What makes a trading rule you can actually keep?
A rule you can keep is one a clock or a count can check: a start time, max trades a day, a cap on risk per trade, a cool-off after a loss, a daily max loss you set. It grades process, not P&L, so a winning trade can break it and a losing one can keep it.
Worked example
Each rule can be checked by a clock or a count, so each has a state at any moment: keeping, waiting, done or broken.
9:30 AM, before the first trade
Wait until 9:45 AM
- waitingNo trades before 9:45 AMOpens at 9:45 AM
- keepingMax 3 trades a day0 of 3 used · 3 left
- keepingRisk up to $300 a tradeUp to $300 a trade
- keepingNo trades after 11:30 AMOpen until 11:30 AM
10:40 AM, two trades in
1 rule broken today. Trade 2 risked $350 — over $300.
- keepingNo trades before 9:45 AMOpen since 9:45 AM
- keepingMax 3 trades a day2 of 3 used · 1 left
- brokenRisk up to $300 a tradeTrade 2 risked $350 — over $300
- keepingNo trades after 11:30 AMOpen until 11:30 AM
A broken rule is marked in grey. It's a fact about the day, not a verdict on you.
At 9:30 the verdict is "Wait until 9:45 AM". By 10:40, "Risk up to $300 a trade" is broken: trade 2 risked $350, over $300. The other rules keep counting, and none of them looks at whether either trade made money.
Computed by the same rule engine your real accounts use.
Checkable, not aspirational
"Be patient" and "only take A+ setups" can't be checked in the moment, so there's no point at which they say wait. "No trades before 9:45" can: at 9:40 it's waiting, at 9:46 it isn't. A rule with a number or a time in it has a state at every moment, and a state is something you can look at before you click.
Process over P&L
A rule grades how you traded, not how the trade turned out. A trade that broke your risk cap and made money still broke it; a loss inside every rule kept every rule. Claridae's discipline score works the same way: it counts rules kept, never dollars.
When a rule breaks
It's marked in grey, not red: red is kept for a breach of an account's floor. The day's record keeps it, a streak starts again quietly, and tomorrow's rules start fresh.
How firms differ
- Firms set their own rules on top of yours: a max loss, often a daily limit, sometimes a contract cap.
- Where a firm's rule and yours overlap, the tighter one is the one that binds.
- Your own rules aren't checked by any firm, which is why writing them down where they can be checked matters.
Check your firm's current terms. Claridae's presets record each firm's version, dated, and you can edit any account's rules.
See it on a sample day
The live demo runs a sample trading day through the Desk, no sign-up.
Open the live demo