Trading Plan: A Practical Template for Your Journal

What a trading plan should do

A trading plan should define the conditions, limits and review process you intend to follow before you place an order. It is not a prediction and it does not need to cover every possible market event. Its job is to make important decisions visible early enough that you can compare the plan with what you actually did.

Keep the plan specific to your own process. Name the markets, sessions, setups, entry conditions, size rules and exits. Add account-level limits, the evidence you will save, and a review date. Avoid copying another trader's risk numbers or goals because those choices depend on personal circumstances.

CME Group describes a trade plan as a working document with objectives, methodology, risk management, strategies and a trader log. That structure is useful because it connects decisions before a trade with records after it. The journal is not a separate administrative task. It is the evidence used to test whether the plan was followed and whether a rule needs closer inspection.

Use this trading plan template

Start with one page. A compact plan is easier to consult and easier to audit than a long document full of exceptions. The table below separates the major parts so each statement can later be checked against a trade record.

Write rules that can be checked

A plan becomes hard to review when its rules rely on vague words such as good, strong or disciplined. Replace each broad label with an observable condition. Instead of writing “take only good setups,” name the setup and the evidence that must exist. Instead of “control risk,” state which account limit applies and which inputs must be recorded before the order.

The plan should also define a documented exception. Preserve the original rule, record the reason for a change and keep the actual fill. This makes an exception reviewable without quietly rewriting the plan after the result is known.

Rules should describe process, not promise an outcome. A rule can show whether an action matched the plan. It cannot guarantee that the action will be profitable, suitable or repeated under the same conditions in the future.

Connect the plan to a daily journal

In Proloca, keep the account, market, symbol, direction, session, size, fees, notes and screenshots with the recorded trade. Add the psychology or execution context that materially affected the decision. The product does not execute orders or connect to a broker, so confirm fills with the broker record and use the journal as the review layer.

Keep planned values separate from actual values. The plan explains the decision before execution; actual fills, costs and changes explain what happened. A difference is a review question, not automatic proof that the plan was good or bad.

Use account-specific context for different capital pools. Proloca Trading Accounts can keep personal, funded and archived records separate, while cash adjustments keep deposits, withdrawals, payouts and resets outside Trading P&L.

Review the plan on a schedule

Do not revise the plan after every memorable result. Choose a review interval or minimum comparable trade count. Inspect the trades behind each metric because an outlier, size change or narrow market period can dominate a small sample.

Change one rule at a time when possible. Record the old wording, reason, date and evidence to review next. If evidence is mixed, mark the rule for more observation instead of forcing a confident explanation.

Trading plan checklist

Use this checklist when creating the first version or reviewing an existing plan. The document should be short enough to use and detailed enough to audit.

1. Define the market, account, session and setup covered by the plan.
2. Write observable entry, size, risk and exit conditions in plain language.
3. State which planned values, actual fills, costs, notes and screenshots will be retained.
4. Keep cash movement separate from Trading P&L and execution review.
5. Name any behavior trigger and the specific response you intend to follow.
6. Set a review date or minimum comparable trade count before changing a rule.
7. Record revisions with the evidence and reason behind each change.

What a trading plan cannot decide

A trading plan can organize your own rules and make later review more honest. It cannot select a suitable security, set a personal risk tolerance, guarantee an execution price or establish that a strategy has an edge. Markets, instruments and order behavior carry risks that a journal cannot remove.

Treat this template as an educational recordkeeping framework. Confirm current product specifications and order behavior with the relevant exchange, regulator and broker. Proloca helps you inspect recorded decisions, but it does not provide signals, execute trades or offer financial advice.