Who this is for — Traders moving from an occasional approach to professional management of trading as an activity with constraints, costs, and metrics.
The trader business plan defines what you want to achieve, with which resources, in what timeframe, and at what acceptable risk level. It includes capital, fixed costs, operating limits, realistic objectives, and periodic verification criteria.
In plain terms — If you do not plan like a real business, trading remains a sequence of disconnected decisions.
Prerequisites — Complete first silver-path (min.: weekly-review, playbook, trading-plan, checklist). Foundation: bronze-path.
Minimum pillars of the plan
A useful business plan is concrete, updatable, and readable in a few minutes.
- Annual and quarterly objectives consistent with history and risk.
- Capital structure: operating, reserve, and safety liquidity.
- Cost budget: platforms, data, tax, training, and infrastructure.
Example — You set an annual target of 12% with a maximum drawdown of 8%, operating capital separated from reserve, and monthly metric review. This prevents confusing one positive month with long-term sustainability.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Writing objectives based on wishes rather than historical data.
- Ignoring invisible costs that erode net profitability.
- Failing to update the plan when market context changes.
Card
- What it is: complete management plan for the trading activity.
- What changes: links performance, risk, costs, and sustainability.
- Quick check: verify objectives and limits are numeric and auditable.
Gold path — Module: Professionalisation. Part of gold-path.