How do beginners keep track of their trades before they have a journal habit?
A full trading journal is the goal, but most beginners start with something much smaller — a spreadsheet, a notes app, screenshots, or nothing at all.
What did you start with?
- how you recorded your first trades
- what you looked back at most often
- the moment you realised the records mattered
If you haven't started recording yet, tell us what's stopping you. This thread is the easy first step.
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.
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