🏠 Rules of the house — $2,000 real account
🛑 $20 max risk / trade (1%)
🔥 3% max heat ($60 total)
📦 2–3 positions max
🥇 Stop goes in first
🧮 Counter amber = done for the day
💵 Cash account · T+1 cooldown
Why these numbers: the 1% Rule caps any single loss at $20 on the $2,000 real account, so no one trade can hurt you. Total open risk (portfolio heat) stays under 3% = $60 across at most 2–3 positions — beyond that you can't watch them properly. The stop order goes in the moment you're filled, before the target, before anything else. When the Day Trade Dash overtrading counter turns amber, you are done for the day — more clicks from there is tilt, not strategy. Trade the same rules on the $100k paper account so the habits transfer.
Cash vs. margin (post-PDT): a cash account has no $2,000 equity floor and T+1 settlement acts as a built-in cooldown — you literally cannot revenge-trade money that hasn't settled. A margin account keeps a $2,000 equity floor. Cash is the recommended route for the real account.
Cash vs. margin (post-PDT): a cash account has no $2,000 equity floor and T+1 settlement acts as a built-in cooldown — you literally cannot revenge-trade money that hasn't settled. A margin account keeps a $2,000 equity floor. Cash is the recommended route for the real account.
Education only — decision support, not financial advice. You make every trade yourself.
🎉 No more day-trade limits: the PDT rule was eliminated on June 4, 2026 — Webull supported it day one. There is no day-trade count to ration anymore. But freedom is not a reason to trade more: the house rules above are now your only guardrails, so they matter more, not less.
🌅 Morning Process
7:00 – 9:30 CT · market opens 8:30 CT
One funnel, wide to narrow: read the tape → find candidates → let the machines argue → size it → checklist → 🚀 GO. If any gate says no, the answer is no — there is always another day.
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7:00 CTRead the Morning Brief
Today's gated Top-5 picks, the econ calendar, and the live track record — all in one screen. If the SYSTEM COLD banner is up, real money sits out and today is paper-only. This one read decides whether the rest of the playbook runs live or in rehearsal.
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7:10 CTCheck the world
Slide the Market Board's global view: overnight futures, Asia's close, Europe's open. A red world at 7am usually means a defensive open — you want to know that before you fall in love with a setup.
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7:15 CTCheck the regime + confirmed edges
The Regime Gate says what kind of market this is (Markov regime) and which strategy edges are confirmed in season right now. Trading a mean-reversion setup in a strong trend is how good entries lose money.
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7:20 CTSector check — where is the money flowing?
Half a trade is its sector tailwind. Market Board heatmaps show today's green sectors; RS Leaders ranks relative strength; the Regime Gate survivors table shows which sector ETFs (XLV health, XLK tech, XLE energy…) carry a confirmed in-season edge. Rule: trade the strongest names inside the strongest in-season sector — whichever sector that is today: tech, energy, healthcare, financials, industrials… the heatmap and RS Leaders decide, not a favorite.
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7:25 CTRun the Consensus scan
Open Scanner Hub and click the 🤝 Consensus tab: tickers flagged by 2+ platform scanners at once, scored against the regime gates. Agreement between independent scanners is a stronger signal than any single one. Then check the Bench — names you parked earlier with a thesis and levels, freshly re-checked against this morning's gates. An idea you benched Tuesday may be in season today.
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7:35 CTFilter for the $2k account
Day Trade Dash with the $2k filter on: price bands you can actually size, plus RVOL so you only look at names that are genuinely moving today. Kill anything you can't afford to stop properly.
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7:45 CTRun HAL on the best 1–2 names
HAL walks the full verdict chain and ends with the Claude Final Review. You're not asking permission — you're hunting for the reason not to take the trade. If HAL finds one, believe it.
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7:55 CTEcosystem second opinion
The Financial Ecosystem's PM Synthesis runs your idea past a 7-agent desk — macro, quant, risk, and the PM who has to sign it. A different machine disagreeing with HAL is exactly the information you want before risking $20.
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8:05 CTOptional: one rehearsal rep
If the setup is new or you're rusty, run one Execution Lab drill or replay the exact S.E.T. plan in the Simulator. Two minutes of rehearsal beats an hour of regret.
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8:15 CTSize the trade
Position Sizer, preloaded for the $2k account at 1% risk: entry, stop, target in — share count out. The share count is not negotiable; if the math says 7 shares, you buy 7 shares.
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8:20 CTPre-Trade Checklist — earn the 🚀 GO
All 12 checks, honestly. Only a 🚀 GO clears you to trade — anything less and the trade doesn't happen. This is the last gate where a mistake is still free.
