Building a Playbook

What is a Trading Playbook?

A playbook is a documented set of rules for every setup you trade. It's the difference between a trader who has a system and a trader who thinks they have a system.

Before you have a playbook:

• "I trade breakouts when they look strong"

After you have a playbook:

• "I trade opening range breakouts when price clears the 15-minute high with volume at least 50% above the 20-period average, I enter on the first 1-minute close above the ORB high, my stop is the midpoint of the opening range candle, and my target is 2x the opening range size."

The second version removes ambiguity and removes emotion from the entry decision.

Creating Your First Playbook Entry in Tradapt

Go to Playbook in the sidebar. Click New Playbook.

Fill in:

• Setup name — Short, memorable, e.g., "ORB Long"
• Description — One-sentence summary of what the setup looks like
• Entry rules — The specific criteria that must be met before you enter
• Stop loss rule — Where exactly your stop goes and why
• Target rule — Where you take profit and the R:R ratio

Save the playbook, then start tagging your future trades with this setup name when you log them.

The Power of Tagging Trades to Setups

After 30–50 tagged trades, navigate to Analytics and filter by your setup. You'll see:

• Win rate for this specific setup
• Average R-multiple
• Performance by time of day
• Performance by market condition

This is how you discover your actual edge — not by guessing, but by measuring.

Start Small

Don't try to document every setup on day one. Start with the one or two setups you trade most often. Build the habit of documenting and tagging before expanding.

The goal is a living document that grows with your trading — not a perfect encyclopedia written before you've traded.