What a trading journal is for
A trading journal is not a list of results; your broker already keeps that. A journal records the decisions behind each trade: why you took it, what you planned, how you felt and whether you followed your own rules.
That context is what lets you tell a good trade from a lucky one, and a bad trade from an unlucky one.
What to record for every trade
Keep it short enough to do every time, but complete enough to learn from:
- Instrument, direction, entry, exit, size and result, in money and in R
- The setup or playbook the trade belongs to
- Your plan before entry: bias, levels, trigger, stop and target
- How you felt at entry: calm, rushed, fearful or overconfident
- Whether you followed your plan, and if not, where you deviated
- One lesson, in a single sentence
Record it in the moment
The most valuable information in a journal is also the most fragile: how you felt and what you were thinking. Write it down hours later and the outcome has already coloured your memory. A winner starts to feel like a good plan, a loss like bad luck.
That is why it pays to log and review a trade while it happens, or straight after. Including the review it takes about two minutes, and the data you get is honest.
Journal the day, not only the trades
Your results depend on more than your setups. Sleep, stress, energy, the news and a busy agenda all play a part. A short check-in before the open and a short close at the end of the day give you the context to explain your numbers later.
Turn entries into an edge
Once a week, look back. Which setups made money? At what times were you sharpest? What happened on the days you broke your rules? When you combine your trades with your mindset, plans and events, patterns appear that a list of results never shows.
Do more of what works and less of what costs you money. That is what a journal is for.