Watch how a new trader spends their first month and you will see the same pattern nearly every time. Almost all of the energy goes into one question: when do I get in.

That question is real, but it is the third one, not the first. Taken out of order it cannot be answered, which is why the search for a better entry never ends.

Here is the order that actually holds up.

First, when am I even interested. Which conditions, which part of the day, which market. This is a filter, and it does most of the work. Most of what any decent process does is rule things out.

Second, what am I risking and where does this end. Both sides, decided before involvement. Get this second and everything after it becomes calmer, because the worst case has already been handled.

Third, and only now, what starts the clock. The entry. Notice how much smaller a question it becomes once the first two are settled, and how many entries stop mattering at all because they never pass the filter.

Fourth, how do I review it. The log. Without this, three and one never improve, because there is no record to improve from.

Learn it in that order and something odd happens. The entry stops feeling like the interesting part. People who have been at this a while will tell you their entries are unremarkable, almost boring, and that boring was the goal.

Learn it backwards and you end up with a large collection of entry techniques, no filter, no exit, no record, and a nagging sense that everyone else has a better tool than you do. They do not. They have an order.

Try it this week. Write your four answers in that sequence for anything you are practicing, and see which of the four you have never actually written down before.

Next email: What practice has to look like to count.

We will see you there,

20-Minute Trader

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