Why keep a trading journal?

A journal is not a diary

A trading journal is not where you write how you feel about the market. It's where you log what you did, why you did it, and what happened. It's a performance tool — the same kind an athlete or a surgeon would use to get better at a repeatable skill.

Most traders skip this step. Most traders lose money. The two facts are related.

What to log (minimum)

Every trade should have a record that includes:

• Date and time (including your timezone — useful if you trade London vs. New York hours)
• Pair (e.g., USD/PHP, EUR/USD)
• Direction (long or short)
• Entry price
• Stop-loss level
• Target level (if you had one)
• Exit price (actual)
• Result (pips gained/lost, peso P&L)
• Reason for entry (one sentence: "Broke above 56.50 resistance, bullish RSI divergence")
• Screenshot of the chart at entry

If you use a notes app, a Google Sheet, or a dedicated journal like Edgewonk or Notion, it doesn't matter. What matters is that it's consistent and you actually use it.

Why it works

A journal does three things:

1. It forces you to have a reason. If you can't write down why you took a trade, you probably shouldn't have taken it. 2. It creates reviewable data. After 20 trades, patterns emerge. You'll see that your best trades came during the London session, or that you lose money every time you chase a breakout without confirmation. 3. It separates luck from skill. One winning trade means nothing. Ten trades with the same setup and a 70% win rate — that's signal.

A local example

Imagine you're a part-time trader in Manila. You work 9–6, so you trade the New York close. Over two months, you log 30 trades. When you review, you notice:

• You win 65% of the time on USD/PHP when you enter after the BSP rate decision.
• You lose 80% of the time when you trade during your lunch break, distracted, no clear setup.

That's not theory. That's your data. Now you have something actionable.

The hard truth

Most blown accounts never kept a journal. They repeated the same mistakes because they never measured them. You can't fix what you don't track.

If you're serious about improving, the journal isn't optional. It's the difference between trading and guessing.

---