pre-trade-discipline-gate

---
name: pre-trade-discipline-gate
description: Use when checking a planned manual order against a pre-trade discipline checklist to block planless, oversized, revenge-risk, or regime/circuit-breaker-blocked entries before entry.
category: Risk
version: 1.0.0
tools: []
---

# Pre-Trade Discipline Gate

Before a planned manual order is placed, run it through a discipline checklist and give a GO / NO_GO / REVIEW_REQUIRED decision — an offline check, not an order router. It never places, cancels, or calls a broker.

## When to use

Immediately before any manual entry order — especially after a recent loss (revenge-trade risk), or when upstream exposure/circuit-breaker guidance already exists for the day.

## Checklist inputs

For each actionable candidate, gather: symbol, order intent, whether the entry is confirmed in a written plan, whether the stop is predefined, whether size is confirmed within the plan, planned risk in dollars, and actual risk in dollars. Only actionable order intents (ready-to-enter, manual order) are gated — watchlist/ignore intents are simply logged as `NO_ACTIONABLE_ORDERS`.

## Blocking rules

Block an actionable candidate when any of the following is true:

- The entry is not confirmed in the written plan.
- The stop is not predefined.
- The size is not confirmed within plan.
- Actual risk in dollars exceeds planned risk in dollars.
- There was a losing exit or partial loss inside the revenge-trading cooldown window (see drawdown-circuit-breaker discipline).
- Current market-exposure guidance is REDUCE_ONLY or CASH_PRIORITY.
- Current circuit-breaker guidance is COOLDOWN or HALTED.

## Decision states

| Decision | Meaning |
|---|---|
| GO | All actionable candidates passed the checklist and upstream gates |
| REVIEW_REQUIRED | Inputs are missing or unknown; do not place orders until reviewed |
| NO_GO | At least one actionable candidate violated a discipline rule |
| NO_ACTIONABLE_ORDERS | No actionable manual orders in the batch; nothing should be placed |

Missing or unclear upstream exposure/circuit-breaker guidance produces `REVIEW_REQUIRED` for actionable orders — never a silent pass.

## Output

For each candidate: the decision; which rule(s), if any, it failed; and a record of the checklist answers used (written-plan, stop, size, and risk-dollar answers, plus any notes), so the reasoning is auditable later in the conversation, not just the verdict. If the candidate is tied to a specific thesis or plan discussed earlier, reference it explicitly so the checklist answers stay traceable back to that plan rather than floating free.

## Key principles

1. **Manual execution only** — a pre-broker checklist gate, not an order router. It never touches an actual order.
2. **Written plan first** — no written entry plan, predefined stop, or size confirmation means no manual entry, full stop, regardless of how good the setup otherwise looks.
3. **Revenge-risk aware** — a recent losing exit inside the cooldown window blocks new actionable orders regardless of setup quality; discipline after a loss matters more than any single trade's edge.
4. **Upstream-gate aware, not upstream-duplicating** — this gate defers to exposure and circuit-breaker guidance rather than re-deriving it; if that guidance is missing or unclear, the safe default is `REVIEW_REQUIRED`, not a silent pass.
5. **Advisory, not enforcement** — informs the decision; does not place, cancel, or block broker orders itself. The human still places the trade.