A new trading week doesn't begin when you open your first position. It begins with the preparation you do before the market opens. Sunday gives traders something that is often missing during the trading week: time to think without the pressure of live execution.
There is no need to chase a setup. No need to recover a loss. No need to react to a moving candle. Instead, use the time to establish a framework for the week ahead. A professional trading routine starts with preparation, not prediction.
1. Review the Week That Just Ended
Before thinking about next week's opportunities, look back at the previous week. Ask yourself:
- Did I follow my trading plan?
- Did I respect my risk limits?
- Did I take trades that actually matched my setups?
- Did I overtrade?
- Did I move stop losses unnecessarily?
- Did emotions influence any of my decisions?
- What worked well?
- What needs to change?
The objective isn't to judge yourself purely by your profit or loss. A profitable week can contain poor decisions, while a losing week can contain excellent execution.
The more useful question is: Did I follow a process that I can repeat?
2. Know Which Trading Sessions Matter to You
Forex operates around a global sequence of trading sessions, with Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York forming the major session cycle. Not every trader needs to trade every session. Your strategy, location, schedule and preferred instruments should determine when you participate.
For example, a trader focused on European currency pairs may place greater importance on the London session, while another trader may prefer the volatility associated with the London/New York overlap. The objective isn't to be present for every market movement. It's to know when your market is most relevant to your strategy.
3. Define Your Risk Before You Find Your Trade
One of the simplest ways to improve trading discipline is to decide how much you're prepared to risk before you start looking for an entry. Your position size should come from your risk parameters. Not the other way around. Before the week begins, establish:
- Your maximum risk per trade
- Your maximum daily risk
- Your maximum exposure
- Your preferred risk/reward parameters
- The circumstances under which you will stop trading
This changes the question from: "How big should this trade be?" to: "What position size fits the risk I've already decided to accept?" This is where proper position sizing becomes part of your trading process rather than an afterthought.
There's More to Preparing for the Week
Risk is only one part of the preparation process. Your instrument selection, trading schedule, potential setups, and ability to recognize when not to trade all matter. You also need to distinguish between preparation and prediction.
You don't need to know what the market will do. You need to know what you will do if the market behaves in a way that matches your plan. And sometimes the most professional decision is to stay out.
Continue reading
We've covered the first part of the Sunday preparation. Read the full article on the Ashinton Forex Knowledge Hub: Sunday Market Preparation: Build Your Plan Before Monday