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8:30–9:30 CTExecute from the charts
Two roads from the 🚀 GO: price is AT your entry now → Stage the Webull ticket (preview → you press Place). Price has NOT reached your entry → Arm the trade with the trigger and let price come to you — no chasing; arming is the patient default for a $2k account. Either way, let the first 15 minutes shake out unless your setup is the open — most $2k-account traps live in the first candle.
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AT FILL🛑 Stop goes in first
The moment you're filled — before the target order, before the screenshot, before anything — the stop order goes in at the broker. A plan without a live stop is just a hope with a ticker on it.
⚡ Intraday Process
check-ins at 11:00 · 1:00 · 2:45 CT
Between check-ins, the screen is closed. Your stops are working so you don't have to. Watching every tick is how plans get "adjusted" into losses.
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11:00 CTCheck-in #1 — positions vs. plan
Two questions only: is each position still inside its plan, and has any stop or target hit? No new analysis, no "improving" entries. Look, confirm, close the screen.
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1:00 CTCheck-in #2 — same two questions
Midday chop is where boredom trades are born. If a position hit its target, take it and log it. If nothing changed, nothing changes — that's a successful check-in.
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2:45 CTFinal check — close or hold, decided out loud
Fifteen minutes before the 3:00 CT bell: for each position, decide close or hold overnight and say the reason out loud. On a cash account, remember proceeds settle T+1 — today's sells fund the day after.
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BEFORE ANY ADDPortfolio Heat gate
Thinking about a second or third position? Heat check first: total open risk stays ≤ 3% ($60) and 2–3 positions max. If the new trade pushes heat over the line, it waits — no exceptions for "really good" setups.
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ALL DAYWatch the overtrading counter
The Day Trade Dash counter tracks your clicks. Amber means done for the day — flat-out, no negotiation. With PDT gone there's no rule stopping you from trade #9; this counter is the rule now. Trade #9 is usually a revenge trade wearing a costume.
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ALWAYSNever widen a stop
Stops move in one direction only: toward the price (protecting profit). Widening a stop converts a planned $20 loss into an unplanned one — it is the single most expensive habit in trading. If the stop is about to hit, the trade was wrong. Let it be wrong for $20.
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MIDDAYSweep the low-float runners
Once the open settles, low-float names (small share count) move the hardest on volume — the exact profile that fits a $2,000 account. Open Scanner Hub and read the 🔥 Low-Float Runners row in the Sweep: any name showing RVOL ≥ 2× is trading on unusual volume. Size every idea to the $20 risk rule before you act — never chase a green candle.
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ANYTIMEWatch for halts & resumptions
A trading halt (volatility LULD or breaking news) freezes a stock; the resumption often moves fast. Track live halts, wait for the reopen, and trade your plan — never chase the first print.
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PREMARKETScan the premarket gappers
Before the bell, the biggest gaps from yesterday’s close are the day’s momentum tells. Rank them, size each to your $20 rule, and build a plan — trade the setup, not the gap.
🌙 Close Process
after the 3:00 CT bell · ~20 minutes
The market pays you over months for what you write down in the twenty minutes after each close. This is where the expectancy actually gets built.
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3:05 CTJournal every fill
Every fill goes in the Trade Journal — entry, stop, exit, and how it compared to the checklist entry you filed this morning. The gap between the plan and the fill is the lesson; the P&L is just the tuition.
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3:15 CTTrade autopsy vs. the track record
Deep Dive 15's Track Record shows how today's picks and gates actually resolved. Compare your fills against it: did you take the graded setups, or freelance? Honest answer only — the table already knows.
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3:20 CTEdge check — was today in season?
Strategy Edge shows which validated edges were in season today. If your trades matched a confirmed edge, a red day is still a good process day. If they didn't, a green day is still a warning.
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3:25 CTSet up tomorrow, then log off
One pass through the Launchpad: note any held positions, glance at tomorrow's calendar, set an alert if a level matters. Then close the laptop — the edge tomorrow needs you rested, not marinated in tickers.
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FRIDAY📏 Weekly calibration reviewFridays only
Once a week, open Deep Dive 15's 📏 Calibration panel: do the gates actually predict? This is you grading the graders — the week's most important ten minutes, because it decides how much to trust every other step in this playbook. Then grade yourself: the Weekly Review turns the week's journal into a report card — expectancy, discipline score, and a letter grade. Friday after the close or Sunday with coffee both work.
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3:30 CT🎓 Check the graduation board
One glance at the Graduation tracker after journaling: today's paper reps just moved a setup's license along — 20 reps, +0.2R expectancy, 40% win rate and it's cleared for real dollars. Watching the bar fill is the antidote to sizing up early "because it feels ready."
📚 Learn this playbook
Watch the day walked through end to end, and flip through the Day One Guide companion cheat sheet — your first-week reference.