1. What to record for each trade
- The call: instrument, direction, entry zone, stop-loss, targets, timeframe, and when you saw it.
- Your entry: time, your fill and your quantity or lots, and how you worked out the quantity.
- Your risk: rupees to the stop at entry. This is 1R for the trade.
- Your exit: time, price and reason: stop-loss, target, trailed stop, the analyst's instruction or your own decision.
- Costs: brokerage, taxes and charges, from the contract note.
- Anything you did differently from the plan: a late entry, a moved stop, a larger size, an early exit.
2. Measure in R
Result in R = (exit − entry) ÷ (entry − stop-loss) for a BUY, using your own fill and the stop at entry. R makes a ₹500 result on a small trade and a ₹5,000 result on a large one comparable.
| Trade | In rupees | In R |
|---|---|---|
| 100 shares bought at 500, stop 490, exit 515 | +₹1,500 | +1.5R |
| 20 shares bought at 2,000, stop 1,950, exit 1,950 | −₹1,000 | −1.0R |
| 1 lot of 65 bought at 1,200, stop 1,180, exit 1,190 | −₹650 | −0.5R |
3. A weekly review
- Total the week in R and in rupees, after costs.
- Mark each trade as following your plan or departing from it, and total each group.
- Compare each trade with its call: your fill with the call's fill, your exit with the call's exit.
- Look for repeats. The same mistake twice in a week is a rule to write down.
- Choose one change for next week, and only one.
4. A wrong call, or a problem with execution?
| What happened | What it points to |
|---|---|
| The call reached its stop-loss, and you exited there | The view was wrong this time. A normal, planned loss. |
| The call reached a target, but you closed at a loss | Execution: a late entry, a tighter stop of your own, or an early exit. |
| Your loss was much larger than 1R | Size or stop discipline: a moved stop, a gap, or an oversized trade. |
| You took calls outside the segments you planned to follow | Selection: trades outside your plan. |
5. Where to keep it
A spreadsheet works, and so does a notebook or a journaling app. Whatever you use, record your own fill price and quantity from your contract note, not the levels you planned.
Sources
Read with it
In this track: Journaling and review
- Keeping a trading journal, and reviewing it
- Trading psychology: common mistakes, and rules for each
