Keeping a journal

1. 1 Memory is not a record

   After a week of trading most people remember the big win and the painful loss, and very little in between. That is not enough to judge a plan.

   A journal is a written record of every trade, written at the time. It answers two separate questions:

   1. Did I follow my plan?
   2. Does my plan work?

   You cannot answer the second until the first is “yes” for enough trades.

2. 2 The five things every entry needs

   Write these for every trade, winners and losers alike:

   1. Setup. Pair, timeframe, date and time, and which setup from your plan this is.
   2. Reason. Why you entered, in one or two sentences, with the entry, stop and target prices.
   3. Screenshot. The chart at entry, and again at exit, with your levels drawn on it.
   4. Result. Pips, money and R (the result divided by what you risked, lesson 11.3).
   5. Emotion. How you felt before and during the trade, and whether you followed the plan.

   The emotion line is not decoration. If your rule breaks keep happening after you felt rushed or annoyed, the journal is the only place you will see it.

   Quick check

   1. Question 1 · Spot the mistake

      Four journal entries for losing trades. Which one is the weak entry?

      A.EURUSD H4, 3 March, bounce setup. Buy at the close, stop under the last low, 1:2 target. Lost 1R. Screenshots attached. Felt calm, followed the plan.B.Lost again. Market was against me. Will do better tomorrow.C.GBPUSD H1, 5 March, breakout setup. Entered early before the candle closed (plan says wait). Lost 1R. Screenshots attached. Felt impatient after missing a move earlier.D.USDJPY H4, 6 March, bounce setup. Stop hit, lost 1R. Screenshots attached. Followed the plan; the level simply did not hold.

      Check

   2. Question 2 · Multiple choice

      Why write down how you felt during each trade?

      A.Because feelings predict where the price will go next.B.So you can see whether your rule breaks keep happening after the same feelings.C.Because a journal without emotions is not allowed.D.So you can skip writing down the result.

      Check

   3. Question 3 · Calculation

      A journal entry says the stop was 20 pips from the entry and the trade was closed 30 pips in profit. What was the result in R?

      Your answer, in R

      R

      Check

3. 3 A full entry, on a real chart

   Here is the EURUSD trade from lesson 1.5, written up as a journal entry.

   • Setup: EURUSD, H4, 16 April 2025, entry at the close of the 00:00 UTC candle. Bounce from the area of the 15 April low.
   • Reason: Buy at 1.1343. Stop at 1.1260, just under the 15 April low (1.12639). Target 1.1509, 1:2. Risk 1% of the account.
   • Screenshot: chart at entry with the three lines drawn; chart at exit.
   • Result: the 21 April 00:00 UTC H4 candle reached 1.1509 (its high was 1.15319). Target hit: 1.1509 − 1.1343 = +166 pips. Risk was 83 pips, so +2R.
   • Emotion: “Nervous on 17 April when price dipped to 1.1335. Wanted to close early. Did not; followed the plan.”

   Notice that the entry records a moment the trader nearly broke a rule. That is useful information, even though the trade won.

   

   Open this in the terminal ↗ (opens in a new tab)

4. 4 Start from the terminal's history

   After a practice trade closes, open the history panel in the web terminal. It lists your closed trades with their prices and results. Copy the numbers into your journal straight away, then add what the history cannot know: your reason, your screenshots and how you felt.

   A spreadsheet, a notebook or a document all work. What matters is that every trade goes in, including the ones you would rather forget.

   Open this in the terminal ↗ (opens in a new tab)