Trading Craft 101 · Lesson 03 — The Trade PlanE-mini S&P 500 FuturesCME_MINI_DL:ES1!ConfluenceEdge_🔵 THE PLAN BEFORE THE TRADE A trade without a written plan is a guess with leverage. The plan answers four questions before the position exists: where do I enter, where does the idea die, where do I take profit, and how much am I willing to lose? Written down — not in the head. The head rewrites history; the paper does not. 🔵 THE FOUR FIELDS Entry: the trigger, not the zone — the exact price condition that gets you in. Invalidation: the level where the setup's idea is wrong — that is the stop, and it exists before entry. Target: the level where the reason for the trade is satisfied — 1R to 3R, defined by structure, not by hope. Risk: the fixed budget that converts the stop distance into size. 🔵 WHY WRITING CHANGES BEHAVIOR Writing forces precision. "Buy near support" is not a plan — "buy on a rejection close above 4,320, stop below 4,290, first target 4,390" is. The act of writing exposes the gaps you would otherwise fill in mid-trade, when the price is moving and the judgment is worst. 🔵 THE PRE-TRADE CHECKLIST Before entry, four questions, in order: is the setup still valid? Is the invalidation exactly where I wrote it? Does the size match the risk budget? Would I take this trade if I were flat and calm right now? One "no" — no trade. Next lesson: backtesting — how to test the plan honestly before risking money on it. Educational content only. Not investment advice.