How to Map Out Trades in Advance (Before the Market Opens)

Draw the trade before you take it. Sketch the entries, targets, and failure cases the night before… so the open finds you ready.

From the free MicrosTrader Trading Library… 140 lessons mined from 1,042 live ES and MES futures sessions taught since 2018.

Mapping out trades in advance means sketching your setups before the market opens. You draw the entry, the target, and the point where the idea fails… then you wait for price to arrive. In George's ES E-mini futures sessions, that pre-session map is the Battle Plan: a handful of numbered if-then scenarios built the night before, so you execute mechanically instead of reacting live to every candle.

This page gathers what George teaches about pre-session mapping across hundreds of hours of live ES and MES micro futures trading… how to write an if-then scenario, why he maps both sides of price action, and the harder discipline of mapping nothing at all when no high-probability location exists.

“"If you can draw your trades before you enter them, you can enter them with confidence because you've thought about it. You drew it out."”

— George, live session, Mar 12, 2025

ES futures Battle Plan chart from George’s published record

From George’s published record: MES Micros Trade Plan #318 | 5 Great Setups — a 70+-point move, mapped in advance.

Why You Draw the Trade Before You Take It

Sit down cold on the chart and the market bullies you. Every tick pulls at your hand. Draw the trade first and the noise loses its grip. You already decided where you want to engage. Now you just wait. That is the whole edge of a pre-mapped plan… you make the hard decisions in a calm room the night before, far from the heat of the open.

Confidence comes from permission you gave yourself in advance. When price hits your level, you execute a plan you already validated. As George puts it, "This is what I want to happen. If this happens, I get to take the trade. I'm allowed to do that. Why? Because I drew it and it matches my trade plan" (Mar 12, 2025). This ties straight into taking fewer, higher-quality trades instead of manufacturing action.

“"I want fewer higher quality pre-planned mapped out trades. I trade better when I do that. If I just sat down on the chart right now and you said trade, I don't like that."”

— George, live session, Jun 29, 2026

George has taught this in 60+ recorded sessions… and every claim in the full lesson links to the recording it came from. The full lesson covers far more than fits here.

Read the full lesson free at MicrosTrader.com →

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📍 Originally published on MicrosTrader.com

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