Downloads · to print

Eight sheets to print.

One A4 page each. Every sheet has its own Print button, which prints that sheet alone; choose “Save as PDF” in the print dialogue to keep it as a file. They are blank forms and reminders, to be filled in by hand with your own answers.

The Academy’s cheat sheets

GIO4X · to print · sheet 1 of 8

My trading plan

A plan is a set of decisions made in advance, while nothing is at stake. Every line here is yours to fill in. Nothing on the sheet suggests an answer.

Date written

Account currency

The most I risk on one trade

The most positions open at once

I stop for the day after losing

I stop for the week after losing

The markets I trade, and the ones I leave alone

The hours I trade, in my local time

What must be true before I place an order

Where the trade is wrong, and how I leave it

Where I take a profit, or the rule I follow

What I record after every trade, and when I next review this plan

A blank template. It is not advice, and a written plan does not make a trade win.

GIO4X · to print · sheet 2 of 8

Before the order

One sheet for one trade. Fill in the top, write the reason, then tick only what is true. A box left empty is information.

Date

Instrument

Long or short

Size

Entry

Stop

Target

Amount at risk

The reason for this trade, in one sentence

1It matches a setup that is written in my plan.
2I know the price at which the idea is wrong, and the stop is there.
3The size makes that stop cost no more than my limit for one trade.
4I have counted the spread, the commission and any overnight financing.
5I have looked at the calendar for releases due while the trade is open.
6With my other open positions, the total at risk is inside my limits.
7No other open position is this same trade under another name.
8I know what happens to my stop if the price gaps past it.
9I am not trying to win back an earlier loss.
10I could explain this trade to someone else in two sentences.

A reminder of your own rules. Ticking every box does not make a trade win.

GIO4X · to print · sheet 3 of 8

After the trade

Written once the trade is closed. It separates the decision from the result: a sound decision can lose and a careless one can win.

Date

Instrument

Long or short

Size

Entry

Exit

Result, in money

Result, as a multiple of the risk

Did I follow my plan for	Yes	No	If not, why
The entry
The stop
The size
The exit

What I saw before the trade, and what happened

What I did well, whatever the result

What I would do differently

How I felt before, during and after

A blank form for your own record. Past trades say nothing certain about future ones.

GIO4X · to print · sheet 4 of 8

The week, looked back on

Filled in at the end of the week, away from the screen. Count first, then write.

Week beginning

Account at the start

Account at the end

Deposits or withdrawals

Day	Trades	Wins	Losses	Result	Inside my rules?
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
The week

The best decision of the week (not the best result)

A rule I broke, if any, and what led to it

What I noticed about the market

One thing to change next week

A blank form for your own record. One week is too few trades to judge a method by.

GIO4X · to print · sheet 5 of 8

My risk rules

Your own limits, written down before they are needed, and kept where you can see them. The numbers are yours to choose.

The most I risk on one trade

The most at risk across all open trades

I stop for the day after losing

I stop for the week after losing

The most positions open at once

The largest size I take

The most leverage I use

Money I could lose in full without harm

I do not trade when

My rule about moving a stop

My rule about adding to a position

After reaching a limit, I do not trade again until

Signed

Date

The card suggests no limit. A limit you set does not prevent a larger loss when a market gaps or moves fast.

GIO4X · to print · sheet 6 of 8

Session times, in UTC

The four conventional FX windows and the regular hours of nine exchanges, in Coordinated Universal Time. There are two columns because the hours move when a city changes its clocks. The last column is for your own time zone.

Open	On its own clock	UTC, mid-January	UTC, mid-July
Sydney session	08:00–17:00	21:00–06:00 +1	22:00–07:00 +1
Tokyo session	09:00–18:00	00:00–09:00	00:00–09:00
London session	08:00–17:00	08:00–17:00	07:00–16:00
New York session	08:00–17:00	13:00–22:00	12:00–21:00
Sydney ASX	10:00–16:00	23:00–05:00 +1	00:00–06:00
Tokyo TSE	09:00–15:30break 11:30–12:30	00:00–06:30	00:00–06:30
Hong Kong HKEX	09:30–16:00break 12:00–13:00	01:30–08:00	01:30–08:00
Singapore SGX	09:00–17:00break 12:00–13:00	01:00–09:00	01:00–09:00
Mumbai NSE	09:15–15:30	03:45–10:00	03:45–10:00
Dubai DFM	10:00–15:00	06:00–11:00	06:00–11:00
Frankfurt Xetra	09:00–17:30	08:00–16:30	07:00–15:30
London LSE	08:00–16:30	08:00–16:30	07:00–15:30
New York NYSE	09:30–16:00	14:30–21:00	13:30–20:00

