
Lecture Description
www.informedtrades.com/20448-7-things-your-trading-journal-should-tell-you.html
In our last lesson we began our discussion on how successful traders leverage trading journals in order to learn from their past mistakes and successes. In today's lesson we are going to wrap up our discussion on trading journals with a look at what to look for when reviewing your trades.
Simply writing the days activity down in your trading journal is the first step. The next and equally important step is to review your journal on a regular basis to see what is working and what is not. This way you can leverage your journal to help you improve in areas where you are weak and make sure you continue to leverage your strengths where you are strong.
There is a great article from Brett Steenbarger at Traderfeed.com which addresses some of the major things that traders should analyze when reviewing their trading journal. In this article Dr. Steenbarger says:
Number of long and short trades -- I correlate this to the trend condition of the market to see if I'm trading with the current or against it; if I'm trading in a one-sided way in a range-bound market. The number of trades also tells me if I'm overtrading. [/I]
Number of winning and losing trades -- When I'm trading well, I have more winning trades than losers by a reasonably healthy margin. When the ratio dips for more than a short time period, I need to re-evaluate my trading and my trading strategies.
Time holding trades -- I'm a short-term trader, and I tend to have a relatively narrow time band in which I hold trades. Moving beyond that band tells me I'm either cutting trades short or going for home runs—and neither of those have worked for me in the past.
Time holding losing trades versus winners[/B] -- It is very hard to make money over time by holding losers. Eventually, the size of the losers becomes greater than the winners so that even a trader who has more winning trades than losers can end up in the red.
Profit/Loss broken down by long and short trades and broken down by market condition. This tells me if I'm trading ranges better than breakout movements; whether I'm doing better on the long side or the short side. If my performance is significantly worse in one mode than another, I start to examine my trading for needed improvements.
I would add to this list average profit on profitable trades vs. average loss on unprofitable trades and largest drawdown or loss the account suffered before returning to profitably.
That completes our lesson for today and also wraps up our course on the basics of trading. In our next lesson we are going to begin a new course which covers the basics of Forex Trading so we hope to see you in that lesson.
Course Index
- Intro to Technical Analysis
- Introduction to Dow Theory
- Second 3 Tenets of Dow Theory
- How to Read Stock Charts
- How to Trade Support and Resistance
- Multi Time Frame Analysis
- Introduction to the Double Top and Double Bottom Charting Pattern
- How to Trade Double Tops Like a Pro
- How to Trade the Head and Shoulders Pattern Part 1
- How to Trade the Head and Shoulders Pattern Part 2
- How to Trade the Wedge Chart Pattern Like a Pro Part 1
- How to Trade the Wedge Chart Pattern Like a Pro Part 2
- How to Trade the Flag/Pennant Patterns Like a Pro Part 1
- How to Trade the Flag/Pennant Patterns Like a Pro Part 2
- How to Trade Triangle Chart Patterns Like a Pro Part 1
- How to Trade Triangle Chart Patterns Like a Pro Part 2
- Learn to Trade with Technical Indicators
- How to Trade Moving Averages Like a Pro (Part 1)
- How toTrade Moving Averages Like a Pro (Part 2)
- How to Trade the MACD Indicator Like a Pro (Part 1)
- MACD Indicator: Trade it Like a Pro (Part 2)
- How to Trade the Relative Strength Index (RSI) Like a Pro
- How to Trade Stochastics Like the Pro's Do
- The Difference Between the Fast, Slow and Full Stochastic
- How to Trade Bollinger Bands - Stocks, Futures, Forex
- How to Trade the Average Directional Index (ADX)
- How to Trade the Parabolic SAR
- How to Trade Candlestick Chart Formations Part 1
- How to Trade Spinning Tops and Doji Candlestick Patterns
- How to Trade the Bullish/Bearish Engulfing Candlesticks
- How to Trade the Hammer Hanging Man Candlesticks
- How to Trade the Morning/Evening Star Candlestick Pattern
- How to Trade the Inverted Hammer/Shooting Star Patterns
- Why Most Traders Lose Money and The Solution
- Why Traders Hold On to Losing Positions
- Two Trading Mistakes Which Will Destroy Your Account
- Herd Mentality is the Psychology That Leads to Big Trading Losses
- Profit Expectations: What Millionaire Traders Know
- How to Join the Minority of Traders Who Are Successful
- How To Determine Where to Put Your Initial Stop Loss Order
- How to Use the Average True Range (ATR) To Set Stops
- How to Up Your Chances for Profit When Setting Stops
- How to Reduce the Chances of Being Stopped Out on a Trade
- How Successful Traders Use Indicators to Place Stops
- Stop Your Mind From Causing You to Take Profits Too Soon
- How To Use Trailing Stops
- Why Position Sizing is So Important in Trading
- Why Fixed Position Sizing Is Not the Best Way to Trade
- Trading The Martingale and Anti Martingale Strategies
- How to Set Trade Position Size for Maximum Profits
- Maximize Trading Profits with Correct Position Sizing 2
- Fundamental Analysis and The US Economy
- A Simple Explanation of the US Economy for Traders
- Simple Explanation of The US Economy For Traders Part 2
- The Business Cycle and Fiscal Policy - What Traders Know
- How Interest Rates Move Markets
- What Traders Know About Interest Rates Part 2
- What Traders Need to Know About The Structure of The Fed
- How the Fed Changes Interest Rates
- How to Determine When the Fed is Going to Change Rates
- Why Markets Move Ahead of Interest Rate Announcements
- How to Trade the GDP Number (Part 1)
- The Components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
- Intro to Trading Non Farm Payrolls (NFP's)
- Trading the News - Economic Numbers - Retail Sales
- Trading the News - Economic Numbers - ISM Manufacturing
- The Producer Price Index (PPI)
- The Consumer Price Index (CPI)
- Trade the News - Existing Home Sales Index
- How To Interpret the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI)
- How to Interpret the Index of Leading Economic Indicators
- The Advantages and Disadvantages of Day Trading
- The Advantages and Disadvantages of Swing Trading
- The Advantages and Disadvantages of Position Trading
- How to Keep a Trading Journal
- The Most Important Attributes of a Good Trading Journal
- The 20 Components of a Successful Trading Plan
Course Description
This is a series of 77 short video lessons meant to give traders an introduction to the basics of trading as well as the components necessary to develop a profitable trading plan.