🎯 Profile Basics: Unstructured Trader (Score Range: 21–37) 

You’re passionate about trading—and that’s a great start! But right now, you’re trading on guesswork, not a system. You react to the market, follow random advice, and hope something sticks. That’s not trading—that’s gambling. 🎲

⚠️ Common Characteristics of Unstructured Trading

✖️📃You have a hodgepodge of rules or no rules at all, trading off single tips or triggers disconnected from a full system. 

😵‍💫 You lack a defined trading routine and rely on impulses or emotions to make decisions. 

🤔 You frequently hesitate, second-guess yourself, or take trades without a clear reason. 

🎯 Your results are random because your execution is not based on a structured process. 

📚 You may feel overwhelmed by too much information but lack a clear plan. 

🔄 You often jump between strategies and rarely follow through. 

✅ Your Plan of Attack (POA) 

✍️ Step 1: Write out clear and simple trading rules.

📈 Step 2: Find one regularly repeating chart pattern as your “go-to” setup and trigger.

🔍 Step 3: Watch and track no more than 5 stocks and 5 ETFs. 

🎮 Step 4: Practice 10 trades using a trading simulation or paper trade account before risking real money. 

📘 Step 5: Improve your trading knowledge in a structured and logical way: No video binging for conflicting strategies.  

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

🎲 🎲 The Unstructured Trader: Passion Meets Chaos

As an Unstructured Trader, your passion for the markets is undeniable—you’re eager to jump in, make bold moves, and carve out your success. 

But does this sound familiar? You’re at your desk, eyes darting between charts, a hot tip from X buzzing in your mind, and a gut feeling nudging you to hit “buy.” 

There’s no clear strategy, just a mix of ideas, instincts, and hope fueling your next move. One day, you act on a candlestick pattern you half-remember; the next, a headline sends you scrambling into a trade. The excitement is real—but so is the chaos. And your results? As unpredictable as a roll of the dice. 

Some people accuse swing traders of being gamblers, and the Unstructured Trader gives those people ammo.

Most traders start right here, and that’s okay—it’s part of the process of learning. But without a structured routine or a defined set of rules, every decision becomes a battle between hesitation and impulse. You freeze up, second-guessing yourself, or dive in too fast, only to question why you took the trade at all. Strategies come and go—one week, it’s momentum plays; the next, breakouts; then half-remembered candlestick signals—yet nothing sticks. Hitting eject the first time a strategy doesn’t work is keeping you from finding consistency. It’s chaining you to the chaos. 

The endless stream of information from videos, forums, and podcasts leaves you overwhelmed, stressed, and unsure of what to follow. You have a ton of ideas, but no clue how to turn knowledge into action. 

And that’s the real trap. Many Unstructured Traders stay in this cycle, burning through time, energy, and capital, hoping for a breakthrough that never comes. 

The good news? This is just where you are today—you can decide to grow beyond this phase. 

Your passion is an asset, and with the right focus, you can turn it into a system that replaces guesswork with confidence. By taking small, deliberate steps toward defining your rules and routines, you can transform trading from chaotic guessing into a confident craft—and that’s a shift worth making. 

By shifting from reactionary trading to a disciplined, structured approach, you can gain control, build confidence, and grow toward consistent results. The market will always be unpredictable—but your trading doesn’t have to be if you take control of your process. 

Keep reading for more details about your Plan of Attack.

🧠 Expanded Plan of Attack: Your 5-Step Blueprint to Escaping Trading Chaos 

✍️ Step 1: Write out clear and simple trading rules. 

To remove yourself from the chaos, think of trading as executing a plan. Your written system rules are your master plan for how you will engage the market. For a complete system plan, your rules should outline: 

• What types of stocks or ETFs you will consider.
• When to enter based on simple triggers.
• Where you will place protective stops.
• Where you plan to exit with profits.
• How you will manage risk.

This type of complete plan helps you make logical, planned decisions, rather than emotional, reactionary ones. 

