How to create a pre-trade checklist
Oct 6, 2026 · 10 min · 8 segments
- Speakers
Michael MartinHost
- Show signals
- SuitabilitySafeBiasNot politicalAudience≈21k followers
Oct 6, 2026 · 10 min · 8 segments
Michael MartinHost
So a comment came in on another video about do you know, have a pre-trade checklist? So the answer is yes, right? 'Cause preparation is key.
For example, if you're a short-term trader and you're looking for a catalyst, you're probably doing the pre-trade checklist aspect the day of the trades.
I have an idea of, um, where, where you wanna get involved in a particular name, things like position sizing, which could be number of shares, contracts.
What's, what are your, what is your risk? You also can take into account where is your portfolio now? Like, what is in the portfolio? How is it doing? Are you coming out of a drawdown? I was just with, uh, my good friends, JC Parets and, and, uh, and, and Sean McLaughlin, for example, in New York at the Portfolio Accelerator last week in Lower Manhattan.
And, you know, we were talking about, you know, you're ultimately trading your equity curve in many ways.
There's a lot of topics that come up, but someone was asking about, like, how do you manage the risk? How do you do this and that? And I think sh- it was during Sean's presentation, he kinda opened it up for questions or comments, and I was like, "You know, you could do very, very well for yourself if you just look at your equity curve and think of it as a stock." If you saw the chart of that in terms of, like, what is your equity doing over time, does it look like a bullish breakout or does it look like it's channeling sideways? Does it look like it's breaking down and not necessarily a short, but an avoid, right? So that you can kinda go to school on yourself, as we would say in the game of golf, and see, like, "Okay, is this the time to push? Is my equity curve going slightly parabolic?" You know? And then reverse engineer that and say, "Okay, what is that? Why is that? Did I-- Was I in the right place at the right time? Am I trading a hot sector? Did-- Was it a takeover? Was it an earnings announcement? Am I trading it too big," right? 'Cause there's a lot of reasons why things can burgeon.
But at the other, at the end of the day, um, having that pre-trade le- checklist is a great way to be ph-phenomenally prepared.
So a comment came in on another video about do you know, have a pre-trade checklist? So the answer is yes, right? 'Cause preparation is key.
For example, if you're a short-term trader and you're looking for a catalyst, you're probably doing the pre-trade checklist aspect the day of the trades.
I have an idea of, um, where, where you wanna get involved in a particular name, things like position sizing, which could be number of shares, contracts.
What's, what are your, what is your risk? You also can take into account where is your portfolio now? Like, what is in the portfolio? How is it doing? Are you coming out of a drawdown? I was just with, uh, my good friends, JC Parets and, and, uh, and, and Sean McLaughlin, for example, in New York at the Portfolio Accelerator last week in Lower Manhattan.
And, you know, we were talking about, you know, you're ultimately trading your equity curve in many ways.
There's a lot of topics that come up, but someone was asking about, like, how do you manage the risk? How do you do this and that? And I think sh- it was during Sean's presentation, he kinda opened it up for questions or comments, and I was like, "You know, you could do very, very well for yourself if you just look at your equity curve and think of it as a stock." If you saw the chart of that in terms of, like, what is your equity doing over time, does it look like a bullish breakout or does it look like it's channeling sideways? Does it look like it's breaking down and not necessarily a short, but an avoid, right? So that you can kinda go to school on yourself, as we would say in the game of golf, and see, like, "Okay, is this the time to push? Is my equity curve going slightly parabolic?" You know? And then reverse engineer that and say, "Okay, what is that? Why is that? Did I-- Was I in the right place at the right time? Am I trading a hot sector? Did-- Was it a takeover? Was it an earnings announcement? Am I trading it too big," right? 'Cause there's a lot of reasons why things can burgeon.
But at the other, at the end of the day, um, having that pre-trade le- checklist is a great way to be ph-phenomenally prepared.
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