A pre-market checklist, run the same way every day.
We trade SPY options. The setup is the same most days; what changes is whether the conditions are there. The job before the bell is to find out.
SPY · 5m · 2026-05-04
Sample chart, mock data. Levels marked at 08:45 pre-market — pivot reclaim taken at 10:14 with a stop one tick under 552.00.
The pre-market checklist.
Ten items, every morning, in the same order. Read it like a procedural document — because that's what it is.
01
08:30
Read overnight tape
ES, NQ, DXY, VIX. One sentence on each.
02
08:45
Mark daily levels
Prior day H/L, overnight H/L, weekly pivot, key MA.
03
09:00
Define scenarios
Two paths: bull case, bear case. Trigger price for each.
04
09:15
Position size
Risk per trade ≤ 1.0% of account. Stop distance defined.
05
09:25
Final read
Cash session bias in one line. If unclear, skip the open.
06
09:30
Open
First 5 min: observe only. No entries before 09:35.
07
09:35
Execute plan
Trigger or no trigger. The plan is the plan.
08
11:30
Mid-day journal
Log entries, exits, deviations. Note one feeling, one fact.
09
15:55
Flatten
All positions closed before bell. No overnight on options.
10
16:30
Daily review
Score the checklist. Was the process followed? Yes / no.
What you get, where.
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