The Day Trading Checklist: Run These 5 Checks Before Every Trade

A day trading checklist is a fixed sequence of checks you run before every entry — market bias, key level, reaction, confirmation, and execution. If a setup fails any check, you skip the trade. This is the exact five-phase checklist we run live every morning inside MTC, and there is a free printable PDF version below so you can keep it next to your screen.

The 5-Phase Day Trading Checklist

Every phase asks one question. A trade only moves to the next phase after it passes the current one — and any single failure means no trade. This is the same qualification sequence used across every guide on this site.

Phase 1 — Market Bias: who is in control?

☐  Higher-timeframe structure read: higher highs and higher lows (bullish) or lower highs and lower lows (bearish)?
☐  You are trading in the direction of control — not against it, not guessing a reversal.
☐  No clear bias on the higher timeframe = no trade today on this ticker. Full method: multiple time frame analysis.

Phase 2 — Key Level: where does price actually matter?

☐  The level was marked in advance — support or resistance, a prior breakout point, or the session high or low.
☐  Price is AT the level, not mid-range and not being chased toward it.
☐  The level is visible on the higher timeframe, not just the 1-minute chart.

Phase 3 — Reaction: does the market respect the level?

☐  Price actually reacted at the level — a rejection wick, a stall, or absorption. A touch alone is not a reaction.
☐  Volume confirms interest at the level.
☐  No reaction = no trade. The first touch is information, not an entry.

Phase 4 — Confirmation: is the move actually starting?

☐  A trigger fired: a reclaim, a break of the reaction high or low, or continuation through the zone — like a breakout and retest.
☐  The trigger points in the same direction as your Phase 1 bias.
☐  You are entering on proof — not on prediction, hope, or fear of missing out.

Phase 5 — Execution: entry, stop, size, target — decided BEFORE the trade

☐  The stop sits where the setup is structurally wrong — not at a random dollar amount. See how to set a stop loss.
☐  Position size is calculated from stop distance and account risk percent — see position sizing strategies.
☐  The target is defined and the reward-to-risk is worth taking — 2R minimum for A+ trades.

Grade the Trade, Then Size It

The checklist does more than filter trades — it sizes them. All five phases pass = A+ trade, full size. Four pass = B trade, reduced size. Three or fewer = C trade, no trade at all. Most losing traders do not lose because they never find good setups — they lose because they take C trades at A+ size.

Download the Printable Checklist (Free PDF)

How to Use the Checklist

Pre-market (most of the work happens here)

Read higher-timeframe structure, set your bias per ticker, and mark your key levels before the open. Phases 1 and 2 should be finished before the first candle prints. If you are marking levels while price is moving, you are already behind.

At the level (say it out loud)

When price reaches your level, run Phases 3 and 4 in real time: did it react, and did a trigger fire? Saying each check out loud sounds silly and works — it forces the rational part of your brain to stay in charge at the exact moment emotions spike.

After entry (the checklist is not done)

Phase 5 was decided before the trade — so after entry your only job is to not interfere. No moving the stop, no doubling down, no cutting the winner early. If you followed all five phases, the outcome of any single trade is noise; the edge shows up across a hundred of them.

Common Mistakes That Break the Checklist

Running it after entry. The checklist qualifies trades before you click. Used afterward, it becomes a tool to justify a position you already took.

Skipping phases on “obvious” setups. The trades that feel most obvious are usually the ones fueled by chasing or revenge trading. Obvious is an emotion, not a phase.

Treating 4 out of 5 as good enough at full size. A B trade at A+ size is how one trade erases a good week. Grade first, then size.

Changing the checklist mid-week. Review and adjust rules on weekends with your journal open — never during market hours. More on this in how emotions ruin trading accounts.