Guide

A five-minute routine to plan your forex day

Most bad trades start with no plan. A good plan doesn't take an hour; it takes five minutes and the same five questions every morning.

Updated 18 October 2026 · 2 min read

A laptop, coffee mug, notepad and phone on a wooden desk — Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

In short: answer five questions in order. What's on the calendar? Which currency is strongest? Where are today's levels? What confirms an entry? What's the plan if it works and if it doesn't? Each question has one page in SILICON, and together they take five minutes.

1. What's on the calendar? (30 seconds)

Tap the event bar at the top of any page. Note the high-impact releases for the currencies you trade and when they land. If something big is due in your session, your plan has to work around it, or wait until after it.

2. Which currency is strongest? (1 minute)

Open Strength. Read the week's leaders and laggards, check that today agrees, and look at the recommended pair. That's your shortlist: one to three pairs, not twenty.

3. Where are today's levels? (1 minute)

Open Next-Day Levels for each pair on the shortlist. Note the first level each side of price and how reliable each has been. Ignore everything else on the chart.

4. What confirms an entry? (1 minute)

Decide what has to happen at the level before you act. The Strength page's trigger and the confirmation on the Levels page tell you when an entry is confirmed and when price has already run without you. If you can't say what confirms the trade, you don't have one.

5. What's the plan? (1 minute)

Write it in one line each: entry, stop, target, and what cancels the idea. Or ask the assistant: "Here's my plan for EUR/USD; what would make you get out?" It answers from the same analysis you just read.

Then stop looking

Set alerts at your levels and close the charts. The routine's real job is to stop you from inventing trades in the middle of the session. Check Daily Setups if you want the desk's shortlist as a second opinion.

FAQ

When should I do this routine?

Before the session you trade opens: before London for most European traders, before New York for most American traders.

What if nothing lines up?

Then the plan is to not trade. A day with no clear setup is a day you keep your money.

Can I do this on my phone?

Yes. SILICON works in the browser and installs as an app on your phone.

See today's read on your pair. Ask SILICON what's driving the market you trade.

Try SILICON

Keep reading

Trading leveraged products such as forex and CFDs carries a high risk of loss. SILICON provides analysis and education, not financial advice. Past results do not guarantee future results.