means trading more than your own rules allow – out of boredom, anger or hope. Every trade costs fees and , and every unplanned trade dilutes your own statistics. Two things help against it: rules that are fixed before the trade, and a in which you review every trade afterwards.
What belongs in the rules
Which symbols, which timeframe, when an entry counts, where the stop is, when you take profits and how much you risk per trade. Plus limits for yourself: say, at most three new trades a week or a break after three losses in a row. What is not in the rules is not traded.
What belongs in the journal
Date, symbol, entry, stop, target, size, reason according to the rule, exit, result in R – and one sentence on your mood. After 20 or 30 entries you see patterns: losses after rule breaks, trades out of boredom, moved stops.
How this relates to our site
With an account you can add your own notes to every symbol – for example why you bought, where your stop is and what you would do differently. This creates your own journal next to our buy zones.