Invalidation written before the entry is clicked

The most expensive habit we see in chart reviews is relocating a stop after the market has moved against the idea. Emotion invents new structure. Our rule in training is blunt: the invalidation level is written while you are still flat.

Choose a price that, if traded and closed beyond, means your swing story is wrong — not merely uncomfortable. For longs that often sits under the swing low that justified the bias. For shorts, above the swing high that capped the advance.

Participants who resist this step usually discover, mid-session, that they never had a clear story. That discovery is useful. It belongs on paper before capital is committed.