🎯 Profile Basics: Inconsistent Trader (Score Range: 38-56) 

You’ve got the makings of a solid trader—you’ve built a basic system and structure, and that’s a huge step forward! But here’s the catch: inconsistency is holding you back. You’ve got the tools, but your execution wavers, and that’s keeping your results from matching your potential. 

⚠️ Common Characteristics of Inconsistent Trading

🧩 You have a basic system and structure, but don’t always follow it consistently. 

😬 Your emotions sometimes override your trading plan, leading to hesitation or overtrading. 

🔄 You may switch strategies frequently, looking for the “perfect” approach. 

🚫 Risk management is inconsistent, leading to avoidable losses. 

🧠 You start strong with routines or plans but struggle to maintain them over time. 

✅ Your Plan of Attack (POA) 

📋 Step 1: Build the habit of following the rules of your trading plan – Follow strict entry/exit rules. (No adjustments on the fly!) 

💰 Step 2: Implement risk management rules – Always define your position size and stop-loss before placing a trade. 

🧠 Step 3: Learn to review & reflect – What went well? What didn’t? What did I learn? How will I adjust? – Write it down. 

📊 Step 4: Reinforce your new routine by tracking every simulated and real trade. (If you miss a session, get back on track immediately!) 

✍️ Step 5: Start a trading journal – Keep it simple at first, log every trade and jot down why you took it. 

Need more details about your results? Read the expanded report below. 👇👇👇

🎢🌊 The Inconsistent Trader: Potential Meets Drifting Habits 

As an Inconsistent Trader, you’ve got the spark—you’ve taken the time to build a basic trading system, and you understand the value of structure. You’ve got a framework, a set of rules scribbled somewhere, and a sense of what could work. 

But does this sound familiar? One week, you’re locked in, following your plan like a pro, nailing entries and exits with precision; the next, you’re second-guessing your rules, letting hunches fake you out while fear or greed nudge you off course. After a few hits, you’re jumping ship to a shiny new strategy.

Your results tease you with flashes of brilliance, only to slip away when inconsistency creeps in. It’s frustrating—you know you’ve got the pieces, but they don’t always fit together.

Your trading feels like a rollercoaster—some wins lift you up, but preventable losses drag you back down. You’re not gambling like an Unstructured Trader—you’ve moved past utter chaos. But inconsistency is your Achilles’ heel.

Maybe you hesitate when it’s time to pull the trigger, or you overtrade after a win, chasing that high.

Perhaps you skip your stop-loss rules because “this one feels different.” Before long, you learn the need for risk management the hard way…again. The result? Flashes of brilliance are overshadowed by lapses in discipline. It’s frustrating—because you know you’re capable of more.

Bottom line: The routine you swore you’d stick to—reviewing trades, tracking progress—starts strong on the 1st of the month, but fades hard around the 15th. It’s not a lack of skill holding you back; it’s the gap between what you know and what you do.

The upside? You’re closer than you think. That basic system you’ve built is a foundation begging for consistency to turn it into something reliable. With a little discipline to lock in those habits—following rules, managing risk, reflecting on what works—you can bridge that gap. It’s not about reinventing the wheel; it’s about persistence in execution. That’s the only way a trading edge can work in your favor.

Consistency isn’t a pipe dream; it’s your next step, and it’s closer than you think.

Keep reading for more details about your Plan of Attack.

🪨 Expanded Plan of Attack: Your 5-Step Blueprint to Building Rock-Solid Trading Habits  

📋✔️ Step 1: Build the Habit of Following the Rules of Your Trading Plan 

Your system’s edge is useless if you don’t stick to it. Treat your rules like a contract—clearly define criteria for your setup, entry trigger, position size, stop-loss, and profit targets. Clarity means no wiggle room for fuzzy interpretation. Once you’re clear, you know you have a standard to judge your own performance.

Start small:

• • • Create a trigger for yourself tied to the new habit – like cracking open your trade tracker, or setting a calendar alert.
    • Follow your rules for 3 trades in a row, no exceptions.
    • Check your work and enjoy a small reward for consistent execution.
    • Set a new target, say, 5 trades following the rules.
    • Repeat. 

Build the muscle of discipline over time. These trades can be practice trades, paper trades, or real trades. All repetitions build the muscle of following your rules. It isn’t about new rules; it’s about making the ones you have non-negotiable.

Even more important, it’s about learning to trust that your system’s edge is real! 

