I have a decent amount of money I could begin trading again but have decided to paper trade for a while to better prepare myself. Obviously I'd like to make money, but I am more interested at being good at the skill itself than the money aspect of it as I'm fascinated by the markets. I initially jumped back in right as the trade war was kicking off so got out and have been paper trading to sharpen my skills while also browsing these forums trying to pick up tidbits where I can. I've seen many people speak on the importance of a trade journal and how they wish they'd have been more focused on this when they first began trading. I was hoping some out there might share some tips on starting and keeping a good trade journal. Some things I'm curious about: Any links or videos or what not that best explain the basics of keeping one? What software would you suggest for a person who has never done one and is starting out? What do you consider to be the most valuable information you have learned to keep that you may have learned along the way? What aspects might a novice record that you learned were redundant along the way? Thank you for any help and feedback!
A trading journal is a record of all your trades, your entry date, exit date, cost of the option or stock, number of shares or contract, total cost of the trade. The value of the trading journal is not on the basic information recorded. Its huge value is in analyzing your trades. The good ones and the bad ones. What did you do wrong? What did you do right? If you know for instance, that you tend to dollar count, wouldn't that improve your performance? That is one bad habit I had. Now, working to correct it! I would suggest using Excel to record your trades. However, even a cheap $2 notebook will do the job as well. You have to do it though, to know what mistakes you are committing. If you are a stubborn trader who does not record his trades, your losses are just losses! You do not learn anything from them and will not be able to improve as a trader! How can you correct your mistakes and bad habits as a trader if you are not aware of it?
I keep chart screenshots (with notes embedded) in a folder on my desktop. Short and sweet. Can't be bothered "writing a novel".
I log all my signals on a legal pad in pencil (yeah old school but it keeps me "close to the ground"). Each day is dated (day trader here) and then signals numbered followed by long or short, price, time of day, type of signal (all mine are variations of the same concept), maximum favorable excursion, maximum adverse excursion, win or loss, tick size for W or L. I then compare with actual trades made to see if I missed any or took anything resembling an undefined signal. I've been doing this for a long time and the benefit proves diminishing returns but it was invaluable early and I like doing it...kinda like a fitness routine.
IMO, journals and/or logs w/qualitative details (market environment, news, consensus, traders mindset, etc) are especially useful learning tools in the beginning and/or when developing new strats. You'll note this is different and in addition to detailed quantitative individual trade data and associated metrics. As @speedo mentions, journaling has diminishing returns as a trader gains knowledge and experience. Nowadays, I maintain an AccessDB of my daily trades. When testing new ideas I use a handwritten log. An interesting question of journaling is whether to study successful or failed trades. IMO, study your successes... then analyze how and why the failures were off. Recognizing differentiation builds knowledge. One piece of windows software I used in the past for journaling was iDailyDiary by Splinterware. It is still maintained. I appreciated the ability to combine all the various data, spreadsheets, notes, pics into a single entry. Whatever works. HTH
%% Wring down a 200 day moving average helps, but only as a general guide, there are so many different kinds of 200 dma. Ignore news like trade wars; study price + volume much more.Ignore WSJ + CNBC stuff like thier opinion of why to sell a hi Price Earnings ETF. But selling a low Price E earner ETF, like EEM could work sometimes. 52 week candle charts can help, as much as a journal. i would not ignore Tariff Wars, if many farms hit foreclosres, topsoil tornados hit Chicago, prices spiked then tanked,unemployment hit twenty %%,as in 1929!!
I learn from both successes and failures. If you are trading at your optimum, maybe, a trading journal would have less value to you. However, if you still make mistakes and most traders probably, will continue to make mistakes as you are human, a trading journal is of immense value. Reviewing my past 2 weeks of trading where I made a number of mistakes, a minor mistake like number counting was an eye opening one for me! It showed me how much a return I would have earned in multiples of my current gains! That illustrates the value a trading journal gives you. Also, allows you to calculate if you do have an edge or not! Wouldn't you like to know that? I know I would!
lol smalldik has never had a Journal thread here and his only trades posted were hindsight trades were he was busted for bogus fills.
Since you quoted my post, seem to be argumentative, and clearly don't read and comprehend very well, I will respond... I am not human. Therefore I never make mistakes. Tiddlybot