But 99% of them are missing this one feature that is CRITICAL to your success.
Here's how to journal your trades the RIGHT way: 🧵
Most journals go over statistics of your trading day
# of trades
P/L
Risk/Reward Ratio
These are important to measure, however...
There are a few elements that aren't shown in most journals
They are:
-Emotional Mistakes -Strategy Iterations
Emotional Mistakes
Emotional mistakes are KEY to becoming a successful trader It's typically the #1 reason traders fail They don't have the discipline to follow their strategy
Some emotional mistakes are...
Taking too much size
Not getting out at stop
Felt greedy and didn't take profit
These are just a few of the examples that you've probably felt throughout your trading career
It is so important that you track these emotional mistakes... so you can fix them for the future
Strategy Iterations
You should be measuring what is and isn't working with your strategy This will allow you to tweak your strategy to improve it
Seeing your P/L or the # of trades you took doesn't help you. Seeing how you can increase your win rate or risk/reward WILL help you.
The whole point of journaling is to learn from your past trading and improve it.
If you aren't focusing on the real inputs that are costing you money... then there's no point in journaling at all.
What I find strange is many people say this yet how often is it that you see them post THIER trading journal to show as an example? Me personally...I've heard this COUNTLESS times, yet funny enough, I've never once been shown an example of a trading journal from the practitioner that is actually practicing what he preaches . Not saying they're not out there. Perhaps Im just not looking in the right places. This observation brings forth 2 possibilities in my eyes: (1) they are embarrassed to show everyone a history of the trades they've taken (usually bc they are not a practitioner of the the knowledge they expound or (2) they are not really making a trading journal themselves (ultimately pointing to (1) again). I've now helped a couple people get into trading and I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I have directed them to do things that I know SHOULD be done so as to not blow up their accounts (due to my own and others proclamations/experience with our own blown up accounts), yet I fear it's just something that each individual must fight through thick and through thin to comprehend and fully appreciate its destructive gravitational force. Perhaps it's time to change antics and rather say, "start off with a tiny account knowing full well you will most certainly blow it up. One that is big enough to allow for more trades to be taken even after 80% of it is gone, one that is big enough to make you feel the pain, yet that wont spiral you into a depression when it's inevitable fate presents itself. IDK...maybe I'm completely off here but it seems the same approach that should be taken with kids would be the one to take. that being..."dont shield them from their wrong decisions and inevitable mistakes, their hurt, their pain, and everything else that the world WILL throw at them. Rather, teach them how to soften the blow, shake it off, make it so they can get back out there after their inevitable falls and teach them how to learn from their mistakes." I would love to hear any other takes on the matter or any opposing opinions that could lead me to a better understanding of the subject at hand.
Daveatt
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@chasinalts, I 100% agree, IMO, most influencers never traded before selling their trading course and that's why most of their customers are losing too. I started trading with tiny amounts for almost a year, there is no shame in that. Most get wrecked because they're trying to get rich quick, to burn steps, and don't see trading as a skill to be trained with a high-sheer of the volume of trades taken over the months/years to really acquire enough experience. Now coming back to the point of a trading journal, I know that all those not profitable don't have a trading journal or don't log their trades + what they felt/thought when they took those trades on a regular basis. Of course, someone posting his/her trading journal online is NO WAY proof he's successful - HE/SHE could be (very likely) lying Some acceptable proofs could be showing the bank account amount, lifestyle, trading account capital or anything that we could believe to be true without any doubt
A_Traders_Edge
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To be perfectly clear, in NO sense of the term am I "calling you out" nor asking for you to produce your actual trading journal. I've always found you very inspiring and can only now transcribe my thoughts and ideas (for analyzing charts) into code by using publications that you and others have submitted to guide me. So, I owe everything to yall. There HAS TO BE a better way to help guide new traders to learn to trade effectively and with conviction other than simply providing all the insightful rules/guidelines that all the gurus do for them to follow. I truly feel there is a DIRE NEED for the following proposal. That being, a trading platform that not only provides to the trader the “BEST” set of rules to follow when trading but one that actually holds their trading to these rules (that of which will be individually selectable by the user). I.e. - ONLY be able to view your capital as a % of your initial investment. After a while, you should forget how much the account was worth and only be thinking of it in its % form. ALWAYS viewing the account/trades by its %age value rather than a $ value (or whichever currency being used) has the benefit of separating the trader from the compulsive emotions that are so often tied to the currency values that they deal with everyday. Such as it being easier to recall/learn from a trade that cost you a lot of money rather than not recalling/learning from it because your mind underplayed the loss because of its lower $ value. - Only allows you to trade maximum ____% of your account size per trade. - Must set SL/TP before before taking the trade - RR must be at least ____ - Prevent revenge trading by not letting you trade for Xmin/hrs after X amount of losing trades in a row. - Must view at least ____ htf charts of the coin you’re trading before initializing the trade so you’re not going long in the middle of a massive longer termed downtrend that cannot be seen on LTFs. - Have many more but I think you get where I’m going with this I feel there should be a free subscription and a paid (which obviously would offer a lot more) but by having all of this information from the trader before the trade it also allows a trading journal to be automatically created for the trader to view and utilize its statistics (part of the paid version). I believe would draw in the masses easily and be very profitable. I’ve been further developing the ins/outs and its utility for the past year and Im at the point that I feel talking with/bringing in a coder is necessary to fully grasp what will be the most difficult aspects to implement. Honestly, I just don’t know how to find someone that 1) has a shared/similar vision and 2) most importantly, that I can trust. Any insight is VERY much welcomed. Do YOU see this as a no brainer like I do or no?
SwallowPremium
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Great job! Let’s have a great trading session, thank you!