What Is a Buying and selling Journal: What Information Ought to You Analyze?
I discover it essential to interrupt down your buying and selling journal by selecting aside this key knowledge:
- Screenshot comparisons
- Your PnL and RR profitability
- Errors you’re making
- The place you stray out of your buying and selling plan
- Your feelings all through the commerce course of
- Publish-trade info
- Missed commerce alternatives and why
Let’s focus on every in higher element and see what you’ll be able to achieve from every.
Screenshot Evaluation
Incorrect evaluation
You may see occasions when your first guess a couple of worth vary was incorrect, which brought on you to make unhealthy buying and selling choices.
For instance, you understand {that a} help or resistance stage you recognized was really barely decrease or greater than you first thought…
Being conscious of this might assist enhance your analytical abilities and be extra cautious when in search of key buying and selling zones.
Greatest Setups
Evaluating successful and shedding trades by way of screenshot evaluation can reveal patterns or variations in your commerce setups.
Rigorously study the formations of candles and worth motion main as much as your entry level for each successful and shedding trades…
You ought to be in search of any similarities or distinct options within the setups of your successful trades that had been absent in your shedding trades.
This type of evaluation helps you learn to efficiently enter trades.
As at all times, you will need to ensure that this evaluation has a big sufficient pattern dimension to be dependable.
Keep away from making hasty changes to your buying and selling technique primarily based on single cases of success or failure!
Analyzing your PnL and Dimension of Losers vs. Winners
Analyzing your Revenue and Loss (PnL) could seem easy, however there’s extra to it than simply calculating your win charge.
I want you to grasp that Win Charge, in lots of instances, doesn’t imply all that a lot….
“Hold on Rayner… how can it not matter if you’re not successful?!”
Effectively, win Charge by itself doesn’t at all times imply Profitability.
It’s worthwhile to take into account whether or not you make extra in your successful trades than you lose in your shedding trades.
Let me present you…
Buying and selling Outcomes Desk:
OK, so here’s a small pattern dimension of seven trades.
Even with a low win charge of 28%, a give attention to threat administration and maximizing earnings on successful trades can nonetheless yield constructive outcomes…
On this instance, with a $10,000 buying and selling account and a 2% threat per commerce, you’ll be up $560!
Whereas this state of affairs is probably not sustainable with such a small pattern dimension, it highlights the significance of prioritizing the standard of trades over their amount.
Analyzing your PnL knowledge means that you can establish patterns, resembling shedding streaks or the necessity to reduce losses, that are key to refining and enhancing your buying and selling system.
Figuring out and Eliminating Buying and selling Errors
Early in my buying and selling journey, I noticed the significance of decreasing the variety of errors I make.
Every mistake chips away at profitability, whether or not it’s a minor error or a serious setback.
Nevertheless, making errors is a part of the educational course of, and it’s okay to confess them.
What I realized from expertise is the worth of specializing in only one or two errors at a time…
As an alternative of attempting to repair every part directly, I spend the following month fixing these one or two.
For instance, if I see that I constantly commerce an excessive amount of or don’t comply with my threat administration guidelines, that’s what I take a look at.
On this means, I can work on making the precise buying and selling habits part of my day by day life.
After that, I take care of the following set of issues.
This gradual strategy permits me to make significant progress with out feeling overwhelmed or spreading myself too skinny.
Over time, this technique has confirmed efficient in serving to me refine my buying and selling course of and change into extra constantly worthwhile!
Analyzing When You Didn’t Observe Your Buying and selling Plan
Desirous about occasions while you didn’t keep on with your buying and selling plan may also help you perceive the way you make choices.
Try to determine the actual causes to your actions…
Did your emotions get in the way in which of your rational pondering, inflicting you to stray from the plan?
Take a step again and truthfully assess whether or not you’re sabotaging your system!
By recognizing these moments and trying to find the basis trigger, you’ll be able to develop methods to stop comparable habits sooner or later – changing into a greater dealer because of this.
Observe Feelings all through the Commerce, not simply Earlier than and After
On longer timeframes, enormous market actions can occur as trades play out – enjoying in your feelings as they do.
Chances are you’ll really feel tempted to shut trades early, both for a small revenue or attributable to slight drawdowns.
These emotions can have a giant impact on the way you make choices and result in unhealthy buying and selling outcomes.
That’s why it’s essential to trace your feelings not solely earlier than and after the commerce but in addition throughout.
Contemplate making fast notes about your feelings and ideas because the commerce progresses, however don’t act on them right away.
This strategy means that you can see your emotions within the open, with out letting them get in the way in which of your buying and selling system.
It might aid you keep disciplined and comply with your buying and selling plan, which is able to in the end enhance your buying and selling general.
Doubtlessly Analyze what occurred After you Exited
Analyzing your trades just a few days after you’ve exited them is strongly advisable.
Why?
Firstly, as soon as a while has handed, your feelings change into indifferent from the commerce.
It means you get a transparent, reasonable evaluation of the commerce’s precise efficiency.
Secondly, this evaluation allows you to see if any areas of your buying and selling technique could possibly be higher.
As an example, in the event you evaluation ten trades and discover that in eight of them, the worth continued within the route of your commerce after you exited…
…it fairly strongly means that your exit technique might have room for enchancment!
Armed with this strategy, you may regulate your profit-taking, maybe even letting your winners run additional earlier than exiting.
Missed Buying and selling Alternatives
Itemizing these alternatives in your buying and selling journal is one other precious observe.
When you establish a missed entry set off, take into consideration what was happening on the time.
Have been you unavailable attributable to private commitments?
Or did you merely miss the chance? (it occurs)
Studying concerning the causes you missed trades may also help you enhance your course of and make higher use of your time.
It might aid you discover out whether or not your technique is true throughout totally different pairs and timeframes.
Desirous about why you missed these trades can even assist you determine deeper issues like concern, doubt, or laziness.
You possibly can give you methods to take care of these points and be extra disciplined in following your buying and selling plan.
Ultimately, it’s the motivation that serves you, reminding you the way essential it’s to remain alert and disciplined when buying and selling.
