Trading journal is an important tool for trading effectively. You can keep a regular record of your trading in your trading journal. After doing a considerable number of trades, you will be having a good amount of useful data and observations that you have collected by yourself and on the market. Now it’s the time to analyze this data.

Analyzing Data

You can easily analyze data by following two things, these include finding out what works best and keep using it, and finding out what does not work at all and stop doing it. The second strategy involves keen observation and asking the right questions at the right time. You can refine your trading results analysis by separating them into different smaller categories like specific currency pairs or day of the week.

Questions to Ask While Reviewing Your Journal

Following are important questions that you should ask yourself while reviewing your trading journal.

Patterns or Tools

You should ask yourself about which tools or patterns work out best when you trade and which are not feasible.

Adjustment of Indicators

You should ask yourself about how you can make adjustments for your indicators to get you in trades earlier, or help you to avoid fake outs and whipsaws.

Time of Closing Winning Trades

You should find out if you are closing your winning trades too early. If you are doing it then is it necessary to adjust your potential profits or you are doing it just because you are afraid of losing unrealized profits?

Stop-Loss Processes

You should find out if you hold onto losing your trades for a longer time period than you should. You should also find out how you can make improvements in your stop-loss process.

Trading Plans

It is another important question that you must ask yourself and it is if you are religiously following your trading plans or not.

You should also ask yourself about the trading plans that you have followed and if you have generated profits from them.

Trade Setup

Also, ask yourself if you have missed any trade setup, or you didn’t take and why? Was it a legal signal or setup in accordance with your system or method?

Loss Reduction

Ask yourself what you could have done to minimize the loss or maximize your profit?

Trades with Multiple or Single Lots

You should also evaluate if you are gaining more on your trades with multiple or single lots.

Market Environments

You should also introspect about the most appropriate market environment in which you have done well. Find out if you have been doing well in trending or ranging.

Other Important Questions to Ask Yourself

Other important questions that you have to ask yourself include following:

• Were most of your losses or wins occurred due to a particular currency pair?
• Which news events brought the required volatility to trade you were looking for?
• Which trading sessions worked best for your trading style?

All these questions will guide you to find out those actions that have been keeping you from making some pips. You will get a better idea about your weak and strong profit-making points. Once you have known these points, now its your duty to religiously practice those actions that worked best for you.