Tips For Keeping A Trading Journal?

[smallfil]

Since, you are a useless troll. You are now in my blocked list!

 

[murray t turtle]

I log all my signals on a legal pad in pencil (yeah old school but it keeps me "close to the ground"). Each day is dated (day trader here) and then signals numbered followed by long or short, price, time of day, type of signal (all mine are variations of the same concept), maximum favorable excursion, maximum adverse excursion, win or loss, tick size for W or L. I then compare with actual trades made to see if I missed any or took anything resembling an undefined signal. I've been doing this for a long time and the benefit proves diminishing returns but it was invaluable early and I like doing it...kinda like a fitness routine.

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A Stock Traders Almanac[investment banker]quote says all you need is a yellow legal pad ..... Great quote; but if i didnt have the Almanac, I could not use[weekly] paper + pen like i want to..Yellow color is known for helping keep alert but i use black coffee for that.LOL Could substitute charts for that but like both.......

 

[murray t turtle]

Spreed sheet, cut and past from order status window.

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I do ,2; cut paste 52 week charts, some 10 year charts.I did paste RSI on a few, but the more charts i printed/pasted the less i used RSI.If i could made a living off one 52 week chart I could have used RSI more.IBD founder skipped the journal + entered buy/sells/sells/buys on charts.

 

[deaddog]

I've seen many people speak on the importance of a trade journal and how they wish they'd have been more focused on this when they first began trading. I was hoping some out there might share some tips on starting and keeping a good trade journal. Some things I'm curious about:

What I found more important than a trade journal was having a written trading plan.

Then you can journal your trades keeping track of whether you followed your plan and the reasons you didn't.

Trading is all about controlling your emotions. The object of the journal is to figure out how to do that.

If you follow the plan to the letter and don't make a positive return at least you know that it is the plan not the trader that is the problem.

 

[Bugsy]

What I found more important than a trade journal was having a written trading plan.

Then you can journal your trades keeping track of whether you followed your plan and the reasons you didn't.

Trading is all about controlling your emotions. The object of the journal is to figure out how to do that.

If you follow the plan to the letter and don't make a positive return at least you know that it is the plan not the trader that is the problem.

I'm extremely thankful to everyone for their advice and help. I just want to say, I thought this bit of advice was extremely helpful, at least to me. Based on others advice here I created a Trade Journal using Excel and posted Rules in a text box on the side of the entry categories. Also opened an account on Robinhood, which is separate from my main brokerage account I use, that I deposited a tiny amount into ($500). Not enough to hurt anything if it's lost, but enough to allow me to have some skin in the game to make me take it seriously.

Thank you to everyone once again.

 

[Bugsy]

I keep chart screenshots (with notes embedded) in a folder on my desktop. Short and sweet. Can't be bothered "writing a novel".

Added this to my excel also by creating a private board on Pinterest I could upload screenshots of chart to with notes, and a link to the specific screenshot hyperlinked in the chart comments.