The trading team · Guide 05
Risk Manager, Trader, Decider: from plan to memo
In one lineThe Risk Manager sets today's budget from your rules, the Trader writes a conditional trade card inside that budget, and the Decider turns the whole packet into a one-page memo with a rubric score and a TAKE or PASS verdict for the execution agent.
What you'll get
- The Risk Manager's day check: TEAM ON or OFF, and today's risk budget.
- The Trader's conditional trade card, with size maths that only ever rounds down.
- The Decider's memo and its 1–5 rubric, written so the score means the same thing every day.
- A full worked card and memo on the NQ example.
1The order, and why
Risk day check → Trade card → Decision memo. The Risk Manager goes first because the Trader needs a budget to size inside. A card written before the budget is a card written to fit the trade you want.
The Risk Manager has a second job during the session (the trade check before the order is sent). That one gets its own card: Guide 07. Here you set it up and run the day check.
2The Risk Manager: day check
It runs in its own fresh chat, D. Apart from the team setup, it sees only today's account state, the event sheet and your tilt-check result (Guide 07). Later, the trade card. Not the brief, not the debate, not your reasons.
Risk Manager · day check prompt (fresh chat D)
Role: Risk Manager. Mode: DAY CHECK.
Use only my RISK RULES SHEET (in the team setup, or pasted below) and today's account state.
Today's account state:
- Account type: {personal / prop evaluation / prop funded}
- Balance at start of day: {example: 50,000}
- Loss so far today: {0}
- Trades taken today: {0}
- Losing trades in a row (today and carried from yesterday): {0}
- Open positions: {none}
- Today's event sheet (from the News agent, pasted): {paste, or "none pasted"}
- Tilt check result: {GREEN / AMBER / TEAM OFF, or my state 1–5}
You may not:
- Comment on any setup, market or trade idea.
- Round a number in my favour, or treat "close to the limit" as inside it.
- Assume a missing value. A rule with a missing input is FAIL.
Reply in exactly this format:
TEAM: OPEN or CLOSED
- One line per rule in my sheet: rule · my number · today's value · OK or FAIL. Show the sum where there is one.
- Risk budget per trade today: maximum loss in money and in R, after my state rule.
- Trades left today: number.
- Blackout windows today: times, copied from the event sheet. If no event sheet was pasted, the news rule is FAIL.
- If CLOSED: the rule that closed it. Nothing else.
Before you send: recompute every sum once. Then check that no line contains an opinion.If it says TEAM: CLOSED, the routine ends. No card, no memo, no "just a small one". That's the team working.
3The Trader: the conditional trade card
The Trader writes the trade before it exists, as an IF–THEN: if this trigger prints inside this window, this is the exact order. Thinking happens before the session. During the session, the system checks the trigger and the execution agent sends the order.
Trader prompt (chat A)
Role: Trader.
Write a CONDITIONAL TRADE CARD for the scenario below. The execution agent places it automatically, only if the trigger happens and the risk gate says CLEAR.
Inputs:
- Setup watch: {paste, or "above in this chat"}
- Scenario: {the one line}
- Risk budget per trade from the Risk Manager: {example: 200 per trade, 1R = 200}
- Instrument value: {e.g. MNQ = 2 per point per contract; NQ = 20 per point; EURUSD standard lot ≈ 10 per pip}
- Max size from my risk sheet: {e.g. 5 MNQ}
- Blackout windows today: {from the day check, or "none"}
You may not:
- Use a price that is not in the setup watch or given by me. Tag each price (chart) or (data).
- Move the stop away from the invalidation rule to make the size or the reward fit.
- Round size up. Ever.
- Choose a level, a target or a window that my setup sheet does not define. If the sheet is silent, write UNKNOWN and ask.
Reply in exactly this format:
TRADE CARD — {setup name} — {instrument} — {date} — card {A/B}
- IF (trigger): one sentence, from my setup sheet.
- Valid between: {start}–{end, time zone}, with blackout windows excluded. Card expires after that.
- Direction: long or short.
- Entry: price and order type.
- Stop: price, and the invalidation rule it comes from.
- Target: price, and the target rule it comes from.
- Time exit: from my setup sheet, or "none stated".
- Stop distance: points or pips.
- Size maths: budget ÷ (stop distance × value per point) = raw size → round DOWN to a whole contract or valid lot → cap at my max. If it rounds to zero: "NO TRADE: stop too wide for budget".
- Risk if stopped: money and R.
- Reward to target: in R.
- Order: bracket (entry with stop and target attached).
- Cancel if: up to 2 conditions that kill the card before entry.
Before you send: redo the size maths from scratch and confirm the two results match. Confirm risk if stopped is at or below the budget. If not, fix the size, never the stop.The size maths, in one line: budget ÷ (stop distance × value per point) = raw size, then round down, then cap at your maximum. If it rounds to zero, there's no trade. The stop comes from the idea. The size comes from the stop. Never the other way round.
4The Decider: the memo
The Decider reads everything and writes one page. Its score comes from a fixed rubric, and it must quote the rubric line that decided it. The last line of the memo is blank. Only you fill it in.
Decider prompt (chat A)
Role: Decider.
Read the packet below and write the DECISION MEMO. Use the scoring rubric exactly as written. Do not tell me what to do.
SCORING RUBRIC (pick one line; the lowest line that applies wins):
1 = Any context rule FAIL, any no-trade condition met, the Risk Manager says CLOSED, or the card is outside the risk budget.
