2 June 2026 · Field note
Four lines to write before the market opens
Swing age, last completed length, place versus the last crest and trough, and the mark that cancels the count. Write them before the first print, not after.
A journal filled in after the close is a diary of how you felt. A journal filled in before the open is a record of what you claimed the cycle was, while you could still be wrong in public. The weekend sitting at the academy is mostly about that difference.
The four lines
Line one is the age of the current swing, in weekly bars, counted from the last trough you are willing to defend. If you are not willing to defend it, the line says “trough unsettled” and you do not pretend the age is a number.
Line two is the length of the last completed cycle, trough to trough. It sits there as a comparison, not as a target. Line three is a place: above the last crest, between crest and trough, or pressing the trough. Use those words. “Sort of high” is how line three becomes useless.
Line four is the cancellation mark. It is a price, or a week-count, that would retire today’s reading. A distribution count might be cancelled by a weekly close that holds above the last crest. An accumulation count might be cancelled if a break under the range is not retrieved within a stated number of weeks. Pick one mark. Two marks are a hedge against having an opinion.
What stays off the page
Headlines, yesterday’s argument in a chat group, and the size of anyone’s position stay off the page. They change the handwriting. The column headings on the academy journal are deliberately dull so there is nowhere to write a speech. Elise Marlow will send a page back if line four is a paragraph.
Do this before the SET open if that is your market, or before the London gold open if you keep those hours. The point is sequence. Once the new bar starts printing, memory edits the cancellation mark. We have watched people “remember” a wider mark after a bad morning. The early page, dated and closed, makes that edit visible.
- Age of this swing, or an honest blank
- Length of the last completed cycle
- Place against the last crest and trough, in plain words
- One cancellation mark, specific enough to be wrong
If four lines feel too small for the seriousness of your market, good. The seriousness belongs in the sheet you marked, not in extra adjectives. Weekend field notes exist so you can practice the smallness before you rely on it alone.