record keeping

Any good book recommendations, CD, or DVD's that teach the correct way to keep daytrading records?

I have been printing out the chart for the day at the end of the day and writing in a notebook the trades I made for the day along with dates, times, etc...I also print out the trades from the broker website that he gives me. Then I file them away in a file cabinet.

Is there a more accurate or better way of doing this? How does everybody else keep records?

 

Here's a start.

She's a very good trading psychologist, and can assist you in gaining discipline with your trading.

http://www.tradingontarget.com/

Until you're ready to work with her, this will help you along the way (see attachment).

 

... and her's a simpliefied game plan.

 

here's a very simple trade diary.

they can be as simple or as complicated as you like.

the thing is, the more complicated they are, the less likely you are to keep them updated in a rigorus fashion, what is required to use one successfully is to conistently record your trades so that you can see your patterns of success (or areas where you need to improve).
***
for instance, by recording my trades and analyzing my trades over the last couple of weeks i noticed that i tend to cut my trades too early, on one hand, this keeps my losses to the bare minimum, on the other hand, i miss out on a few moves that are pretty good, but in looking over my data, i determined that i would rather miss-out on a few opportunities and keep the losses small rather than catch all of the big moves, but take a hit when the whipsaws moved against me.

best regards,

jimmy jam

p.s. i'll post a sample trade log later.

 

I am also looking for a simply way of keeping records. I trade 10-20 times a day and therefore do not mind something slightly more complicated.
I trade approximately 10 different equities and therefore i guess a sim ple spreadsheet may not be sufficient.

any ideas much appreciated.

 

you're probably only trading the same equity 2 or 3 times a day though, so if you just use the simple concept, x each equity, that would suffice.

because you trade so many different instruments, you might want to look into something more along the lines of a simple database.

regards,

jj

 

I have a brain.

 

Be sure to keep simple, accurate records of your reasons for entering a trade, reasons for exiting a trade, whether it was a profit/(loss) and most importatnly what the exprience taught you pumpkinhead.

For instance, I've learned that I just can't blog and trade successfully, it just isn't working for me.

So now I've added another rule to my book:

1) when actively trading, no blogging, when actively blogging, no trading.
***
Through doing simple things like this you'll be able to produce more and more consistent action in regards to your trading.

Thank you for helping me look at this and take the appropriate action(s).

Best Regards,

Jimmy Jam

 

Most discount brokers have this built in. I know Scotrade and BoA offer this for free.

 

I would hope that your broker keeps everything for you (confirmations of trades, annual P&L, capital activity, etc.). If not, perhaps find a new broker.

Since most of this is accessible online, simple download to excel or quicken or whatever.

Don