Trading journal blog

Max drawdown is the largest drop from a peak in your account before a new high. Here is what it measures, why it matters more than your total return, and what range is survivable.

There is no single good win rate for swing trading. It depends on your reward-to-risk. Here is how to tell whether your win rate is actually good for the way you trade.

The Sharpe ratio measures return per unit of volatility. Above 1 is decent and above 2 is strong, but for most individual traders it is the wrong tool. Here is what it tells you and what to track instead.

Profit factor is gross profit divided by gross loss. Anything above 1 makes money, but here is what the number actually tells you, what range is realistic, and why a very high one is often a warning.

Your average win divided by your average loss is the payoff ratio. There is no single good number. It only makes sense paired with your win rate, and chasing a bigger one is a common way to trade worse.

Revenge trading is the entry you take to win back a loss, not because the setup is there. Here is why it happens and a few specific ways to actually stop.

FOMO trading is chasing a move after your edge is gone. Here is why it happens, how to catch it in the moment, and how your journal turns it into a habit you can actually break.

A practical, step-by-step guide to starting a trading journal that you will actually keep. What to log, how to review it, and the beginner mistakes that make most journals die in a week.

Revenge trading rarely looks like a single bad trade. Here's how to spot the pattern across your journal entries before it costs you a real drawdown.

A simple weekend trade review routine for swing traders: what to look at, in what order, and how to turn it into one or two changes for next week.

A simple framework for grading your setups from A to F on the parts you control: entry location, pattern quality, risk placement, and plan adherence, not the P&L.

Most trading plans fail because they are too long to follow. Here is how to write a short, specific plan for one setup and use your journal to hold yourself to it.

A handful of trades tells you almost nothing about whether a strategy works. Here is why small samples lie, roughly how many trades you actually need, and how to test without risking real money.

Overtrading is not about the number of trades. It is about taking trades that are not your setup. Here is how to spot it in your own journal and cut the ones that leak money.

Your filled trades only show half your decision-making. The setups you passed on, or almost took, are where hesitation and rule-breaks actually show up.

The five most common trading journal mistakes beginners make, and small, specific fixes for each, without rebuilding your whole process.

Five trading journal examples, each shown two ways: the version that just logs P&L, and the version that actually helps you trade better.