Configuring Your Trading Journal
Your journal is the foundation of your trading improvement. Let's set it up right.
Create Your Trading Profile
When you sign up, you'll be asked three key questions:
-
Trading Style — Select the timeframe you primarily trade
- Day Trading: Scalping and intraday moves
- Swing Trading: Overnight to multi-day holds
- Long-term Investing: Weeks to months
- Options Trading: Derivatives and leverage
-
Account Size — The amount of capital you're trading with
- This determines your position sizing
- Can be updated anytime
-
Risk Per Trade — Your tolerance (we recommend 1-1.5%)
- Lower is safer but slower growth
- Higher gives faster equity curve but higher drawdown risk
Journal Entry Essentials
Every trade needs:
- Symbol — What you traded
- Direction — Long (buy) or short (sell)
- Entry — Price you entered at
- Stop Loss — Exit if wrong
- Take Profit — Exit if right
- Quantity — Position size
- Entry Time — When you entered
- Exit Price — What you actually got
- Exit Time — When you exited
- Setup Type — What triggered the trade
- Notes — Your analysis, emotions, lessons
Setup Types
Classify each trade by setup:
- Support Bounce — Price bounced off support level
- Resistance Short — Price rejected resistance
- Level Break — Price broke through key level
- Pullback — Price pulled back into entry zone
- Breakdown — Price broke below support
- Trend Following — Following established trend
- Divergence — Indicator diverged from price
Entry Rules
Define your entry rules BEFORE you start trading:
- What setup are you looking for?
- What timeframe do you use?
- What's your confirmation signal?
- How many confirmations do you need?
Write these down. Stick to them. Every single trade.
Exit Rules
Plan your exits:
- Profit target — Take profits at predetermined level
- Stop loss — Tight stop, usually 1-2% below entry
- Time-based — Exit if price hasn't moved after X bars
- Reversal — Exit on reversal signal
Review Your Trades
Set aside time weekly to review:
- Which setups won most?
- Which setups lost most?
- What patterns do you see?
- What needs to change?
Your journal is a mirror. Study it carefully.