📈 Step 2: Find one regularly repeating chart pattern as your “go-to” setup and trigger. 

Most new traders bounce between different setups without truly mastering one. Some people go on the quest for the Holy Grail of trading (it doesn’t exist). The best traders specialize.  

“What you want to do is become an expert at just one particular type of behavior pattern that repeats itself with some degree of frequency. To become an expert, choose one simple trading system that identifies a pattern, preferably one that is mechanical… so that you will be working with a visual representation of market behavior.” Mark Douglas, author of numerous trading books 

 Many technical triggers can be effective with proper risk management. Choose ONE that you can see easily and happens repeatedly—like a breakout or pullback—and study it in detail. Make this your setup, put it in your rules, and train yourself to execute it consistently.

🔍 Step 3: Watch and track no more than 5 stocks and 5 ETFs. 

Cut your watchlist! If you’re tracking 50+ stocks, you’re doomed to information overload. Limit your focus to a small group of high-quality stocks and ETFs. This simplifies decision-making and improves execution. 

It’s fine to pick a few of your favorite stocks, but if you want to trade them regularly, they need to move in predictable patterns. Preferably, the pattern you chose in Step 2. 

Building a stable of go-to ETFs increases the stability of your list. EFTs are less affected by news. They provide a little diversity, if that matters to you. But more importantly, they’re simpler to track with fewer events that can cause unexpected volatility, like earnings. 

 Value your precious time and get to know a few stocks intimately. It will increase your consistency and reduce stress. 

 🎮 Step 4: Practice 10 trades using a trading simulation or paper trade account. 

Would you fly a plane without simulator training? Of course not. Paper trading helps you build confidence and test your chosen setup risk-free. Make 10-20 practice trades to validate your strategy—and more importantly, your personal execution. 

This is just like practicing every other skill you’ve ever learned. You current brokerage likely has a paper trading tool. Learn to use it. There are also tools like Trading View or Simul8tor that can give you an almost-real practice experience with historical data or allow you to paper trade with current data (which is a slower for training).  

Alternatively, you can scroll back to a random time on your chart, and start clicking forward a day at a time. When you see your setup, manually record your practice trade and the outcome. You’ll be surprised at how fun this actually is.  

📘 Step 5: Improve your trading knowledge with a focused learning plan. 

Great traders are lifelong learners. We said before, there are a many effective ways to trade, and it would take years or decades to learn and master them all. 

To make the most of your limited time and attention, though, it’s best to learn trading through a structured, logical path that covers each aspect of trading and brings it all together into a complete system that works together.  

You can go the typical route of information overload and conflicting advice through binge watching trading videos and scrolling forums. You’ve likely already tried that. The algorithm isn’t likely to feed you exactly what you need in an order that makes sense to learn the fundamentals. It isn’t going to help you do the practice to get experience. And it isn’t going to help you choose the structured trading process that’s right for you.  

To grow your trading experience and calm the chaos, we recommend picking one type of trading, and then finding one or two educators to help you master that method.  

🗣️ Ready to Take Control? 

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 guesswork and start unlocking your trading potential. I’ve been where you are, and this book shares the solutions I used to tame the chaos, find consistency, and build a winning system.

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

#1 Clear Rules: What belongs in your rules (Chapter 7), plus my personal rules for entries, exits, and risk management (Chapters 9, 11, and 12), with dozens of chart examples throughout.  

#2 One Setup: My 3-Step Precision Entry Points routine—one clear, repeatable setup I use for every trade, with a few simple trigger options, loaded with examples (Chapter 9).  

#3 Fewer Stocks: How I pick my shortlist of stocks to watch and what earns them a spot (Chapter 8).  

#4 Train Your Skills: Tips for practice and simulation (Chapter 15), plus how to bridge the gap to a consistent routine (Chapter 16).  

#5 Learn on Purpose: A step-by-step breakdown of my system, in the order of decision-making, followed by my personal routine for building consistent habits—complete with time-saving tips for using automation.