Trading Foundations

A useful first session is small enough to review. Choose one instrument, a historical date and a fixed chart timeframe. Use replay or a simulator; hide later candles before deciding. The aim is to demonstrate a process, not to find a winning screenshot.

Start with the instrument card from lesson one. Check the date’s session hours, known events and account rules. Mark one area of interest and describe what price must do before you would consider an entry. Write down what would invalidate the idea, how you would exit, and how you would calculate size. If any of that is unknown, record a pass.

Only then advance the chart. Save the before-and-after view and record what actually happened. Separate errors in analysis from errors in execution: the market moving against a valid plan is different from entering without one. The next course develops the sizing and loss-limit decisions in detail.

Worked example

“I think this goes up” leaves every execution choice open. “I will observe whether 100–101 holds, wait for a completed reclaim, define invalidation below the failed reclaim and calculate size before entry” gives you something testable. If the reclaim never appears, the recorded result is a pass.

Try it in replay

Create a one-page practice record: instrument, date/timezone, observation, required trigger, invalidation, possible exit, risk calculation and result. Complete one record without placing a real-money trade.

Check your reasoning

A complete record can contain no trade. You should be able to show which facts were known before the decision and which appeared later. Continue with Risk & Trade Planning.