A trading journal or diary is essentially a log in which you keep track of all of your trading activity. This will assist you in maintaining an objective view of your trading style as well as making important decisions. Three goals should be the focus of your trading journal: • Backing up your trading strategy/plan • Assisting you in making well-informed and dependable trading decisions • Examining and revising your trading performance as well as your future trading plans Here are eight pointers to help you create and maintain a successful trading journal. 1. Keep track of all of your transactions. This will allow you to review all of your previous trades and identify any patterns of inconsistency. You'll also be able to see where you've made mistakes or made bad trading decisions, so you can learn from them in the future. 2. Be truthful in your trading journal entries. Make sure you keep track of why you made a particular decision and how you felt when the market moved in your favor or against you. You will be able to avoid making decisions based on your emotions as a result of this. 3. Make sure you review your trades on a monthly basis. Just make a list of what went wrong and what went right. Also, keep track of any changes you made to your strategy, and then write down what you want to accomplish the following month. 4. Get started right away. Make it a habit to jot down notes in your trading journal both before and after each trade. 5. Don't forget to factor in the market. You should not only be writing about yourself as a trader, but you should also be writing about market conditions. This is to ensure that you have a thorough understanding of all the variables at play when trading. .6. Capture graphs Take screenshots of intraday charts if you can; you can then add comments to them to help you spot patterns. 7. Make a list of quantitative data about your trades. For instance, how many trades have you made, how many winning and losing trades you've made, and your final profit and loss figures. 8. Make a list of your goals. When you're recording each open position, consider why you wanted to make that particular trade, how you exited the trade, and the trade's final results.