📋

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY 1

 Perfecting Processes
The compound effect is relentless and it cuts both ways...
It can be hard to see the overall impact that small daily actions can start to compound against us
negatively.
You may not notice after one day, one week, or even one month...

But what about after a year?

Used productively, it carries you up toward success.

Used carelessly, it pulls you down toward failure.

Simple disciplined actions repeated consistently over time.

Simple errors in judgment are repeated consistently over time.

The choice is that simple.

Most people don’t stick with the simple daily disciplines it takes to get to where they want to go,
because they don’t know how to look ahead far enough along the curve to see the results they are
creating.

But see it or not, those results are coming.

Easy to do, easy not to do.

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY 2

 Achieving consistent trading results (when we don't control market outcomes) comes from
consistency in the variables you actually have control over:

daily pre-trading routines

processes for market analysis and trade selection

processes for risk management

processes for trade management

regulating your emotions

processes for strategy testing

routines for recording and reviewing your performance

Use that feedback to drive further growth and development in each aspect.

You are no longer trying to win or lose, which you cannot control (those are just expressions of
uncertainty).

Instead, you are focusing on your performance (which you can control).
This is the psychological edge needed to drive your strategy edge.

💭 Thought Exercise:
If you invested your money into someone else to trade for you, would you be happy if they
prepared for the trading day the same way you just did?

The current and future P&L of any business is an outcome of the processes that they have in
place.

Alabama's head American Football coach, Nick Saban, has a saying:

"Don't look at the scoreboard; play the next play."

Saban has a vision he literally calls "the process" - a philosophy that emphasizes preparation and
hard work over results.

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY 3

 It's about constantly examining weak spots and gradually improving.
If you fall short, you work to meet the standard of excellence next time.

And if you win, you work to fight off complacency.

The process, then, is never over.

🔑 A major key is to set up the processes in your trading business so that performing them
feels like play to you.

On the eternal timeline, outcomes will be a reflection of the process - Dr. Gio Vailante

How To Make Your Strategy Mechanical

*Discretionary trading -> the trader decides which trades to take based on their own judgment
and current market conditions.

*Mechanical trading -> the trading system decides which trades to take, regardless of what your
human bias may think.

The more discretion you apply to your decision-making process in the market, the higher the
chance of making emotional mistakes.
Stop thinking: "What if?"

Start thinking: "If, then"

Without a reference point based on clearly defined and sound rules, you have no way to measure
the outcome of your trading decisions

and have any real idea if things are going along as planned or if there’s a real reason for concern.

Clearly defined strategy rules allow you to determine if losing trades are actually a part of your
probability model, or if they were bad trades
that should not have been executed.

You need to eliminate the variable that are you.

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY 4

 When you have a systemized edge, as long as the losing trades perfectly met your strategy
criteria, then you know

each loss will become one step closer to your next profitable run of trades.

You will never be able to scale until you have extreme confidence and clarity in your proven
edge.

A mechanical strategy gives you a consistent, repeatable, and scalable approach.

How To Make Your Strategy Mechanical:

1. TRADE ENTRY -> Enter the market consistently every single time

Enter on S&D zones

Limit or market order?

What timeframe(s)?

Flip zones, Structure zones, or both?

Sweep zone?

Inducement?

Premium/discount? Which timeframe?

Range/pivot/candle/fractal?
Where will you enter on the zone? (distal/EQ/fixed SL)

Determine which elements are strict minimum criteria, and those which are just added
confluence.

2. STOP LOSS PLACEMENT -> Develop a fixed formula for consistent placement

Fixed SL 'x' pips behind the entry zone

Fixed SL size for each individual pair

Fixed SL behind swing high/low

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY 5

 3. TRADE MANAGEMENT -> Manage your trades like a robot

Fixed TP based on R: R (SL size x R: R = TP)

Fixed TP based on key level (S&D / structure/liquidity)

Trail stop behind swing highs/lows (exit on trend change)

How many pips in front of your key level will you set your take profit order?

How many pips behind the swing high or low will your trail be?

What timeframe are your targets based on?

How much volume will you partial at each level?

4. RISK MANAGEMENT -> Manage your risk consistently

Position sizing (always risk 'x%' of total account balance)

Scaling in (only scale in when the initial position(s) risk is removed)

Max daily loss (max 'x%' of total account balance)

Total open risk (max 'x%' of total account balance)

Fixing these elements of your trading will allow you to accurately measure and optimize your
strategy performance.

Be consistent in what you can control.

Be a slave to your strategy.

You don’t need to try to predict the markets, just try to be in the markets every time a
high-probability trade setup by your plan is provided.

