Trading Journal Prompts: What to Write Beyond Entries and Exits

What should a trading journal include?

Two things: the trade and the trader. The trade part is what a standard trade log already records. The trader part is what explains it: your state, your rules and your honest verdict.

The state column is there for a reason. In a study of 80 day traders over five weeks, those with more intense emotional reactions to gains and losses performed worse (Lo, Repin & Steenbarger, 2005). That is a correlation, not proof that journaling fixes anything, but it says emotions are worth tracking next to the numbers.

Writing the emotion word may also help in the moment. In a brain-imaging study, naming the emotion in negative pictures reduced activity in the amygdala compared with other ways of processing them (Lieberman et al., 2007 (opens in a new tab)). It was a lab task with pictures, not trading, so treat it as a reason to write the word, not a promise about your P&L.

How do I journal my trades?

Keep it short and keep it daily. Five steps:

1. After each trade, write one line. Setup, result and one emotion word. Thirty seconds, or a voice note.
2. At the close, answer 3 to 5 prompts from the lists below. Rotate them so the answers stay honest.
3. Tag each entry with one emotion. Use a fixed list, for example Calm, Focused, Anxious, Greedy and Revenge, so you can count them later.
4. Once a week, run the review in the weekly review template.
5. Turn one pattern into one rule for next week, written as an if-then rule.

What should I write before the session?

Pick two or three of these before the open. They take the same questions a trading checklist asks and put them in writing.

1. How did I sleep, from 1 to 10?
2. What is on my mind outside trading today?
3. What emotion am I bringing to the screen?
4. What is my daily loss limit, and what will I do when I reach it?
5. What is the most trades I will take today?
6. Which setups am I looking for, and which will I skip?
7. What is my one if-then rule for today?
8. What mistake did I make last session, and what is my plan for it today?
9. What would make today a good day if I made no money?
10. What would make me stop early?

What should I write after a loss or a mistake?

Write these after you have stepped away, not in the heat of it. The steps for the minute after a losing trade are in the revenge trading guide. For the days after a large loss, see our page on what to do after a trading loss.

1. What happened, in one factual sentence?
2. Was the loss inside my plan, or did I break a rule?
3. If I broke a rule, which one, and at what time?
4. What did I feel in the minute before I broke it?
5. Where did I feel it in my body?
6. What was I telling myself, word for word?
7. What would I tell a friend who had just taken this trade?
8. Was this a bad trade, or a good trade with a bad outcome?
9. What is the next correct action?
10. Which if-then rule would have caught this?

Question 8 separates two different problems. A trade that followed your plan and lost is a cost of doing business. A trade that broke your plan is a mistake even if it wins.

What should I write at the close?

The close is for the whole day, winners included. In a field study of soldiers on navigation exercises, those debriefed on both successes and failures after each day improved more than those who reviewed only their failures (Ellis & Davidi, 2005 (opens in a new tab)). It was not a trading study, but the logic carries over: a lucky winner can teach a bad habit.

1. Did I keep my loss limit, my trade cap and my if-then rule?
2. Which trade am I proudest of, win or lose?
3. Which trade would I not take again, and why?
4. Did any winner break a rule?
5. Which emotion showed up most, and at what time?
6. How much of today's result was skill, and how much was luck?
7. Did I stop because of my plan or because of my P&L?
8. What did I do well that I want to repeat?
9. What is one thing I will do differently tomorrow?
10. How ready do I feel for tomorrow, from 1 to 10?

How do I do a weekly trading review?

Once a week, read the entries back and count. Writing progress down is worth the effort: a meta-analysis of 138 randomised studies found that monitoring progress helped people reach their goals, and more so when the progress was physically recorded (Harkin et al., 2016 (opens in a new tab)). None of those studies involved traders.

1. Count rules kept. For each rule, the days you kept it out of the days you traded.
2. Count emotion tags. Which emotion appeared most, and on which days and at what times?
3. Find the costly moment. The single rule break that cost the most this week.
4. Choose one change. Only one, written as an if-then rule. Gollwitzer (1999) (opens in a new tab) called this kind of plan an implementation intention.
5. Carry it forward. Put the new rule on next week's checklist or pledge.

Copy this template into a note or print it:

WEEKLY TRADING REVIEW          Week of: __________

Rules kept (days kept / days traded)
Loss limit ___/___   Trade cap ___/___
If-then rule ___/___   Planned setups only ___/___

Emotion tags this week (count)
Calm ___  Focused ___  Anxious ___  Greedy ___  Revenge ___

When did rules break? (day, time, emotion)
_________________________________________________

Most costly rule break: __________________________

One change for next week:
If ____________________, then I ____________________.

For more on writing that rule, see the trading discipline guide.

Is a voice note as good as a written journal entry?

We found no study that compares voice and written journals for traders, so this is a practical answer, not a research one. A 30-second voice note you actually record is better than a written entry you skip. Each format has trade-offs:

A simple split: a voice note right after a trade or a loss, and written answers at the close, when you have time to think.

Do I need a psychology journal and a trade journal?

They answer different questions. A trade journal records the numbers, often imported from your broker: entries, exits, P&L, win rate. A psychology journal records the why: your state, your rules and the moments you broke them. The first tells you that you took four trades after a loss; the second tells you what you were feeling when you took them.

Many traders keep both. If you are choosing tools, our comparison of trade journals vs psychology apps says which ones import trades. If emotions are the main problem, start with emotional trading.

How do you journal in TradeMind?

TradeMind: Trading Psychology, the iPhone trading psychology app (App Store ID 6761249038) by Nikolaos Aristotelis Adamidis, has a psychology journal, not a trade journal. It does not import trades or calculate P&L.

• Text or voice. The journal card on Home opens "Market Notes" for text or "Voice Log" for a recording. You tag each entry with any of five moods: Calm, Focused, Anxious, Greedy or Revenge. Past entries are listed in a history screen. Entries and voice notes are saved to your account, and deleting your account removes them.
• Points and streaks. Your first entry of the day earns 15 Discipline Points and counts as a streak day. The Ascent includes journal milestones at 1, 3 and 10 entries.
• Lesson prompts. Every audio lesson ends with two journal prompts, and the lesson only completes when you answer both. The Stopping Tilt lesson "Mental Hand History", for example, asks "What triggered the tilt?" and "How can I prevent this trigger next time?"
• End of Day Review. A 6-minute reset: Physical Disconnect (2 minutes away from the screen, without looking at the P&L), Parasympathetic Brake (3 minutes of 4-7-8 breathing) and Luck Attribution (1 minute that starts with "How much of this was luck?").
• Reminders. A reset reminder 30 minutes after the close, a streak saver at 8:00 pm your local time on trading days when you have not yet pledged, reset or journaled, and a Sunday 6:00 pm (local time) briefing with last week's pledges and lessons, a natural slot for the weekly review.
• Dr. Noesis. Dr. Noesis, the AI coach inside TradeMind: Trading Psychology, can ask you follow-up questions in chat. It is an AI coach, not a therapist. It does not read your journal, and chats are not saved between sessions.

The TradeMind journal with voice notes is explained with the other features, and the toolkit on the homepage shows the screens.