Trading Logs

Many day traders keep a trading log detailing all of the trades that they have taken. While this is not a requirement of being a successful day trader, it is a good idea for beginning day traders, and for experienced day traders when they are trading a new trading system. As a trading log is a detailed record of each trade, it can be used to review individual trades, and also analyze the trading system's performance over time.

Information: A good trading log should include all of the following information :

• Trading system
• arket (such as the NQ futures market)
• Date and time of the entry
• Entry price
• Target
• Stop loss
• Exit price (the actual exit price)
• Maximum excursion (the potential profit)
• Maximum adverse excursion (the heat that had to be endured)

A very good trading log should also include any additional information that might be relevant to the trading system. For example, a trading system that was based upon a stochastic crossover might include the following additional information :

• here the crossover occurred (above 80, above 90, etc.)
• Difference between the stochastics after the crossover (a difference of 1 might be a weaker crossover than a difference of 5)
• Time since the last crossover (a shorter time might indicate a choppy market)