The one-page core
(1) Markets and hours: what you trade and WHEN — "XAUUSD, London morning and NY overlap only" beats vague availability (session guide). (2) Setups: the two or three patterns you are licensed to take, each with its written checklist — e.g. the zone continuation and the sweep reversal from the H1 strategy. (3) Risk: per-trade %, daily stop, news and weekend rules — imported wholesale from the risk framework. (4) Execution rules: entry trigger requirements, stop placement, target logic. (5) Review cadence: when the journal gets read and the plan gets amended. If it does not fit on a page, it will not survive contact with a live chart.
The two routines that keep it alive
Pre-session (10 min): the bias routine — structure read, levels marked, calendar checked, bias written in one line with numbers. The plan's job here: you may only hunt the setups on your licence, in the direction of the written bias. Post-session (5 min): journal the trades against the plan — not "did I win" but "did I follow it". Plan-compliant losses are business expenses; off-plan wins are the most dangerous events in trading, because they pay you to abandon the framework.
Amending without destroying
Plans must evolve — but by procedure, not by mood: changes happen only at the weekly review, only one at a time, only with journal evidence, and never during a drawdown week (drawdown edits are almost always tilt wearing a lab coat). Version the page; date the changes. Over months this produces the most valuable document you will own: a plan whose every rule has a reason you can cite. The upgrade path from plan to fully testable rulebook is covered in rules-based systems. Nothing here is financial advice.
FAQ
What should a gold trading plan include?
Five sections: markets and hours, licensed setups with checklists, risk rules, execution rules, and review cadence — all on one page. Anything longer becomes a document you admire instead of consult.
How often should I change my trading plan?
At scheduled weekly reviews, one evidence-backed change at a time — and never mid-drawdown, when every proposed edit is disguised tilt. The plan's stability IS its value.
Does a trading plan actually improve results?
It removes the two biggest performance leaks: improvised decisions under adrenaline, and unmeasurable behaviour. With a plan, even losses generate data; without one, nothing generates anything but variance.
ⓘ See these ideas on real price: open the free XAUUSD live chart.