The Turtle Trading Checklist: A One-Page System You Can Follow Daily

The problem with trading isn't that the math is hard. The math is literally 5th-grade subtraction. The problem is that your brain turns into a squirrel on espresso when the market opens. You see a flashing red number, your heart rate jumps to 110, and suddenly your plan to "follow the rules" is replaced by a primal urge to "do something now."

The solution isn't "more willpower" or "better mindset." Willpower is a battery that runs out by 2 PM. The solution is a checklist. Pilots use them so they don't forget to lower the landing gear. Surgeons use them so they don't leave scissors inside your abdomen. You should use one so you don't forget to place a stop loss or accidentally risk 10% of your account on a single "hunch."

This article is the exact daily routine for a systematic trend follower. It is boring. It is repetitive. And it will save your financial life. Print it out. Tape it to your monitor. Do not click a mouse until you have checked the boxes.

Phase 1: The Pre-Market Routine (Don't Skip This)

Most traders roll out of bed, open Twitter (sorry, X), see that someone thinks "crypto is dead" or "oil is going to $500," panic, and then open their broker app. This is how you lose money. You are letting other people's noise become your signal.

Your pre-market routine is about establishing a "zero state." You need to be neutral. You are not a bull. You are not a bear. You are a robot waiting for instructions.

Step 1: The HALT Check

Ask yourself: Am I Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired?

• If you are Hungry: Your glucose is low. Your decision-making will be impulsive. Eat a sandwich.
• If you are Angry: You will revenge-trade. If you fought with your partner or got cut off in traffic, do not trade.
• If you are Tired: You will miss details. You will type 1000 instead of 100.

If you fail the HALT check, walk away. The market will be there tomorrow. Your capital might not be if you trade like a zombie.

Step 2: Check Existing Positions

Before looking for new trouble, manage the trouble you already have.

• Did any stops hit overnight? If you trade crypto or futures, you might have been stopped out while you slept. Log it. Accept it. Do not try to "get it back."
• Do I need to roll? If you trade futures, is your contract expiring soon? Don't let the exchange auto-liquidate you. Roll the position.
• Move stops to breakeven? If the price has moved significantly in your favor (e.g., > 1N or 2N), check your rules. Is it time to trail the stop?

Step 3: Update Account Equity

This is crucial for Turtle Trading. Your position size depends on your current account size. If you have $10,000 yesterday but lost $500 overnight, you now have $9,500. Your risk calculation for today must use $9,500. This is called "Mark-to-Market." It ensures you naturally trade smaller during a losing streak (preserving capital) and larger during a winning streak (compounding gains).

Phase 2: The Signal Scan (The Core Work)

Now you are ready to look at the market. Remember, you are not predicting. You are scanning. You are looking for specific conditions: Price > 20-Day High (for System 1) or Price > 55-Day High (for System 2).

Step 4: Run the Scanners

Do not manually click through 500 charts. That is inefficient and leads to hallucinating patterns that aren't there. Use a scanner (like the Turtelli Dashboard or TradingView screener).

The Filter:
- Price >= 20-Day High?
- Price <= 20-Day Low?

If the answer is NO for a market, you ignore it. It is dead to you. Move on.

Step 5: The "Almost" Trap

You will see a chart that is almost breaking out. It is one cent away. You will think: "It's going to break anyway, I'll just get in early to get a better price." STOP. This is the siren song of the amateur. "Almost" breakouts are often exact resistance levels where the price reverses and crushes you.

If the rule says $50.00 and the price is $49.99, you do not buy. You wait for $50.01. Discipline is binary. You either have it or you don't.

Step 6: Liquidity Check

You found a breakout! Exciting. Now, look at the spread and volume. If the stock trades 1,000 shares a day and has a $0.50 spread, you cannot trade it. The slippage will destroy your edge. Rule of thumb: If you can't enter and exit without moving the price, skip it. There are other fish in the sea.

