Do you keep a mistake archive?

A list of your repeated mistakes, with dates and screenshots, is the least glamorous tool in trading and one of the most effective. Reading it before a session is a vaccine against repeating the classics.

Do you keep a mistake archive? — trading sessions clock diagram
The four forex trading sessions across a 24-hour day

What's in yours?

  • the recurring mistakes on your list
  • how you use the archive before trading
  • the mistake that finally stopped recurring
Do you keep a mistake archive? — drawdown and recovery diagram
An equity curve during a drawdown and its recovery

The journal guide gives the archive a structure.

Background: How to keep a trading journal that actually improves your trading

A journal turns a pile of trades into evidence. What to record, the numbers worth calculating and a weekly review routine that takes less than an hour.

What should a trading journal include?

For each trade: the pair, direction, size, entry, stop, target, risk, the reason for the trade, how you felt, the result in money and in R, whether you followed your plan, and chart screenshots.

How do I calculate expectancy?

Multiply your win rate by your average win, then subtract your loss rate multiplied by your average loss. Measured in R, a positive result means the approach has made money per trade on average.

Read the full guide

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