Keeping Track of Your Stuff
Organization is an important part of trading. While chart trading is the center mass of the business, then tracking open and pending trades is definitely on the periphery to keep you focused on the bulls eye. We’re placing the video for this blog at the end so you read through this first.
Basic or Complex
Over the years, I’ve seen many types of recording tools to keep track of trades. Some range from exceptionally complex, where every nuance of a trade is recorded. I’ve even met traders who keep index cards; one card per trade. There is a general correlation of the trader’s experience to how much detail is kept in a journal. Seasoned traders tend to record less detail.
New Guy/Gal
As a newer trader myself, I had very involved spreadsheets with various metrics, percentages, and other data. At the end of the day, I discovered…much in line with what VP as said, most of it just isn’t helpful or has little meaning once the trade was closed.
Components
So, what’s actually important? Well, as a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll share what we use to keep track of trades. This trade board was created with a 3’ x 2’ (91 cm x 61 cm) dry-erase board with vinyl letters and stripe tape. It cost about $30 to make and about an hour, give or take. It hangs on a wall near the trade station and is a great help to keep organized on a macro scale.
We’ll go through it and explain what each thing is and as an incentive to help you get organized, we’ve created a digital version (see link below) you’re always welcome to screenshot for yourself. Make a copy onto your drive, print it out, and then start penciling in your trades.
It’s in the Details
Let’s go through each section and explain what and why we do what we do.
Open Trades
This block represents those trades which are active.
Pair: The specific pair (Forex, Indices, Metal) you’re currently trading. This could be live or a demo account.
L/S: Long or short.
Entry: Entry price at the opening of your trade.
Maint: These are the daily notes you might want to write each day as you check the progress of your trade. Whatever you want to keep track of is up to you. “Maintenance” of your trade comes down to moving a stop, exiting the first part of your trade in profit, getting close to a stop loss or an exit, doing nothing, etc.
EOD +/-: This represents “End Of Day” and whether you’re in profit or loss, specifying pips. Why pips? Because that’s what really matter. The actual money is a function of how large your trade is (i.e., full lot, mini lot, or micro lot). You can be up 100 pips on a single micro lot which may equate to about $10.00 profit, or you could be up 34 pips on 5 full lots which may equate to $1,700. So the number of pips is where profit and loss are measured from.
Pending
The next block represents those trades which are pending. What that means is that they may have one or more indicators providing a trade signal, but the entire algorithm has not given you the green light to open a new position. Think of it as a kind of “heads up”.
Pair: The specific pair (Forex, Indices, Metal) you’re currently trading. This could be live or a demo account.
L/S: The anticipated direction; long or short.
Watch
The “WATCH” block represents those pairs which are on the horizon. This might mean that a trade may be getting ready to set up, or perhaps just the baseline or a single confirmation indicator has triggered a signal, but the trade could still be many days away.
Pair: The specific pair (Forex, Indices, Metal) you’re currently trading. This could be live or a demo account.
L/S: The anticipated direction; long or short (just as in the “PENDING”)
Closed Trades
The final section is for recently closed trades. How much history to post is up to you. Since you should be keeping a trade journal, completed trades should be echoed in that document for learning purposes.
Pair: The specific pair (Forex, Indices, Metal) you’re currently trading. This could be live or a demo account.
L/S: The actual direction of the trade; long or short.
+/-: The aggregate total of the trade; both halves, whether positive or negative.
Comment: This could be just about anything you want to mention. It could be why you think a trade failed, a mistake you made (i.e., closing a trade early, etc.), or any number of thoughts. These should be copied into your journal to determine if there are any patterns which need to be addressed.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is that keeping track of your trades is part of the business of trading. Having a history available to determine return on investment, win/loss, drawdown, and other relevant metrics is invaluable to your success. Additionally, it never hurts to add in your personal thoughts to help mitigate the emotional hurdles we all strive to overcome as we learn to control trading psychology.
Resources
Along with the Trade Tracker document, there are back testing log and trading journals available for copying from the Stonehill Forex resource page. Feel free to grab them for yourself. Additionally, be sure to check out the money management, general Forex, and psychological blogs on the site for additional educational material at no cost to you. We even have videos on the YouTube channel which address these issues. Sign up for the Advanced NNFX Course HERE.
Our only goal is to make you a better trader.
BTW — Any information communicated by Stonehill Forex Limited is solely for educational purposes. The information contained within the courses and on the website neither constitutes investment advice nor a general recommendation on investments. It is not intended to be and should not be interpreted as investment advice or a general recommendation on investment. Any person who places trades, orders or makes other types of trades and investments etc. is responsible for their own investment decisions and does so at their own risk. It is recommended that any person taking investment decisions consults with an independent financial advisor. Stonehill Forex Limited training courses and blogs are for educational purposes only, not a financial advisory service, and does not give financial advice or make general recommendations on investment.