"Plan your trades, trade your plan"

— The only way to exclude "luck" from your account

Most people only have one plan when trading:
"See how it goes."
And "seeing how it goes" is precisely the root cause of long-term account instability.

1. Trading without a plan is essentially emotional trading

Many think they are trading based on market conditions,
but the reality is:

When prices rise, fear of missing out
When prices fall, fear of cutting losses

In sideways markets, start making random moves

If before each order you don't clearly answer these questions:

Why are you entering?

Where did you go wrong and admit it?

How are you preparing to exit?

Then you're not trading,
you're using your account to carry emotional fluctuations.

2. A plan is not a prediction; it's accepting "imperfection" in advance

A mature trading plan usually includes only three things:
Entry conditions

Risk boundaries

Exit logic

Note:
A plan is not to "guarantee profit,"
but to prevent you from losing control when the market doesn't meet expectations.

True experts are not right every time,
but even when they are wrong, their actions remain standard.

3. Trading your plan is the most difficult part

Making a plan is easy,
executing the plan is hard.
Because once the market starts to fluctuate,
you will begin to:
Take profits early

Delay stop-losses

Add positions temporarily

Constantly modify your reasons

You think you're "adapting flexibly,"
but in reality, you're destroying your only advantage: discipline.
The market doesn't need you to be smart,
it needs you to be consistent.

4. The real difference between experts and retail traders
The difference is not:

Who has more indicators

Who receives news faster

But:

Retail traders want to "prove themselves right" in the market

Experts only care about "whether the plan is executed"
When experts lose money, they know exactly why;
When retail traders make money, they feel lucky.

5. What truly stabilizes an account is not win rate,
but reproducibility.

When you achieve:
Every trade is recorded
Every entry and exit has a reason
Every loss is within the plan

You no longer rely on the market to give you opportunities,
but create long-term advantages yourself.

Finally, I leave you with a phrase you must constantly remind yourself:

Planning your trades is done before the market starts;
Trading your plan is done when emotions are at their heaviest.

Whether you can make big money depends on the market;
Whether you can survive long depends on whether you respect your plan.
— MK守约