Improving Execution and Consistency Through Habits

As a tournament chess player there are a number of openings I know up to a depth of 20 moves.  When playing blitz I can rattle these by route in seconds with little to no thought.  I have a level of competence that allows me to do this with confidence consistently and repeatedly.  In trading things aren't so black and white, but the ability to execute consistently without hesitation remains true.  In order to improve my execution I've looked at a number of different techniques, but one I've found most useful is filtering my trading plan through a habit.

Recently, while the market has been in a corrective mode, I've returned to a trading idea that I couldn't make work but now believe I can.  As with any setup I had to clearly define the parameters of vehicle selection, entry, stop, and exit.  The first thing I do is write them down as clearly and concisely as possible.

Setup

Once I have my setup defined I turn to this diagram to assist me in filtering.

French Defense

This is a position I know very well and have played thousands of games from.  I can execute this blindfolded.  In order to improve execution and consistency in my trading I've experimented with transferring this habitual knowledge into habitual trading.  To do so I structure my trading plan as chess moves.

Trading Moves

The key for me is to chunk a couple bullet point concepts within each move as opposed to drawing out each step.  If bullet points get up to 5 I'll place the next steps under a different move.  Crucially I look to avoid going too deep into an opening where there are 5 to 6 moves with 5 bullet points each.  Reaching 25 to 30 steps in the process informs me to prune back the tree.

The steps exemplified:

Find High AH Volume

Catalyst

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