The FX Bootcamp Guide to Strategic and Tactical Forex Trading

Elements of a Good Trade Journal

The secret to learning how to trade forex is exactly the same as achieving success at playing the piano, golf, chess, or developing any other skill. You work your butt off until you get really good at what you do. There is no other way to succeed. Stop looking for the secret formula, indicator, or alert service. They don’t exist. They are fool’s gold.

Trade journals require a three-step process:

1. The first step is to wait for conservative and repeatable trades. Set them up in advance with trade plans. If you miss a trade, just walk away and create a new plan. If you get a trade setup that you planned for, you must trade your plan. You strive to become able to trade like the perfect trader.

This is hard work. It will make you pull the trigger a lot less, but your win/loss ratio will improve. You may miss a few winning trades now and then, but you’ll miss far more bad trades that you would have taken in the past when simply reacting to the market.

2. The second step is to document all your trades. Each and every trade goes into your trade journal. This will take a lot of time.

a. You must log your critical financial data, such as price in/out and profit/loss. However, a trade journal is much more than that.

b. You should also include your reasoning for getting in and out of the trade. Document as much detail as you can about your mind-set while in the heat of the moment. The more you can tell yourself, the more you will learn from yourself. ...