Your first plan: amount, goal, time horizon and rules
After this lesson you can write a one-page plan with your amount, goal, time horizon and five personal rules, before you place a single trade.
Aap ka pehla plan: raqam, hadaf, waqt aur usool
Plan koi peshgoi nahi, balkay woh faislay hain jo aap sukoon mein karte hain taake market chalte waqt na karne parein. Pehle chaar faislay: raqam (sirf emergency fund ke baad wala paisa jis ka agle teen saal koi kaam na ho), hadaf (jaise 'aath saal mein ghar ka down payment', na ke 'ameer banna'), waqt (teen saal mein chahiye to volatile assets mein nahi) aur taqseem (lamba core aur chhota learning account).
Phir paanch usool likhein: sirf spot, koi qarz ya leverage nahi; har trade par learning account ka zyada se zyada 1% risk; har entry se pehle wajah, stop-loss aur target likhna; nuqsan wale din koi nayi trade nahi; aur account 15% gire to do hafte ka waqfa aur journal ka review. Misal: Rs 25,000 ka 1% = Rs 250; stop 5% neeche ho to position Rs 5,000.
Plan ek safhe par likhein, tareekh daal kar sign karein, aur mahine mein ek dafa review karein. Tabdeeli sirf review ke din, trade ke beech mein kabhi nahi. Quran muamlaat likhne ka hukm deta hai (2:282), aur jo Allah se darta hai us ke liye raasta nikalta hai aur wahan se rizq deta hai jahan se gumaan bhi na ho (65:2-3). Jo trade plan mein fit na ho, woh aap ki trade nahi.
- Raqam, hadaf, waqt aur taqseem sukoon mein tay karein, market ke dabao mein nahi.
- Paanch chhote usool likhein, shuru sirf spot aur har trade par 1% risk se.
- Plan par tareekh aur sign karein, mahine mein review karein, aur sirf review ke din badlein.
Poora sabaq neeche English mein hai. Quiz English mein hai; asaan alfaaz mein.
Mehwish teaches English at a school in Abbottabad. She has built her emergency fund and has Rs 250,000 left over. She has watched dozens of videos and made a list of eleven coins and four PSX shares she likes. Over chai, her brother, who lost half his savings last year, asks her three questions. How much of this can you lose without it hurting the family? When will you need it back? What will you do if it falls 30% in your first month? She has an answer for none of them.
Four decisions before any trade
A plan is not a prediction. It is a set of decisions made while you are calm, so you do not have to make them while the market is moving. Four of them come first, and each should fit in a single sentence you could read out to a family member.
- Amount: only money beyond your emergency fund, with no job in the next three years.
- Goal: specific, such as 'a house deposit in eight years', not 'get rich'.
- Time horizon: money needed within three years stays out of volatile assets.
- Split: a long-term core and, if you want, a small learning account for active spot trades.
Five rules you write before the first trade
Rules protect you from the version of yourself that appears after a big win or a painful loss. Keep them short and specific enough that you can tell afterwards whether you followed them. Here is a starting set; adjust the numbers, but keep the idea behind each one.
- Spot only. No leverage, no borrowed money, no 'Earn' product I do not understand.
- Risk no more than 1% of my learning account on any single trade.
- Write the reason, the exit if wrong and the target before every entry.
- No new trade on the same day as a loss.
- If the learning account falls 15%, stop for two weeks and review my journal.
Write it, sign it, review it monthly
Put the plan on one page, date it and sign it. Keep it where you trade. Review it once a month on a fixed day, and change it only then, never in the middle of a trade. A Barqish reading such as Favourable or Cautious is evidence to weigh against your plan, not a replacement for it. If a trade does not fit the page, it is not your trade.
Mehwish's first plan in numbers
She has Rs 250,000 beyond her emergency fund. An illustrative split: Rs 150,000 (60%) as a long-term core, for example screened PSX shares and gold, Rs 75,000 (30%) in long-term spot crypto, and Rs 25,000 (10%) as a learning account for active spot trades.
The 1% rule: the most she can lose on one trade is 1% of Rs 25,000 = Rs 250. If her exit is 5% below her entry, her position size is Rs 250 / 0.05 = Rs 5,000. Ten losing trades in a row would cost about Rs 2,500, 10% of the account: painful, but survivable.
The pause rule: if the learning account falls 15%, to Rs 21,250, she stops for two weeks and reviews every trade before starting again.
The Quran asks believers to write down dealings that run over a term, with witnesses (Quran 2:282). A written plan carries that spirit into your own money: it records your intentions before desire has a chance to argue with them. Planning is not a lack of trust in Allah; effort and reliance go together. And the Quran promises that whoever is mindful of Allah, He makes a way out for him and provides from where he does not expect (Quran 65:2-3). A plan built on halal rules keeps you from chasing rizq through the shortcuts this course has shown to be harmful.
Education, not a fatwa. Where scholars differ, we say so. See what scholars say.
Keeping the plan in your head. An unwritten plan changes with every candle: the 1% rule becomes 5% after a loss, 'long term' becomes 'until it is green again', and the exit keeps moving lower. Most beginners who wreck an account did have a plan; it simply was not on paper, so nothing held them to it.
Open the PSX desk for Lucky Cement (LUCK), a KMI-30 company, purely as a practice case, and scroll to 'Plan before you act'. Tick the Nafs Guard checklist, enter Rs 25,000 as the money you plan to use with 1% risk, and type an exit about 5% below today's price in the optional exit box. Check that the position size comes out near Rs 5,000 and the loss near Rs 250. Then copy those numbers into your written plan.
Open Plan before you act →Key takeaways
- Decide amount, goal, time horizon and split while calm, before the market asks you to.
- Write five short rules you can check afterwards, starting with spot only and 1% risk per trade.
- Date and sign the plan, review it monthly, and change it only on review day.
Check yourself
Pass with 2 of 3 to complete the lesson. Answers are checked on our server, so the certificate means something.
Barqish is an educational platform. Nothing here is financial advice or an instruction to buy or sell, and screening is not a fatwa. Spot ownership only: no leverage, no short selling. Updated 30 September 2026.