Trading Plan Template for TradingView

A trading plan defines the rules you will test and follow across trades. Write the market, entry, invalidation, size, costs and stopping conditions, then export a versioned rule card for review.

TradingView workflows

Your name (optional)

Trading style

Markets you trade

Risk preference (label only)

Risk labels do not set a percentage. Define your own loss and exposure limits below. Every rule field is required for a complete card; blank fields remain marked in the export.

Strategy name

Rule version

Effective date

Instrument and venue

Chart timeframe and session

Entry and execution rule

Invalidation and exit rule

Position size and exposure

Trading costs

Stop-trading and restart rule

Next review date

Review and script acceptance criteria

This page does not save your entries. Copy or download before leaving.

Your versioned rule card

TRADING PLAN: [REQUIRED: strategy name]
Owner: Not specified
Style: Swing Trading | Markets: Stocks / Equities
Risk preference: moderate (a label, not a risk limit)
Completion: 11 required fields remain

1. STRATEGY NAME
[REQUIRED: e.g. Daily breakout study]

2. RULE VERSION
v1.0.0

3. EFFECTIVE DATE
[REQUIRED: Effective date]

4. INSTRUMENT AND VENUE
[REQUIRED: Exchange:symbol, currency, contract multiplier and minimum quantity]

5. CHART TIMEFRAME AND SESSION
[REQUIRED: Standard candles, timeframe, session and timezone]

6. ENTRY AND EXECUTION RULE
[REQUIRED: Exact condition, bar-close or intrabar evaluation, order type and fill timing]

7. INVALIDATION AND EXIT RULE
[REQUIRED: Stop placement, target or time exit, gap handling and when to cancel an unfilled entry]

8. POSITION SIZE AND EXPOSURE
[REQUIRED: Account equity, risk budget, size formula, rounding, buying-power and portfolio caps]

9. TRADING COSTS
[REQUIRED: Commission per side, spread/slippage, financing or borrow costs and their units]

10. STOP-TRADING AND RESTART RULE
[REQUIRED: Daily loss/drawdown limit, missing-data or order-error response, open-position handling and restart approval]

11. NEXT REVIEW DATE
[REQUIRED: Next review date]

12. REVIEW AND SCRIPT ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA
[REQUIRED: Sample dates, expected signals/fills, rule adherence, net R, costs and change log]

VERSION RECORD
Previous version: ______ | Change and reason: ______
Script revision / input preset: ______ | Test dates and data feed: ______
Archive this card before changing a rule. Link each trade to the version used at entry.

REVIEW RECORD
Trade ID | actual or simulated | plan version | planned risk | actual costs | net R | rule followed? | deviation reason
Do not combine simulated and live results. A profitable trade can still break the plan.

This card is a specification, not executable code or an order. No rules are validated automatically.

Write rules that another person can reproduce

"Buy strength" leaves the signal, timing and fill price undefined. A testable rule identifies the data, the condition evaluated and the order that follows. A plan covers a strategy across many trades; the trading checklist checks whether one proposed trade complies with it.

Choose the instrument, venue, chart type, session and timezone. State whether signals use completed bars.
Define entry, invalidation and all exits. Specify what happens to unfilled orders and open positions when trading stops.
Write the sizing formula and cost assumptions with units. Include maximum combined exposure, not just risk per trade.
Set an effective date and review date. Archive the export, then preserve the version on each trade record.

CME Group's risk-management lesson asks traders to define maximum trade loss, maximum day loss and account exposure. A risk preference label alone does not answer those questions.

A worked plan and position-size example

The following fictional stock setup is a specification exercise, not a recommendation or a backtested strategy. Its values are assumptions chosen to make the arithmetic inspectable.

Plan and market: Breakout study v1.0.0, effective 2026-10-19; one hypothetical USD stock, standard daily candles, regular exchange session in America/New_York.
Entry and invalidation: After a completed daily close above the highest high of the preceding 20 completed sessions, prepare one long order for the next regular-session open. Do not include the signal bar in that 20-bar maximum. Skip if the planned entry is not above the fixed stop or exceeds the cost and capital limits.
Exit and exposure: For a planned entry at $50 and fixed stop at $48, target $54. Exit at the tenth session close if neither price exit fills. One position, no added entries and no leverage. If stop and target occur within the same daily bar, mark the trade ambiguous and inspect lower-timeframe data.
Halt and review: Pause new entries after $200 of net realized session losses or a data/order error. Keep the protective exit for an open position; cancel unfilled entries. Resume only after reconciliation and a documented review. Review on 2026-11-02, even if there are no trades.

