Trading Business Daily Operations Checklist

A trading day is a sequence of operational tasks, not a stream of decisions. The checklist below structures the day so that research, execution, and review each get their allotted time and nothing critical is skipped under stress. Print it, follow it, revise it quarterly.

Pre-market (60–90 minutes before open)

• Check overnight global markets: Asia/Europe close, futures, FX, rates. Note any 1%+ moves.
• Review economic calendar: flag high-impact releases (NFP, CPI, FOMC) and the no-trade window ±15 minutes.
• Read overnight news for holdings and watchlist; flag earnings before open.
• Pull up the trading plan; confirm today's setups and invalidation levels.
• Verify infrastructure: data feed live, broker connected, charts loading, orders panel active.
• Check open positions: stops still valid, no earnings or dividends pending, margin adequate.
• Set today's risk budget: max loss 2–3% of equity; if already in weekly drawdown, reduce.
• Confirm cash and margin buffer meet the pre-committed minimums.

Skip any pre-market step and the day starts reactive. Reactive trading loses money.

Intraday (during session)

• Trade only pre-defined setups; no improvisation.
• Log every trade within 60 seconds: entry, stop, target, setup, screenshot, emotional state (1–10).
• After each trade, update position sizing for the next trade based on remaining daily risk budget.
• Respect the daily loss limit: at 2% down, no new entries; at 3%, flatten and stop.
• No trading in the no-trade window around high-impact news.
• Mid-session break at 90 minutes: stand, hydrate, refocus. Fatigue degrades judgment measurably.
• Re-check infrastructure hourly; a frozen feed is the most expensive silent failure.

Post-market (60 minutes after close)

• Reconcile all fills against orders; investigate any mismatch.
• Update the trade journal with outcome, R-multiple, and rule compliance for every trade.
• Calculate daily PnL, costs, and remaining weekly risk budget.
• Review the day: did I follow the plan? Note every rule violation with the reason.
• Prepare tomorrow's watchlist and key levels.
• Back up the day's data and journal.

Weekly (Sunday, 45 minutes)

• Review the week's trades: win rate, expectancy, largest win/loss, rule violations.
• Compare actual execution to the plan; the gap is the work.
• Update rolling performance metrics (Sharpe, drawdown, cost ratio).
• Plan the week's macro events and adjust risk budget accordingly.
• Review and adjust watchlist.

Monthly (last weekend, 2–3 hours)

• Full performance review against the business plan KPIs.
• Reconcile broker statements to internal records.
• Review costs; cut any data feed or tool not earning its place.
• Update financial projection actuals vs forecast.
• Review and update the trading plan based on data, not mood.

Operational hygiene

• One screen for execution, one for monitoring, one for journal — never mix.
• Phone off the desk during session unless used for trade logging.
• The checklist is mandatory on winning days, not just losing ones. Discipline is built in calm, not in crisis.

A trader who follows this checklist trades fewer, better-validated setups with full reconciliation. A trader who "wings it" trades more, reviews less, and cannot diagnose why results drift. The checklist is the business's operating system.