What questions do you ask yourself to interpret the spreadsheet of all your trades to find your edge?? So far I’ve looked at winning vs. losing trades -time of day, average profit vs. average loss, position size etc. But what other questions do you ask yourself or how else do you analyse all the data on your trading week to find where you’re most likely to go wrong and where you do your best?
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Every time you place an order, just capture the screen and take note why you take that trade and when you will exit it. After the trade is closed, you can review what you take note, it will help a lot.
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There are so many factors which could be relevant I’d have to recommend going right back to basics in order to allow yourself to become an expert in one certain type of trade. Select one strategy, isolate it and codify it and ignore everything else and wring it dry of every last drop of information.
Select 1 entry pattern, max. 3 cumulative TA set-up features, max. 3 cumulative TA entry timing features, 2 optional TA stop-loss level identification features, 2 optional TA take profit or pyramid level identification features.
I’m speaking in generalities because I can’t say what your strategy should be. Is this clear enough? Even with this simple approach, you’ve already got a lot of data recording and crushing to do.
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Thanks Tommor. I already have that so it’s the data crunching that’s the issue! I have a learning disability to getting information from figures on a spreadsheet is a real stumbling block. I’m not sure what commonalities I should be looking for other than the obvious ones. Or what questions I should be asking about the best/worst trades…
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I find that figures from the spread-sheet don’t help me much either. Which might make sense - you need the figures to help you decide what to do, so perhaps its more important to understand what you did and why you did it and why you did not do another thing?
As examples -
- I looked back at a tactic that I was using to set a SL price. I found that the trades which went more than 50% of the way to the SL from entry never never came back to break-even. Which immediately told me my SL was too far away - half-way would have been better.
- A trader I heard of found that the entry orders which he cancelled and did not take all went on to make a profit. these of course did not appear on his spread-sheet as they were never trades…
- Its good to understand why you closed a trade - the exit tactic is vitally important and why you closed 10 different trades could have 10 different reasons - its important to understand what these were and which were worst and best, even if the trades were winners.
- And maybe they should not have been closed anyway, and perhaps you should have added to them…
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When it comes to analyzing your trading data, there are a few key things you need to look at in order to identify your strengths and weaknesses.
Firstly, you need to take into account the overall profitability of your trades. This will give you an indication of how well you are doing overall.
Secondly, you need to look at the average profit or loss per trade. This will give you an idea of which trades are more profitable than others.
Finally, you need to look at the win-loss ratio. This will tell you how often you are winning or losing trades. By looking at all of these factors, you should be able to identify your strengths and weaknesses as a trader.
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I might add that you can see some beneficial parallels in performance analysis between trading and American football, the most intensely statistically analysed sport on the planet.
You don’t need to watch the games themselves, just understand the rules and how the game is played, especially how/why different plays are called. Then read the match reports and commentaries on the team’s strengths and weaknesses. Understand why each parameter is being measured and which are most relevant in different situations and sometimes not important at all.
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My edge is the placement of the T/P on a trend. Yesterday, the AUD/CAD fell short by 2.6 pips, and I closed the trade this morning to retain a small profit. I was unlucky, but life goes on.
IMO, there is a disadvantage in trading the Asian session unless it’s useful for scalping. My best results are from the European sessions. And the EUR is the most consistent in trend trading.
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i focus 100% on stoploss ,i tried every possible way to reduce my loss ,and at the same time giving enough space to price to move.as i believe winning and tp are not really a skill you can master, the only thing a trader can work on is their stoploss. you master it ,your trading lesson is done.
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Look back at your trade. Mark on the chart where you went wrong. Then draw on the chart what you SHOULD have done.
Briefly describe your loss on a piece of paper. (You said you don’t like spreadsheets).
Do this for 20 trades (at least).
Review your list, and see if there are any mistakes that you repeat.