Should I Be Trading Today? The Trader's Readiness Check

The honest gate before every session… are the conditions, your body, your focus, and your clock actually fit to trade?

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

Should I be trading today? That is the first question George asks before every ES E-mini futures session, and often the answer is no. The readiness check is a short, honest gate. Are the day's conditions worth risking money on? Is your head clear? Is your body rested? Do you have the time to manage a trade? Clear the gate, and you trade. Fail it, and you Stand Down.

This page pulls together everything George teaches about the readiness check across hundreds of hours of live ES and MES micro futures trading… the three self-check questions he runs on every entry, the days conditions tell you to sit out, and why he treats a futures day trader like an athlete in strict training.

“"The big question we're always asking is should I be trading, and I decided no I shouldn't be trading, so I didn't."”

— George, live session, Feb 1, 2025

ES futures Battle Plan chart from George’s published record

From George’s published record: ES & MES Futures Trade Plan #340 — a 70+-point move, mapped in advance.

The Three Self-Check Questions

George runs one mental checklist before he touches the buy or sell button. Three questions, asked out loud, every single time. It is the most-repeated line in the live trading room, and it fires again on every trade he takes.

Walk through each one. Should I be trading? This is the master gate, and it covers everything on this page. Am I biased? You interrogate whether you have already decided which way price "has to" go. Am I following price or fighting price? You only pull the trigger when the answer is following. George narrated a clean run through the gate… "Should I be trading? Am I biased? Am I following price or fighting price? We were following price beautifully" (Apr 14, 2026).

“"First 3-minute candle has printed. Should I be trading? Am I biased? Am I following price or fighting price?"”

— George, live session, May 19, 2026

George has taught this in 70+ 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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