Imperial Research Chart checklist
The chart checklist
The free guide from our videos, on one page. Go through it before every trade. If a line stays empty, there is no trade.
Checked 3 November 2026
- Bias. Daily and 4-hour trend in one word: up, down or range. Top-down analysis
- Liquidity. Where are the stops? Previous day's high and low, equal highs and lows, session highs and lows. Has one just been swept? Liquidity
- Zone. The fair value gap, order block or level you trade from, on the 4-hour or 1-hour chart. Fair value gap
- Trigger. On the 15-minute chart: a sweep and reclaim, a change of character or an inverse gap. Confirmation
- Entry, stop, cancel. Entry price, stop beyond the sweep or zone, and the close that cancels the idea, written down before you click.
- Target. The next pool of liquidity. At least twice the stop distance, or no trade.
- Size. Risk 0.5% to 1%; lots from the stop. Calculator
- Timing. Inside London or New York, not in the minutes before major news. Sessions
- Journal. A screenshot before and after, the reason, the result, and whether you followed every line.
After the trade
Grade the trade by the checklist, not by the result. A loss that followed every line is a good trade; a win that skipped one is a habit you will pay for later. Once a week, count how many trades passed all nine lines and how they did against the ones that did not.
Questions
Can I download the checklist as a PDF?
Yes: press Print and choose Save as PDF. The page prints on a single sheet without the menus.
Why a checklist?
Because most bad trades break a rule you already know. A written list stops you from skipping a step when the market moves fast.
Do I need every line for every trade?
Yes. The lines are short on purpose. A trade that cannot pass them is a trade you will regret.