Pre-Trade Validation Checklist

Nineteen items. Five categories. The minimum infrastructure required to run the framework at all.

The checklist below is the minimum infrastructure required to operate this framework. It is not a suggestion. Every item represents a dependency, a component whose absence degrades the framework from a systematic process into a discretionary guess.

Work through it once before your first paper trading session and verify nothing has changed before your first live session. A platform update, a subscription change, a new workstation — each is a reason to run the list again.

A downloadable single-page reference is available below for print-and-keep desk-side use. The web version contains the full explanatory text for each item; the PDF carries the same nineteen items in compact reference form.

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Pre-Trade Validation Checklist (PDF)

Single-page reference card. Print and keep desk-side. Run before the first paper session and again before the first live session.

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Account and Access

  • Brokerage account active with SPX options trading enabled. SPX index options require specific approval from your broker. Confirm your account is approved before assuming you can trade. Approval is not automatic.
  • Options approval level confirmed. Level 2 is the minimum for defined-risk spreads. Level 3 is recommended; it unlocks the full range of structures this framework uses. If you are at Level 1, you cannot trade iron condors or credit spreads. Apply for Level 2 or 3 before proceeding.
  • Funding confirmed and settled. ACH transfers typically settle in 2–5 business days. Wire transfers settle same day or next day depending on institution. Buying power is not available until funds are fully settled. Confirm your available balance before your first session.
  • Pattern Day Trader (PDT) rule understood. Until your broker implements the 2026 retirement of this rule (phased in through October 2027), an account under $25,000 is subject to PDT restrictions: no more than three day trades in a rolling five-business-day window in a margin account. Chapter 23 covers the change in detail. Know your broker’s current rule status before placing trades.

Data Infrastructure

  • Barchart Premier subscription active. Navigate to barchart.com and confirm Premier access. Verify that you can download a CSV from the SPX options chain. If the export button is greyed out or absent, your subscription tier is not Premier. Upgrade before proceeding.
  • SPX options chain export tested. Pull a test CSV from the SPX chain for any available expiration. Open the file and confirm it contains strike prices and associated Greeks fields. If the file is empty, malformed, or contains only summary data, the workflow will not function. Resolve before your first session.
  • Cboe Level 1 live options chain data active on your trading platform. Live options chain data — real-time bid, ask, and last for SPX options — is not free on most platforms. Confirm your platform is displaying live chain data, not 15-minute delayed data. Delayed chain data makes 0DTE execution management unreliable.
  • ES futures data active — overnight session chart and VWAP accessible. The framework uses the ES 5-minute overnight chart to establish the overnight high, low, and VWAP before the open. These are submitted alongside the Barchart CSV and panel screenshot as part of the Premarket Setup prompt. The ES chart also serves as a live intraday reference throughout the session: VWAP holds and reclaims, intraday range development, and momentum shifts in ES inform position management in real time. Confirm your platform displays real-time ES futures data, including the overnight session, and that any required subscription or futures account approval is in place before your first session.
  • ES futures data subscription and approval confirmed. Accessing real-time ES futures data requires both subscription access and, on some platforms, futures account approval — a separate authorization from options approval. Confirm with your broker whether real-time ES data requires a separate exchange fee subscription, and whether viewing or referencing futures data requires futures trading approval on your account. This is a platform permission issue, not a margin or risk issue. Resolve it before your first session. If your platform does not offer ES futures data, TradingView provides it as an accessible secondary source.

Platform Configuration

  • Webull configured for SPX with 1-minute and 5-minute chart views. The framework’s entry rules operate on 1-minute bars. The 5-minute view provides context. Both should be accessible without reconfiguration at the open.
  • ATR(5) indicator added to the 1-minute SPX chart. This is the compression signal input for the three-signal entry rule. Confirm it is displayed and reading correctly. The default ATR period in most platforms is 14; this framework uses 5. Set it explicitly.
  • WebullScript GEX level indicators installed and tested. The three active indicators — GEX Levels, Expected Move, and Intraday HOD/LOD — should be installed in Webull’s ScriptEditor and confirmed working with a prior session’s data before your first live session. Chapter 12 covers the full installation and syntax. Do not attempt to install on a live trading day.

AI Workflow

  • Claude access confirmed. Confirm you have an active Claude subscription and that the interface is accessible from your trading workstation. The framework’s six prompts are designed for Claude. If you are using a different AI platform, validate the prompt outputs independently before relying on them for session builds.
  • Premarket Setup prompt tested with a real CSV. Load a prior session’s SPX chain CSV into Claude using the Premarket Setup prompt from Appendix A. Confirm the output is a valid three-block WebullScript session build. If the output is malformed, missing sections, or contains syntax errors, resolve the prompt configuration before your first live session.
  • All six framework prompts reviewed and accessible. The Premarket Setup, Intraday Update, Trade Setup Evaluation, Position Monitor, EOD Post-Mortem, and Session Framework Load prompts should be saved in a location you can access quickly during the session. Chapter 11 covers each prompt in full. Appendix A contains the copy-paste versions.

Trading Discipline

  • Paper trading mode active. If you have not yet achieved a documented win rate of 70% or better across a minimum of forty paper trading sessions, you are not ready for live capital. Chapter 22 covers the paper trading protocol and transition criteria in full. This is not a formality.
  • Trading journal active. Every session, paper or live, should be logged. The journal structure covered in Chapter 20 captures entry criteria, exit execution, and post-mortem analysis. A session without a journal entry is a session that cannot be learned from.
  • Macro calendar checked for the session ahead. Tier 1 events — FOMC decisions, NFP releases, CPI prints — suspend the framework entirely. Tier 2 events require a 45–60 minute post-print pause with ATR confirmation before resumption. Chapter 21 covers the calendar tier system. Check the calendar the evening before every session, not the morning of.
  • Framework rules reviewed. Before your first live session, read Chapters 15 through 18 in sequence: structure selection, the three-signal entry rule, the fade entry variant, and trade management and exits. The exit rules — including the 2:30 PM soft stop and the 3:00 PM hard cutoff — are not optional components. They exist because the trades that blow up frameworks are almost always the trades where the exit rule was suspended for a reason that seemed good at the time.

Companion content

GEX Quick Reference

The eleven structural levels and two expected-move boundaries. The map this checklist prepares you to read.

The Six Prompts

The framework as a copy-paste workflow. The prompts every checklist item points toward.

The Book

Where every item on this checklist is explained, argued for, and placed inside the full framework.