Wondering how you do this what strategy do you have and what do you document, do you document all your trader ie
Tp
SL
Buy
Time frame
Pips
Lots… and so on
I imagine it is a mine field with how much you can write down, I have looked but it can all look to much, more than likely confuse yourself or keep in simple
I log the trades but no prices, they’re not useful for me at all. But the log shows me what I traded, entry and exit dates, reason for entry, whether the exit was an initial stop or an adjusted stop or etc., obviously whether it was a win or loss and the £ gain + or -.
Before keeping records, work out what questions you want the data to answer. The questions are actually more important. If you can track errors you can identify that’s also useful: I don’t mean the 40% or whatever of trades in which price took the less probable route from your entry and hit your stop (these are not actually mistakes they’re part of the plan), but errors in your TA or trade management or risk management.
mate, @tommor has given an answer , and it is correct
let me give the same answer from another point of view… ok
from an I.T. Point of view
If you asked me to create a database for you, i would ask you WHAT INFORMATION DO YOU NEED IN IT.
You might then say something like, it’s to keep track of clients, so Name , D.O.B. address , stuff like that would be relevant
this is the same thing
Step 1. Understand the purpose of the data
Data that doesn’t help you or that doesn’t answer a question is a waste of space and time
Step 2. Define the question that you need to answer or the Purpose of the data
so try this for a question
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF HAVING A TRADING JOURNAL (Specifically in your case)
if you are starting a journal because others do it… that’s silly. don’t follow the crowd because if you do YOU WILL LOSE (the Majority always loses)
so, having a toy to play with (aka Trade Journal) while you lose but making it look like you did something important is BS
STEP 2. Next, once you define the purpose of the data you then ask yourself what do you need to know and what do you not need to know
so out of these
What is necessary and what is not
i mean. examples… is timeframe really necessary ?
i would think things like TRADE ID definitely necessary (but it depends on your needs)
i think what you need to understand to begin with it…
The purpose of the journal is FOR SELF DEVELOPMENT AND TO MOVE FORWARD AND IMPROVE
so… ask yourself
WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW TO IMPROVE
WHAT AM I DOING WRONG NOW
so lets say your T/P is too far from your entry and you average 80 pips on your T/P
you might want to record
ENTRY PRICE
TAKE PROFIT
PIPS
TRADE ID
something like that and this would show you THE AMOUNT OF PIPS THAT YOU WIN IN A TRADE
now. if you want to know how quick or slow you win it, you might inlude the ENTRY TIME and CLOSE TIME
see what i mean
Make the data suite your purpose
Now what i think is the most important is this…
RECORD YOUR THOUGHTS
when i say Record, i mean VIDEO RECORD, Use screen capture software to record yourself and your trades and find time to watch yourself trading and observe yourself objectively and watch your patterns
this will teach you a lot about yourself
so basically, it’s what tommor said
but from another point of view
Hope that helps
I think documentation of all things in trading is not necessary. You can do it for your own but it is simply waste of timing. Look, what strategy are you using for what particular trade is matter here. Not just from applying a strategy what amount you are getting doesn’t make any sense. So, you have to be clear that what data you required and what will you get from the data.
Thanks all for the answers. Excellent pointers i will act on them and have a think as to what actually i need rather than over powering them on paper.
Simple and to the point i guess