I also think this is important in building discipline and focus.
In particular, it is worth journalling reasons for exits since this is perhaps the hardest area to “get right” and yet it is the key to optimising results.
In addition to recording the actual exit and reasoning, it is worth recording what happened after exiting. Did the market continue or reverse? Was the decision right? Could it have been different? etc. This maybe helps in improving exit decisions.
On the merits of keeping an analytical trade journal:
“Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it!”
George Santayana / Winston Churchill
I’ve strayed from this one, myself. But analyzing losses is key.
I’ve also learned that analyzing wins can be helpful as well.
I always thought a professional is someone who earns money from what they do as opposed to an amateur who does not earn money. Dictionary definition is somewhat broader. The second definition implies that you can be trying to conform to the standards of a profession yet not necessarily as a source of livelihood. Interesting. So members could, if they wished, introduce themselves as “Hi, I am a professional trader” even if they lose money. I guess that is also the case with “I own my own business” or “I am a company director”. The title doesn’t tell you diddly squat about whether someone is performing that role as a competent (making money for their effort) or an incompetent (losing money for their effort).
You could even go as far as to say “Hi, I lose money trading Forex for a living”, but don’t mention that you lost $10K to hedge your far larger investment portfolio by shorting gold to protect your overall holding and made $20K on the investment. Truth be told, that is what a lot of hedge funds do with their “trading”.
The eventual outcome will be the same. If either continue to lose money for long enough, they will need to choose an alternative profession.
The second definition does not say “trying” to conform, it says “conforming to the standards of a profession” . and there, I think is the key quality in the matter.
The term “professional” in the post concerned was referring to the quote attributed to Jack Schwager:
"“Amateurs think about how much money they can make. Professionals think about how much money they could lose.”
I think he is referring to the skills, experience, knowledge and expertise possessed by these people in their selected field of operation. Qualities that set them apart from the inexperienced novices in their understanding of the nature of trading.
I don’t think he is specifically referring solely to traders employed and salaried by companies to trade, rather to anyone who has attained a level of aptitude that enables them to gain a consistently positive reward over time from trading their product - i.e “probability”. That, in the last analysis, is surely really all our business is about? 
“The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.” – Warren Buffett
“I don’t look to jump over seven-foot bars; I look around for one-foot bars that I can step over.” — Warren Buffett
“In many ways, the stock market is like the weather in that if you don’t like the current conditions all you have to do is wait a while.” – Low Simpson
“The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself.” — Peter Thiel
This one speaks to me at the moment. I’m working on trading less and being more patient. It’s so difficult when you think effort = money.
Mark Douglas said that’s not how trading works. Thinking that you always have to be busy in order to get profits can really hurt you.
@dushimes It reminds me of these words by Bill Lipschutz: “If most traders would learn to sit on their hands 50% of the time, they would make a lot more money”
This I believe is the most underrated rule. We are wrong believing that for making money we have to continuously take some action.
Good point. I’ve been trying to trade some of these AUD breakouts. I got chewed up. Some breakouts are clean and they just run, while others can’t seem to make up their mind.
That’s why I don’t like breakouts. But there are still opportunities in there.
Both of my straddle orders hit their stop. So, that’s when I just walk away until I have a better idea of what’s going on.
I’m working on trading less, but it can be difficult. It’s a process to trade less.
That’s my goal for this month.
“Amateurs think about how much money they can make. Professionals think about how much money they could lose”~ Jack Schwager .
This quote helps me whenever I tend to be careless about my risk management strategies.
“You have to identify your weaknesses and work to change. Keep a trading diary – write down your reasons for entering and exiting every trade. Look for repetitive patterns of success and failure.” by: Alexander Elder
When I was losing focus and, due to laziness, avoided planning strategy, this quote directly hit my brain cells.
Yes, I agree with you that a trading journal is important. And it is even more important to use it properly in order to benefit from the effort. For example, just keeping a list of trades is not any more use than to check on details if there is a query!!
Every trade should be journalised together with a number of qualifying “ticks” or comments such as was it according to rules, was the position size sensible, what went right, what went wrong etc etc depending on what criteria are important from one’s trading method.
It can also be useful to journalise trade NOT taken and include the reasons why it was rejected and whether the decision was correct or not and why.
We can learn so much from our own trading when looked at in hindsight and this is an invaluable input to our future trading.
Think about it:
"A loss is not the same thing as losing" - Daryl Guppy
Does trading sometimes seem impossible?
"An impossibility is just a possibility that you do not understand yet" - Unknown
My quote for today:
"A very Happy and Successful New Year 2022 to all the Babypips crew and all the members here" - Me 
A thought for the New Year. Maybe not helpful about trading but it is about a positive mind:
"Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always" - Robin Williams
I like this one. I’m sure there were lots of things people thought were impossible, but some crazy dude tried it anyway. Imagine you live in a place where everyome believes
the world is flat, and you prove them wrong by trying to sail over the edge.
If only people would listen… all those who feel trading is impossible are looking for that “crazy dude” to help them out and put them on the straight and narrow.
But the truth is that the “crazy dude” is not someone else or some kind of system. That “crazy dude” is the trader themselves. It is in you, the trader, you who presses the button, it only needs revealing, training, and freeing to do its work.
Trading is NOT difficult. What is difficult is finding the trader within ourselves. It is not a relationship of “trader against the markets” you need to be in synch with the market. Watch it. Live it. Become it. Take one instrument and become one with it. Build your confidence. Flow with it. Ride it.
Al Brooks says that he has hardly missed a tick from stock markets in some 35 years. Why would he emphasise that? Think about it, whoever you are out there. Let the market tell you the story, watch it, absorb it…trade it.
Yup. I was long EUR/USD all December. It was bullish, hit the MA90, then turned bearish. The clue was the bearish engulfing candle. I was so stuck on seeing it as bullish that I couldn’t read that candle.
The market often tells on itself. We just have to learn to see it.
I’ll be adding this detail to my strategy.
