Success in trading doesn’t come from luck—it’s built on patterns, lessons, and self-awareness. But how can you improve if you don’t track where you’ve been? Taking detailed notes and reviewing your trades is like keeping a map of your journey. It reveals what works, what doesn’t, and where you might be holding yourself back. Tracking your trades isn’t just about numbers; it’s about uncovering habits, refining strategies, and turning every mistake into a stepping stone toward mastery. Let’s explore why the simple act of writing things down can transform your trading game.
Clarity Through Reflection
Writing down your trades forces you to confront the decisions you’ve made. Why did you enter this trade? What was your analysis? Did emotions play a role? By documenting these details, you gain clarity about your thought process, helping you identify patterns in both good and bad decisions.
Building Accountability
Trading can be an emotional rollercoaster, and without accountability, it’s easy to make impulsive decisions. When you write things down, you’re holding yourself responsible for every move you make. It’s harder to justify a bad trade when it’s staring back at you in black and white.
Creating a Blueprint for Improvement
Over time, your notes become a goldmine of insight. They highlight not just what went wrong, but what went right. These records serve as a personalized blueprint for growth, guiding you toward smarter, more informed decisions.
Spotting Strengths and Weaknesses
A trading journal is your personal feedback loop. Over time, you’ll start to notice trends—perhaps you excel at trend-following but struggle in range-bound markets. This awareness allows you to double down on your strengths and actively work on your weaknesses.
Reinforcing Discipline
Consistently tracking your trades builds discipline—a critical skill in forex. Knowing you’ll review and analyze every trade keeps you aligned with your strategy and prevents reckless behavior.
Boosting Emotional Control
By tracking your emotional state alongside your trades, you can pinpoint how feelings like fear, greed, or impatience affect your outcomes. Recognizing these emotional triggers is the first step to overcoming them, allowing you to trade with a clearer head.
The bottom line? Notetaking isn’t just about data; it’s about building a stronger, more self-aware trader. The effort you put into documenting your journey today could be the difference between stagnation and success tomorrow. So, start writing—it’s a small habit with transformative potential.
If you’re still handwriting your notes, kudos to you—there’s something timeless about pen and paper. But if you’re ready to level up, here are three easy ways to digitize your trading journal and take your tracking to the next level.
Excel
[Link to shareable file]
1. Initial Setup
Account Size: Input your starting account balance in the "Account Size" field.
Daily Drawdown: Define the maximum percentage loss allowed in a single day (e.g., 5%).
Max Drawdown: Set the total loss limit for the entire period (e.g., 10%).
Profit Goal: Specify your target profit percentage and its equivalent monetary value (e.g., 14% = $21,000).
3. Progress Evaluation
The "Progress" column helps you monitor your journey towards the profit goal. Adjust your strategy if you notice consistent losses or stagnation.
Compare your daily and weekly performance against the defined profit goal.
5. Job Income Comparison
The "Job Income Equivalent" row converts trading profits into hourly earnings for an 8-hour workday.
This perspective emphasizes the value of trading and the dollar.
2. Daily Performance Tracking
Use the daily columns (Sunday through Saturday) to log your profit or loss:
Enter the dollar amount earned or lost for each day.
Record the corresponding percentage of account growth or decline.
Each week’s total is automatically calculated in the "Week X" rows.
4. Pip and Lot Size Analysis
Use the "PIPS Caught" and "Lot Size-Based Profit" table:
Track the number of pips gained each day.
Calculate earnings for different lot sizes based on the pips caught.
This helps evaluate the efficiency of your trading lot sizes.
6. Adjustments and Notes
Record any notable market conditions, strategy adjustments, or emotional influences in the "Notes" section for each day or week.
Tips for Effective Use
Consistency: Update the sheet daily to maintain accurate records.
Risk Management: Stay within your defined drawdown limits.
Reflection: Review weekly totals to identify patterns and areas for improvement.
Notion Trading Log
Notion is a game-changer for traders looking to organize and elevate their journaling process. While Excel is great for crunching numbers, Notion takes it a step further by combining powerful customization with a sleek, user-friendly interface. With features like linked databases, templates, and the ability to integrate charts and notes seamlessly, Notion transforms your trading journal into an all-in-one command center. It’s not just about tracking trades—it’s about creating a dynamic system that adapts to your workflow and helps you stay ahead in the markets.
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Unfortunately the template is not up and running…..Yet! but will be here shortly
Trade Zella
Tradezella is honestly one of the best tools I’ve come across for tracking trades. Unlike a regular spreadsheet, it syncs straight with your broker, so all your trades are logged automatically—no manual entry. It breaks everything down for you, like win rates, trade durations, and even lets you tag trades based on how you were feeling at the time. It’s super intuitive and gives you insights you wouldn’t catch on your own. If you’re serious about improving, it’s like having a personal coach that shows you exactly where you’re doing great and where you need work. I highly recommend checking it out!
[Link to shareable file] this will be my personal account you can see. It may change from personal or a funded challenge I have passed. or a funded account that I passed a challenge on.
🥛 Don Leche’s Takeaway 🥛
I hate the process of note taking…. but only because I over traded and had to input 46-75 trades in two days….. but trust me when I say this, the moment you start documenting your trades, you will start to see patterns of your mistakes and then you can delete them from your poor habits and guess what? you will start winning more trades!
Trust the process and stay consistent with you note taking. 😎