Pre-open desk boot sequence: 08:30 to 09:25 ET, in the same order every day

[Fairman]

Most of my platform problems didn't come from bad hardware. They came from doing things in a different order each morning, so that something was eventually missed. Now the desk boots in the same sequence every trading day, with a check mark for each step on a printed card.

## The sequence
1. 08:30 ET: restart the trading machine. A restart, not wake from sleep.
2. 08:35: check the system clock against a time source. If it's off by more than a second, fix it before anything else.
3. 08:38: wired network connected, and a quick ping to the broker's server with the time noted. If it's far off my usual, I check the router before going further.
4. 08:42: start the platform and log in. Confirm the account, buying power and that there are no open positions or orders left from yesterday.
5. 08:48: load the layout, then check that every hotkey is on the right account and default size. I press each one on a paper symbol if the platform allows it.
6. 08:55: open the second quote source on the phone, with SPY and the top A-list name.
7. 09:00: start the kill-switch or any risk script and confirm its heartbeat.
8. 09:10–09:25: pre-market prep. Only now do charts and watchlists get attention.

## Worked example (illustrative)
One morning, at step 5 I pressed my 200-share buy hotkey on the paper symbol, and it sent 2,000. A layout import had changed the default. I fixed it at 08:51 ET and pressed it again: 200. Check.

Without the sequence, I'd have found out at 09:34 ET on a $45 name, with ten times my size and a 12-cent stop. That's $240 of risk where I'd planned $24.

## Failure modes
- Skipping the restart because "it worked fine yesterday."
- Checking hotkeys by looking at the settings instead of pressing them.
- Running prep before the platform checks, then rushing the checks at 09:28 ET.

## When to skip (trading)
- If any step from 1 to 7 isn't checked by 09:25 ET, I trade only after 10:00 ET, once it's fixed.
- If the clock or network check fails and I can't fix it, I don't trade that day.
- If an overnight update installed itself, I follow my quarantine rule before trading live.

Diagram: a vertical checklist card with clock times from 08:30 to 09:25 ET down the left side, a box for each step, and a big "all checked?" gate at the bottom.