04 · Metrics
Discipline Score
The Discipline Score is the share of your own playbook rules you followed, capped by your Risk Score. How it's calculated, when it shows a dash, how to lift it.
The share of your own rules you actually followed — capped by your risk score. Rule-following while sizing wildly is not discipline, so risk sets a ceiling this number cannot pass. The Limbix trading discipline score joins two numbers: the rule checks you passed and a ceiling set by your Risk Score. You get the lower one.
How it's calculated#
Your Discipline Score is your Rule Compliance, limited by a cap that your Risk band sets. It is built in three steps.
- Count the rule checks. For every trade in the period, Limbix counts the rules on its linked playbooks. A trade linked to two playbooks is checked against both sets. Each rule you did not mark as broken is a followed check.
- Charge impulsive trades. A trade with no playbook is an impulsive trade. It counts as if it broke a typical playbook's worth of your rules: those phantom checks are added to the checks made, and none of them is followed.
- Apply the risk cap. Rule Compliance is rules followed ÷ rule checks made, over the whole period. Your Risk Score for the last 30 days falls in a band, and each band sets a cap. The weaker the band, the lower the cap. Your Discipline Score is the lower of the two.
| What goes in | What is left out |
|---|---|
| Every rule on every playbook linked to a trade in the period | Rules you deleted from a playbook |
| Phantom checks for trades with no playbook | Whether the trade won or lost |
| The cap from your Risk band over the last 30 days | A cap when your Risk Score can't be measured yet |
Your current cap is shown on the Discipline & Risk page, next to the ring.
Three details keep the number honest:
- Checks are summed, never averaged by day. A day with 20 trades counts 20 times as much as a day with one. An average of daily scores would let one quiet day outweigh a busy one.
- Phantom weights are frozen. The first time an impulsive trade is scored, its phantom weight is stamped on it. Creating or deleting playbooks later cannot re-score old trades.
- Removed rules don't count. If you delete a rule from a playbook, its old violations stop burning checks in the score. You cannot fail a check that is no longer being made.
The exact weights and tolerances are part of Limbix's method version provisional-2026-09.4; they'll be published here once the method is validated.
What moves your score#
| Action | Effect on your Discipline Score |
|---|---|
| Follow a rule you used to break | Raises Rule Compliance, and the score with it, up to your cap |
| Mark a rule as broken on a trade | Lowers Rule Compliance |
| Take a trade with no playbook | Adds a playbook's worth of failed checks, so compliance drops |
| Link a playbook to an old impulsive trade | Replaces its phantom checks with that playbook's real rules |
| Delete a rule from a playbook | Its past violations stop counting against you |
| Lift your Risk Score into a better band | Raises the cap. It helps only when the cap was below your compliance |
| Let your Risk Score slip into a weaker band | Lowers the cap. It can pull the score down in a month of clean rules |
| Your Risk Score can't be measured yet | No cap applies. Your score equals your Rule Compliance |
Worked example#
You traded 20 times this month. You marked a handful of broken rules, and two trades had no playbook, so each added a playbook's worth of failed checks. Your Rule Compliance comes to 79: Building.
Over the last 30 days your sizing was steady, but too many losses ran past your stops. That puts your Risk Score in the Fragile band, and the Fragile cap sits below your compliance. So the cap, not your rules, sets your Discipline Score this month.
The Discipline & Risk page shows the capped score on the ring, with a ghost arc reaching up to 79 and the caption "Held from 79". The Cap lost tile shows the points the cap took. The read below it names the next target: reach the Loose band, from a Risk Score of 70, and the cap lifts. The Risk Score example shows how that Fragile reading comes about.
When it shows "—"#
The score shows "—" when there is nothing to score. It is never shown as 0 for missing data.
| You see "—" when | Why |
|---|---|
| No trades in the selected period | Nothing was checked, so there is nothing to pass or fail. |
| Your trades are linked to playbooks that have no rules | Zero rule checks exist. |
| All your trades are impulsive and you have no playbooks yet | With no playbooks, a typical playbook has no rules to charge, so impulsive trades add no checks. |
| The dashboard range is today and you haven't traded yet | An empty day has no score, not a red 0. |
A missing Risk Score never produces a dash. When risk can't be measured, the cap simply isn't applied and your score equals your Rule Compliance.
What's a good discipline score?#
- Breaking 0 to 50
- Fragile 50 to 70
- Building 70 to 85
- Strong 85 to 100
| Band | Score from |
|---|---|
| Strong | 85 |
| Building | 70 |
| Fragile | 50 |
| Breaking | below 50 |
A good score is one you earned with rules that mean something. Ten vague rules followed perfectly teach you less than four precise rules followed most of the time. Watch the trend across periods rather than one reading.
How to improve it#
- Link a playbook to every trade. Each impulsive trade adds failed phantom checks. See link a playbook.
- Fix your weakest rule first. The rule leaderboard ranks rules by compliance and shows the money each one leaks.
- If the cap is holding you back, work on risk, not rules. Open find your weakest part and fix the component the breakdown marks Weakest.
- Mark violations honestly. A score built on unmarked breaks is flattering and useless. See mark rule violations.
Where you'll see it#
- Discipline & Risk (
/discipline): the main ring, the band chip, the change against the previous period, and a six-bar trend. Switch between Week, Month, Quarter and All. See read your score. - Dashboard: the Discipline score card for the dashboard's range. See the dashboard guide.
- Playbook detail: the DISCIPLINE tile for that one playbook. It is a simpler figure: rules followed as a share of rule checks across every trade ever linked to the playbook, with no phantom checks and no risk cap. So it can read higher than your Discipline Score, even though its ? tooltip is this score's.
- NEX: answers about your discipline use the same method as the screens. See NEX.
Frequently asked questions#
What is a good discipline score in trading?#
In Limbix, 85 and above is Strong, and 70 and above is Building. The number only means something if your rules are specific and you mark every break. A high score on rules you never check says nothing. A steady score on precise rules, with risk not capping it, is the real target.
Why didn't my discipline score go up when I followed every rule?#
Your Risk Score is probably capping it. The score is the lower of Rule Compliance and the risk cap, so once compliance passes the cap, extra rule-following cannot move the headline. Risk can only lower the score, never raise it. The ring shows a ghost arc up to your uncapped compliance, and the read names the Risk Score that lifts the cap. Improve the weakest risk component to raise it.
Why does the period switch change discipline but not risk?#
Rule Compliance is scored over the period you pick: Week, Month, Quarter or All. The Risk Score is always the trailing 30 days, because its components need enough trades to be measured. A one-week risk score would be blank for most traders. The risk ring carries a "30d · fixed" chip to say so.
How do impulsive trades affect my discipline score?#
Each trade with no playbook counts as if it broke a typical playbook's worth of your rules: it adds that many checks, and none of them passes. One impulsive trade can cost as much as breaking every rule on a planned trade. The weight is frozen on the trade when it is first scored, so adding playbooks later won't re-score it. See phantom checks.
Why doesn't Limbix publish the exact weights?#
Because the method is still being validated on real traders. The caps each risk band sets may change as Limbix learns from real trading histories, and publishing numbers that may change would mean public corrections. Exact numbers also invite people to play to the line rather than trade well. This page explains everything that decides your score, and your current cap is always on the Discipline & Risk page.