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Pre-market Routine

Game Plan: Writing Daily Targets

Pomegra Learn

How Do You Write a Daily Trading Plan with Specific Entry and Profit Targets?

A daily trading plan is the bridge between pre-market research and execution. You've identified your setups. You know the news. You understand the technical levels. Now you need to write down exactly where you'll enter, where you'll exit if you're wrong, and where you'll take profits. Traders who skip this step rely on gut feel and emotion. Traders who write it down trade with precision and discipline.

The difference between a profitable trader and a losing trader is often a five-minute conversation they had with themselves at 8:00 AM instead of 2:00 PM. By writing your plan before the market opens—when you're calm and analytical—you remove emotion from the trading moment. You've already decided what you'll do. When price action hits, you execute the plan instead of freezing or panicking.

Quick definition: A daily trading plan is a written document that lists your target trades, entry prices, stop-loss levels, profit targets, and position sizes for the trading day. It's created during pre-market hours and reviewed before market open.

Key takeaways​

  • A written daily trading plan eliminates emotional decision-making during live trading.
  • Each trade in your plan needs: stock symbol, setup type, entry price, stop-loss, profit target 1, profit target 2, and position size.
  • Use a simple template (Google Sheet, Excel, or PDF form) and fill it out the same way every morning.
  • Your plan should list 3–5 primary trade ideas and 2–3 backup ideas in case early trades don't develop.
  • Review your plan every 15 minutes and adjust only if the market structure or catalyst changes, not because price moved.

Why Written Plans Beat Mental Plans​

Every trader who has tried to "hold a plan in their head" has lost money because of it. Here's what happens: You identify a setup at 8:15 AM. The trade makes sense. You remember the entry, the stop-loss, and the target. You feel confident.

Then 10:30 AM arrives. The stock has moved against you by $0.30. You start to doubt yourself. Was your analysis wrong? Should you add on the dip or get out? Your brain is now working in real-time to decide your plan. This is where emotion and second-guessing take over.

If you'd written it down at 8:15 AM, you would have already decided: "I'm risking $0.50 on this trade. My stop-loss is at $23.00. If it hits $23.00, I'm out." When price touches $23.15, you follow your written plan instead of debating.

Studies of professional traders show that written plans have a 60–70% win rate versus 35–45% for ad-hoc trades. It's not because professionals are smarter. It's because they've removed emotion from execution.

The Five Required Elements of a Trade Plan​

Every trade in your daily plan must contain five elements. Without any one of these, your plan is incomplete and you'll be making decisions in real-time instead of following a script.

1. Stock Symbol and Setup Type. Write the ticker and describe the setup in one sentence. Examples: "AAPL — 5-minute breakout above $180.00," "TSLA — gap fill on daily chart," "AMD — earnings reversion trade." This forces you to articulate why you're trading it.

2. Entry Price. Write a specific price or price range. Don't write "buy on the breakout." Write "enter at $180.10 or higher on volume." Specificity prevents you from buying at market price like a panic trader.

3. Stop-Loss Price. This is non-negotiable. Your stop-loss is the price where you admit you're wrong and exit. Write it down. A common stop-loss is 0.5x to 1x your risk target. If your profit target is $1.00 away, your stop-loss should be <$0.50 away.

4. Profit Targets. Write two profit targets. Target 1 is where you take 50% of your position off. Target 2 is where you take the rest. Example: "Target 1: $181.50 (sell half). Target 2: $183.00 (sell remainder)." This locks in partial wins and lets winners run.

5. Position Size. Write the number of shares. Don't calculate it at market open—calculate it now when you're calm. Your position size is determined by your risk per trade (usually 1–2% of your account) and your stop-loss distance.

How to Calculate Position Size from Your Risk Limit​

Position size is the single most important number in your plan. It determines how much money you make or lose on each trade.

The formula is simple: Position Size = (Risk per Trade / Stop-Loss Distance)

Let's use an example. Say your account is $25,000 and you risk 1% per trade ($250). You're trading AAPL at an entry of $180.00 with a stop-loss at $179.00. Your stop-loss distance is $1.00.

