The A+ Setup: How I Grade Every Trade Before I Take It

For years, I traded on vibes. "This looks good." "I feel it." "It's probably going up." My account kept a perfect record of how well that worked.

Then I built a scorecard. Every setup gets graded before I touch it. Ten points, four categories, ten seconds. Under 7 out of 10, I don't take it. That one rule filters more bad trades than any indicator I ever bought.

An A+ setup is not a feeling. It is a checklist. If all the boxes aren't checked, it is not A+. Period.

Why grading setups changed everything

B setups win just often enough to keep you hooked and broke. That is the trap. A B setup pays you sometimes, so you keep taking them, and over a hundred trades the math quietly eats your account.

The scorecard gave me permission to sit out. That was the real unlock. Most traders think their problem is entries. Their problem is taking trades they never should have considered.

When you only take A+ setups, everything improves at once. Your conviction is higher because the setup earned it. Your invalidation is clearer because structure defined it. Your stress drops because you are not defending mediocre ideas all day.

My A+ setup scorecard: the 10-point system

Here is the exact card. Four categories, ten points total.

Market structure: 2 points. I trade with the higher-timeframe trend. Clear higher highs and higher lows for longs, lower highs and lower lows for shorts, or zero points. Fighting the trend is volunteering to be the liquidity. Alignment is the foundation, not a bonus.

Liquidity Sweep: 3 points. The biggest single category, because it is the engine. I need a major level swept with a clean stop hunt: the wick pierces the level and snaps back. No sweep, no fuel, no reversal. Without it the max score is 7, and I need 7.

PSS confirmation: 3 points. The Directional Shift printed, the Structure Break Point confirmed, follow-through holding. A sweep without confirmation is just volatility with a story. I don't pay full price for half a setup.

Entry model: 2 points. Full points only for the pullback into the 50 to 61.8 percent High-Value Zone. Entering on the impulsive candle, chasing the V, gets a zero. The entry is worth 2 points because it is where most traders donate theirs.

Add it up. 7 or higher: I take it with full size. Below 7: it is a spectator sport.

Want to see me grade setups live? I score every morning setup out loud inside the free Bulls Corner Discord before I take a single trade. Get in free here, just drop your email and you're inside.

How I use the score in real time

Ten seconds. That is all it takes once you have done it a hundred times.

I look at the chart and I run the card in my head. Trend aligned? Two points or zero. Sweep printed clean? Three or zero. Shift and break confirmed? Three or zero. Price pulling into my zone instead of extended? Two or zero.

There is no "well, it's close to 7." It is 7 or it isn't. The whole point of the card is removing judgment from the moment my emotions are loudest.

And here is the part most traders miss: the scorecard also tells me my size. A+ setups get full size. That is it. I don't trade B setups at half size to "stay in the game." B setups are how accounts die slowly. A+ or nothing sounds extreme until you run the numbers on "good enough."

The rules around the card

Explain it or skip it. Before every entry, I state the thesis in one breath: sweep where, shift where, entry zone, invalidation. If I can't say it that fast, it is not a setup. It is a gamble.

FOMO says take it, the card says show me 7. FOMO says take it, boredom says take it, revenge says take it. The scorecard is an external brain for when my internal one is compromised. Systems beat willpower every single time.

One or two setups a day is enough. I only need 1 to 2 clean setups a day. I don't need five or ten trades. Smaller timeframes give more setups but worse quality, so I stay on 5 to 15 minute minimums. Patience on the higher timeframe is the whole edge.

Judge the process, not the P&L. A stopped-out A+ setup is a good trade. A winning forced trade is a bad one. I score my execution, not my outcomes, because outcomes lie in the short term and process compounds.

What the card killed in my trading

It killed the "this looks good enough" disease. It killed revenge entries, because a tilted brain can't fake a 7. It killed overtrading, because most days only produce one or two setups that actually score.

Most importantly, it killed my ego's vote. I don't get to argue with the card. The card doesn't care how I feel about the trade. That is exactly why it works.

I trade $SPY and $QQQ 0DTEs every morning, and every setup gets graded before I touch it. The free Discord is where it happens, join free.

And if you want the whole thing, every setup, every alert, plus my full course: the 7-day free trial gets you inside Premium free for a week.

See you at the next A+.

---

Free download: Want my exact grading sheet? Grab the A+ Setup Rating Guide free here.

FAQ

What is an A+ setup in trading?

An A+ setup is a trade where multiple independent factors align in your favor: trend alignment, a Liquidity Sweep, structural confirmation, and a planned entry zone. In my system, it means the setup scores 7 or higher out of 10 on my four-category scorecard. It is a checklist grade, not a feeling.

How do you grade a trade setup before entering?

I run a 10-point scorecard: market structure (2 points), Liquidity Sweep (3 points), PSS confirmation via Directional Shift and Structure Break Point (3 points), and entry model (2 points, only for pullback entries into the High-Value Zone). The whole grade takes about ten seconds once practiced. Below 7, I skip the trade entirely.

Should you only trade A+ setups?

That is exactly what I do. B setups win just often enough to keep you hooked while the math quietly drains your account. Only taking A+ setups means fewer trades, but higher conviction, clearer invalidation, and less stress. Most traders don't need more trades. They need fewer, better ones.

What is the minimum score for taking a trade?

7 out of 10. That is my hard floor. The Liquidity Sweep alone is worth 3 points because it is the engine of the reversal, so a setup without a sweep can barely qualify even if everything else is perfect. No rounding up, no "close enough."

Risk note: everything on this blog is educational content from my own trading experience, not financial advice. Trading options involves substantial risk of loss.