The Decision Sequence Before Every Single Entry
The decision sequence before every entry, no exceptions.
Before you start: Assumes familiarity with PD Arrays, liquidity, and market structure — this sequences them into one decision flow.
Part of the My Edge Official framework — refined through thousands of hours of chart study.
Imagine going through an identical sequence of nine stations before every trade — not by feel, not by whatever you saw on Twitter that morning, but by a fixed sequence you never skip. This is the Decision Engine: the decision-making backbone that ties the rest of the framework into a single, repeatable process.
- The nine stages
- Narrative versus reaction
- A worked example through all nine stages
- Common causes of skipping stages
Picture nine checkpoints you go through every single time before entering a trade — not based on a feeling, not based on what you saw on Twitter that morning, but a fixed sequence you never skip.
This is the "decision engine" — the backbone of decision-making that ties the rest of the system into one single, repeatable process: from weekly context, through liquidity, market environment, zones, all the way to the execution itself and the review afterward.
Execution (the actual entry) is only the eighth of nine checkpoints — not the first, and not the third.
Advanced explanation⌄
The nine stages
The nine stages at a glance, in order:
Stage 1 — Weekly context. Monthly target, weekly context, weekly delivery, previous weekly high/low, Monday's high/low, the last five NDOGs, the NDOG cluster, and the profile of today's day of the week (see Weekly Day Profiles) — treated as context to test against, not as a conclusion.
Stage 2 — Liquidity. Identify the primary draw on liquidity, the nearest BSL (buy-side liquidity), and the nearest SSL (sell-side liquidity).
Stage 3 — Market environment. Determine whether the market is trending, retracing, expanding, or consolidating.
Stage 4 — Session context. Evaluate the current session, kill zone, session liquidity, and timeline.
Stage 5 — PD Arrays. Locate the FVG, IFVG, Order Block, Breaker, Mitigation, and other PD Arrays.
Stage 6 — Scenario building. Build one or more scenarios. A scenario is never treated as confirmation. For the leading scenario, always explicitly state what would invalidate it — falsification before conclusion is not optional, even at high confidence.
Stage 7 — Confirmation. Require a liquidity sweep, an MSS (market structure shift), displacement, and a PD Array reaction.
Stage 8 — Execution. Validate the candle close, risk, stop placement, target, and position management.
Stage 9 — Review. Journal → statistics → observation → candidate model → validated model. The loop closes and feeds the next iteration of the Trading Framework.
Narrative versus reaction
Before every trade, ask yourself three questions: What is my dominant narrative? Am I trading the dominant narrative? Am I trading an expected reaction? Never trade against higher-timeframe targets without confirmation.
A worked example through all nine stages
Let's illustrate this with a short, concrete example — Tuesday morning:
- Weekly context: The monthly target is buy-side liquidity higher up. Monday took the Asia low (a trap, as expected per Weekly Day Profiles for Monday).
- Liquidity: The primary draw is now buy-side above last week's Tuesday high.
- Market environment: Price is expanding upward, with a clean, LRLR character (large bodies, few counter-trend wicks).
- Session context: We're in the New York Kill Zone, 8:15 AM.
- PD Arrays: A bullish FVG formed on the 15-minute chart directly after the morning liquidity take.
- Scenario building: Leading scenario — price rebalances into the FVG and continues toward the weekly buy-side liquidity. What would invalidate this? A close below the FVG on the 15-minute chart with a retest of Monday's low.
- Confirmation: You wait for a touch of the FVG, then an MSS on the 1-minute chart and upward displacement.
- Execution: The candle close confirms direction, risk is calculated at 1% of the account, stop below the swing low, target at Tuesday's high.
- Review: The trade is logged in the journal with the model tag, the outcome, and observations — regardless of whether it was profitable.
Notice that execution (Stage 8) is only the eighth of nine steps — not the first, and not the third.
Common causes of skipping stages
- Jumping from Stage 4 straight to Stage 7 (skipping PD Arrays and scenario building) — the trader sees the kill zone and liquidity and thinks that's enough. Without a concrete PD Array and a written scenario, "confirmation" is just after-the-fact rationalization.
- Stage 6 without real invalidation. If a scenario doesn't have a clearly written condition that would invalidate it, it isn't a real scenario — it's just bias dressed up in terminology.
- Skipping Stage 9. Traders who skip the review repeat the same mistakes for months without even noticing, because they have no recorded pattern to recognize.
⚠️ Jumping from Stage 4 straight to Stage 7 — skipping PD Arrays and scenario building — means "confirmation" is just after-the-fact rationalization, not a real check against a written scenario.
How to Use It
The Decision Engine works as a checklist you physically (or in a notebook) work through before every entry — not in your head, but written down, until it becomes automatic.
In practice:
- Print or write out the nine stages as a physical list. For the first three trades after buying this document, literally check off each stage before entering — even if it feels slow.
- Never skip from Stage 6 (scenario building) straight to Stage 8 (execution). If you haven't written down what would invalidate your leading scenario, you aren't ready to execute.
- After every trade, actually carry out Stage 9. Without journaling, the decision loop never improves — you just repeat the same mistakes with more confidence.
Don't stop here — see how this fits with the rest of the framework.
Continue to Market Hierarchy →Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Decision Engine?⌄
It's a fixed nine-stage decision-making sequence — from weekly context through liquidity, market environment, session context, PD Arrays, scenario building, confirmation, execution, and review — run identically before every trade.
How do I use the Decision Engine before entering a trade?⌄
Work through all nine stages in order, writing them down rather than doing it mentally, especially for your first few trades after buying it, and never skip from scenario building (Stage 6) straight to execution (Stage 8).
What makes a scenario in Stage 6 valid?⌄
A real scenario always has an explicitly written invalidation condition — without one, it isn't a scenario, it's just bias dressed up in terminology.
Why does the review stage (Stage 9) matter if the trade is already closed?⌄
Skipping it means the same mistakes repeat for months without notice, since journaling is what turns individual trades into observations, then validated models that improve the whole framework.