Keeping A Forex Trading Journal

If you are serious about trading successfully, you need to be keeping a forex trading journal. I remember a long time ago when I first got started trading, I was just doing so so until the day when I decided to start keeping a trade journal.

Your trading will see drastic improvements pretty quickly when you start keeping a journal because keeping a trade journal sends signals to your entire being saying that you are serious with whatever you're doing.

So if you're with me so far and want to start your own trade journal, read on and let me give you a guide as to what should be in your trade journal.

#1 - Record Date and Time of Trade
This will help you refer back to the charts and see when you entered and exited the trade

#2 - Record Currency Pair and Direction
Record which pair you were trading at that time ... be it GBPUSD or EURUSD or whatever. Also record if it is a long or short trade. E.g LONG EURUSD

#3 - Record Your Trade Entry Price
This is a no brainer ... I personally use Excel for this.

#4 - Record Your Exit Price For Your Trade
The difference between your exit and entry price will determine whether your trade is a profitable or loss trade.

#5 - Record Your Trade Size
In other words, how many lots did you take on that particular trade? If you're trading in mini-lots, record that as well.

#6 - Record Your Nett Pips
Record in numbers ... That way you can see your trading performance at a glance. E.g -22 pips or +34 pips

#7 - Record Your Nett P&L
Make a record of how much you made or lost with that particular trade in terms of dollars and cents. By doing so, you can see which are your biggest losers.

#8 - Record If You Were Trading Countertrend or With The Trend (Optional)
I'm personally very detailed and so I record this sort of details as well.

#9 - Trading Session
If you like you can also record the session you were trading in such as european open or asian close.

#10 - Screenshots (Optional)
Sometimes it will really help when you take screenshots of what you saw at that time you entered the trade.

#11 - Additional Remarks
This column or detail is good for recording how you felt about the trade (before and after it)

You can use your favorite document editors such as excel or word for logging your trades. Ok, this pretty much wraps it all up. Reading all these doesn't help you as much as actually doing it so if you've not been keeping a trading journal, why not do so right now?

Happy trading and happy journaling!

04 Dec 2008 04:30:53

Agriculture futures trade mixed on the CBOT - The Associated Press

CEP News Agriculture futures trade mixed on the CBOT The Associated Press - CHICAGO (AP) Agriculture futures were mixed Wednesday on the Chicago Board of Trade . Wheat for March delivery lost 8.75 cents to $5.1975 a bushel; ... CME Livestock Review: Cattle, Hogs Lower; Bellies Mixed CME Livestock Review: Cattle Complex Weaker; Hogs Mixed Agriculture futures trade mixed on the CBOT -

More details: http://google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5isImyAFDNrGEff~

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