Psychology
How to Keep a Trading Journal That Actually Helps
The single habit that separates deliberate improvement from repeating the same mistakes.
4 min read · Kanira
Record the decision, not just the result
A useful journal captures why you took a trade, not just whether it made or lost money. Good decisions can lose and bad decisions can win — only your reasoning shows which was which.
- Date, instrument and timeframe
- Setup and reason for entry
- Planned entry, stop-loss and target — written before the trade
- What actually happened and whether you followed the plan
- Your emotional state before and during the trade
- One lesson to carry forward
Review weekly
Set aside time each week to read your entries. Look for repeated behaviours — entering early, moving stops, overtrading after a loss. Choose one behaviour to improve the following week.