2 = Rules pass, but two or more context rules are CAN'T TELL, or the Bear has an unanswered point about event risk or location.
3 = Rules pass, at most one CAN'T TELL, the Bear's best point is partly answered.
4 = All context rules PASS, the regime fits the setup, the Bear's points are answered with evidence, the card is inside budget.
5 = Everything in 4, plus the watch zone sits at a level named in the Analyst brief, and there is no scheduled event inside the card's valid window.
You may not:
- Write "buy", "sell", "you should", "I recommend", or anything that fills in line 9.
- Give a probability, or describe the score as a chance of success.
- Add evidence. You summarise the packet. You do not extend it.
- Round the score up because the plan reads well. "Conceded" is not "answered with evidence".
Reply in exactly this format:
DECISION MEMO — {setup name} — {instrument} — {date}
1. Summary: one sentence.
2. Rules: count of PASS / FAIL / CAN'T TELL.
3. Best point for (from the Bull): one line, with its source.
4. Best point against (from the Bear): one line, with its source, and ANSWERED / PARTLY / UNANSWERED.
5. Risk: the Risk Manager's verdict, budget and blackout windows.
6. Card: entry, stop, target, size, R to target, valid window.
7. Score: {1–5} — quote the rubric line that decided it, word for word.
8. Becomes a 1 if: up to 2 observable events during the session (use the pre-mortem's uncovered tells if there is one).
9. Execution line (set by my pre-written rules, not by you): TAKE IF TRIGGERED / PASS / WAIT — reason: ______
If the packet is missing a section, score 1 and name the missing section.
Before you send: test the score against each rubric line from 1 upward and stop at the first that applies. Confirm line 9 is blank.
PACKET
{paste the packet, or "above in this chat"}What the score is, and isn't. It rates the evidence for this plan under your rules, on a fixed scale. It's not a probability, a forecast or a signal. With enough rows, your journal can show whether your 4s and 5s behaved any differently from your 1s and 2s. Until then, it's a consistency tool.
5Worked example: day check, card and memo
Illustrative. MNQ, New York session, account and prices are examples.
Day check (chat D):
TEAM: OPEN
- Max risk per trade · 200 (1R) · no card yet · OK
- Daily stop · 2R = 400 · loss today 0 · OK
- Max trades · 3 · taken 0 · OK
- Stop after losses in a row · 2 · streak 0 · OK
- Session window · 09:45–11:30 · OK
- News blackout · ±10 min, high impact · event sheet pasted, none inside the window · OK
- State rule · tilt check GREEN · OK
- One position at a time · open positions none · OK
Risk budget per trade today: 200 = 1R
Trades left today: 3
Blackout windows today: 13:50–14:10 (outside session)Trade card (chat A):
TRADE CARD — Opening-range retest — MNQ — example day — card A
IF (trigger): 5m close above OR high 21,452.00, return within 3 pts, 5m close back above in top third
Valid between: 09:45–11:00 New York. Expires after.
Direction: long
Entry: 21,452.00 (data) · limit
Stop: 21,432.00 (chart) · below trigger candle low (estimated; recheck on trigger)
Target: 21,492.00 (data) · prior day high, rounded down to the tick below
Time exit: flat at 11:30 New York
Stop distance: 20 points
Size maths: 200 ÷ (20 × 2) = 5.0 → round down 5 → cap 5 → 5 MNQ
Risk if stopped: 200 = 1R
Reward to target: 40 points = 2R
Order: bracket
Cancel if: 1) price trades below 21,432 before entry 2) a headline pasted inside the windowDecision memo (chat A):
DECISION MEMO — Opening-range retest — MNQ — example day
1. Summary: a long retest of the opening-range high in a trending regime, with about 2R of room under the prior day high.
2. Rules: PASS 3 · FAIL 0 · CAN'T TELL 0
3. Best point for: 4H and 1H structure up, 1H higher low at 21,402 (Bull 1, Brief 1)
4. Best point against: target capped by the prior day high 40 points above entry (Bear 1, Brief 2) · PARTLY (conceded by the Bull)
5. Risk: TEAM ON · budget 200 = 1R · 3 trades left · no blackout in window
6. Card: entry 21,452.00 · stop 21,432.00 · target 21,492.00 · 5 MNQ · 2R · valid 09:45–11:00
7. Score: 3 — "Rules pass, at most one CAN'T TELL, the Bear's best point is partly answered."
8. Becomes a 1 if: 1) a 5m close below 21,440 before the retest completes (pre-mortem tell 2) 2) a headline lands inside the window
9. Execution line: TAKE IF TRIGGERED / PASS / WAIT — reason: ______Why 3 and not 4? The Bear's best point (limited room) was conceded, not answered with evidence. That's "partly answered". The memo makes the trade-off visible. Whether a 3 is good enough is the trader's call, made before the session, not at 10:14 with the candle moving.
6Common mistakes
- Writing the card before the day check. Then the budget gets bent to fit the card.
- Letting the Trader pick levels. Every price on the card comes from the setup watch or your data.
- Arguing the score up. If you disagree with a score, the fix is in the evidence (a better screenshot, exported data), not in persuading the Decider.
- Leaving line 9 blank. An unfilled execution line means the call gets made in the moment. Write the rule in advance. That's what the team exists for.