too bad, you can always delete yourself from that community after you download the spread sheet. The way he use Execl to keep a jounal is very innovative.
I keep my journal in Word. When opening a trade: Time Stock Buy/Short. Price Reason for entry. Stop When closing a trade: Time Stock Sell/Cover. Price Reason for exit. P/L after commissions. I then save a bitmap of the chart for each trade and make notes on it. This is saved in a separate file. I then hyperlink to each chart with the corresponding trade in my word files. I try to keep up with it during the day but sometimes if I'm trading a lot I'll leave it until the end of the day. At the end of the day i write a quick review of my performance for future reads at the end of the week/month. it also helps sometimes to read the previous days journal before starting to trade in the morning.
nkhoi: I took you up on your offer and downloaded the spreadsheet. Innovative work certainly. I will see what I can incorporate into what I am doing. Thanks for the response. macal425: I like the idea of saving charts into a separate file then hyperlinking the charts in your word files. Presently, I am pasting my charts into word which create very large documents by the end of the month. One question for you (or maybe two): do you print your journal out weekly/monthly? and if so, do you print out the charts as well? greydeath101, easyguru and DEM: Thanks a million for your responses. I am new to posting here, as you can see, and am just fasinated that others would respond to my questions. It's like a little kid discovering the corner candy store. DEM and Manrico: Would you be willing to send me a template (empty of course) of your Access db? I am curious as to how much work would be involved in creating this type of db. I have Access and even tried creating a db for transactions but did not feel up to the task. I would rather hire someone to create it for me...if too much of a pain or feeling uncomfortable about the request, no worries.
@keeda Have a look at the picture, it shows my database. In the upper third I have a eod chart and a 60 min chart, that show my entry- and exitpoint. The numbers are in the middle (entry, management, exit). the rest is filled by a huge text-field, where I can put all my thoughts,... in. If you are interested in the database, send me a private message. DEM
I don't print my journal or charts at all. Everything do is on my PC. Now if only I could get it to make my dinner and open a bottle of wine I'd be one happy camper. PS It helps if you have 2 monitors as you can be reading your journal on 1 monitor while popping up the hyperlinked chart on another.
I don't keep a journal, but I do an in-depth review (nothing is written down) of all my decisions after the close... mistake recognition and the better decisions of the day are reinforced by this nightly review...
Keeda, Here is a screen print of the trade entry window. All grayed fields are either calculated or pre-specified (e.g., minimum reward/risk ratio). The top part of the window is for modeling: calculate number of shares to be traded based on how much capital I want to invest and risked. This would only only be used for infrequently traded stocks. The Date/Time button simply fills in the current date and time so it doesn't have to be typed in. Obviously this only works if entering the trade info close to real time. The codes on the lower right are all pick from list or enter the first letter only. The Complete This Trade button moves the record to another table from which all the statistical reports are produced. I'm reluctant to give you the database only because really is just cobbled together, I'm definitely an amateur at Access. Parts of it don't work well. If you're going to get it done professionally you'd be much better off just giving the developer a marked up version of the screen print. Send me an e-mail if you really want the database. I'm probably going to incorporate some of the ideas others have presented in this thread. What I have here is a trade journal. I can see the need for a separate day journal to record things like Fed announcements, general market actions, etc.
candeltrader: Its an honor to read your reply to my post. Thank you. Don't keep a journal huh? I am not that advanced yet. Tried that when I started trading. I learned that I need to develop some type of consistency and review myself over time. Consistency is one of my faults as a trader and the journal process helps to instill that regularity. Still, from time to time I miss entries (my main reason for trying to get efficient). But I am curious and very interested about your in-depth review of all your decisions after close...I talk to myself ALL the time and this method of yours probably is more in sync with my personality. As a matter of fact, I usually have the best conversations with myself ( -- borderline crazy?). would you mind shooting me a PM of the review process (questions, how you go about reinforcement, etc) if it is not too much trouble? If not too personal or lengthy, post it here. marcal425: thanks again. I have multiple monitors so what you suggested is not a problem. I love being digital and always gravitate towards solutions which allow this. DEM: nice DB setup. I like, I like.
Manrico, The top half of your db I already implement in excel, although I usually clear out the info as a new trade is being pondered. This is of course only done on the days where I have less than say 6 trades. On days where I make as many as 30 trades I find that updating this type of db is almost impossible in real time. I could be in and out of a trade then on to the next before I got to the target Entry Price field. The remaining parts of your db are being completed through post analysis from transaction reports which are manipulated in excel and written trade analysis in word. I like what you have though. Very much so. It creates a record of your pre/post analysis in db form. This provides more structure for a person who has a hard time creating it for himself in such an unlimited environment. I will certainly shoot you a PM. Thanks!