How do you stay honest in your journal?
A journal that records the flattering version teaches nothing. The honest journal — including the rule breaks, the emotional states, the trades you shouldn't have taken — is the useful one.
How do you keep it honest?
- the fields that force truthfulness
- how you handle the shame of recording mistakes
- what you've learned from your least flattering entries
The journal guide suggests the honest fields.
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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