05 · Concepts
Phantom Checks: How Impulsive Trades Are Scored
Phantom checks are failed rule checks Limbix charges to an impulsive trade: a typical playbook's worth, set by your own playbooks and frozen on the trade.
A phantom check is a failed rule check that Limbix charges to an impulsive trade, one with no playbook linked. Each impulsive trade counts as if it broke a typical playbook's worth of rules, sized from your own playbooks. That weight is frozen on the trade the first time it's scored, so later playbook changes can't re-score it.
Why phantom checks exist#
Your Discipline Score is rules followed divided by rule checks made. An impulsive trade makes no real checks, so without phantoms it would change nothing, and skipping your playbook would be free. Phantom checks give an unplanned trade the weight of a typical planned one, all failed.
Why your own playbooks. A trader whose playbooks carry many rules makes many checks per planned trade. Charging an impulsive trade a single check would be a rounding error for them. Sizing the charge from your own playbooks puts both kinds of trade on the same scale: more rules in your playbooks, more phantom checks per impulsive trade.
Why frozen. Your playbooks change: create a big new playbook tomorrow and a typical playbook's worth grows. If old impulsive trades followed it, your past scores would move with no change in your trading. So the weight is stamped on each impulsive trade when it's first scored and kept from then on.
Example#
Say your playbooks set an impulsive trade's weight at 4 phantom checks.
On Tuesday you take three trades:
| Trade | Checks | Followed |
|---|---|---|
| Planned, 4-rule playbook, all rules kept | 4 | 4 |
| Planned, 4-rule playbook, one rule broken | 4 | 3 |
| Impulsive | 4 phantom | 0 |
| Total | 12 | 7 |
Rule Compliance = 7 ÷ 12 × 100 = 58.3, shown as 58.
On Wednesday you add a much larger playbook, and a typical playbook's worth grows. Tuesday's impulsive trade keeps its frozen 4, so Tuesday stays at 58. An impulsive trade you take on Wednesday is charged the new, higher weight.
Where it affects your numbers#
- Rule Compliance and the Discipline Score: phantom checks join the denominator, all failed.
- The "rules checked" counts on Discipline & Risk show real checks only. Phantoms change the score, not those counts.
- Impulsive Trade Count counts the trades themselves.
- Not the Risk Score, and not your stand-down line: neither charges phantom checks.
Frequently asked questions#
How many phantom checks does an impulsive trade get?#
A typical playbook's worth of rules, sized from every playbook you haven't deleted. The more rules your playbooks carry, the more phantom checks each impulsive trade gets. It's set when the trade is first scored and then frozen on that trade, so adding or deleting playbooks later never re-scores it.
Will adding or deleting a playbook change my old Discipline Scores?#
Not through phantom checks. Each impulsive trade keeps the weight it was given when first scored. New impulsive trades are weighed against your playbooks as they stand when they're first scored. Deleting a rule from a playbook can still change past scores for trades linked to that playbook, because a removed rule is no longer checked. See playbooks.
What if I had no playbooks when I logged the trade?#
With no playbooks there is no typical playbook to size from, so the trade's frozen weight is zero. It adds no phantom checks, and a day made only of such trades shows "—" rather than a score. Create a playbook before you log trades, as onboarding suggests, so unplanned trades are weighed from day one.
Does linking a playbook later remove the phantom checks?#
Yes. Once a trade has a playbook, it's no longer impulsive. It's scored against that playbook's real rules, and its frozen phantom weight stops applying. Link it in Trade Log under Edit, then click Save changes. See impulsive trades.