How to make a proper trading journal?

squalodon

Regular Member
I have been trading for some time and have found that there are different ways for different traders regarding inputting their trades into journals for later study?

Can anyone share their ideas on which one is the best and most proper way of keeping a trade journal?
 

squalodon

Regular Member
I see. But can you input the reasons? Seems like a lot of work

I just use the Notepad.

Input. Date and time of trade. And pair

A) market condition
B) ema movement converging, diverging or flat
C) where the support and resistances are
D) any chart patterns forming
E) the signal bar
D) entry method chosen.

Then i chronicle if loss take profit or breakeven..
 

Rico

Regular Member
I looked at various online and spreadsheet journals and either found them too complex, didn't contain the info i wanted, and/or contained info i didn't want. So i created a pretty compact ss on Google sheets - you can see it below.

As such it has all the advantages (and disadvantages) of being online.

There are no description fields - eg to say why i entered the trade - and this is because i add these in as comments to the Trade and Win? fields. Basically in the Trade field i add comments such as why i entered the trade, and in the Win? field i comment on the result and what i can learn from it.

This makes the ss very compact: It fits in one window, so you don't have to go back and forth entering information.

I use abbreviations in the Trade field: BL and SL for buy and sell limits, BS and SS for buy stop and sell stop, and of course you can also use Buy and Sellf

Since i use split mm, i can have one or two dates in the Exit Dates field. The Win field contains the following details: Win, Loss, Cancelled, BE (break even). I leave the field blank until both parts of the trade have resolved.

Profit? contains the profit or loss i made on the trade, while Cumulative is a cumulative total of the profit/loss.

I don't include entry and exit prices, as i don't feel these would help in looking back. I'm more interested in why and how i entered, and if the trade panned out or not.
 

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Rico

Regular Member
Oh, i forgot to add that at present i include trades that didn't trigger and that i cancel, as there may be something to learn from this. These add to the win percentage, simply because it makes for a simpler formula. If I feel like putting in the effort sometime, I might change it to not include cancelled trades.
 
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