Creating Your Trade Plan

Trading Plan -> your systematic approach to trading your defined edge in the market with
entry, exit, and risk management rules.

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY 6

 Read your plan before, during, and after every single trading session.
Plan the trade, trade your plan.

Your first draft will be very rough, but you need a starting point in order to begin the process of
testing and refining your strategy before you can begin trading it live.

Don't let 'perfection' be an excuse for procrastination.

Your eventual goal is to have 2 documents:

1. Simplified trading plan

2. Flow chart diagram detailing the full end-to-end process of your strategy

At the start, it can feel like there are a lot of moving parts to the strategy.

The complexity of your approach initially can give you the knowledge that is required in order to
eventually be able to execute
a 'simple' plan perfectly -> unconscious competence.

A 'simple' elegant trading plan is what will lead you to achieve consistent results.
But to get to that level of simplicity, first, you need the deep understanding that comes from the
initial complexity.
(So don't worry if your written trading plan is a little long at first, you will eventually boil it
down to a few key sentences).

Trading Plan Contents

Have these 3 key components included as the bare minimum:

ENTRY -> How will you enter the market?

EXIT -> How will you exit out of the market?

RISK -> How will you manage your exposure to the market?

You can add other sections such as but not limited to:

Entry model(s) diagrams

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY 7

 Entry model(s) examples

Session times

Pair(s) you trade

Pair specific rules

Asset class(es) you trade

Defining Your Trading Personality

Trading is an individual sport.

Ultimately the responsibility falls on you to press buy and sell.

Becoming an independent and consistently profitable trader will require you to build, develop
and evolve your trading plan into something that is unique to you.

Avoid becoming a jack of all trades, master of none.

To truly reap the benefits of one strategy, you have to sacrifice the others.
The most efficient way to first know what trading style you should specialize in is by defining
your individual trading personality.

1. GOALS -> What are you trying to achieve and why?

Do you want to be a full-time trader?

Do you want trading to supplement your job/business?

Do you want to trade and travel?

It's common to want the result, but not the lifestyle (routine) that the result requires.

2. CURRENT LIFESTYLE -> What are your current time constraints and commitments?

What timeframe can you enter?

What timeframe can you manage your trade?

How often will you have internet and/or chart access?

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY 8

 What timezone are you in?

Design your trade plan around a style that will be the most sustainable for your current lifestyle.

3. TRADING HISTORY & JOURNEY -> What is the good, the bad, the failures, and the
lessons?

Look for repeat patterns and commonalities

How can you do more of what's working & less of what isn't?

What rules can you implement to avoid repeating failings?

4. PSYCHOLOGICAL BLOCKAGES -> What's holding you back, why, and how will you
overcome it?

What is the problem?

Why do I have this problem?

What can I do to solve it?

The more reflection, self-review, and contemplation you perform as a trader, the quicker you will
progress.

❌ PROBLEM: My journal showed nearly every time I took more than 3 losses in one day,
my results would suffer.

🤔 WHY: Overtrading and taking invalid trades due to trying to make back losses that
day.
✅ SOLUTION: New trade plan rule -> Maximum 3 losses per day.
Simple solution -> massive long-term improvement.
It’s okay to make human errors.

It’s not okay to do nothing and let it keep happening whilst expecting different results.
Find the problem, find the why, and fix it!

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY 9

 Steps 3 & 4 will be performed when you are refining and improving your already established
trade plan.

Creating a trading plan that is individually tailored to you will massively increase your
adherence to your rules, which will decrease your performance discrepancy
(the difference between your strategy results and your actual results) and therefore increases
the probability of achieving long-term success.

TRADING PLAN
You can make this plan as 'simple/beginner/conservative' or as
'complex/advanced/aggressive' as you see fit.
Take this plan as an overview but we recommend starting with focusing on:

LQ-EM2 A+B (strong liquidations)

Pro MTF trend (PT) and/or Pro MTF order flow (POF)

Fixed R management (i.e +5R & trail to BE after the break of the pullback H/L).

(But if you find 3R or 4R works better for you - then obviously do that! 🙂).
Performance discrepancy = (your strategy's results) - (your actual results)
Aim to get this as close to zero every month.

You only need around a 20% strike rate to break even if your winners are 5R.
5% per month:

$10k -> $500/m

$100k -> $5k/m

$200k -> $10k/m

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY 10

 $400k -> $20k/m

Think 3 trades a week, not 3 trades a day.

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY 11

 MTF Phases: When to wait for MTF CHoCH or i-BOS?
(Theory)
Basic trade plan = MTF POIs -> LTF execution.