Assume $10,000 equity and a chosen 1% planned risk budget ($100). Commission is $0.01 per share per side. The assumed adverse execution allowance is $0.04 per share per side, with no additional spread charge. Total round-trip cost allowance is $0.10 per share. Financing, borrow fees and taxes are excluded.

Hypothetical whole-share sizing, including the cost allowance
Calculation	Result
Price risk plus costs: (50 − 48) + 0.10	$2.10 per share
Risk-limited size: floor(100 ÷ 2.10)	47 shares
Planned loss at stop: 47 × 2.10	$98.70
One additional share: 48 × 2.10	$100.80, over budget
Entry notional: 47 × 50	$2,350, before entry costs
Target net gain: 47 × (54 − 50 − 0.10)	$183.30, about 1.86 planned R

Here, 1 R is the $98.70 planned loss including costs. Use the smaller of risk-limited size and available buying-power size. Round down to a tradable quantity; skip if it is zero. If the stop equals the entry, a price, multiplier or exchange rate is missing, or the cost estimate is unknown, resolve that input before sizing. A gap through the stop can exceed the budget. Futures, forex and options need their own contract values, quantity rules and risk models.

Check the card against a TradingView script

Keep the card beside the script revision and input preset. First compare a few dated examples: a valid signal, a near miss, a gap through the stop, a zero-size order and a triggered halt. Record expected and observed signals, quantities, fills and costs. Do not judge whether the rules were implemented from net profit alone.

TradingView's strategy properties apply commission on entries and exits and express slippage in ticks. Convert a cash allowance to ticks using the instrument's tick size; do not enter dollars in a tick field. Document whether your allowance already includes spread to avoid counting it twice.

The strategy documentation describes simulated orders and warns that non-standard charts can use synthetic prices. Record chart type, data feed, test dates and fill assumptions. A daily bar may not establish whether a stop or target came first. Historical fills, missing data and live execution can differ, so a matching backtest is not proof of live performance.

Review behavior by the version used at entry

For each actual or simulated trade, retain the plan version, planned risk, net result after costs, rule adherence and any deviation reason. Review profitable rule breaks as well as losses. Compare versions over recorded dates and sample sizes, with simulated trades kept separate from live records. Differences may reflect market conditions or execution rather than a better rule.

Pineify Trading Journal has a trading-plan editor and trade tags. Paste the exported card into a plan, and add its version to trade records or tags. Preserve the old version before changing rules. The generator does not sync to the journal, and this workflow does not promise improved returns.

Educational planning tool, not investment advice. A written plan does not cap actual losses or make a strategy profitable.

Frequently asked questions

What should a trading plan include?

Specify the market, timeframe, signal timing, entry, invalidation, exits, position size, costs, halt conditions and review date. Give the rules a version so later trades can be compared with the rules actually in force.

Is a trading plan the same as a trading checklist?

A plan defines the strategy and its risk limits across many trades. A checklist checks whether the current trade meets that plan. Changing a checkbox should not silently change the strategy.

Does this generator validate my TradingView strategy?

No. It exports a text specification. You must translate testable rules into a script, check the script, and compare its signals, fills and costs with the card. Filling every field does not prove that the rules are consistent or profitable.

Are my entries saved when I leave this page?

No. This tool keeps the form in page memory. Copy or download your card before leaving or refreshing. It does not automatically create a plan in Trading Journal.

When should I create a new plan version?

Create a new version when you change entry, exit, sizing, cost or halt assumptions. Save the old card and record the effective date and reason. Keep earlier trades assigned to the rules used at entry.

Related planning tools: trade journal template and TradingView workflows.

Keep the plan with your trade records

Use Trading Journal to store your plan and record trades. Keep the rule version and review notes attached to the decisions you made.

Explore Trading Journal