Position Size = $250 / $1.00 = 250 shares

If you buy 250 shares of AAPL at $180.00 and hit your stop at $179.00, you lose exactly $250. This is discipline.

Now, if your stop-loss is further away—say $177.00 (a $3.00 distance)—your position size shrinks:

Position Size = $250 / $3.00 = 83 shares

Your position size adjusts automatically based on the setup. A tight setup gets more shares. A wide stop-loss gets fewer shares. This is how professionals survive bad trades. They don't risk the same dollar amount. They risk the same percentage of their account and let position size adjust.

Template for Your Daily Trading Plan​

Use this format every morning. You can build it in Google Sheets, Excel, or even a PDF form. The format matters less than the consistency.

DATE: May 16, 2026

ACCOUNT BALANCE: $25,000
RISK PER TRADE: 1% ($250)
MAX DAILY LOSS LIMIT: 3% ($750)

TRADE PLAN:

| Symbol | Setup Type | Entry | Stop | Target 1 | Target 2 | Size | Risk/Reward |
|--------|-----------|-------|------|----------|----------|------|-------------|
| AAPL   | Breakout  | $180.10 | $179.00 | $181.50 | $183.00 | 250 | 1:2 |
| TSLA   | Gap Fill  | $245.00 | $242.00 | $247.50 | $250.00 | 83 | 1:2.5 |
| NVDA   | Breakout  | $912.00 | $908.00 | $917.00 | $925.00 | 62 | 1:2.1 |
| AMZN   | Reversion | $180.50 | $178.50 | $184.00 | $188.00 | 125 | 1:2.8 |

BACKUP TRADES (if primary trades don't develop):
| MSFT   | Bounce    | $420.00 | $417.00 | $424.00 | $429.00 | 71 | 1:2.8 |
| META   | Breakout  | $510.00 | $505.00 | $517.00 | $525.00 | 50 | 1:3.0 |

NOTES:
- Fed speakers at 2:00 PM (high volatility expected)
- AAPL earnings in 3 days (elevated IV)
- Watch for gap fills in first 30 minutes

This template gives you everything you need. Before 9:30 AM, you fill it out completely. By the time the market opens, you're not thinking—you're executing.

How to Write Realistic Profit Targets​

New traders often set profit targets that are too ambitious. They write "Target: +$5.00" on a $180 stock, expecting a 2.8% move in a single trading day. This creates frustration because targets are rarely hit and trades get stopped out.

Realistic profit targets depend on your setup type and timeframe.

For breakout trades (5-minute or intraday), expect $0.50 to $2.00 per share on a $100–$300 stock. Target 1 is usually half your expected move. Target 2 is the full move.

For gap-fill trades, expect 30–60% of the gap to fill. If a stock gaps down $2.00, expect a $0.60–$1.20 bounce.

For earnings-reversion trades, expect $1.00–$3.00 on a $150–$250 stock, but only after the first 30–60 minutes of volatility settles.

For macro-driven trades (Fed announcement moves), volatility is extreme. Expect $2.00–$5.00+ moves on large-cap stocks, but also expect larger drawdowns.

The key is: your profit targets should be achievable 50–70% of the time. If you hit your targets 7 out of 10 times, your plan is realistic. If you hit them 2 out of 10 times, your targets are too high—adjust them downward.

Decision tree​

Real-world examples​

Example 1: The disciplined day trader's morning plan. Sarah sits down at 7:00 AM with her pre-market research completed. She's identified that AAPL has a strong technical setup above the 9 AM open, that the market is expecting a Fed decision at 2:00 PM, and that volume has been elevated. She writes her plan:

AAPL breakout trade: Entry $180.10, Stop $179.00, Target 1 $181.50 (sell 125 shares), Target 2 $183.00 (sell remaining 125). Position size 250 shares. Risk: $250. Reward: $500.

By 10:30 AM, AAPL has reached Target 1. She sells 125 shares and locks in $187.50 profit. Her remaining 125 shares have a trailing stop at $181.00 (her entry). The stock continues to $183.50, and she sells the rest for another $312.50 profit. Total: $500 profit. She followed her plan and exited with discipline. If she'd tried to be greedy and hold for $185, she might have given back the entire win.

