Writing a pre-session brief that survives the open

Traders often journal after the damage. Mentoring at Distributed Io pushes the writing to before the bell. The brief is deliberately short so it can be reread when the first five minutes of the index open feel chaotic.

Four lines only

1. Bias — one sentence on whether you expect continuation of yesterday’s structure or mean reversion into a range.
2. Levels — two prices you will respect; not eight.
3. Invalidation — the print that cancels the bias without argument.
4. Behaviour to avoid — usually something personal: “no second entry after a failed break” or “no widening stops on lunch chop.”

Why two levels

When the chart carries twelve horizontals, the open will always touch something. Two levels force hierarchy. In clinics we ask clients to delete lines until only the shelves that changed behaviour last week remain.

After the session

Compare the brief to what you actually did. The grade is not profit. The grade is whether you followed the invalidation you wrote while calm. That comparison is the core of our technical analysis training more than any pattern name.