A trading journal that changes behaviour instead of recording it
Long journal entries get abandoned because they cost minutes you do not have and produce stories instead of data. Four fixed questions produce something you can sort.
Is this you?
- —You write a lot and nothing changes.
- —You stopped journalling within two weeks of starting.
- —Your notes are about the market, not about you.
- —You cannot say which hour or state costs you most.
Two or more of those and this is the state costing you the most, not the strategy.
What it actually costs
Without sortable entries you are guessing about your own patterns, which means you fix the problem you remember most vividly rather than the one that actually bills you.
The protocol: The State Log
Trigger — Immediately after every exit, winner or loser.
- 1.Write the setup name. If it has no name, write "none" — that field alone is worth the exercise.
- 2.Write your arousal 1 to 5 at entry.
- 3.Write the seconds from signal to click.
How long — Thirty seconds per trade, fifteen minutes on Friday.
Read the full protocol, success test and what to do if it fails →Do this in your next session
At the close, answer four fixed questions in one line each, same wording every day. After twenty sessions, sort them — the pattern will name the protocol you need.
Not sure this is your state?
The quiz takes two minutes, needs no sign-up, and names your top three protocols out of the fourteen.
Keep reading
Work it through with the Coach
Describe your last bad trade. It names the state, picks the protocol and gives you the exercise to run before the next session. Free to use.