Six steps, in order, before and after every options trade

A step by step options day trading strategy fixes the order you make decisions in. Levels come first, then direction, then the written plan, the geometry check, the size and the exit rule.

Order matters because each step feeds the next. You cannot place a stop without a level. You cannot size without a stop. And with options, time costs money while you sit there unsure.

The usual failure runs backwards. A strike looks cheap, the trade gets bought, and the stop gets invented after price moves against it. Every step below exists to block that sequence.

The process here is built for short-dated options on stocks and ETFs. On shares the steps still hold, but the time clock in step six falls away, because shares do not decay.

Step one is the map. Draw levels from the extremes of reversal patterns and from price gaps, on the daily, 4-hour and 1-hour charts. Start at the current candle and walk left, nearest level first. Levels that crowd each other become one zone, and inside a zone you wait. Keep three supports and three resistances in total.

Step two is direction. Pick a chart several steps above the one you enter on. An hourly view pairs with 5-minute entries, and a 4-hour view with 15-minute entries. Use a middle chart to confirm that highs and lows agree.

The binding rule is simple: do not trade against the top chart. A stricter reading stands aside unless every chart agrees, and that is a reasonable choice too.

Step three is the written plan, in four parts. What must be true before you act. Where you get in. Where you are wrong. Where you get paid, which is the next level in the trade's direction.

Step four checks whether the trade is worth taking. Put a position tool on the chart. Set its stop at the stop level and its target at the target level. The reward must be at least twice the risk.

Because the chart fixes both stop and target, there is a latest entry price that still pays two to one. Mark it before the open. If price runs past it, the setup is gone for today. Chasing it buys the same stop with a smaller reward.

Size comes from a budget set before the open, using the account balance as it stood that morning. The day's winnings never enlarge it. Holding it fixed stops a late loss from wiping out a good morning.

The split used here: a tenth of the account is the day's working slice. Twenty percent of that slice is the profit target, and forty percent is the most the day may lose. Within it, the further your stop sits from entry, the fewer contracts you buy. Start with a quarter to a third of a full trade. That leaves room to add if the level holds.

The last row is the geometry check from step four. It uses a stock with the stop on a close below 411.40 and the next resistance at 414.10.

Once you are in, exit when a candle closes beyond your level. A wick through it and back is noise. Which timeframe's close you use is a judgment call, so write it in the plan.

A close rule needs a watched chart. A resting stop order fills on the wick, which defeats the rule. Decide which risk you prefer before you enter.

With same-day options, time is the other stop. If the move has not started by the fifth candle of your entry timeframe, get out. Contracts with a day or more left allow more patience.

Take partials at the next levels and trail what remains. If you missed the entry, let it go and wait for price to reach the next level on your map.

Run it in this order every session, before the first trade and again before each new one. Any no means no trade. Keep the finished list next to the chart so each answer is written, not remembered.