Hi Traders, I'm Luke from disciplined Trader
In this video I want to go over how to record your trades.
We'll briefly look at the different mediums available for creating a trading journal and
then we will discuss what information you should be recording.
I will also show you my trading journal and let you know how you can get a copy if you
want one.
So there are a few options when it comes to what you actually want to record your trades
in.
I personally use Microsoft excel.
It is great for collecting data and easily allows me to do any analysis I want to do
on the data I gather.
You can also use something like Evernote.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Evernote, it basically allows you to create a set of
online notebooks into which you can input text, pictures, screenshots etc.
All of your work within Evernote is saved to your online account and can be accessed
from any device with Evernote on it.
You can record all the details of your trades along with pictures and screenshots of the
market you were trading.
Evernote is a very useful tool and if you haven't come across it yet, I recommend you
check it out.
Another option you have is simply keeping a paper journal.
All you need is a notebook and pen.
You can keep it on your desk or wherever you trade.
Some traders prefer this method but it can be a bit limiting especially if you wanted
to include any pictures or screenshots within your journal.
Also you can't take advantage of some of the admin shortcuts the digital alternatives offer.
So what information should you record in your journal?
Lets jump over to the journal I use as a starting point.
So there are two parts to my journal and it is predominantly numbers based.
The first part is this sheet here.
I record all the key details about the trades so I am able to do further analysis on my
performance.
I record the date, time, trade direction, which market I'm trading, Price I enter the
trade, the account balance at the start of the trade, The position size (I spread bet
so this is done as a £ per point value), the stop loss and take profit levels, and
then the actual price I exit the trade at.
The sheet then automatically calculates the % of the account I risked, the closed P/L
and the % account change.
I can also enter the details of a potential trade into the sheet to see if I am within
my risk management rules before taking a trade by looking at the % of account risked column.
The second part of my journal is this sheet here.
I don't input any information on this sheet as it gets all it's data from the sheet we
just looked at.
As you can see, the left side of the sheet tells me information such as how many trades
I've taken, the number of those that won, lost or broke even.
My Total P/L, My average risk per trade and my average risk to reward ratio.
The right side breaks this information down month by month.
This allows me to see if anything changes within my trading performance.
For example, I may notice that my risk to reward is getting worse and worse as the months
go by so I can then look at this in more depth to see if I am doing anything differently
or incorrectly.
By having this information broken down into monthly segments, it enables me to identify
and rectify any problems quickly.
I chose excel to record my trades as it has all the functionality I need to do this sort
of log and analysis.
I like to know the statistics of certain aspects of my trading as it gives me confidence in
the live markets.
Now just because this works for me doesn't mean it will work for you.
The information you want to record in your trading journal should help you improve as
a trader.
If it doesn't help you do that then it has failed.
If you have already started trading then I'm sure you have an idea of what you want to
improve.
If you do, then make sure you include that in your journal so you can track if you are
making any improvements.
A couple of examples of things I have seen other traders want to improve are their discipline
and controlling their emotions when in trades.
A lot of traders put together a sound trading plan and then all their discipline goes straight
out of the window when they come to trading the live markets.
They may enter a trade when their entry requirements haven't all been met for example.
If you suffer from the same thing, then you may want to have a discipline score for each
trade in your journal.
Rank yourself out of 5 on how well you maintained your disciplined throughout the trade.
Not only will you be able to look back and see how your discipline score changes, but
when you are in live trades, in the back of your head you will know that you will be ranking
your discipline so you should make a conscious effort to keep that score high.
I also know a lot of traders really struggle with the emotional side of trading when in
a live trade.
They might exit trades early or move stop loss and take profit levels when they shouldn't.
I know some traders who have managed to reduce the mistakes they make when feeling these
emotions by recording how they were feeling in each trade.
Is this may be something that would benefit you if you struggle with this aspect of trading
too.
You can test to see what helps you to deal with the emotions and start to develop a long
term plan.
There isn't a set criteria of what should be included in a trade journal, as long as
the details you record are helping you improve as a trader then the journal is doing it's
job.
My one other tip would be to not record too much information.
I've seen traders make journals where they record every last little detail and include
a whole host of screenshots.
As thorough as this may be, it soon becomes a chore to complete and ultimately the journal
gets forgotten about as it's too much work to keep updated and we don't want that to
happen.
So that pretty much wraps up this video.
For those of you that would like a copy of the trading journal I use, you can have a
copy for free by joining the disciplined trader academy.
Simply go to disciplinedtrader.co.uk and sign up.
You will then be able to enroll on the Trading Journal section and download your free copy
of my journal.
There will also be a link to a video where I talk you through exactly how the spreadsheet
works.
I hope you have found the video helpful.
Thank you very much for watching.
If you enjoyed the video, please feel free to drop a like on it.
If you have any questions or want me to cover any other topics in future videos, please
let me know in the comments below.
Also subscribe to the channel for more videos like this one.
Thank you again and I hope you all have a good trading week.