Why keep a trading journal, and what to write in it

Memory is a poor record

After a few weeks, most traders remember their best and worst trades and little in between. A journal replaces memory with data: what you planned, what you did and what happened.

The fields that matter

Date, instrument, long or short, entry and exit price, the planned risk and reward, the result, the setup or strategy tag, and a screenshot before and after. Optional but revealing: a short note on how you felt when you entered and exited.

Tags are what make the journal searchable: they let you ask which setups actually work for you and which ones only feel good.

Review on a schedule

Once a week, look at the results by tag, by weekday and by time of day. Look for one habit to keep and one to stop. Small, repeated corrections add up over months.

Win rate and total result are useful summaries, but the notes and screenshots are where most lessons are.