A single mistake could spell the difference between winning and losing a trade.

This is why it’s important that you develop the habit of thoroughly planning your orders.

Here are four steps you can follow to build good ordering habits:

1. Identify your entry, stop loss, and profit levels

I won’t go into the “whys” of a trade since everyone has their own methods for determining directional bias, time, and volatility expectations.

After you’ve made your fundamental and technical analyses, you’ll be ready to mark your entry and exit levels.

Your entry and profit levels don’t have to be set in stone as you adjust to what the market is giving to you, but you have to be firm on your stops; you can use a chart stop, time stop, or volatility stop to determine trade invalidation points.

Once you have your entry and exit levels, you can check your reward-to-risk ratios to see if the trade is worth taking on.

2. Use proper position sizing

Proper position sizing is hands down one of the most important skills a trader can develop. Without it, you risk going too heavy and blowing up your account or playing it too safe and not making the most of a solid strategy.

Usually, new traders are told to risk no more than 1% of their account on a single trade. That helps keep you in the game while you’re still learning. As you get more confident and consistent, you can adjust that number to fit your style.

Use the BabyPips.com Position Size Calculator!

Of course, you could always round them off (as long as you stay within your max risk) to make your trade journaling easier, or if your broker isn’t flexible with their position size offerings.

3. Determine the type of order you need

An “order” is just how you tell your broker when to get in or out of a trade. Make sure you’re familiar with the types of orders your broker supports.

As you gain experience, you’ll want to level up your trade management with tools like good till canceled (GTC), good for the day (GFD), one cancels the other (OCO), and one triggers the other (OTO). These can help you manage your trades even when you’re not glued to your screen—if your broker offers them.

Make sure you read up and practice using them A LOT before going live with them!

4. Monitor your trade

Your involvement in your trade doesn’t stop with placing orders. Whether you’re a day, swing, or position trader, you have to keep close tabs on price action and market drivers to see if your initial trade idea has been invalidated.

Check the economic calendar often and read market news updates to see if the fundamental story or market sentiment is changing.

With time and experience you’ll learn to identify which reports are just noise and which ones require trade adjustments.

What’s important is that you find a balance between being flexible to the changing market conditions and sticking to your original trading plan.

Remember that perfection in performance isn’t a perfect win percentage–it’s about doing all the right things, the right way, at the right time and avoiding as many mistakes as possible.

So, try to make a habit of accurately placing your trade orders and double-checking them every time. The forex market is unpredictable enough; don’t make it harder on yourself to be successful with execution mistakes!