Are you monitoring every trade you take?Is it generating a decent income at a sustainable rate?
If not, you need to stop trading… This is crucial for you to keep your financial records in order.
And no I’m not talking about the basic five entries in a amateur’s trading journal including:
• Entry & exit date
• Market
• Profit and loss
We’re not children anymore. You need to take this seriously as this is your hard earned money we’re talking about…
It’s time to consider every financial aspect to your trading, to see what your actual track record looks like for your future.
In this article, I’m going to highlight 25 important metrics you’ll need to have in your trading journal.
But first let’s begin with…
What is a trading journal?
This is a log book where you plot every trade you make with the metrics to show how your portfolio is performing and will continue to do so.
I’m going to briefly list the items you’ll need to track your trading performance.
• Market
• Profit and loss
25 Items to plot in your trading journal…
- The trade No.
- The market traded (stock, index, crypto…)
- The entry date for your trade
- The exit date for your trade
- No. of days held
- Current portfolio value
- Max risk per trade (currency)
- Max risk % per trade
- Initial margin per CFD
- No. CFDs traded
- The reason for entry
- Total margin paid
- Type of trade (Long / Short)
- Entry price
- Take profit price
- Stop loss price
- Closing price
- Risk in trade (Entry – Stop loss)
- Move in trade (close)
- Interest costs
- Brokerage costs
- Gearing
- Trade exposure (In and Out)
- Gross P+L
- Net P+L
Don’t waste your time with calculations…
When you record these details, you’ll be able to keep up to date with whether your portfolio is profitable and sustainable for the long run and where it’s lacking.
You’ll notice that some of the items are written in blue and others in black. The 11 blue items are the variables that you’ll need to jot down…
The other 14 items should be automatically calculated for you.
For two reasons.
First, you shouldn’t waste your time doing calculations as a trader.
Second, there is always a chance of human error which we can’t afford to make.
How to download my CFD trading journal
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