Worked out from the timetable this site’s clocks use, for 15 January and 15 July 2027. Regular weekday hours: public holidays, early closes and the weeks around the clock changes are not shown. “+1” means the next UTC day.

GIO4X · to print · sheet 7 of 8

Before you send money to anyone

For any firm, person or app that asks for money to trade or invest, this one included. Tick only what is true. Each empty box is a reason to stop and find out more before anything is sent.

1I know the firm’s full legal name, and where it is registered.
2I found it on the regulator’s public register myself, by my own search and not through a link they sent.
3The website, e-mail address and payment details I was given match those on the register.
4Nobody has promised or hinted at a return, or told me there is no risk.
5Nobody is hurrying me: no deadline, no “last places”, no bonus that expires today.
6I made the first contact. It did not begin with a message, a call, an advert or a new friend online.
7The money goes to an account in the firm’s own name, not to a person, another company, a gift card or a wallet address.
8Nobody has asked me to install remote-access software, share my screen or tell them a password or a code.
9I have read how a withdrawal works and what it costs, in the firm’s own documents.
10Nobody has asked me to pay a fee or a “tax” before a withdrawal is released.
11I have talked this over with someone I trust who has nothing to gain from it.
12I can afford to lose every penny of what I am about to send.

A list of common warning signs, not a test. A full set of ticks does not prove that a firm is genuine. If something feels wrong, stop, and speak to your bank and to your national financial regulator or fraud-reporting service.

GIO4X · to print · sheet 8 of 8

Twenty words to know

The first line of each definition in this site’s glossary, with its formula where there is one. Fold it in four.

Pip: The smallest standard price movement in a currency pair.pip value = pip size × contract size × lots
Spread: The difference between the bid and ask price of a currency pair, measured in pips.spread = ask − bid
Lot: A standardised unit of trading.
Leverage: The ability to control a large position with a relatively small amount of capital.leverage = notional value ÷ margin
Margin: The collateral required to open and maintain a leveraged position, expressed as a percentage of the full trade value.margin = notional value ÷ leverage
Free Margin: The equity in an account that is not tied up as margin for open positions and is therefore available to open new positions or absorb losses.free margin = equity − used margin
Margin Call: A notification from your broker that your account equity has fallen below the required margin level.
Stop Out: The margin level at which a broker begins closing open positions automatically because equity no longer covers the required margin.margin level = equity ÷ used margin × 100%
Equity: The current value of your trading account, including unrealised profits and losses on open positions.
Drawdown: The decline from a peak to a trough in account equity, usually expressed as a percentage.gain required to recover = loss ÷ (1 − loss)
Bid Price: The highest price a buyer is willing to pay for a currency pair.
Ask Rate: The lowest price at which a seller is willing to sell a currency pair.
Currency Pair: Two currencies quoted against each other, such as EUR/USD.
CFD (Contract for Difference): A derivative product that allows you to speculate on price movements without owning the underlying asset.
Stop Loss: An order attached to a position to close it if the price moves against the trader to a specified level.
Take Profit: An order attached to a position to close it when the price reaches a specified level in the trader’s favour.
Slippage: The difference between the expected price of a trade and the actual price at which it is executed.
Swap: The interest rate differential charged or credited for holding a position overnight, also known as rollover.
Liquidity: The degree to which a currency pair can be quickly bought or sold without significantly affecting its price.
Volatility: The degree of price variation over time: the size of price movements, not their direction.

Definitions, shortened. The full entries, with examples, are in the glossary on this site.

Trading foreign exchange on margin carries a high level of risk, and may not be suitable for all investors. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you. Before deciding to trade foreign exchange you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose.

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