⚖️💰 Step 2: Implement Risk Management Rules 

Inconsistent risk management is like driving without a seatbelt—fine until it isn’t.

Before every trade, define your risk! Determine a good stop loss based on your setup, and position size according to that potential loss. Keep risk small—say, 1% of your account, or less if 1% makes you sweat.

Include the stop loss as part of your entry order process. Learn to create more advanced orders that protect you from the start of a trade. No skipping stops. No, “I’ll figure it out later.” Think of it as locking your other capital in a safe: losses happen, but they won’t break you. 

Calculate your position size and set a hard stop-loss before every trade. No exceptions. It protects your capital and keeps your emotions from taking over.

📊 Step 3: Track Trades to Reinforce Your Consistent Routine 

Consistency needs a backbone—tracking is it. Log every trade, whether it’s live cash or a paper account, in a spreadsheet or app: date, setup, entry, exit, result. If you’ve got a simulator (most brokers offer one), run five practice trades to test your rules risk-free—treat them like real money.

Fit this tracking into your schedule where it’s convenient for you. Tracking is where you get the data for your review and reflection step. It also builds the muscle memory for the habits of a trading pro. It’s not all about the thrill of the markets, it’s about predictable processes.

Plus, tracking on the front end keeps you up to date on recordkeeping when tax season comes. Treating trading like a business in this way holds numerous benefits.

✍️ Step 4: Start a Trading Journal 

A journal is more than just data—it’s your personal feedback loop. Keep it simple and make it stick. With each trade, while you’re adding the details for trade tracking, add a note to your journal that explains why you took it.

You might write, “breakout above resistance” or “gut said no, but rules said yes”—keep it to a line or two.

After a trade closes, evaluate how well you followed your rules, or if you drifted and try to note why you changed the plan. Answer four quick questions:  

1. 1. What went well?
   2. What didn’t?
   3. What did I learn?
   4. How will I adjust? 

The journal tracks your emotions and decision process; it’s a mirror showing where your habits drift (like skipping stops or chasing wins) so you can tighten up your execution and reinforce those habits. Over time, it’s your cheat sheet to turn potential into consistent profits.

Each time you see yourself stick to your routine, it reinforces the habit, and each deviation stands out more as an unforced error. Over time, your journal will reveal patterns you can’t see in real-time.  

🧠 Step 5: Learn to Review & Reflect 

Your trades are a goldmine of lessons—if you dig in. Set a repeating meeting with yourself to review your trade tracking and compare it with your trade journal. 

Look for patterns, discover your strengths and weaknesses for different parts of your process. Had a bad run? Check your calendar to see if something else—like a stressful event or a week of poor sleep—might have contributed. 

Maybe you’ve excelled at nailing the entry timing, but you get greedy when it’s time to exit—spot that, tweak it. Sometimes, you’ll discover a minor tweak to your rules that could slightly improve results. But at this stage you’re more likely to find improvements in your execution lead to more consistency. 

Do this each month for a quarter, and you’ll see patterns. Do it at year-end to see more. 

You can fix errors, but only if you have the data. It’s not about overthinking; it’s about turning experience into smarter moves, one reflection at a time. 

🔐 Ready to Get Locked In? 

These steps are your launchpad to turning passion into progress. I’m rooting for you to grow into the Consistent Trader I believe you can become. 

If you’d like a no-fluff roadmap to conquer this 5-step plan, check out my book, Trade Your Way to Freedom. It’s your shortcut to escape the drifting habits and unlock your trading potential. I’ve been where you are, and this book shares the solutions I used to tame the inconsistency, lock in discipline, and build a winning system.

Here’s how the book guides your Plan of Attack: 

#1 Build the Habit: How to stick to your trading rules without wavering based on a simple routine (Chapter 16), plus the automation method I use to protect myself against emotional stupidity (Chapter 17).  

#2 Manage Risk: My exact process for defining my risk up front through position sizing (Chapter 12) and no-excuses stops (Chapter 11).  

#3 Track Every Trade: Tips on logging trades as part of a rock-solid routine (Chapter 16), plus what to do with that data (Chapter 13). 

#4 Start Journaling: How journaling fits into your recordkeeping routine (Chapter 16) 

#5 Review & Reflect: The metrics from tracking to reveal if your system has an edge, and it’s true potential (Chapter 13), plus, evaluating your retirement targets based on your own data and circumstance (Chapters 6 and 18).