Process
Building a session-open checklist
Five questions to ask before the open so you arrive with levels marked and a clear bias, not a blank screen.
Before the open, answer five questions on paper: What is the higher-timeframe bias? Where are yesterday’s high, low, and close? Which level would flip my bias if accepted? What is the maximum loss I accept on the first idea? What would make me stand aside entirely?
Mark those answers on a clean chart with no more than four horizontal lines. If you need a sixth line, you are not finished choosing. Ambition at the open usually shows up as clutter.
Decide your first hour behaviour in advance: observe only, trade a planned pullback, or stand down after a gap beyond your invalidation. Traders who skip this step often invent a thesis after the first impulse candle.
Keep the checklist short enough to finish in ten minutes. Foundations students reuse the same five questions every session until the answers feel automatic. Clinic then becomes the place to stress-test those answers with peers.