Setup Compliance

What is setup compliance?

Setup compliance checks whether a recorded trade matched the setup conditions you wrote before entry. It answers a process question: did the recorded decision match the original setup?

It does not prove that the setup is profitable, predict the next result or diagnose you as disciplined or undisciplined.

What do you need for a fair check?

1. The original setup: the conditions written before the entry.
2. The trade record: the timestamped action, note, screenshot or other evidence showing what happened.
3. The comparison: apply the same wording later without rewriting the earlier rule.

A fictional XAUUSD example

Your trading plan says you may consider an XAUUSD breakout and retest of the Asian high during your planned London session.

1. Instrument is XAUUSD: Met.
2. Entry is inside the planned London window: Met.
3. The Asian high has broken: Met.
4. A candle has closed above the level: Not met. The record shows an entry before the candle closed.
5. The planned retest confirmation appeared: Not recorded.
6. The stop loss and position size were set from the written USD loss limit: Met.

Because a required condition was not met, the recorded trade did not fully match this setup. This is a fictional teaching example, not a live setup or signal.

What does “not recorded” mean?

Not recorded means the available note or screenshot does not show enough evidence to decide. Do not silently change missing evidence to Met. Add the missing field to future records if it matters to your review.

Some conditions are simple yes-or-no checks. Others use a written range or definition. Use the wording that existed before the trade. Rule-based trading explains how those predefined conditions guide the decision.

Does profit or loss prove compliance?

No. A winning early entry can still be non-compliant. A losing trade can still match every written condition. The result and the setup check answer different questions.

One trade also cannot prove that a setup works. Evaluating performance needs a clearly defined sample, consistent labels and stated calculation choices.

What should you do next?

Open one recent trade. Put the original setup beside the record and mark each condition Met, Not met or Not recorded. Do not rewrite the original rule to make the trade fit.

Use a trading journal to preserve the evidence and a trade review for the wider comparison. The overtrading guide shows how repeated changes in setup, session, confirmation or size can be reviewed without judging the decision only by P&L.