How do you progress from this to adding in an HTF?

When should you wait for an MTF CHoCH or i-BOS first?
How far should you target/expect the price to move?

MTF PHASES - CHEAT SHEET

1. What is the current MTF phase? (Look at MTF Swing + Internal)

2. What is the current MTF objective? (What is the HTF telling you?)

3. When is it best to trade this phase?

4. What confirmations are you waiting for?

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY 12

 MTF Phases: When to wait for MTF CHoCH or i-BOS? (Walkthrough)
The key to trading this strategy is in building the multi-timeframe narrative.
Backtest with these colored boxes on your MTF chart using the cheat sheet from the previous
lesson to help you trade the different phases of the market.

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY 13

 STOP OVERTHINKING - JUST START

1) Write your trade plan

Pick your timeframes / pair(s) / session(s) etc

Pick your entry model(s) you will execute [LQ-EM2] - (consider building data on the
others)

Pick your management strategy - start with set & forget (i.e fixed 5R & trail to BE after
break of pullback H/L)

Fill this out in Notion (Trade Plan & Trade Setups folder)

2) Forward Test (Daily Markups)

Every day without fail, with no excuses

Execution: markups -> demo -> small live account

Compare to the Team in #photon-analysis + #photon-markups + watch session recap videos

Collect your OWN markups + record individual trades in backtest/journal table (qualitative
+ quantitative)

Add trade examples to the Trade Setups folder (look at this before/during every session)

3) Backtest
Weekly review (every week!) [bar replay or hindsight] (Sustainable method - brings
confidence for the week ahead)

And/or pick a starting time period + work forward from there

Utilise historical team markups + session recap videos!!!

Visual review of trades matters the most at the start - study the price action/narrative
(qualitative).
Quantitative data is more relevant when you're making fewer mistakes + know exactly what
you're looking for (strike rate/expectancy etc).

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY 14

 Keep it simple - add layers over time.
Over the coming months, you'll develop YOUR style.

Zoom out -> You could have 3 negative months in a row yet still make +80R by the end of
the year.
We are traders, not employees with fixed salaries.
Unfollow others traders on social media - or just delete it! It's you vs you.
Just start.
Procrastination is a privilege. When your life is in danger, you just act.
What would less procrastination mean for the future you / your family / causes you care about?

Understand the long-term consequence of inaction.

Everything good needs time.

Don't do work in a hurry.
Go into details; it pays in every way.

Time means power for your work.

Mediocrity is always in a rush, but whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing with
consideration.
For genius is nothing more nor less than doing well what anyone can do badly.
Amelia Barr

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY 15

 M15 Swing Plan
TIMEFRAMES

HTF -> D/4H

MTF -> 1H
LTF -> M15

ENTRY MODELS

LQ-EM 1 -> MTF Leg Inducement

LQ-EM 2A+B -> Strong liquidations (Fake Break + Equals)
LQ-EM 4 -> MTF Leg/POI Sweep
In every EM, only take the flip if it sweeps LQ, otherwise, always take the extreme.

Sweep Flips -> Tomás will use the sweep of BTS/STB wicks as a valid sweep.

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY 16

 This is more aggressive, you don't have to use this.

LQ-EM 1 -> MTF Leg Inducement

If there is no MTF (1H) LID, Tomás will use LTF (M15) LID.
This happens when the MTF (1H) range is quite small so there's no space for MTF LID to form,
but it still looks like a high probability POI.
The LTF LID must be a structural high/low (not BTS/STB wicks).

SESSION TIMING
This is less of an issue as you start to use higher timeframes such as the M15 (and higher).
Tomás has tested that the most optimal window for his results and lifestyle is:
07:00-17:00 GMT

M15 Testing
DRAWBACKS OF M1 ENTRIES
Overwhelmed with M1 PA.

M1 PA very fast.
Get the correct direction, but not capitalizing in the moves -> no tags.
Too many variables at the same time -> confusion.
Cant handle M1 and other life commitments.
M1 is not always suitable for people with 9-5 jobs.

Trading with 2 pip SL, not scalable.

High commissions.
Spreads are much more of an issue.
Session timing.
No diversification.

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY 17

 BENEFITS OF M15 ENTRIES

It can be easier to achieve consistency.

Simplified and scalable approach.
Hands-off approach, easier to combine with other life commitments.
Stress-free due to slower PA and bigger SLs.
Lower commissions.

Spreads less of an issue.

Diversify with multiple pairs.

Consider using the M15 strategy as a starting point and after finding consistency, you can
dive into the LTF (M1) approach, even though you do not need to.

TRADE PLAN / STRATEGY 18