Example 2: The backup plan saves the day. Marcus wrote three primary trades on his plan. By 10:45 AM, all three have been stopped out. He's down $750 (his max daily loss). He's frustrated but remembers his own rule: "Follow the plan, don't break the rules."

He looks at his backup trades. One setup (MSFT bounce) has now triggered. But he knows he's hit his max loss limit. He closes his platform instead of revenge-trading. This single decision—following the written plan instead of chasing losses—saves him from turning a -$750 day into a -$2,500 day.

Example 3: The unplanned trade disaster. Tom didn't write a daily plan. At 11:00 AM, he sees NVIDIA spike on a rumor. He hasn't analyzed it, but it looks exciting. He buys 500 shares at market price ($910). There's no stop-loss written, so when the stock reverses on the rumor being false, he tells himself "I'll wait for the bounce." The bounce never comes. He holds through the close, down $1,500. He'd have been better off not trading at all.

Common mistakes​

Setting profit targets based on hope instead of probability. You hope a $180 stock will move to $185 (2.8% move). But if only 30% of your trades hit that target, you're wasting time. Adjust targets to match what actually happens 50%+ of the time.

Writing stops that are too wide. A $2.00 stop-loss on a $180 setup means you need a $3.00 move to profit 1.5x your risk. That's possible but low probability. Tighter setups get tighter stops. A tight stop might be $0.50. Use the setup quality to guide your stop.

Not writing position size on the plan. If you skip position size, you'll decide it at market open when you're emotional. By then, you might go too big or too small. Write it now.

Changing your plan after price starts moving. Once the market opens, your plan is locked. You don't change entry prices because the stock moved. You don't widen stops because you're uncomfortable. You execute the plan as written. (The only exception: genuinely new information—earnings surprise, company announcement—that changes the technical picture.)

Writing more than 5 primary trades. You can't monitor 10 trades effectively. Write 3–5 primary trades and 2–3 backups. This forces you to prioritize your best ideas.

FAQ​

How much detail should I include in my daily plan?​

Enough that you could hand it to someone else and they'd execute it exactly as you intended. This means: stock symbol, setup description, entry, stop-loss, two profit targets, position size, and risk/reward ratio. If you're missing any of these, add more detail.

Should I adjust my plan during the day if the market structure changes?​

Yes, but rarely. If the market opens 2% down due to news you didn't anticipate (overseas market crash, company bankruptcy), that's new information worth adjusting for. If the stock you planned to trade is up $0.20, that's not new information—that's normal intraday movement. Follow the plan.

What if a trade hits my stop-loss in the first 5 minutes?​

That's okay. You took a loss. Your plan is designed to win 50–70% of the time and lose 30–50% of the time. One early stop-loss is data—not a reason to break your system.

How do I balance between having too many backup trades and having enough to choose from?​

Write 3–5 primary trades ranked by conviction. If all three primary trades get stopped out, you're probably looking at a difficult market—maybe it's time to step back. Backup trades are for when a primary trade doesn't develop (no breakout on AAPL), not for replacing losing trades with new ones.

Should my daily plan include trades for multiple days (swing trades)?​

You can include both. Write your day trades separately from your swing positions. Day trades might have 1–3 hour target times. Swing trades might have a 3–5 day holding period. Keep them in different columns so you don't confuse intraday targets with multi-day targets.

How often should I revisit and update my profit targets?​

Once per quarter, analyze your data. Of the trades where you hit Target 1, what was the average move? What was the average time it took? Use this data to adjust your targets. If you consistently hit Target 1 in 45 minutes, make that an explicit time-stop to lock in profits.

Summary​

A written daily trading plan is the single most powerful tool for removing emotion from trading. By writing down your entries, exits, profit targets, and position sizes before 9:30 AM, you've already decided what to do. When price action hits, you execute instead of overthinking.

The plan doesn't have to be complicated. A simple table with stock symbol, setup type, entry, stop-loss, two profit targets, and position size is all you need. Fill it out with the same template every morning. Rank your trades by conviction. Write 3–5 primary trades and 2–3 backups.

By the time the market opens, you're not searching for trades. You're executing a plan. This is how professional traders think.

Next​

Position Sizing: Pre-market Planning