The pre-session risk sheet I fill before any M1/M5 scalps

[Fairman]

I keep seeing the same pattern in my own history and in a lot of journals: the strategy was fine; the session started without a written risk ceiling, so the first unexpected wick quietly rewrote the plan.

For short-timeframe work, I do not rely on "I'll be careful." I fill a short sheet before the platform is allowed to send orders. Nothing fancy — a note file or paper is enough. The point is that every number is chosen when cortisol is low.

What goes on the sheet:

1. Equity and risk units. Current equity. Risk per idea as a percent and as cash. Maximum ideas that can lose today before the session is mandatory flat (I use two full losses or a daily cash cap, whichever hits first).

2. Instrument and session window. One primary symbol. Start and stop times in broker time and in my local time so I do not "accidentally" extend into a dead or news-heavy hour. If I am outside the window, I am a spectator.

3. Cost budget. Max spread I will pay. If live spread exceeds that, no entry — not "maybe if the setup is perfect." Scalping edge is thin; cost is part of the setup, not an afterthought.

4. News stance. Which releases today mean flat or reduced size. Ambiguity here is how people discover red-folder volatility the expensive way.

5. Emotional gate. One honest line: sleep, distraction level, urge to make back yesterday. If that line is ugly, size goes to micro or the session is cancelled. Market edge is worthless without emotional edge. The sheet is where that decision gets made — not three losses deep.

I used to think this was bureaucracy. It is not. It is how you stop negotiating with yourself mid-tape. The sheet does not predict direction. It defines the maximum damage a bad morning is allowed to do.

If you already do something similar, I am interested in what you put on yours — especially hard rules you added after a specific blow-up, not theory. If you trade without any written daily cap, try one week with a two-loss walk-away and compare your decision quality, not just P&L. For most scalpers, the P&L follows the decision quality more often than the other way around.