The pre-trade check: test an idea against your own rules

The pre-trade check answers one question before you enter: does this idea follow my own plan? It does not say whether the trade is good, and it says nothing about where the price will go.

How to start a check

There are three ways, and all end up with the coach:

• In the chat: type your idea in your own words, for example "Long ETHUSDT, entry 3240, stop 3180, target 3410, risk 1%".
• With the form: click Create trade plan and fill in instrument, direction, entry, stop-loss, take-profit and, optionally, your risk per trade as a percentage of your account.
• Next to your TradingView chart: with the browser extension, the coach opens in a side panel next to your chart and takes the instrument from it; you type the rest yourself.

The coach records your plan on the trade-plan card next to the chat. It only records levels you typed yourself. If one is missing, it asks you for it; it never fills in, adjusts or suggests a level. For a long, the stop-loss must be below the entry and the take-profit above it; for a short, the other way round.

What gets checked

Every rule in your trading plan that applies, and nothing else:

• Risk per trade: the risk you state (as % of your account) is at or below your own maximum.
• Risk/reward: the distance from entry to take-profit, divided by the distance from entry to stop-loss, is at least your own minimum. A journal trade with several take-profits that each have a size uses their size-weighted average; otherwise the first take-profit.
• Trading hours: the trade is opened inside your own trading hours, in your own timezone.
• Trades per day: this trade does not go over your own maximum number of trades for that day.
• Daily loss limit: you had fewer losing trades that day than the number after which you said you would stop.
• Stop-loss set: the trade has a stop-loss. Trades without one, for example imported from your exchange, count as not met; a stop moved into profit on the exchange counts as set.
• Stop-loss kept: you did not tag the trade “Moved stop”.
• Stop as planned (trades from your exchange linked to a trade plan): the stop-loss on the exchange is where your plan put it or closer to your entry, not further away. A stop moved into profit counts as met.
• No impulse trade: you did not tag the trade “FOMO” or “Revenge trade”.
• Entry on time: you did not tag the trade “Late entry”.
• Position size: you did not tag the trade “Oversized”.
• Exit according to plan (closed trades only): you did not tag the trade “Early exit”.
• Prop firm daily loss limit (prop firm mode): the risk you state fits in the room left before your own daily loss limit, after today's closed results and the risk of your open trades.
• Prop firm drawdown (prop firm mode): the risk you state fits in the room left before your own maximum drawdown, counted from the start of your challenge or, when trailing, from your highest closed result.
• Your own rules: every free-text rule in your plan, such as “entry only after a confirmed retest”.

The behaviour checks (stop-loss set, stop kept, no impulse trade, entry on time, position size, exit according to plan) belong to the journal: you can only answer them after the trade. Before a trade, the card checks your plan rules.

Daily limits use the trades and losses you logged in your journal today, and trading hours use the current time in your plan's timezone. In prop firm mode, the card also shows how much room is left before your daily loss limit and maximum drawdown, next to the risk you stated.

Reading the result

The card shows a short checklist: one row for each measurable rule in your plan, with the idea's value next to your own limit, such as "R:R 1:2.6 · min 1:2" or "Trade of the day 2 · max 3". There is no score and there are no green ticks, because meeting your own limits says nothing about whether the trade is a good one:

• Not followed: the idea breaks this rule. The row turns red and is marked Not followed.
• Not stated: there is not enough information. Your risk rule can't be checked when you didn't state your risk.
• Your call: your free-text rules, listed for you to tick off yourself, because neither Luxabit nor the AI judges them.
• Which of your playbooks is this? If your trading plan has playbooks, the card asks this with a button per playbook, plus In doubt and None of them. With one playbook it reads "Does this trade fit your setup?", with the buttons fits my setup, in doubt or doesn't fit. The same buttons appear in the chat, under the coach's reply; answer wherever you like, both show the same answer. It is your own answer, not a judgement by Luxabit.

When you pick a playbook, the check updates at once: that playbook's own maximum risk and minimum R:R replace your plan's where it sets them, and its rules are added to the list to tick off. In doubt and None of them keep the check to your plan's general limits and rules. Tap your answer again to clear it.

Your ticks, your playbook and your setup answer are saved with the plan. When you later mark the trade as taken in your journal, they are already filled in, and you can still change them there.

Send the same plan again in the same conversation (same instrument, direction, levels and risk) and the card moves to the newest reply with a fresh check. Your journal keeps one planned trade for it, with your ticks. Is the same plan still planned from another conversation, made less than 24 hours ago? Then the chat asks under the reply whether you want to use that one or make a new one. Nothing is moved or removed without your choice.

If nothing deviates, the card adds "No deviations from your own rules found. This says nothing about the quality or outcome of this trade."

What the coach adds

Next to the card, the coach states which of your rules the check marked as not followed and asks at most a couple of open questions. It answers before you pick a playbook, so it measures against your plan's general limits and rules; the card then shows the check for the playbook you pick. A question might be "What makes you want to take more risk than your plan allows?". It doesn't approve or reject the idea. What you do with it is up to you. See What the AI coach does and doesn't do.

Also on the card

• Risk/reward calculated from your own levels, and the distance to your stop as a percentage of the price, and in pips for forex pairs.
• The R:R after an estimated fee of 0.05% on entry and on exit: the fees come off your reward and on top of your risk. Funding and slippage are not included, so your real costs can be higher. This is a neutral note, not a warning, and it doesn't change the check: your minimum R:R is checked against the R:R of your own levels.
• The position size calculator, filled in with your entry and stop.

Your plan next to your real trade

If you connected your exchange, Luxabit looks for the trade that carries out your plan: the same coin, the same direction, a fill within 1.5% of your planned entry, opened within 12 hours after the plan. While the chat is open it checks your exchange every few minutes, and the card says it is waiting.

Once found, the card shows your plan next to what happened: your entry, stop-loss and take-profit as planned and as filled, for example a stop further from your entry than planned, or no stop on the exchange at all. These are plain differences, not a judgement. One of them counts in your Discipline Score: a stop further from your entry than planned. The trade in your journal takes over your answers from the plan (the rules you ticked, your setup answer and the risk you stated), and shows the same comparison. Linked the wrong trade? Open it in the journal and choose Unlink; it won't be linked again.

Costs

Every message the coach answers counts as one coach message from your monthly allowance (25 on Starter, 300 on Trader, 1,000 on Pro). See Plans and pricing.