I know this is an area of my trading that's been severely lacking. I've been complacent, and I know it has affected my discipline. And I realize this is likely a personal metric, but I'm curious among the profitable traders, how much time do you spend journaling your trades, compared to your other studying of chart history, stock scanning, etc.
how much time should be spent on journaling?
- Thread starter spectastic
- Start date
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Charts help a lot =200dma + such.
Due to bigger risk reward of single stocks, i make sure to limit that, time + %.
And make sure even fun chart study does not interfere with a cash metals business profit + time .
SPY chops around 200dma/ +closed cleanly nicely above 200week\
\SH below200dma good place to cut a loss.
Good Evening spectastic,
I spend 0:00 seconds journaling my discretionary manual trades. There is nothing to journal, the trade either makes money or not. That is why it is called discretionary trading, I am taking my best educated/experienced guess per trade.
If you start journaling you will eventually have 100s of pages of trades and notes with 1000s things to try and think about and 1000s more shoulda coulda woulda per trade each time you go in drawdown. And you will eventually go round and round and circles, trying 1000s things, just to go back in drawdown again.
Just do the best you can per day and keep on clicking.
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so you always follow your plan and never notice things in your trading that needs improvement and worth writing down?
I'm just starting my journaling journey. I feel journaling has improved my discipline as I don't want to 'embarrass' myself in 'public' despite the anonymity of social media. I feel it will have more value when I experience the inevitable drawdown. What was I thinking? What was my trade rationale? What was I feeling (emotionally)? Was I on tilt? Was I fighting/riding the market. I believe I'll optimize my Sharpe by better understanding my drawdowns.
on a related note, I'm trying to learn google app script so i can turn csv files from my broker statement into journal entries that I don't have to input manually. I know there are websites that do this, but I've not found one that was super reliable, since a good chunk of my trading is in options, and it can get kind of hairy with spreads. would also like to mark the entries automatically on the chart using thinkscript, in time.
has anyone gone down this path and have some pointers?
has anyone gone down this path and have some pointers?
more I detach from $$ better the results I get
when analyzing trades in hindsight (which makes no point as you mentioned) i tend to focus on what I did wrong .. coulda woulda.. that is no good
I am managing multiple accounts and so I have
a checklist for all my trades, which includes the
criteria that I look at prior to entering the trade,
dollar amounts, time of day, and whatever.
I also track my exits, with my profits and any
information that I think is relevant.
Then I maintain a notebook where I annotate
my trading details, list other stocks that I
noticed, and things I want to research at
another time.
All of this takes a few minutes, depending
on how much I write in my notes, but it is
worth the time, especially when I come
back to my notes days or weeks later.
Even though we can print out the history
of our trades from our accounts, I think it is
important to record things, even if it is just
random thoughts regarding your trades.
I would advise you to start annotating things,
writing it down on paper is best. It does not
have to be structured and the stationery does
not need to be anything fancy, just use some
kind of spiral notebook or writing tablet that
you probably already have laying around.
The beginning of a new year is the perfect
time to start practicing better trading and
life habits.
Being organized and having better habits
will make you a more profitable trader.
a checklist for all my trades, which includes the
criteria that I look at prior to entering the trade,
dollar amounts, time of day, and whatever.
I also track my exits, with my profits and any
information that I think is relevant.
Then I maintain a notebook where I annotate
my trading details, list other stocks that I
noticed, and things I want to research at
another time.
All of this takes a few minutes, depending
on how much I write in my notes, but it is
worth the time, especially when I come
back to my notes days or weeks later.
Even though we can print out the history
of our trades from our accounts, I think it is
important to record things, even if it is just
random thoughts regarding your trades.
I would advise you to start annotating things,
writing it down on paper is best. It does not
have to be structured and the stationery does
not need to be anything fancy, just use some
kind of spiral notebook or writing tablet that
you probably already have laying around.
The beginning of a new year is the perfect
time to start practicing better trading and
life habits.
Being organized and having better habits
will make you a more profitable trader.
Hello spectastic,
Yes, I always follow my plan.
No, I never notice things that needs improvement. Look for improvement is looking to never improve. Keep it simple, do nothing.
No, nothing is worth writing down. My account balance shows the results.
No, I do not review my trades.
No, I do not do anything. I trade for 1 hour per day and done.
I am guessing/discretionary/gambling manual trading. I do not know if I will make money until after X-XX months of clicking buy and sell button.