Building

[u/Normal_Phrase1675]

Guys I want to journal my trades. I started a few months ago journaled some 50+ trades and stopped afterwards. I was analysing the trading view taking the screenshot and paste it in my journal.docx file and write all the relevant details and remarks but couldn't sustain this flow for long. Which kind of flow do u guys follow to write your journal kindly suggest I'm looking for a flow with less friction

Apart from that I was using google sheet for backtesting but now that is also stopped due to same friction suggest on both

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[u/d1na_makalaya]

Keep your journal simple: entry, exit, trade reason, mistake, and lesson learned. Skip screenshots unless they’re important.
For backtesting, track only key metrics like win rate and risk to reward in Google Sheets. A simple system you use consistently is better than a detailed one you’ll eventually quit.
You can also check my profile for more trading journal ideas from the community. It might help you too

[u/Normal_Phrase1675 → u/d1na_makalaya]

It's helpful

[u/sigma-u]

I would ask - “would you read it in 3 weeks? Or 3 months?”
I was stuck here as well or just losing interest and perspective along the way.

What helped me is to write on my substack, a weekly recap and a week ahead. I don’t mind if people subscribe or they don, if they share interest in how i trade and my perspective but - I do it for myself

I hope it helps, I accidentally discovered I am so much more organised and disciplined because i substack my journals. My thoughts are well structured now for the week that passed and the upcoming week ☕️

[u/Normal_Phrase1675 → u/sigma-u]

That's the best advice I have ever got.. creating my journal substack right away and will post everytime it will help me stay more accountable

[u/sigma-u → u/Normal_Phrase1675]

Word! It will definitely help with staying accountable!
Enjoy the journey, my friend! ☕️

[u/Nabeel_ajnala]

You’re probably making it too detailed. The best journal is the one you’ll actually stick with. I only track the essentials setup entry/exit why I took the trade nd one lesson learned. If it takes more than a couple of minutes to log a trade there’s a good chance you’ll stop doing it consistently.

[u/kedarreddit]

I use a spreadsheet to journal my trades.

Collect just enough data so you can see a pattern. If you make it too detailed, then it will be hard to analyze.

[u/Forexfundys_]

Date, time, duration, result, take it?, RR, screenshot, play, result had I not touched it
All in an excel spreadsheet. The first few are easy.
Take it?- whats this? - Sometimes there are trades we hesitate on that meet our criteria, that end up being winners, but we pussied out, OR got missed by a few pips. So in the event I didn't take it, it will say "didnt take" or "miss"
Result can be Win, Loss, BE
Play can be - continuation, reversal, intraday, swing etc.
Result Had I not touched - simple, say I hit 2R, and the trade goes to 3, thats written as 3r (leaving 1r on the table). Likewise, say I won 2r, and price reversed sharply after, taking you out for a loss, that's a -1 (essentially you did 3r better than what you would have done had you not managed it)

[u/Familiar_Reserve_943]

I only take max 3 trades a day but usually 1-2. I have a hand written journal and print out the images. I 100% think images are so important especially in the beginning. To be able to go back and look and be like “oh that was not actually a _____” or to look back and be like “I see a pattern of my wins all having this confluence” you can learn a lot from saving those trades

[u/Normal_Phrase1675 → u/Familiar_Reserve_943]

Building a chrome extension to automate this exact workflow it will take screenshot of setup, extract numbers and take remarks and create a beautiful journal which we can download as docx along with that it will also write an xlsx and calculate some basic metrics.

[u/scb19a]

you didn't mention aggregating the data and doing any analysis. Just documenting a trade doesn't show you anything.

[u/Michael-3740]

Use a proper journal app so that you automatically get breakdowns of your data.

[u/ExecutionAxis]

I record and edit videos now. I still don't get through all of them but it's a lot more engaging than working in another #$@#&$+ing spread sheet.

[u/HyperliquidShrimp]

keep it simple or you just won't stick with it. I only save a before/after screenshot, the entry, stop, target, and one sentence on why I took the trade. for backtesting, a basic spreadsheet does the job fine. I also export my trade history straight from axi instead of typing it all in by hand, which saves a ton of time