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The Weekly Reset: How Top Traders Prepare for Monday

The Weekly Reset: How Top Traders Prepare for Monday

Friday close. The week is done. Most traders shut their laptops and don't think about trading until Monday morning. Then they wonder why Monday is their worst day.

The best traders use the weekend differently. They run a Weekly Reset: a structured review that closes one week and prepares for the next. It takes about an hour. It's the highest-ROI hour of your trading week.

Step 1: Trade Review (20 minutes)

Pull up every trade from the week in TradeZella or your journal. Sort by setup type. Calculate win rate, average R, and total P&L by category. Ask: Which setups worked? Which didn't? Were my losses system trades or emotional trades?

Separate the signal from the noise. A bad week with good execution is fine. A good week with bad execution is a warning sign.

Step 2: Rule Adherence Audit (10 minutes)

Go through each trade and mark whether you followed your rules. Calculate your rule adherence percentage. If it's below 80%, that is your number one problem. Not your strategy. Not the market. Your execution.

Identify which rules you broke and why. Was it boredom? Revenge? FOMO? The pattern will repeat until you address it.

Step 3: Economic Calendar Review (10 minutes)

Pull up next week's economic calendar. Mark all high-impact events: CPI, PPI, FOMC, NFP, earnings. For each event, note: the expected impact on your instruments, whether you will trade through it or sit out, and how you will adjust sizing if you trade.

Knowing the calendar before Monday means you won't be surprised. Surprises are what cause emotional trades.

Step 4: Level Preparation (15 minutes)

Mark the weekly levels on your charts. This week's high, low, and close. The weekly VWAP. Any significant volume profile levels from the week. Prior week's range. These become your reference points for Monday's trading.

Having levels pre-marked means Monday morning is execution, not analysis. You already know where the significant prices are.

Step 5: Write Next Week's Plan (5 minutes)

In your journal, write three things. Your bias for the week (based on the technical levels and calendar). The two or three setups you will prioritize. Any adjustments to your rules or sizing based on this week's review.

This five-minute exercise gives you clarity that most traders never have. You show up Monday with a plan. They show up Monday with hope.

Why Consistency Matters

The Weekly Reset works because it's consistent. Do it every week for a year and you have 52 structured reviews of your trading. That is 52 opportunities to find patterns, fix leaks, and improve your process. Most traders get zero structured reviews per year. You get 52.

The compounding effect of weekly improvement is enormous. A 1% improvement per week in execution quality compounds to a completely different trader in 12 months.

Go Deeper: Explore the Net Alpha Program — Structured training for traders ready to build real, repeatable process.

Mahalo for reading and trade well!

— Glenn & Reid | Hawai'i Trading Academy


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