A journal is not a diary of how you feel about the market. It is a log of decisions, so next month you are not arguing from memory.
I keep two layers because they do different jobs:
– A fast note at the desk (paper or a simple app) for the sentence I will lie about later
– A spreadsheet for the numbers I can sort
If I only keep the spreadsheet, I tidy the story. If I only keep paper, I never see the pattern. The hybrid is the only version I have stuck with.
What goes in a row
Minimum fields. If a field is empty, the trade is not logged.
– Date and session
– Market
– Direction
– Setup name (the one in the plan, or “none”)
– Planned stop and planned R
– Result in R, not only dollars
– Grade: A = followed the rule, F = broke it (a winning F still counts as F)
– Cause in one sentence that starts with “I”
– Screenshot of the chart as it looked when I entered, not after I redrew it
That list is enough. Extra columns for moon phase and “confidence 1–10” become a reason not to write.
When I write
Before the order: market, reason, stop, size.
After the order is closed: result, grade, cause.
I do not wait until Sunday. Sunday I only review. The raw line has to exist the same day or the emotion is already edited. More on the losing-day version: what I write after a losing day.
How I review without turning it into homework
Weekly, 20 minutes:
– Count trades and net R
– Count F-grades, including winners
– Circle one repeat (time of day, news, sixth name on the watchlist)
Monthly, 45 minutes — I wrote that as its own note: monthly review.
I do not compute twelve ratios I will not use. Win rate without R is vanity. R without grade is incomplete.
A short example row
Date: Tuesday
Market: [your market]
Plan: bounce at last week’s low, stop below, 1R = 1%
Result: −1R
Grade: A
Cause: I took the mapped idea; the level did not hold. No add.
That row is useful. “Market was manipulated” is not.
Tools
Use whatever you will open. Excel, Google Sheets, Notion, a dedicated journal app — the tool is not the edge. Consistency is. If an app becomes a new hobby, go back to five columns in a sheet.
Screenshots live in a dated folder or in the sheet. Crop account numbers.
What I stopped doing
– Writing essays after every scalp
– Logging demos and live in the same table without a flag
– Deleting F-grade winners so the month looked clean
The journal is for the next decision. If you will not change a rule after you see a pattern, you are collecting pages, not running a desk.
Pair this with the risk rules and the written plan. Those three pages are the operating system. Everything else is optional.