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7Grade 7: Price Action Lab
Technical Analysis + Price Action · Multi-Timeframe Analysis

Building a routine: daily HTF prep

Derive a repeatable daily HTF prep routine that sets up the trading day in under 15 minutes.

3 min read+25 XPLesson 9 of 96
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Technical Analysis + Price Action

Multi-Timeframe Analysis

Lesson 9 of 969%
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Lesson 9 of 96Technical Analysis + Price ActionMulti-Timeframe Analysis

Today's tiny win: make one idea click.

Derive a repeatable daily HTF prep routine that sets up the trading day in under 15 minutes.

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Fifteen minutes before the action

Discretionary traders who survive long term almost all share one habit: they prep the chart before the trading session, not during it. A clean daily prep takes 10 to 15 minutes and produces a short written plan. That plan tells you what to watch, what to skip, and what would change your mind. Without prep, you spend the session reacting to whatever blinks first.

Wick shows a notebook page for EUR/USD: bias up, watch 1.0800 on the 4H, 15m bullish trigger, skip below 1.0775, teaching that a written plan beats deciding on the fly.Today's planEUR/USD: bias upWatch 1.0800 on 4HTrigger: 15m bullishSkip below 1.0775
Wick saysWrite a one-line plan for each pair before the session starts.

Here is a 5-step prep you can run in any market. Step 1: pick your watchlist — usually 2 to 5 instruments. More than five and you cannot do any of them justice. Step 2: open the Daily for each one. State the bias in one sentence: up, down, or sideways. Step 3: on the 4H, mark one or two levels per instrument. Not ten. Step 4: check the economic calendar for high-impact releases that affect your watchlist. Step 5: write a one-line plan per instrument — for example, 'EUR/USD: bias up, watching 1.0800 4H support, long on 15m bullish trigger, skip if price closes below 1.0775 on 4H.'

Why the written plan matters. During the session your brain will be reacting fast and emotionally. The plan is the calm version of you talking to the panicked version. If you wrote 'skip if price closes below 1.0775' and price closes at 1.0773, you skip. No improvisation. The plan is also a feedback loop — at the end of the week you can look back at five plans and see what worked and what was wishful.

Wick thinks calmly that the plan says skip below 1.0775, price closed at 1.0773, so he skips, showing that a written rule removes guessing during the session.Plan: skip below1.0775. It closed at1.0773. I skip.?
Wick saysYour plan is the calm you talking to the rushed you, so follow it.

Common prep mistakes. Marking too many levels — five per instrument is the upper limit, two is plenty. Including pairs you do not actually trade. Skipping the calendar and getting steamrolled by news. Prepping during the session instead of before. The fix for all of these is the same: shrink the watchlist, shrink the level count, and protect the prep window like a meeting on your calendar.

Wick points at a green card saying 2 to 5 pairs with about 2 levels each and a coral card saying 10 pairs with 10 levels each, teaching that a short list gets real attention.Do this2 to 5 pairs, about2 levels eachNot this10 pairs, 10 levelseach
Wick saysKeep the watchlist small: 2 to 5 pairs and about two levels each.

Recap: 5 steps, 10-15 minutes, written plan. Watchlist, bias, levels, calendar, one-line plan per instrument. Done before the session.

Knowledge check

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0 / 3 answered

1. Which step is missing from this prep — bias, marked levels, economic calendar?

2. Your prepped plan says 'skip EUR/USD long if price closes below 1.0775 on 4H.' Price closes at 1.0773. What do you do?

3. Why is a watchlist of 10 instruments usually too many?

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