1. Morning Briefing
Briefing Summary:
2–4 sentences covering the dominant market condition, current location, macro pressure, and the main decision point.
Event Risk:
Scheduled releases, Fed speakers, major earnings, geopolitical risks, and exact times in Pacific Time.
Macro Tone:
Risk-on, risk-off, inflationary, disinflationary, growth-positive, growth-negative, or mixed. Include the main evidence: yields, oil, dollar, NQ relative strength, overnight global markets.
Market Context:
Trend, balance, upper-range balance, lower-range balance, breakout attempt, failed breakout, compression, liquidation, or rotational session. Note where price is located within the larger structure.
Key Levels
Reference | Level / zone | Meaning |
Flip zone | ㅤ | Directional decision area |
Upside trigger | ㅤ | Acceptance required for longs |
Target 1 | ㅤ | First logical objective |
Target 2 | ㅤ | Secondary objective |
Downside trigger | ㅤ | Acceptance required for shorts |
Target 1 | ㅤ | First logical objective |
Target 2 | ㅤ | Secondary objective |
Major support | ㅤ | Larger structural reference |
Major resistance | ㅤ | Larger structural reference |
Working Bias:
State the present bias, but condition it on price location.
Example:
Bullish above the flip zone, bearish below it, neutral while rotating through it.
Bias Changes If:
List the specific observable evidence that would invalidate or reverse the working bias.
Example:
Bias changes bearish if price rejects above the overnight high, loses the flip zone, and fails to reclaim it.
Best Setup:
Name one preferred setup for the session—not every setup that might conceivably occur.
Example:
Breakout pullback above the overnight high after acceptance, preferably with NQ confirming and sellers unable to regain the breakout level.
Secondary Setup:
Optional. Include only when there is a clearly distinct opposite-side scenario worth preparing for.
Example:
Failed breakout short after excess above resistance and acceptance back below the flip zone.
No-Trade Condition:
Describe the exact conditions under which standing aside is the correct trade.
Example:
Repeated crossings of VWAP and the flip zone, poor continuation, overlapping candles, and conflicting ES/NQ direction.
Permission:
An explicit statement granting yourself permission to miss trades, wait, stop early, or finish the day after reaching the objective.
Example:
I have permission to miss the first move. I do not need to trade inside balance. One clean trade is enough.
Today’s Trap:
The specific market or psychological trap most likely to catch you today.
Example:
Seeing price near the highs and repeatedly shorting because it “cannot go higher,” rather than waiting for actual failure.
One Rule:
One binary, observable rule. It should be enforceable—not motivational.
Example:
No entry while price is inside the flip zone.
Concise Session Card
This should sit immediately underneath the detailed version and be readable in about ten seconds.
Item | Today |
Context | ㅤ |
Macro tone | ㅤ |
Flip zone | ㅤ |
Long above | ㅤ |
Short below | ㅤ |
Upside targets | ㅤ |
Downside targets | ㅤ |
Main event | ㅤ |
Best setup | ㅤ |
No-trade condition | ㅤ |
Today’s trap | ㅤ |
One rule | ㅤ |
One-line operating plan
Above ______, look for ______. Below ______, look for ______. Inside ______, do nothing.
What I would change from the original
I would rename Bias to Working Bias. “Bias” can quietly become a prediction you feel obligated to defend. “Working bias” makes it explicitly provisional.
I would add Key Levels, because without it the written briefing can still leave you hunting through paragraphs during the live session.
I would add Secondary Setup, but make it optional. Your main setup should remain dominant. The secondary setup exists so that a clear failure scenario does not catch you mentally unprepared—not so you can trade both directions indiscriminately.
I would keep Permission, Today’s Trap, and One Rule exactly as core sections. Those may ultimately matter more to your results than the macro summary. The market briefing tells you what the market may do; those three tell you how not to sabotage yourself.
The finalized daily workflow would therefore be:
- Detailed briefing for understanding.
- Key-level table for planning.
- Concise session card for live reference.
- One-line operating plan for execution.
That gives you enough depth to prepare properly without forcing you to reread an essay while price is moving.