Your First Written Plan — Cambodia
One page, written before the first order and not changed during a trade: which market, which timeframe, what puts you in, where the stop sits, and how much being wrong is allowed to cost.
Open Exness Account →A first plan fits on one page and is written before the first order: which market, which timeframe, the condition that puts you in, where the stop loss sits, and what share of the balance being wrong is allowed to cost — commonly about 1%. Trend following, breakout and range setups are the three classic starting frames. The plan is then traded unchanged on a free demo for several weeks, with every entry logged and its reason written down before the outcome is known.
Writing the plan, then testing it
- A plan is a written document, not an intention: pair, timeframe, entry condition, stop-loss placement and target, all fixed before the market opens.
- Trend following is the simplest starting frame — a moving average sets the direction and entries are taken on pullbacks in that direction, never against it.
- A breakout setup waits for a close beyond a level that has already held several times; that level then becomes the reference point for the stop.
- A range setup suits quiet markets: entries near the edges, stops just beyond them, targets on the opposite side.
- Position size follows the stop and not the other way round — risking about 1% of the balance on one trade keeps a losing streak survivable.
- Stop loss and take profit go on the order ticket before it is sent, on MT4, MT5, the Exness Terminal or the app — not after the price has already moved.
- A journal with pair, reason for entry and result turns a run of trades into evidence, which is the only thing that can improve the plan.
- Test all of it on a free demo with virtual funds first; CFDs are complex instruments and carry a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage.
Reading the chart: what you see, what to check, what to do next
| What you see | What to check before acting | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Price making higher highs and higher lows | Whether the last pullback has finished, and where the previous swing low sits | Mark the stop beyond that swing low, then size the lot from the distance |
| Price pressing against a level that has held several times | Whether a candle has actually closed beyond it, or only touched it | Wait for the close, then place the stop back inside the range |
| Price bouncing between two clear levels | How far apart the levels are compared with the spread you pay | Enter near an edge, stop just outside it, target the opposite edge |
| No setup that matches the written plan | Whether the urge to trade comes from the plan or from boredom | Log the session as a no-trade day and close the terminal |
Why the plan is written before it is traded
A rule remembered is a rule that gets renegotiated in the middle of a losing trade. A rule written down can still be broken, but the breach is visible afterwards in the log, and that visibility is the whole mechanism by which a beginner improves.
One page is a deliberate limit. A plan that needs three pages contains conditions that will not be checked under pressure, and unchecked conditions are indistinguishable from having no plan at all.
Reading the log instead of the balance
At the end of a demo run the balance is the least informative number available. The useful readings are which rule was broken most often, on which day of the week, and at what hour.
Improvement then has an address. One rule is changed, the run repeats, and the log says whether the change helped. Changing several rules at once returns the sample to being uninterpretable.