Best tools for Keeping a Trading Journal
Introduction
A trading journal is a diary where a trader keeps all the records of his positions, mistakes, and future goals. By keeping a note of the essentials, it is possible to remember all the errors and avoid them in further trading. The continual process will result in increasing your trading consistency over time. Previously market participants used to write everything down on a piece of paper, but with the development in the fintech sector, automatic journals have been developed which note down your positions from the platform in robot mode. All the top traders and institutions recommend keeping a good record of all your trades.
Steps to journaling a trade
The situation can get messy If you are trading more than one market or instrument. Following a few reasonable steps, can help a trader record everything with perfection to access the results within seconds when required.
Step 1. Choose an appropriate notebook or a spreadsheet to record your trades. A calendar will also help in this case, which you can incorporate within your Excel file.
Step 2. Record your trades with all the necessary information. Within the spreadsheet, create columns for entry/exit time, trade type, symbol, entry/exit price, stop loss, take profit, commissions, profit, and drawdown. Also, note down the reasons behind the trade on a separate sheet, as this can help you determine which logic performs better over time. Write down your emotions during the execution and all the errors.
Step 3. After several months of recording and journaling, compile all of the data with the help of Excel software. Determine which setups work best and what is your risk-reward and winning probability for that ratio. Note all your mistakes in a separate notebook and carefully reflect on them to avoid any future errors. Remember that you should note all of your positions as soon as you execute them. Recording all trades at once can lead to forgetfulness.
Top 5 best journals
We can classify the following journals into the top 5 categories. They offer the best in the industry in terms of automation, recording, and performance statistics.
1. Myfxbook
While Myfxbook majorly acts as a website for tracking a system, it can also be used as a trading journal. The free trading journal records everything automatically and shows it in a detailed manner. Performance statistics, history, graphs are all included in a simple interface that works by providing your investor password for your MT4® or MT5® account. If you take a look at someone else's results, make sure that the trader track record and the trading privileges are verified. This ensures the output is not manipulated and the account is authentic.
2. Tradersync
Trader sync supports over 100 brokers and allows you to find and refine your trading edge through extensive auto statistics. There is a mobile app for tracking everything on the go. The interactive journal provides charting tools, screenshot uploading, entry/exit tracking, trade-specific analytics, notes, commission outlook, easy-to-digest reports, and artificial intelligence feedback. Prices start from $29.95 a month.
3. Edgewonk
The online trading journals provide powerful analytics that provides traders with easy journaling, trade analysis, and improvements to their current strategy. Edgewonk caters to the psychological aspect of trading, enriching traders with tools such as a tiltmeter that identifies if you're performing according to your plan. A few top features of the journal include the option to scale in and out, 12 chart analytics, trade management, a future simulator, support for all currencies, and complete customizability.
4. Trademetria
This forex trading journal offers more than 30 different metrics so you can analyze your performance from various angles. Trademetria provides analytics on past performance, results through multiple eye-soothing charts, visual navigation through entry/exit points, pre-trade risk management, and a trading simulator. However, most of the features are limited to the pro packages, which cost $29.95 a month.
5. Tradervue
Tradervue set the industry standard in automated journaling as it was one of the first journals in the market. Top proprietary firms utilize the platform to analyze their statistics for forex futures and stock trading. Journaling features include auto import, chart analysis, daily notes, tagging, filtering, coaching, running p&l charts, and commission tracking. A trader can analyze their reports with detailed performance metrics and share them with their fellow investors.
About Forex Copier
Forex Copier is an automated software that helps you copy your trades on the same or different PCs. It has two versions:
Forex Copier remote 2 for copying trades remotely from one MetaTrader® platform to another.
Forex Copier 3 copies trade between MetaTrader® platforms on similar PCs.
The copy trading software has many valuable features, including lot/risk management, price adjustments, order filtering, tweaking SL/TP, and emergency stops to help you get an easy edge in the industry. It is possible to diversify your trading accounts and brokers by distributing your equity over several portfolios and using the auto trade copier to copy positions from one account to all of the others. You can also choose to sell subscriptions to your signals and EAs to investors worldwide, with or without access to their login credentials.
The scope here is unlimited, as the Forex Copier can help gurus in teaching by sharing their executions. For traders on a losing streak, the mirror trading software offers a reverse mode that turns all incoming buys into sales and vice versa with modifications of the exit and entry points.