If-then plans: preparing the response before the stress arrives
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2026 7:16 pm
In the middle of a fast session, thinking is slow and unreliable. Pre-made decisions work better. If-then planning, sometimes called implementation intentions, specifies the response to a situation in advance.
Examples: if the spread exceeds a set value, then no entries. If two consecutive stops occur within ten minutes, then take a five-minute break. If the daily loss limit is reached, then close the platform. If a news release is due in fifteen minutes, then flatten positions.
The rules should be concrete and observable, with clear triggers and actions. Vague intentions like "be careful after losses" do not work.
Write them down and keep them visible. Review them regularly, adding rules for new failure modes discovered in the post-mortems and removing ones that are not helping.
Over time, the list becomes a personal operating manual. Execution becomes less about willpower and more about following a script.
Tests show that these pre-commitments reduce impulsive behavior in many fields, and trading is no exception.
What if-then rules are in place, and which one has saved the most trouble?
Examples: if the spread exceeds a set value, then no entries. If two consecutive stops occur within ten minutes, then take a five-minute break. If the daily loss limit is reached, then close the platform. If a news release is due in fifteen minutes, then flatten positions.
The rules should be concrete and observable, with clear triggers and actions. Vague intentions like "be careful after losses" do not work.
Write them down and keep them visible. Review them regularly, adding rules for new failure modes discovered in the post-mortems and removing ones that are not helping.
Over time, the list becomes a personal operating manual. Execution becomes less about willpower and more about following a script.
Tests show that these pre-commitments reduce impulsive behavior in many fields, and trading is no exception.
What if-then rules are in place, and which one has saved the most trouble?