My 15-point GO/NO-GO checklist before any options trade, because I kept breaking my own rules

Most of my losing trades had one thing in common: I knew better and entered anyway. Revenge entries, oversizing after a win streak, buying breakouts in chop. The strategy was fine. The discipline was not.

So I turned my rules into a hard GO/NO-GO checklist. If any point fails, no trade. No exceptions, no "but this setup is special." It is boring and it works. Here is the full thing in case it helps someone else stop donating money to the market.

Phase 1: Environment. 1) Fed policy: no active hiking cycle paired with rising VIX. 2) VIX under 25, or the strategy is defined-risk. 3) SPY vs the 200 MA matches my trade direction.

Phase 2: Technical confluence. 4) RSI(14) supports the thesis. 5) MACD crossover confirms. 6) 50/200 MA alignment agrees. 7) Entry sits at a real support/resistance level, not no-man's land. 8) Volume above average on breakouts, light on pullbacks.

Phase 3: Probability and positioning. 9) At least 3 of 5 independent probability models agree. 10) Smart money check: no heavy insider selling, institutional flow neutral or better. 11) Price at a Bollinger band or a confirmed breakout, not mid-range drift.

Phase 4: Sizing and risk. 12) Positive expected value, size capped at half-Kelly. 13) ATR-based stop with max loss 2% of portfolio.

Phase 5: Execution. 14) Limit order anchored at support, never market orders on entry. 15) Greeks sanity check: delta, DTE, IV percentile all in range.

How I use it: print it, physically check the boxes before entry. The checklist's job is not to find trades, it is to kill bad ones. It will make you miss some runners. That is the price, and it is cheaper than the alternative.

Not advice, just my process. Happy to answer questions about any checkpoint.