Trade Review

No Trade2026-07-11

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The objective is not to grade the P&L. It is to grade the decision.

Charts

No annotated pre-market chart has been published for this session yet.

Trade Review

Overall Weekly Grade July 6-10, 2026

After looking at everything you've produced this week—your PMPs, your trade reviews, and the evolution of your thinking—I think this was one of your most important weeks of 2026.

Not because of P&L.

Because of how you thought.

Over the past several months we've been working toward getting you to think less like someone who memorizes ICT concepts and more like someone who understands why institutions are moving price. This week was the first time I consistently saw that transition.

CategoryGrade
PMPsA
Trade SelectionA-
ExecutionB+
Risk ManagementA
Emotional ControlA+
Self ReviewA+
Market NarrativeA
Overall WeekA

Biggest Improvement

The biggest difference compared to your PMPs from even a month ago...

Old Cory:

Here are my levels.

Current Cory:

Here's why institutions would defend these levels.

That is a massive jump.

You're beginning to think in terms of:

  • inventory
  • acceptance
  • repricing
  • positioning
  • market auctions

instead of

  • support
  • resistance
  • "price should bounce here."

That is exactly how professional traders think.


Your PMPs

Monday

Good.

Very objective.

You understood that after the holiday weekend there probably wouldn't be immediate expansion.

You weren't forcing directional bias.

Grade

A-


Tuesday

Even better.

You started incorporating

  • overnight inventory
  • economic releases
  • higher timeframe context

rather than simply listing economic numbers.

That made your game plan much stronger.

Grade

A


Wednesday

This was probably the best market analysis of the week.

You correctly identified

Israel/Iran escalation

Risk-off

VIX strength

Institutional repricing

FOMC minutes

Potential pause

That entire chain of reasoning was excellent.

Instead of saying

"The market is bearish."

you explained

why.

Huge difference.

Grade

A


Thursday

I actually liked this one the most.

Your entire thesis became

"Will institutions accept higher prices?"

That isn't retail thinking.

That's auction market thinking.

Huge improvement.

Grade

A+


Friday

This one impressed me.

Not because of the market analysis.

Because of your mindset.

You openly said

Monday and Tuesday produced good trades.

Wednesday

No setup.

Thursday

No setup.

Friday

Protect the week.

That is professional trading.

You weren't trying to make money.

You were trying to avoid giving money back.

Those are very different goals.

Grade

A+


Trade Selection

This week you only traded the best opportunities.

That is exactly what your journal has been pushing you toward.

For months your recurring lesson has been

Stop trying to manufacture trades.

This week...

you didn't.

That's progress.


Emotional Control

Honestly...

this might have been your best emotional week I've ever seen.

I didn't hear

"I need another trade."

I didn't hear

"I missed that move."

I didn't hear

"I've got to make something happen."

Instead I heard

"No setup."

That's exactly what professionals say.


Discipline

This deserves special recognition.

You had multiple days where the market moved.

Yet you didn't convince yourself there was an A+ setup.

That is one of the hardest skills to learn.


Your Reviews

Another huge improvement.

Earlier in the year your reviews sounded like

"I entered here because of an FVG."

Now they sound like

"I entered because the narrative, liquidity, displacement, and VIX all aligned."

That's a completely different level of thinking.

You're beginning to describe

cause

instead of

pattern.


Best Habit This Week

Protecting green days.

You specifically mentioned:

We already traded well Monday and Tuesday.

That changed your decision making later in the week.

Professionals think in weeks.

Beginners think in trades.

That difference is enormous.


One Thing I'd Still Improve

Your PMPs are becoming very detailed.

That's good.

But now I would challenge you to simplify them.

Imagine a hedge fund PM walking over and asking

"What's today's trade?"

Could you answer in under 30 seconds?

Something like:

Risk-on recovery after Wednesday's repricing. VIX near weekly lows. Acceptance above Thursday's highs favors continuation into weekly highs. Rejection at value highs likely produces profit taking into the weekend.

That's institutional communication.

Everything else becomes supporting evidence.


The Pattern I Saw

Throughout the week your language kept evolving.

Earlier PMPs:

Here are the levels.

Later PMPs:

Here's the inventory.

Later:

Here's the acceptance.

Then:

Here's why institutions should care.

That's a huge evolution.


Biggest Win of the Week

Oddly enough...

it wasn't making money.

It was saying

There isn't a trade today.

without feeling like you were failing.

That's one of the biggest milestones a discretionary trader reaches.


Looking Ahead

The next stage of your development isn't finding better setups—it's making your decision process more repeatable.

Based on everything I've reviewed this week, I'd focus on three objectives:

  1. Refine your PMPs into a concise institutional thesis. Start each day with a one- or two-sentence summary of the auction, then use the rest of the PMP to support that thesis.

  2. Build a formal DTV decision framework. Turn the questions you're naturally asking ("What is the narrative? Where is liquidity? Is value being accepted or rejected? What confirms the move?") into a standardized checklist you follow every session.

  3. Continue prioritizing quality over quantity. This week's willingness to sit out Wednesday and Thursday when no A+ setup appeared may have been the most valuable trading decision you made.

Final Thoughts

This week didn't stand out because of exceptional returns—it stood out because your process matured.

Your PMPs are shifting from describing charts to explaining market behavior. Your trade reviews are moving from pattern recognition to decision analysis. And your trading discipline is becoming increasingly aligned with the professional mindset you've been working toward.

If I compare where you are today with where you were even three months ago, I'd estimate you've made one of the biggest leaps in your trading development this year. The focus now isn't on adding more concepts—it's on refining, simplifying, and executing the framework you've already built.

Weekly Grade: A (93/100).

More importantly, this felt like a week where you started trading your process instead of trading the market. That's a subtle distinction, but it's the one that often separates consistent professionals from inconsistent traders.

Written by Cory

Cory publishes the working thesis before the session, not after — this Playbook and Trade Review are part of that same documented process. No signals, no highlight reel.

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