Experienced Traders: What stuff do you keep in your journal that aren't super obvious?

S

spectastic

I'm trying to up my journaling game substantially so my results can improve faster. This game is chess and I realize I've been playing checkers. I feel the need to have a better journaling process, beyond the simple price in/price out, time of executions, p/l $ and %, but also what the plan was, what the execution was, reason why I got out early or stayed in longer than the plan, screenshots of the charts before/after, what I did wrong/right. etc.

This is a lot to keep track of, especially for active trading, and I can easily see how analyzing trades can take up even more time than trading itself. So I'm wondering what others out there have found useful beyond the obvious stuff people put in their journaling. From what I've seen from other successful traders, journaling is the #1 thing that helps you take off. Would like others to share their ideas on what helped them take their trading to the next level.
 
spectastic said:
I'm trying to up my journaling game substantially so my results can improve faster. This game is chess and I realize I've been playing checkers. I feel the need to have a better journaling process, beyond the simple price in/price out, time of executions, p/l $ and %, but also what the plan was, what the execution was, reason why I got out early or stayed in longer than the plan, screenshots of the charts before/after, what I did wrong/right. etc.

This is a lot to keep track of, especially for active trading, and I can easily see how analyzing trades can take up even more time than trading itself. So I'm wondering what others out there have found useful beyond the obvious stuff people put in their journaling. From what I've seen from other successful traders, journaling is the #1 thing that helps you take off. Would like others to share their ideas on what helped them take their trading to the next level.
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My suggestion, don't keep a journal as its too long winded.
Just keep a spreadsheet, write down noteworthy things which work and don't work for you.
 
Time of day I entered each trade vs p&l

Pattern used

Price of stocks you trade successfully vs suck at; eg I do best with those priced $15-30/share

In vs out s&p at trade entry time

In-trend breakout vs pivot pattern

Size of stops vs wins

and more; those are very important but not obvious fwiw

agree w themickey re short brief notes in spreadsheet vs wordy journal. Goal is to figure out top setups and mostly just trade those. Easier said than done, I overtrade.
 
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This might help. You are probably thinking that a "score card" of results are useful. They are the atomic parts of a "meta-system" that is useful. Let that sink in.

Now, ask yourself what you want from your "journal". Your needs are going to be different from others depending upon type of trading, how mature your system has become, and your personal trading flaws.

So start from the top down, identifying goals (useful meta data measurements), then build from the bottom up (with the trade data).

Try to fashion the meta data to help with specific issues. If you don't know the issues, find them. Hint: The point is to make the most money with the least effort, and least risk, but still take measured risk.

Read this thread. Scalping and Analysing your trades | Elite Trader

Look at the "line out" sheet for a scalper. Look how they use the data to evaluate the trader. See how the Meta data is used to solve their specific optimizations. Re read the first part of this post. WRT to data versus meta data.

Use Excel. Build a line out sheet for your needs.

PS: My meta data evaluation system is 2x more semantically rich (as a measure of complexity), than my trading tactics complexity (as measured in intricacy).

PPS: this might be too advanced based on your post, but you did ask.:D
 
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I use Journalytix. It is free with Jigsaw Daytradr live or $399/y.
The trades are "uploaded" automatically, wich is terrific. You can tag them with you own codes, add comments and even charts.
Unfortunately, it is not compatible with all brokers, as you can guess.
I keep a code to all trades. I have about 10 different codes (context, market condition, strategies...). I am able to see what works or doesn't and when (date, day of week,...).
I keep track of commissions and fees, daily, weekly and monthly Profit Factor.
 
I feel like taking screen shots and marking the entry/exits with comments of what went well/not well are a lot more useful than a table of entries/exits. Perhaps it's good to keep a combination of screenshots/labels, as well as a spreadsheet that keeps track of daily/weekly/monthly p/l

anyone else do this or have a better more efficient approach?

I've tried the websites that imports your trades like tradervue, but I don't intend to be a day trader, and I think having the ability to customize my own journal is good. Besides, I've been meaning to write a macros that does this, should be pretty easy for stocks. options/spreads will be trickier though.
 
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