which means that the potential profit from a transaction will be at least twice as great as the potential loss. Compare the amount you are risking to the possible gain to calculate the risk-reward ratio. The risk-reward ratio, for instance, is 1:4 if you bet $100 on a trade with a potential payoff of $400.
5. Determine how much money you can trade with
Consider how much you can afford to invest in trading. Never put more on the line than you can take on. Trading is risky, and you risk losing all your trading money (or more, if you are a professional trader). Make sure you can afford the highest possible loss on every trade by doing the arithmetic before you start. Practice trading on a demo mode until you have enough investment capital to begin if you do not.
6. Evaluate your market expertise
The market you intend to trade in will impact the specifics of your trading strategy. This is because, for instance, a forex trading plan will differ from a stock trading plan. Consider how knowledgeable you are about various asset classes and marketplaces before learning all you can about the one you wish to trade. Then, consider the market’s opening and closing times, its volatility, and how much you stand to lose or gain for each point of price fluctuation. If these aspects do not sit well, you might want to pick another market.
