Trading Skills Checklist 2026 — 50 Skills You Need

⚡ Read this before you open your next trade

**The complete trading skills checklist 2026 — 50 skills mapped to Take Profit Academy modules**. Use this as a self-assessment to track your learning progress. **Beginner skills (1-15)**: 1) Read a candlestick chart. 2) Identify a trend (up/down/sideways). 3) Mark support and resistance. 4) Calculate pip value for any pair. 5) Calculate position size for 1% risk. 6) Set a stop loss correctly. 7) Set a take profit at minimum 1.5R. 8) Read economic calendar. 9) Identify major currency pairs. 10) Use MT4/MT5/cTrader basics. 11) Place market and limit orders. 12) Calculate R:R for any trade. 13) Identify 5 candlestick patterns (doji, engulfing, hammer, shooting star, pin bar). 14) Read RSI for overbought/oversold. 15) Apply 200 EMA as trend filter. **Intermediate skills (16-30)**: 16) Spot bullish/bearish divergence on RSI/MACD. 17) Use Fibonacci retracements. 18) Identify chart patterns (H&S, double top/bottom, triangles). 19) Trade economic events (NFP, CPI, FOMC). 20) Apply Bollinger Bands for mean reversion. 21) Multi-timeframe analysis (HTF context, LTF entry). 22) Identify market sessions (London, NY, Asia overlap). 23) Trade specific session strategies. 24) Use Volume Profile basics. 25) Calculate correlation between pairs. 26) Spot manipulation/fakeouts. 27) Use trailing stops effectively. 28) Identify and trade range vs trend. 29) Apply Wyckoff phases. 30) Recognize Smart Money Concepts (order blocks, FVGs). **Advanced skills (31-50)**: 31) Trade ICT/SMC setups. 32) Identify and trade liquidity sweeps. 33) Read order flow (DOM/footprint). 34) Trade Elliott Wave patterns. 35) Apply harmonic patterns (Gartley, Bat, Butterfly). 36) Trade options Greeks basics. 37) Build automated strategies (Pine Script). 38) Backtest a strategy systematically. 39) Calculate expected value of edge. 40) Manage portfolio correlation risk. 41) Trade prop firm rules. 42) Apply Kelly Criterion for sizing. 43) Manage psychology in 5%+ drawdown. 44) Recognize and counter trader biases. 45) Build and maintain trade journal. 46) Use AI signals (Take Profit Premium). 47) Trade news + sentiment combined. 48) Apply Wyckoff Volume Spread Analysis. 49) Trade central bank policy shifts. 50) Scale capital safely 2-10x without ruin. **Self-assessment 2026**: Score 1-25 = beginner. 26-40 = intermediate. 41+ = advanced. Most retail traders peak at 20-25 (intermediate). Top 10% reach 35-40. **How to gain each skill 2026**: 1) Match skill to Take Profit Academy module (free, 428 lessons). 2) Practice on free [Vantage demo](https://vigco.co/la-com-inv/CE3HlGvG). 3) Journal every application. 4) Review weekly. **Bottom line**: 50 skills, mapped to free Take Profit Academy modules. Self-assess monthly. Goal year 1: master skills 1-20. Year 2: 21-35. Year 3: 36-50. Use journal to verify mastery (not just "I know it" but "I executed it 20+ times correctly"). After 90 days demo, optionally fund $200+ on [Vantage 150% bonus](https://vigco.co/la-com-inv/CE3HlGvG) + email contact@takeprofitapp.com for free Premium signals. This guide is your roadmap to systematic skill acquisition.

Kacper Mruk4 min read