When the data gets revised, do you change the trade or the thesis behind it?

Many of the figures published this month will be revised. UK retail sales for August were revised from a 0.5% rise to 0.7% in the latest bulletin (UK report), and Destatis labels German exports for August as provisional (exports report). A first estimate is an early view, not the final answer.

Revisions can change the reason for a trade after you have entered it. A plan built on one number may need changing when the figure is corrected, and it can be hard to tell whether you are changing the plan for good reasons or to avoid a loss. A correction is usually small, but its size matters less than whether it changes the reason for the trade you are holding.

We would like to hear how you deal with revisions:

• Do you record the first estimate and the revised figure in your journal, or only the final number?
• If a revision reverses your reason for a trade, do you exit or stay?
• How many revisions would you need before you changed your view of a country's data?
• Have you ever changed a plan because of a revision and then regretted it?

How to keep a trading journal covers recording the reason for each trade.

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