Why Session Prep Belongs in the Journal
If prep lives only in your head, your journal cannot prove whether you followed the plan or reacted to headlines. A short written template—same fields every day—creates comparable rows for review.
The Template (Copy These Headers)
1. Bias & invalidation — One sentence: “I am biased long above X; wrong if we accept Y below.”
2. Key levels — Only the three levels you will trade around today (not every line on the chart).
3. Events & windows — Times you will not initiate new risk (e.g. CPI, FOMC, stock open imbalance).
4. Risk budget — Max loss in R or dollars for the session; max trades; max consecutive losses before stop.
5. Emotional baseline — Sleep, stress, FOMO risk (1–5). If above your threshold, size down or skip.
After the Close: Three Checkboxes
- Did entries match the pre-written bias and levels?
- Did I respect the risk budget?
- One line: “Tomorrow I keep / change ___.”
Summary
Ten minutes of structured prep pays off in cleaner tags, fewer “mystery” trades, and faster weekly reviews. Pair this template with your platform’s screenshots so your future self sees what you saw before the open.
Build session discipline with [Tradapt journal defaults](/app/settings) and trade tagging—[start free](/register).