WHITE FEATHER FINANCE · FREE DOWNLOAD

Pre-Market
Checklist

Print it, tick it, then trade your plan. Futures and options.

1. Overnight range and prior-day levels

Overnight (Globex) high and low written down
Prior day high, low and close marked
Prior day value area high (VAH), value area low (VAL) and point of control (POC) marked
Where did the market open relative to the prior day range: inside, above or below?
Any gap from the prior close? How many points?
Nearest key level above and below the current price, with distance in points

2. Economic calendar and earnings

Today's scheduled releases noted with times in ET (CPI, jobs, Fed, others)
Fed speakers or minutes today?
Major earnings today or after the close that could move SPY, QQQ or the index?
Window around each release marked as no-trade or reduced size
Is a holiday or early close coming?

3. VIX and implied volatility (for options)

VIX level and its change from yesterday
Is the market's expected range wider or narrower than usual?
Implied volatility of my options versus its recent range (high, middle or low)
Is an event inside my option's life, which could cause an IV crush?
Bid/ask spread on the options I might trade (wide spread means higher cost)

4. The plan: bias, levels, invalidation

Higher-timeframe trend: up, down or range
Bias for today (or 'no bias'), with the reason in one sentence
Entry levels I will watch, written as zones
Invalidation for each idea: the price where I am wrong
Minimum reward-to-risk I will accept
Skip rules for today

5. Risk limits

Account risk per trade in dollars (1R)
Max daily loss in dollars and in R
Max number of trades today
Contract or option size computed from stop distance, rounded down
After two losses: stop or break (circle one)

6. Mindset check

Sleep and energy: 1 to 5
Feeling check: calm, rushed, angry, bored, anxious?
Any outside stress that could make me trade to feel better?
If my feeling score is 4 or 5, I trade smaller or not at all
One sentence: what does a good day look like in terms of process, not profit?

Today's plan in one line: ______________________________________________
Max loss today: $________ Max trades: ____ Stop trading at: ____:____