What is a trading discipline index?
A discipline index is a 0–100 score of how consistently a trader follows their own rules over a period, calculated from behaviour rather than profit: checklists before entries, entries against the plan, daily limits kept and the day plan filled in. A profitable week can score low; a losing week can score high.
Key points
- Measures rule-following, not P&L.
- Four parts, each with its own weight.
- Most useful week over week: it shows when discipline slipped.
How it is calculated
StatWidget’s mentor dashboard combines four shares over the period: trades with a pre-entry checklist; checklisted entries not taken against the plan; trading days on which the daily limits held; trading days on which the day checklist was filled in. The default weights are 35, 25, 25 and 15, and the weighted average is shown from 0 to 100. A mentor can set different weights for each student.
Why separate discipline from profit
Over short periods profit mixes skill, edge and luck. Rule-following is fully under the trader’s control, so it is the part a trader — or a mentor — can work on directly and review every week.
Example
In a week of 10 trades, 9 had a checklist (0.9); 1 of those 9 was taken against the plan (0.89); the daily limits held on 4 of 5 days (0.8); the day plan was filled in on 5 of 5 days (1.0). With the default weights: 0.35 × 0.9 + 0.25 × 0.89 + 0.25 × 0.8 + 0.15 × 1.0 ≈ 0.887, shown as 89.
Numbers are illustrative.
Questions
Who sees the discipline index?
In StatWidget a mentor sees it for each student; the student sees their own index but not the weights the mentor chose.
What is a good score?
There is no industry benchmark. Compare a trader with their own previous weeks: the trend matters more than the level.
Sources
- StatWidget methodology: the discipline index in the mentor dashboard.