The Traffic Light Check: the pre-trade question most traders never ask

Strategy gets you into a trade. Your state decides whether you manage it. This is the check we teach every member before capital is ever at risk.

By Sam Onigbanjo, founder of Capital Markets Academy and creator of the EIT™ framework · 31 October 2026 · 6 min read

The short answerThe Traffic Light Check is the first protocol of the Aulteus Logic™ EIT™ framework. Before any trade, the trader rates their own emotional state as green, amber or red, and that rating decides whether they may trade at all, and how. It checks the person, not the chart.

Every trader has a pre-trade routine for the market. Trend, levels, the calendar, the setup. Very few have a pre-trade routine for themselves. That gap is where most accounts are lost, because the trader who takes the setup at 9am is not always the same person who takes it at 3pm after two losses.

The Traffic Light Check closes that gap. It is the one EIT™ protocol we publish in full by name, because it is the simplest place to start and the hardest habit to fake.

Why check yourself before the chart

A strategy assumes a calm operator. It assumes you will size correctly, respect the stop and walk away when the setup is not there. Under pressure, those assumptions quietly fail. You add to a loser to "get it back". You move the stop "just this once". You take a trade because you are bored, not because it is there.

None of these are analysis errors. The chart was read correctly. The decision was made by someone in the wrong state. That is why another indicator rarely fixes a losing pattern, and why a check on the operator often does.

The market does not need to beat you if your state already has.

Green, amber, red

The check has three outcomes, and each one carries a rule about what you are allowed to do next.

Green. You are calm, rested and following your plan. You may trade within your normal rules.
Amber. Something is pulling at you: a recent loss, a recent win, fatigue, a distraction. You may still act, but under tighter conditions.
Red. You are emotional, rushed or trying to recover money. You do not trade. The session ends here.

The detailed criteria for each state, and the specific rules that follow from amber, are taught inside the Academy. The principle is what matters here: the rating comes before the trade, and the rating is binding.

When to run it

Run it before the session starts, and again before every new position. Run it after any loss, any large win and any break in your routine. The moments you least want to check are the moments the check exists for.

Members also run it out loud in their accountability groups. Saying "I am amber today" to people who will ask about it tomorrow is very different from deciding privately that you feel fine.

What it protects

The check will not make a weak strategy profitable, and it is not meant to. What it does is protect the strategy you already have from the person executing it. It reduces the trades you take for the wrong reasons, and over time it makes your results a fairer reflection of your skill rather than your mood.

The honest question to sit with is simple. Looking back at your worst trading day this year, what colour were you before the first trade?

Key takeaways

The Traffic Light Check rates the trader, not the market.
Green, amber and red each come with a binding rule about what you may do next.
Run it before every session, every new position and after any big win or loss.
It protects a good strategy from bad execution. It does not replace the strategy.

Want to build these habits with live coaching and a group that holds you to them?

See the programmes Get the free playbook

Keep reading

Trading PsychologyWhy the market does not beat most traders SafetyWhy we train only on FCA-regulated platforms

Educational content only. Not financial advice. Trading carries risk of loss. Past performance does not indicate future results.