What is a Trading Journal?

Understanding Trading Journals

A trading journal is a structured record of every trade you take—capturing the plan, execution, emotions, and outcome. Journaling turns subjective experiences into objective data, allowing you to refine setups, identify behavioral biases, and track whether your edge truly produces positive expectancy.

What to Record

• Trade logistics: Date, time, pair, direction, entry/exit, stop, target, and position size.
• Rationale: Describe the technical/fundamental setup, timeframe alignment, and why the trade fits your plan.
• Psychology: Note your emotional state (confidence, fatigue, FOMO) to uncover patterns that precede mistakes.
• Outcome and lessons: Summarize what worked, what didn’t, and any rule deviations. Screenshots help you review structure later.

Review Cadence

Perform a quick review daily while trades are fresh. Conduct deeper weekly and monthly audits to calculate win rate, average R-multiple, drawdown, and adherence to rules. Create checklists—did you follow risk limits, wait for confirmation, avoid revenge trading? The journal keeps you accountable.

Over time, the journal becomes a personalized playbook. It highlights strengths to double down on, weaknesses to eliminate, and market conditions where your edge thrives or struggles. Elite traders treat journaling as seriously as market analysis—it’s the feedback loop that drives continuous improvement.

Advanced Guidance

Build a repeatable, rules‑based process so decisions are consistent across sessions and instruments. Start from context (higher‑timeframe structure, positioning, macro tone), then define precise triggers and invalidation on execution charts. Track spread and depth so your order type matches conditions. Pre‑compute scenarios (breakout, fakeout, mean‑revert) and map actions for each to reduce hesitation.

Execution Framework

• Plan entries at levels with confluence (structure, momentum, time‑of‑day).
• Place stops beyond the logical invalidation, not arbitrary distances.
• Target at least 2–3R; scale out methodically and trail remainder.
• Avoid thin liquidity windows unless the setup explicitly requires it.
• Record slippage and spreads; poor fills can erase edge.

Review Loop

• Journal setups by session and pair to learn where they excel.
• Tag trades by catalyst (news, trend continuation, range breakout).
• Recalculate expectancy monthly; prune underperforming variants.

Risk Controls

Keep daily loss limits, reduce size after consecutive losses, and pause during regime shifts. Survival enables compounding; treat discipline and execution quality as part of your edge.