Trade Plans Beginner FAQ

Q: What do "headwinds," "tailwinds," and "perch" mean?

Every asset in the report is tagged relative to its Lean Line — the specific price that separates a bullish read from a bearish one: Tailwinds — price is above the Lean Line, so the read is a long bias (the wind is at the back of buyers). Headwinds — price is below the Lean Line, so the read is a short bias (buyers are pushing uphill). Perch — patience. Price is sitting right around the line with no committed edge, so the report is telling you to wait rather than force a trade. For a fuller walk-through with examples, see How to read the weather signals , and keep the glossary open until the terms feel automatic.

Q: Which section do I read first?

Read the section that matches your holding period , not the one that looks most exciting. The report is organized by three lenses — Day Trader, Trader (swing), and Investor — and the same ticker can show tailwinds on the swing lens while sitting on perch for a day trader. A common beginner mistake is reading the day-trade line and holding the position for two weeks. Pick your lens, then read only that lean.

Start here: what the Trade Plans actually is

Trade Plans is a daily read on which way the market is leaning — for S&P 500 sectors, futures, and 100+ individual tickers — published after the close for the next session. It is not a "buy this now" alert feed. It gives you a level and a bias, and leaves the entry, the timing, and the risk to you and your own strategy. Beginners get the most out of it when they treat it as a map, not a GPS voice telling them when to turn.

What do "headwinds," "tailwinds," and "perch" mean?

Every asset in the report is tagged relative to its Lean Line — the specific price that separates a bullish read from a bearish one:

Tailwinds — price is above the Lean Line, so the read is a long bias (the wind is at the back of buyers).
Headwinds — price is below the Lean Line, so the read is a short bias (buyers are pushing uphill).
Perch — patience. Price is sitting right around the line with no committed edge, so the report is telling you to wait rather than force a trade.

For a fuller walk-through with examples, see How to read the weather signals, and keep the glossary open until the terms feel automatic.

Which section do I read first?

Read the section that matches your holding period, not the one that looks most exciting. The report is organized by three lenses — Day Trader, Trader (swing), and Investor — and the same ticker can show tailwinds on the swing lens while sitting on perch for a day trader. A common beginner mistake is reading the day-trade line and holding the position for two weeks. Pick your lens, then read only that lean.

How do I use a Lean Line without over-trusting it?

The Lean Line is a decision level, not an entry trigger. A practical routine: mark the line, then wait for your own setup to confirm in the direction the report is leaning. For instance, say the Lean Line on SPY is an illustrative 545 and the read is tailwinds — you would look for the kind of long entry your strategy already uses (a pullback that holds above that line, a base that breaks) rather than buying the instant the report arrives. If price is below the line, the tailwind read is invalidated for now; that's information too. The daily levels page always shows the latest published levels so you can line them up against your chart before the open.

Do I have to trade every asset the report covers?

No — and you shouldn't. The report is deliberately broad (11 S&P sectors on the free tier; futures like ES, NQ, YM, and RTY plus 100+ US and global tickers across indexes, stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies, and crypto on the paid tier) so it fits many traders. Your job is to subtract. Shortlist two or three assets you already understand, ignore the rest, and let the wider coverage tell you whether the broad tape agrees with your idea. If ten sectors show headwinds and your one long idea shows tailwinds, that disagreement is worth noticing before you size up.

What's the difference between free and paid?

The free tier is more than the sector read. It gives you the S&P Sectors Trade Plans — the 11 S&P 500 sectors, enough to gauge overall market posture each day — plus the previous session's ES, SPY, NQ, and QQQ day-trade levels, the matching MyLinedChart.com levels, and an Excel file. So an Excel file and MyLinedChart levels are already yours for free.

The paid tier ($29.99/mo) adds the Futures Trade Plans and the Stock Market Trade Plans: live ES/SPY/NQ/QQQ day- and swing-trade levels, market breakdowns across ES, SPY, NQ, QQQ, YM, RTY and 100+ tickers, and the fuller Excel file plus MyLinedChart lean lines built for automation and journaling. Start free to learn the language; details are on the Trade Plans page and pricing.

Do I need MyLinedChart?

No. Every number is written out in the report, so you can hand-plot the levels on any charting platform you already use. MyLinedChart is the convenience layer: it hosts the day's levels, and traders can have their AI fetch those levels and draw them directly on their charts instead of typing prices by hand. The automatic drawing is the shortcut; the numbers themselves are portable everywhere.

A simple first-week routine

Before the open: read only your timeframe's section; note the tailwind/headwind/perch tags for your two or three assets.
At the line: set alerts near each Lean Line instead of watching constantly.
On confirmation: take only setups where your strategy and the report's lean point the same way — skip the rest.
After the close: review whether you followed your process, not whether the trade won.

Consistency here beats cleverness. The edge compounds when your execution is boring and repeatable — the report just improves the odds that you're pointed the right way. This is educational context only, never personalized advice.