Forex Trading Guidelines › Guideline 12
Forex Journaling Guide: What to Log, How to Review
The 12 Fields Every Entry Needs
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Date & time | Finds session problems (Guideline 15) and weekday patterns |
| Pair + direction | Reveals if losses concentrate in specific pairs |
| Size (lots) | Detects oversizing drift (Guideline 16) |
| Entry / stop / target | The plan. Compare against exit |
| Exit price | Actual execution vs plan |
| Result in $ | You know this from the broker anyway |
| Result in R | The key field — comparable across accounts and timeframes |
| Setup name | Per-setup stats show which setups carry the edge |
| Rule broken? | The most valuable field — feed it to the rule-break tracker |
| Emotional state | Correlates breaks with emotions (boredom, revenge, greed) |
| Screenshot / chart note | Visual memory of context months later |
| One-line lesson | Forces a takeaway on every trade, win or loss |
The free trading journal tool covers all 12 fields and computes stats automatically.
The Weekly Review Ritual (30 Minutes, Every Friday)
- Numbers: win rate, average win R, average loss R, expectancy per trade, total R for the week.
- Rule-breaks: count them and the dollars they cost. One broken rule repeated three times is a system problem, not a one-off.
- Execution vs plan: how many exits matched the plan? How many entries were "close enough" to the setup?
- One fix: choose exactly one behaviour to change next week. Changing everything changes nothing.
- Market fit: did the market regime change (trend → range)? A strategy that fitted last month may be the wrong tool this month.
Computing Expectancy (The Number That Decides Scaling)
Example: 45% win rate, avg win +2.0R, avg loss -1.0R
= (0.45 x 2.0) - (0.55 x 1.0) = 0.90 - 0.55 = +0.35R per trade
Positive expectancy over 100+ trades is the only legitimate reason to scale up (Guideline 17). Note what it is not: total profit. A profitable month with negative expectancy is luck and will revert. The journal separates the two — that is its whole job.
Journal, Don't Just Log
FAQ
How often should I review my trading journal?
Weekly for execution (rule breaks, plan adherence) and monthly for strategy fit (expectancy, regime changes). Daily logging, weekly review, monthly strategy check.
What is a good win rate in forex trading?
There is no good win rate without the risk-reward context: 40% at 2:1 is profitable, 70% at 0.5:1 can lose money. Expectancy per trade is the only number that matters, not win rate alone.
How many trades do I need to trust my stats?
At least 100 trades spanning 2+ market regimes. Below that, win rate and expectancy estimates have too much noise to justify changing risk or strategy.
Should I journal losing trades only?
No — all trades. Winning trades reveal execution slips too (entries off-plan, exits early), and skipping winners biases every statistic you compute.
Choose the next useful step
Most visitors arrive with one question: build, test, price, or trust. These shortcuts keep the path practical.