Playbooks¶

Define structured trading setups with checklists and hard rules, then score trades against them to measure plan adherence.

Overview¶

Playbooks are formalized descriptions of your trading strategies. Each playbook defines the conditions a trade should meet -- side, timeframe, risk parameters, and a step-by-step checklist. After closing a trade, you review it against the relevant playbook to get an adherence score that quantifies how well you followed your plan.

Navigate to Playbooks from the main sidebar.

Why Use Playbooks¶

• Consistency -- Codify what a valid trade looks like for each strategy so you stop guessing.
• Accountability -- Score every trade against objective criteria rather than relying on memory.
• Performance insight -- Compare win rates, profit factors, and average R across playbooks to see which strategies actually work best.
• Discipline feedback -- Track "followed plan" vs "broke plan" rates over time to measure improvement.

Creating a Playbook¶

1. Go to Playbooks and click New Playbook.
2. Fill in the playbook definition:

Core Fields¶

Hard Rules¶

Hard rules are pass/fail conditions that apply automatic penalties to the adherence score when violated. Configure the rules that apply to this playbook:

Checklist Items¶

The checklist is the core of the playbook. Each item represents a condition or step you should verify before or during a trade.

1. Click Add item to add a checklist entry.

2. For each item, provide:

   • Label -- what the item checks (e.g., "Volume above average at entry", "Confirmed support bounce")
   • Weight -- how much this item contributes to the score (default: 1, increase for more important items)
   • Required -- whether this item is mandatory

3. Click Save Playbook.

Reviewing a Trade Against a Playbook¶

After closing a trade, you can review it against any active playbook:

1. Open a trade from the Trades list.
2. In the trade detail view, find the Playbook Review section.
3. Select the playbook to review against.
4. Go through the checklist and check each item that was satisfied.
5. Indicate whether you Followed Plan overall (Yes/No).
6. Optionally add Review Notes for additional context.
7. Click Save Review.

TradeTally then calculates the scores and stores the review.

Adherence Scoring¶

The adherence score is a 0-100 scale that combines checklist completion with hard rule evaluation.

How It Works¶

1. Checklist Score -- Calculated as a weighted percentage of checked items:

   Checklist Score = (Sum of checked item weights / Total weight of all items) x 100
   

2. Rule Evaluation -- Each hard rule is evaluated against the trade data:

   • Stop loss present (if required)
   • Minimum target R met (if specified)
   • Side matches playbook
   • Timeframe matches playbook
   • Strategy matches (if specified)
   • Setup matches (if specified)
   • Required tags present (if specified)

3. Penalty Application -- Each failed rule subtracts a penalty (typically 12 points) from the checklist score.

4. Final Score:

   Adherence Score = max(0, Checklist Score - Total Penalties)
   

   The score is clamped between 0 and 100.

Example¶

A playbook has 4 checklist items (weight 1 each) and requires a stop loss:

• Trader checks 3 of 4 items: Checklist Score = 75
• Trade has no stop loss: -12 penalty
• Adherence Score = 75 - 12 = 63

Violation Summary¶

When rules are violated, TradeTally generates a plain-language violation summary. For example:

• "Trade is missing a stop loss."
• "Trade does not meet the minimum planned target R."
• "Trade side does not match the long playbook."

These messages appear in the review detail so you can see exactly what went wrong.

Timeframe Classification¶

When a playbook specifies a timeframe, TradeTally automatically classifies the trade's hold time:

If the trade's timeframe does not match the playbook's expected timeframe, a penalty is applied.

Adherence Analytics¶

The Playbooks page includes an analytics section that aggregates data across all your playbook reviews.

Overview Cards¶

Four summary cards at the top show:

• Active playbooks -- how many playbooks are currently active
• Reviewed trades -- total number of trades with playbook reviews
• Avg adherence -- the overall average adherence score across all reviews
• Followed vs broken -- count of trades where you followed the plan vs broke it

Per-Playbook Table¶

A breakdown table shows performance metrics for each playbook:

This table answers the question: "Which of my strategies performs best, and am I following them properly?"

Recent Reviews¶

A list of the 20 most recent trade reviews, showing the symbol, date, adherence score, and whether the plan was followed or broken. Click any trade to view its full detail.

Managing Playbooks¶

Editing¶

Select a playbook from the list to load it into the editor. Modify any field or checklist item, then click Save Playbook. Existing reviews are not retroactively recalculated.

Archiving¶

Click Archive on a playbook to deactivate it. Archived playbooks:

• No longer appear in the review dropdown when scoring trades
• Still retain all historical reviews and analytics data
• Can be viewed by enabling "Include Archived" in the playbook list

Active vs Archived¶

Each playbook displays a badge indicating its status:

• Active -- available for new trade reviews
• Archived -- historical only, no new reviews

Best Practices¶

1. Create one playbook per strategy. If you trade opening range breakouts and VWAP reversals, create separate playbooks for each.
2. Be specific with checklist items. "Good entry" is vague. "Entry within 0.5% of VWAP after a confirmed bounce" is actionable.
3. Use weights to prioritize. Give higher weights to the items that most impact trade outcome (e.g., position sizing, stop placement).
4. Review every trade. The analytics are only meaningful when you consistently review trades. Skipping reviews creates blind spots.
5. Compare followed vs broken. If trades where you "broke plan" still win at a decent rate, your playbook rules may need adjustment.
6. Monitor adherence trends. A declining average adherence score is an early warning sign of loosening discipline.
7. Iterate on playbooks. As your strategy evolves, update checklist items and rules. Archive playbooks that no longer reflect how you trade.
8. Use minimum target R. Setting a minimum reward-to-risk requirement prevents you from taking trades with unfavorable setups.