Before a trader defines their strategy or chooses their markets, they must decide how they plan to conduct themselves. 

A trading strategy should be underpinned by a set of standards and behaviours that guide every decision and approach. 

Establishing professional standards can provide a framework for consistency and personal accountability, and give you a better chance of improving your trading outcomes.

These standards should form one of the first and most important sections of any trading strategy, serving as a personal code of conduct that you can return to in times of uncertainty and something you can align with at the start of a trading day.

Review these standards often, reword them to fit your natural way of thinking, and take ownership of them!

1. Discipline

I act in the market according to my written rules, not my impulses. 

Without trading discipline, even the best strategy can break down. Sticking to predefined criteria helps to remove emotion from decisions on entry and exit. 

Although this is a crucial standard in developing consistency, discipline is a symptom rather than a cause. You will still need to explore the underlying cause if you often find yourself straying from your plan.

2. Risk Management

I risk only what is appropriate for my account size, experience, and market conditions. 

Protecting capital and managing profit risk (the amount you give back to the market if it moves in your desired direction) should always be a cornerstone of any planning.

Appropriate position sizing relating to account size (e.g., 1% if leveraged trading) and some awareness and adjustment of this, are also worth consideration in specific trading plan criteria. 

3. Evidence-Based Refinement

I measure, evaluate, and adapt based on performance data, not hunches or whims. 

The need for consistency in action is at the basis of effective performance measurement. You will only be able to determine the success of trading approaches and your trading plan if you actually trade it.  

Improvement comes from analysing trade results, including the success of various strategies, instruments, and timeframes.

To close the circle through refinement according to these results is the final step in this cyclical approach to ongoing improvement in outcomes. 

4. Trading Patience

I wait for high-quality setups that align with my plan. Overtrading only exposes me to noise and weakens my trading edge. 

It is not so easy waiting for the market to respond as you think it should. The ‘itchy-trigger” syndrome of premature entry is commonplace for many traders, but often that move you expect fails to materialise and results in a trade that moves against you.

Waiting for complete candles to confirm a breach of a resistance level and ensuring all entry criteria are met are two key things to work on. 

This may mean sitting through an entire session without a trade because the right setup defined in your rules has not happened. If so, tomorrow is another trading day and one that may produce the right setup with a desirable result.

5. Transparency and Trading Honesty

I keep records that reflect the truth, wins and losses alike, recognising this is the best way to identify what I must work on to become the trader I can be

Honest trade journaling builds personal accountability and highlights where improvement is needed. 

A painful stop triggered and too much profit given back, caused by ignoring your rules, is still logged and reviewed — that is how you grow as a trader.

6. Professionalism

I treat trading as a business, not as a form of entertainment or gambling. 

Setting clear overall goals for your trading, managing costs, and reviewing your performance, like any business owner would. 

Your trading business profit/loss is based on doing the right things consistently, being serious about continuous improvement and refining your interactions with whatever market and trading style you choose to trade.

7. Adaptability

I adjust my approach to market conditions instead of forcing one method into all environments. 

A breakout system shines in volatile conditions, but in quiet ranges, it may be time to consider alternative strategies, such as mean reversion. 

Matching strategy to market requires the development of general market awareness, often facilitated through looking at longer timeframes or key market classes as part of your daily trading routine.

This is not only important at the start of the day, but also at the start of each new trading session, e.g., the move from Asian into European sessions.

Proactive assessment of when markets may change, e.g. key economic data releases, is also a key part of this. 

8. Resilience

I remain composed and continue to adhere to my trading plan when faced with losses and setbacks. 

Every trader experiences drawdowns, but it is resilience that determines who recovers and how rapidly this recovery may be. 

You may choose to set a standard to provide some “breathing space” to press your psychological reset button.

For example, when I hit three consecutive losses, I stop, reset, realign with my plan and return with clarity, rather than potentially compounding errors through frustration and revenge trading behaviour.

9. Competence-Based Progression

I scale my trading in a particular strategy, my trading as a whole, and take on new approaches only when a level of knowledge and competency indicates I am ready. 

Every move forward in trading activity should be backed up with a defined readiness. If you are considering scaling, this should be specific based on having a critical mass of trades that indicate that your results have some sort of consistency. 

Taking on new strategies is based on learning and testing at a minimum trading volume initially. 

There is no race to move forward, but this must be balanced with managing potential procrastination when evidence that you can ramp things up is present.

10. Continuous Learning

I will remain a student of the market. There are no greater lessons that can be gained from how I am trading in reality to identify those things I need to work on next

Complacency will end progress towards the trader you can become. Continuous learning will keep you sharp and should be planned.  

Each month, look for new insights, tools, and strategies and record milestones to offer motivational evidence that you are progressing. 

Final Thoughts

Professional standards should not be viewed as optional extras; they should be explicitly stated and used in reality to measure behaviour.   

These should be your foundation on which all trading planning and your long-term success can be built. They should be articulated in the first section of your trading plan and will set the tone for how you will operate in every market condition. 

Your strategies may change, and markets will always evolve, but a trader guided by the standards covered in this article has the chance to grow and positively influence their trading outcomes.

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