Use a Playbook template on a trade

By the end of this guide one of your trades will carry a Playbook with every step answered, a note, and entry and exit screenshots in your Journal.

Templates are education and a starting point, not advice or signals. Practise on a DEMO account first.

Before you start

• Sign in and connect your MT5 account (Connect an MT5 account).
• You can also try the whole flow in Backtest: its dock has the same Journal columns (Your first Backtest session).

1. Find a template

1. Open Playbook in the sidebar, then click Templates in the playbook library.
2. The setup templates sit on a map. Hover one to see its steps; click it and its steps open around it. Hover a step to see its results.
3. Use Search templates and steps to find a setup by name or by step. The language button sets the language the templates are shown in (Show templates in).

2. Read the steps and worked examples

1. With a template selected, click Details. It opens read-only, with a Steps panel listing each step and its results.
2. About this template shows the Version and Languages. Open Parameters & timeframes: numbers such as bar size, stop and target change with the symbol and timeframe.
3. Click ▣ Examples to see worked examples. Filter them by step and switch between Valid example and Not valid.

3. Import it into My playbooks

1. Click Import to my playbooks (or Import on the map).
2. Check Name in your playbooks and Language, then click Import.
3. Your copy opens under My playbooks. It is published as v1, so you can pick it on an order right away. If you edit it later, the change becomes a draft: click Publish before the dock uses the new version.

4. Attach the Playbook to an order

1. Open Chart Workspace. Click BUY.P or SELL.P, place the entry, SL and TP lines on the chart, and click Confirm.
2. In the dock under the chart, open Pending. In the order’s row, click the Playbook cell (it reads No Playbook) and pick your playbook. It is listed with its version, as Name · v1.
3. Click the Setup cell. For each step, pick an answer from its list (Select…). The i button next to a step explains it; ▣ Examples opens the worked examples. Click Save. The cell shows your progress, such as 3/5 Answered, then 5/5 Complete.
4. Click the Note cell, write your reasoning in Trade Note, and click Save.
5. Click the camera in the Screenshot cell (Capture entry screenshot). PipLoop captures the visible charts and the badge changes from 0/1 to 1/1.

A market order works the same way from its row in Positions. Answers given on a pending order count as planned before entry in Analytics; market orders filled at once usually count as after.

5. Add the exit screenshot after the close

1. When the trade closes, its row moves to History with the Playbook, Setup and Note you saved.
2. In the Screenshot cell, click the camera (Capture exit screenshot). The exit shot can only be taken after the close; until then the cell reads Waiting for trade close….
3. Click the badge (2/2) to open Screenshots: ENTRY and EXIT side by side, each with Expand, Replace and Remove.

The trade, with its answers, note and screenshots, also appears in Journal › Journal Entries. To see which steps earn or cost you money, read Read your Journal analytics.

Tips

• Answer the steps before you enter, on the pending order. It is the easiest way to follow the plan, and Analytics can then compare planned trades with the rest.
• You can still assign or change the Playbook, answers and note from the History row after the close.
• To start again, use the clear button on a cell (Remove Playbook assignment, Clear all setup answers, Clear trade note).

If something goes wrong

• My playbook is not in the list. Only published versions can be picked. Open it in Playbook and click Publish.
• “The visible charts do not include …” appears when you capture. The chart on screen shows another symbol. Switch to the trade’s symbol, or choose to capture anyway.
• The cells say “Sign in to save your Journal.” Sign in to PipLoop.
• A screenshot shows “Failed · Retry”. Click Retry.