A 20-minute daily chart review routine

28 July 2026 · Thanh Nguyen

Open notebook with chart sketches next to morning coffee

Most readers who contact us admit the same problem: the pre-open scan expands to forty minutes, six indicators load by default, and nothing is written down before the bell. The routine below is what we ask intensive graduates to follow for thirty days — timed, paper-first, RSI last.

Minutes 0–5: Index anchor

Open one index relevant to your focus — VN-Index for HOSE readers, DXY if you trade USD pairs, etc. Mark only structure: higher highs, higher lows, or the absence of either. No RSI yet. Write one sentence: "Index bias today is ___ because ___."

Minutes 5–12: Watchlist sweep

Flip through five to eight symbols maximum. Same timeframe for all — we prefer daily for swing readers. Circle symbols whose structure aligns with your index sentence. Cross out symbols that fight the index unless you have a dedicated mean-reversion rule written in advance.

Minutes 12–17: RSI overlay on survivors

Only on the two or three symbols still circled, add RSI(14). Ask one question per symbol: "Does RSI support or contradict my structure read?" If it contradicts, the symbol goes back to the watch list — not the action list.

Minutes 17–20: One written decision

Choose at most one symbol to carry into the session. Write: entry trigger, invalidation level, and why RSI was necessary to confirm. If nothing qualifies, write "no trade — stand aside." Standing aside is a valid output.

Why paper helps

Printing a weekly chart pack on Sunday evening cuts two minutes off the index step because levels are pre-marked. Several lab regulars batch-print at our open clinic on Wednesdays.

For a deeper rebuild of your rules, consider a Chart Review Session with three charts you actually traded last month.