Trading is an emotional game, only the beginners or people that have something to sell you for their own profit will tell you otherwise. The sooner you realize it, the sooner you can work on that to become profitable.
What is the purpose of a Trading Journal?
We are sorry to tell you that software calling themselves trading journals are not. They are very useful tools to keep track of trades and insights about your statistics, but this is just not a trading journal. Neither are the online free trading journal template or excel template that only record your P&L and only log data about your trading performances. A trading journal is a physical notebook which purpose is to make you a better trader, by making you face your behavior and making you work on it. In a trading journal, write all the guidelines of your trading like your why, your trading plan, your entries, your exits, your statistics but more importantly and this is the main goal of a trading journal, write about your emotions, your behavior, and how you will work on yourself to become a better trader. A trading journal is the most powerful tool you can have to analyze yourself, work on yourself and reach your goals.
Benefits of Keeping a Trading Journal
- Improved Decision-Making: The main benefit of keeping a trading journal is that it will help you make better decisions. By writing down your trades, you can review them later and identify any mistakes you made. This will help you to become more aware of your trading decisions and make more informed decisions in the future.
- Improved Self-Awareness: Keeping a trading journal will also help you to become more aware of your emotions and behavior when trading. By writing down your thoughts and feelings, you can better understand how your emotions can affect your trading decisions. This will help you to become more aware of your own emotions and how they can influence your trading.
- Improved Trading Plan: By keeping a trading journal, you can also review your trading plan and identify any areas where it needs to be improved. This will help you to refine your trading plan and make it more effective.
- Improved Risk Management: Keeping a trading journal will also help you to better manage your risk. By writing down your trades, you can review them later and identify any areas where you need to improve your risk management. This will help you to become more aware of your risk and make more informed decisions in the future.
- Increased Focus: Keeping a trading journal will help you to stay focused on your trading goals. By writing down your trades and reviewing them later, you can stay focused on your trading plan and make sure you are following it. This will help you to stay disciplined and focused on your trading goals.
- Increased Motivation: Keeping a trading journal will also help to increase your motivation. By writing down your trades and reviewing them later, you can stay motivated and focused on your trading goals. This will help you to stay motivated and keep pushing yourself to reach your trading goals.
- Increased Accountability: Keeping a trading journal will also help to increase your accountability. By writing down your trades and reviewing them later, you can stay accountable for your trading decisions. This will help you to stay accountable for your trading decisions and make sure you are following your trading plan.
Why you should use Edge journals' guided trading journal?
Write about yourself
know why you are doing this. As said Nietzche : “He, who has a why to live for, can bear with almost any how”, and you will have to hold fast during the process that will make you a trader. Traders are not random people touched by the grace of god, successful traders are always the hardest workers in the room. Know your why.
Write your trading plan
Write a complete trading plan, not just a vague strategy you are looking for. Write about your strategy with what set-up is exactly needed to open a position, but also what is needed to exit this position! Write your money management rules and realize your mathematical edge to reach your goals.
Also write your rules and your expectations, if you have to stop trading after 3 losses, write it down. If you should not stop during an economic news release, write it down. If you are going to trade forex market only, crypto market only, stocks or commodities only, write it down. Write if you are going to trade futures, options or anything else. If you are looking for a 20% yearly performance, write it down! Your rules are part of your edge.
Do the work!
Last but not least, Edge journal's trading journal is build to make you work on yourself and will guide you through a process of self reflection that will help you see clearly through your past actions to do better next time with a very effective process of writing what you did good, what you did bad, what you will do better, and what you will not do anymore.