Trading journal: what to record and how to review mistakes

Write the plan before the decision and the execution after it. A useful trading journal separates three things: what your rule required, what you actually did, and the net result. Following a plan is evidence of compliance; it does not prove the plan makes money.

What do I record before a trade?

Use fields you cannot quietly change after seeing the outcome:

• Decision time and timezone, market and timeframe.
• Rule version, trigger and a screenshot with future candles hidden.
• Planned entry, stop trigger, target, size and cash risk, called 1R.
• Cost assumptions and no-trade conditions.

If you cannot explain the trigger in one checkable sentence, mark it ambiguous instead of filling in a reason later. The plan template helps define these fields.

What goes in the result column?

For a linear position, net R = (gross profit or loss − costs) ÷ initial planned cash risk. Use the initial risk even if you changed the stop; otherwise the comparison moves with your mistake.

Hypothetical example: initial risk 10 USD. Entry 100, stop 98, size 5 units. A fill at 98 loses 10 USD gross. If total costs are 1 USD, net R = (−10 − 1) ÷ 10 = −1.1R, not −1R. If a changed stop produces a fill at 96, gross loss is 20 USD and the journal still divides by the original 10 USD.

Type	Reference or fill	Cost	Result	Process
Simulated fixed-stop example	Entry 100; exit 98; 5 units	1 USD assumed	−1.1R net	Check against written rule
Stored SOL zone observation	References 165.6875 / 163.1725 / 176.5875	Not modelled	No executed R available	No trader compliance recorded

Why isn’t the real SOL case a −1R journal entry?

The November 10, 2025 SOL/USDT export records a zone and future candles, not an order. Its first later M15 low below 163.1725 occurred in the candle opening November 11 at 09:15 UTC. The first close below was 163.05 at 12:45 UTC. A fixed stop would be a different simulated rule from waiting for that close.

See the methodology and raw data. Do not label an unexecuted observation “followed plan: yes” or “mistake: none” without a plan and execution record.

How should I review the journal?

Choose a regular review point and ask:

1. Is every eligible decision recorded, including skips and losses?
2. How many followed the same version of the rule? For example 7 ÷ 10 = 70% in this exercise.
3. Which deviations are observable: early entry, different size, stop moved, missing cost?
4. What are net results for each group, and how small or selective is the sample?
5. Which single ambiguity can I remove before the next exercise?

A result gap between compliant and noncompliant groups is descriptive; different market conditions may also explain it. Do not call the entire gap the cost of rule-breaking. Assess a strategy on untouched data as described in does price action work?.

Price Action Trading Simulator saves manual backtest sessions on iPhone and iPad. It has a configurable simulated fee in R, but no broker import or data export. Copy needed fields into your journal. Setup is free to browse; starting a session needs Pro, and the app does not trade real money.

Source and scope: this is educational material by the Price Action Trading Simulator development team. Price/account examples are hypothetical unless identified as a historical observation; exact fills and omitted costs are assumptions, not guarantees. Our case-data methodology explains the historical sources, selection and limits.