Forex Trading Journal

by Ntombi Malatsi | Feb 10, 2018 | FOREX FOR BEGINNERS, FOREX TRAINING

What Is a Forex Trading Journal And why Is It Wise To Keep One?

Welcome back. In the beginning of the year, I wrote my first blog post about the importance of planning. If you missed it, you can check it out HERE.  To me , successful trading involves lots of planing among other things. In 2017, I published a post on how to keep track of your own progress, do check it out HERE. Trading is all about performance. Maybe I take my trading too serious. If you are like me by any chance, you could use some practical tips that I am about to share today.

I always talk about keeping a trading journal. I always get questions regarding what to really diarize on it. So today I decided to share some tips. There is no right or wrong way to write on your trading journal. Even with my own mentees we don’t write the same things. There is no right or wrong information to put there, anything goes. This is just like your normal diary where you diarize your feelings, your daily activities, the outcomes of your activities and so forth.

This blog is all about being practical. Every time I write a blog post I try to be as practical as possible. I usually share my own experiences and how I overcame some obstacles in my own trading journey. I believe my tips can be used by anyone irrespective of the method of trading. You do not really have to trade like me or even like how I trade for you to use my tips. I hope you’ll find today’s tips valuable.

Before you engage in any trading activity, you need to understand your state of mind. I think there are days where we should not engage in the markets simply because of how we feel. I wrote a post some time ago addressing this issue, do check that post HERE. If you can do that on a daily basis, you can actually avoid lots of mistakes in your trading. OK, back to today’s business which is about me sharing what I write on my own trading journal. You can alter it to suite your own trading style. This is more suitable for my own trading style. I like to keep things simple, I am a very simple girl.

My Own Forex Trading Journal, What’s In It?

My trading journey has been a very rocky one. Perseverance got me to where I am today. I got to a stage where I was so tired of making money and loosing it all back to the markets because of some news that would come as a “surprise” to me. I also got tired of spending sleepless nights and being grumpy in the house. I will never forget how my son said I control the mood in the house, that was not good at all (let’s not go there, this makes me laugh now). You can read all about my trading story HERE. Any ways, I do preplan for all my trades every Sunday (of course, my trading method allows me to do so). This means I know all the currencies that I will be focusing on or trading, why and when will I trade them. So my trading journal is based on that. There are many templates on the net, but I do not use any template. I only write what I feel at that given moment. No complicated stuff there, just real stuff that I personally note on my own Forex trading journal.

What I write on my own Forex trading Journal before the actual trading takes place:

1. Currencies that I will trade
2. Time at which I will trade
3.  Reasons why I will trade

What I write on the day before the actual trading takes place:

1. Any breaking news that might affect my trading plan
2. My mood, am I worried or stressing about something?
3. Do I have enough time to sit for my trading session?

So basically, I do the whole “dear diary” thingy.

What I write after each trading session:

1. Was it a good trade, did I choose perfect pairs?
2. Any mistakes that I think I might have avoided? (yes I am human, I do make mistakes sometimes)
3. What I think about my TP, was is too close or too far? If I happen to close my trade manually, why did I do it? Was it because I had stayed in a trade for a longer time than I thought I would? Was it because the markets did not respond well to that particular event and so forth or was it because I did not have an extra dose of patience to stay longer.
4. What is it that I think I should have avoided?
5.  How far am I from my daily target if it is not yet reached, will I sit for my second trading session of the day (if I have more than 1 session).
6.  Some notes on how the markets reacted to this particular event, how long did it take to move, how many pips did it move by? Was it the same, better or worse than the previous one (I mention previous trades because of my trading method, I trade the same events repeatedly because they are recurring. I always compare notes from the previous trades to improve on my next one). It is also important to me to note how the markets perceived  the event before and after the release.
7. Was I happy with the overall outcome or is there any regret?

Like I said, there is no specific way to write in your Forex trading journal. Anything goes, if you feel that it is worth noting down, by all means do note it down. Never overlook your feelings though, note them down. Were you nervous or were you more relaxed, did you panic or you were less or more confident than the last time. It seems too much, but the more you do it, the more it comes naturally and you do not see it as a chore anymore. I always say, your trading should not end when you close that trade. It should begin right there when you do your post analysis exercise. These are the methods that I have used to eliminate all the randomness in my trading. I hope you’ve found something or at least an idea of how to write on your own journal. Thank you for stopping by. Kindly share this post with your peers. You can also check my private lessons & mentorship  HERE.