BarroMetrics Views: Journaling and Trading Success III
First off apologies. I scheduled to do this blog last night but an unplanned meeting arose that derailed my plans. Lately, the 24 hours in a day don’t seem to be enough hours to get all I want done within the time I want to have them done by.
So we are at the last section of the series. In this blog, I’ll outline the structure of my journals. Truth be told, I record three journals:
- An equity journal in a spreadsheet that contains the history of my trades and based on those trades, the sheet spits out the stats I need.
- A psyche trading journal
- A private trading journal
All journals are crossed reference. Let’s start with the private journal.
This a narration of my day - what I did, how I felt, any insights or bright ideas that I had, any plans or actions to implement the insights etc. Most important of all I record in detail any event that raised strong feelings and a description of how I felt and what I did (if anything) as a result. If I think the event is important enough, I cross reference it with my pysche trading journal.
Let’s know turn to the trading journals.
The format for the Equity Journal is self-evident. It contains the usual date of entry, instrument, long/short position size etc. In addition it records the initial stop, and the Rule under which I took the trade. On request, the Journal displays, upon request, myriad bits of info:
- Avg $ win, avg$ loss
- Win Rate and Loss rate
- Number of consecutive wins and consecutive losses
- The dollar value of (3).
- Reward:Risk ratio.
My chief use of the Equity Journal is to maintain my awareness of whether I am in the Neutral, Flow or Ebb Cycle since those factors define my position size.
The Trading Pysche Journal records around the trade, the following:
- The observed results and the (my) behaviour that generated the results
- Any divergence between the two.
- A description of the context in which I generated the behaviour
- An examination of the assumptions that founded the behaviour
- Possible remedial action, if required.
- Effects of remedial action evaluated after 30 occurrences.
I link the Personal to the Psyche because I want to be aware of any possible connection between the two. In my journals, I make it a point to record not only negative events but also positive ones. Seldom does a day go by that I don’t find something that leads me to feel grateful I am alive.
As I said in the earlier blog - my journals provide the data to permit to identify patterns that may need to be changed if I am to achieve my outcomes. It also provides a record of remedial action and their results.
Refer this blog post to a friend or colleague…
