Accurate Trade Records
by Greg Secker on Mar.09, 2007, under Education
Keeping Records of Open Trades:
- How many do I have?
- How many long v. short?
- Where was my entry, stop, target?
- What is my risk to reward ratio?
- What was the reason for the trade? (strategy)
Keeping Records of Closed Trades
-
•What did I trade?
- Did I reach my R: R target?
- How much did I make or lose?
- How long was the position open?
- Did my strategy go as planned?
Why Bother? Ask yourself 2 questions:
- Do I want to make money?
- Do I want to improve?
If the answer is yes, then you need to be diligent and organised about your record keeping. If you are not, then you stand to lose money in the market and will have difficulty improving your trading. Learn from your mistakes in order to improve.
Remember it is your money so know where it is and how it is working for you.
Excel spreadsheets:
If you are good at formulas etc. then you can set up a very functional sheet that will work out your trade sizes and track your position.
Added advantage of having all your records together on one page.
Easy to do monthly comparisons of your results.
Records trade’s size, direction and result
Keep a record of your thoughts about the trade
Easy to calc monthly % returns
Colour coded for easy visuals
TrademinderSoftware
All the hard work has been done for you
Tracks all your a/c’s in one place
Trade sizing and full risk management analysis
Full reporting functionality
Links to Live Trading Floor
Always alerted to potential trades
Historic Records
What theories might we want to test?
Which strategies work best?
Are longs better than shorts?
Am I achieving my R:R targets?
What is my ratio of wins to losers?
Did I trail my stop in the best way?
Why ask? To learn….
Don’t Leave it until Later
If you think this all seems a bit laborious – You are right !
BUT, the longer you wait to get yourself organised with record keeping, the longer it will take you to improve your trading.
