A Weekend Routine for Swing Traders

Step 1: Review last week's trades (10 minutes)

Start with what already hap­pened, before looking for any­thing new.

• For each closed trade: did you follow the plan? Write one line on what to repeat or change.
• Add up the week in R (each result divided by the risk you planned). This shows whether losses stayed at the planned size.
• Note any rule you broke. One honest line now is worth more than ten new setups.

Step 2: Check open positions (10 minutes)

For each posi­tion you still hold:

• Is the trend still intact on the daily chart (higher highs and higher lows)?
• Should the stop move up to sit under the latest higher low? Only move a stop up, never down.
• Is there a known event in the coming week, such as an earnings report, that your plan needs to account for?

Write any stop changes down now, so on Monday you only have to enter them.

Step 3: Read the market's direction (10 minutes)

You do not need a fore­cast. You need a simple descrip­tion of con­di­tions:

• Are the major indexes above or below their 50-day moving average?
• Were breakouts working last week, or failing quickly?
• Which sectors held up best?

From this, choose one of three modes for the week: normal (usual size), careful (smaller size, fewer trades) or wait (no new entries). Writing the mode down keeps you from chang­ing your mind on every head­line.

Step 4: Scan and shortlist (20 minutes)

Run the same scan every weekend, so the results are com­pa­ra­ble from week to week. Then cut hard:

• Start with whatever the scan returns.
• Keep only stocks in clear uptrends, near a setup you trade (a base, a pullback to a support zone, a flag).
• End with three to five names at most. More than that rarely gets watched properly.

A short list you know well beats a long list you only glance at.

Step 5: Write the plans (10 minutes)

For each name on the short­list, fill in a short trade plan: setup, entry trigger, stop, size, exit rule. Our guide to putting a trade on a single sheet shows the format. If a line cannot be filled in, the stock stays on the watch­list, not the trade list.

A worked example (hypothetical numbers)

For illus­tra­tion only. Account 10,000, normal risk 1% per trade.

• Review: two closed trades, results +1.8R and −1R. Both followed the plan.
• Open position: the stop moves up from 41.50 to 43.20, under the newest higher low.
• Market: indexes above their 50-day averages, breakouts mostly holding: mode normal.
• Shortlist: four hypothetical stocks; three get full plans, one stays on watch because its stop would be too far away.
• Monday's job: enter one stop change and set alerts at three entry triggers. No new decisions needed.

Why a routine works

During the week, price moves, news arrives and opin­ions get loud. A routine moves your impor­tant deci­sions to a time when none of that is hap­pen­ing. On week­days you mostly execute what you already decided, which is the heart of process over pre­dic­tion.

Edu­ca­tion only, not finan­cial advice.