Directory / Discipline, checklists & psychology
Discipline, checklists & psychologyBeginner#checklist#journaling#beginner-friendly#prompt-only

Run your pre-trade checklist and log the answers

Before you place a trade, the agent asks your five checklist questions, flags chasing or names that are not in your plan, and gives you a timestamped log line to paste into your journal.

How it works

  1. Write your five checklist questions (setup matches plan? risk defined? earnings date checked? exposure allows it? distance from planned entry acceptable?) and keep them in {{checklist_file}}.
  2. Before any trade, open the agent, paste the checklist and your plan, and answer the questions one at a time.
  3. Give the agent your planned entry price, current price and {{max_extension}}; compute the distance yourself (in the sheet or by hand) and enter it as a number so the agent can repeat and compare it.
  4. The agent compares your answers with the plan you pasted and flags mismatches (not in plan, numeric distance above {{max_extension}}, risk not defined).
  5. Enter {{trade_time}} yourself (type it or copy it from your device); the agent uses only that value in the log row, never its own clock.
  6. Paste the agent's log row into {{log_sheet}}, including when you proceed anyway.
  7. The weekly review reads this log and compares the rows against your broker's executed-trades list; any trade without a matching row is a skipped check.

Copy-paste prompt

Run my pre-trade checklist. I will paste {{checklist_file}} and {{plan_file}} into this chat.
1. Ask me for {{trade_time}}, planned entry price, current price and {{max_extension}}. Use only the {{trade_time}} I type in; never use your own clock.
2. Ask me for the numeric distance from planned entry (I compute it myself). Do not accept a bare yes/no for the extension check; require the number.
3. Ask each remaining question one at a time and wait for my answer.
4. Compare my answers with the plan I pasted. Flag: not in plan, numeric distance above {{max_extension}}, risk not defined.
5. Output one log row stamped with my {{trade_time}} that I can paste into {{log_sheet}}, including answers, flags, and whether I choose to proceed anyway. Do not write to the sheet yourself.
6. Do not tell me whether to take the trade.

Guardrails

  • The agent cannot stop you from skipping the ritual; at the weekly review, compare the log rows against your broker's executed-trades list and treat any trade without a matching row as a skipped check.
  • The agent never decides for you.
  • Logged answers feed the weekly review.

What can go wrong

Yes/no answers without a stated distance let the extension flag pass, and a checklist that stays in the chat never reaches the weekly review unless the row is pasted into the sheet.

Why it helps

Most costly mistakes happen in the minute before entry. This agent adds friction by asking your five questions one at a time, comparing your answers with the plan you pasted into the chat, and giving you one timestamped log row to paste into {{log_sheet}}. It does not read your files or sheet, and it does not write the row for you. The value is the logged record your weekly review can surface, including when you proceed anyway or skip the ritual. Comparison mistakes are yours to catch.

Source and references

Original write-up by Agents for Traders. Background reading is linked below.

Spotted an error, or want your post removed? Email hello@agentsfortraders.com.

Educational content only. Not investment advice or a personal recommendation. No tickers, signals or trade alerts. Trading involves risk of loss.

Conteúdo exclusivamente educativo. Não constitui aconselhamento nem recomendação de investimento. Sem tickers, sinais ou alertas de negociação. Negociar envolve risco de perda.

Related use cases

Risk & position-sizing checks

Check position size and portfolio heat before you trade

Run a local Python script on your planned entry, stop and positions CSV, and paste only its stdout. The agent checks size, heat, theme concentration and, when present, correlation against your limits, and leaves the decision to you.

Intermediate#position-sizing#checklist#python
Journaling & post-trade review

Propose one evidence-backed playbook change from the weekly review

On Sunday the agent compiles your mistakes and best trades from the journal and proposes at most one change to your written playbook, with the evidence. You approve or reject it.

Beginner#weekly-review#journaling#checklist