Phase 3: Order Placement (The "Don't Think" Phase)

Once you have a valid signal, you switch from "analyst" to "execution bot." Do not hesitate. Hesitation costs money.

Step 7: Calculate N (ATR)

Check the 20-day ATR (Average True Range). Let's say it is $2.00. This is your measure of volatility.

Step 8: Calculate Position Size

This is the most important math you will do. Do not guess.
Formula: (Account Equity * Risk %) / (2 * ATR)

You buy 250 shares. Not 300 because you "feel good." Not 100 because you are "scared." You buy 250.

Step 9: Place the Orders (Both of Them!)

Entering a trade without a stop loss is like skydiving without checking your chute. You might survive, but it's a bad habit. Place your Entry Order (Buy Stop or Market). IMMEDIATELY place your Protective Stop Loss order at (Entry - 2N).

Do not "keep it in your head." Mental stops are not real. When the market crashes 10% in a flash crash, your mental stop will be paralyzed by fear. A hard stop order works while you are crying under your desk.

Phase 4: Post-Trade Journaling (The Learning Phase)

The market closes. You are done. But you are not done done. You need to log the data. Your journal is the only boss you have. If you don't report to it, you are unsupervised. And unsupervised traders blow up.

Step 10: The Entry Log

• Date/Time: When did you enter?
• Symbol: What did you buy?
• Price: What was your fill? (Compare this to your desired price to track slippage).
• Size: How many units?
• Stop Price: Where is the exit?

Step 11: The "Why" Log

Write down exactly which rule triggered the trade.
System 1 breakout: Price $55.20 > 20-day high $55.10.

If you cannot write this sentence, you made a mistake. You impulse-traded. Admit it, log it as an "Error," and close the trade.

Step 12: The "Feelings" Log

"I felt nervous taking this trade because the news is bad."
"I felt overconfident because my last 3 trades won."

Tracking your emotions helps you spot patterns. You might realize you always lose money when you trade while bored.

Phase 5: The Weekly Review (The CEO Meeting)

Once a week (Friday afternoon or Sunday morning), you stop being the "Trader" and become the "Risk Manager."

Step 13: Sector Exposure Check

Scan your portfolio. Are you long 4 oil stocks, 2 energy ETFs, and 3 oil futures? You don't have 9 positions. You have one giant position in Oil. If Oil crashes, you die. Turtle rules limit total units per sector (usually max 4 units). If you are over the limit, reduce positions immediately.

Step 14: Execution Audit

Look at your journal. Did you follow the checklist every day? Give yourself a grade.

• A = Followed all rules (even if you lost money).
• F = Broke rules (even if you made money).

In systematic trading, process is everything. Outcome is luck in the short term, but process is skill in the long term.

Summary: The One-Page Cheat Sheet

That's it. It's not sexy. It's not exciting. It's just professional. If you want excitement, go to a casino. If you want to trade trends, follow the checklist.

Ready to automate the "Scan" and "Calc Size" steps? The Turtelli Dashboard handles the math so you can focus on the discipline.

A quick, realistic walkthrough (the kind your brain actually needs)

Let’s do a simple play-by-play, because most “strategy explanations” are missing the only part that matters: what you do on a normal Tuesday. Picture this: you scan your list once a day. One market is breaking above its recent highs. Your job is not to guess the top or get poetic. Your job is to follow the steps you already decided on a calm day. If you want the full “start here” path, the hub is Articles.

1. Check the level (the breakout point) and confirm it’s a real “new high” for your chosen window.
2. Calculate your risk using ATR. If volatility is huge, your position will be smaller. That’s not a bug.
3. Place the entry and the stop. Put the stop in the system, not in your imagination.
4. After entry, stop watching every tick. If you must stare at something, stare at your rules.
5. Exit by rule: either a reversal level hits, or your stop hits. Your mood is not on the list.

Sometimes you’ll get stopped out quickly. That’s normal. The system is built around the idea that a few big trends pay for a bunch of small “nope” trades.