The end of the year is the best time to review and refine your trading strategy for a better trading experience for the following year. Whether you’re using MT5, cTrader, or TradingView, you still need a solid trading strategy for long-term success. At the same time, since the trading market tends to change often, your trading strategy should be flexible, and you should stick to it once you start trading. Your trading strategy serves as your guide in making decisions, which defines what you should trade, when to trade, and how much to trade. In this article, we’ll discuss some tips for preparing your trading strategy for the coming year.

1. Review Your 2025 Trading Performance

Before you start planning your trading strategy for 2026, the first thing you need to do is review your trades for the whole year. In doing so, list the setups where you performed well, the times when you made mistakes, and whether your risk management is effective. When analysing your past trading performance, you can use your trading journal. Unfortunately, if you still don’t have a trading journal at this point, it can be hard to prepare for a reliable trading strategy. So, when you start trading for the coming year, it’s best if you can prepare a trading journal.

2. Update Your Trading Plan

As mentioned, the trading markets often change, which is why updating your trading plan is a must. When updating your trading plan, you should first check the key areas, including the trading sessions, instruments, position size, and other risk management techniques. Starting the year with a clear and well-thought-out plan can give you confidence and a trading structure. For instance, if you have decided on a trading style, such as day, swing, or scalping trading, you can easily identify your targets based on your plans.

3. Reassess Your Risk Tolerance

Your trading experience this year may affect your views about trading for the following year. This is why you should reassess your risk tolerance and see how much you’re comfortable risking, whether per day or per trade. If you encounter stressful situations often that are expected, ensure that your future trading strategy is sustainable. Knowing and updating your risk tolerance is essential so that you can maintain your capital and ensure that your trading portfolio is on the right side.

4. Stay Informed About the Markets

As the year ends, there are also shifts in the interest rate, monetary policies, and global economic trends. These factors can significantly affect the trading community, so it’s best to stay informed about inflation, central bank forecasts, and geopolitical events, especially if you’re trading commodities, currencies, or indices. Market research, including technical and fundamental analysis, can be the basic things you can do to ensure you’re prepared to adapt your strategy, spot trends, and make informed decisions. But if you’re having a hard time adjusting your past strategy to fit the market outlooks, you can consult a market advisor.

5. Test and Optimise Your Strategy

As you update your trading plan, don’t forget to backtest your strategy using historical data on MT5, TradingView, or other trading platforms you’re using. This can help you evaluate the potential drawdowns and potential profitability. In addition, you can also use demo accounts, so that you can forward test your system under a specific market condition. Whether you’re updating or creating a new trading strategy, backtesting is a must so that you can evaluate its profitability, performance, and risk characteristics.

6. Set Realistic Goals and KPIs

Setting goals for a new year of trading is relevant, so that you’re aware of the things you want to achieve. For instance, you can maintain a maximum drawdown, investment horizon, have a specific monthly return, and limit impulsive trades. When creating realistic goals, you can utilise the SMART framework that includes specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goal-setting guidelines.

7. Refresh Your Mindset and Habits

Your mindset can also affect your trading journey, not just your skills. Since the year is about to end, use this time to reset. You can take breaks, commit to following your plan, and focus on the long-term growth instead of relying on quick profits. Even if you have a reliable trading strategy and plan, it might still not work if your mindset and habits are not balanced.

8. Invest in Continuous Learning

The market dynamics evolve every year, which means you should spend some time improving your trading skills. Whether it’s about understanding algorithmic trading, learning advanced chart patterns, or exploring new asset classes, they’re all worth it. Most of the time, you don’t need to spend a lot of money to learn. You can start following reliable traders on social media platforms, and even on the social feature of trading platforms, such as TradingView. On the other hand, you can also enrol on short courses that can help you with analysing.

Final Thoughts

Starting the year with a fresh trading strategy can help you achieve a better trading year. At the same time, you can gain discipline and confidence. By following the tips listed in this article, you’ll be ready to face the new opportunities and become a successful trader.