trade journal
A record of every trade with its reason, size, stop, result and whether the plan was followed.
A trade journal is a record of each trade, including the reason, size, planned exit, result, costs, and whether the written plan was followed. It helps turn individual outcomes into information that can be reviewed.
A useful entry is made consistently and records facts as well as the decision process. Notes can include the instrument, date, entry and exit prices, fees, and a short explanation of any change made during the trade.
A journal does not make a trade successful or prove that a pattern will continue. It can reveal repeated habits and missing costs, but conclusions from a small number of entries are uncertain.
Example
On Monday, Marc records a fictional Harbor 20 Index Fund trade in the $10,000 Pebble practice account: entry $50, exit $52, 20 units, fees $2, and plan followed: yes.
Working: price gain = ($52 − $50) × 20 = $40. After $2 fees, net result = $38. His note says he exited at the planned level. The journal now captures the size, costs, outcome, and whether the decision followed the rule.
Common mistakes
- Recording only the profitable or memorable trades.
- Leaving out fees, spread, or slippage from results.
- Writing vague reasons after the outcome is already known.
- Most people who trade lose money.
Learn it in the course
- Practice account, starting small and the journal · Use a practice account to build the routine, start small with real money only if you choose to, and log every trade in a journal that memory cannot edit.
- Expectancy: the average trade · Compute what an average trade earns after costs from a real trade list, and see why ten trades can tell the opposite story from forty.