The Ultimate Forex Trading System

It never fails.

Every so many months, a new trading journal website pops up.

…and every so many months, another trading journal website closes shop. If a trading journal is then vital to successful trading, and so why aren't these websites homerun successes?!

In this post, I volition evidence you exactly why I think most trading journals fail and what I think the ultimate Forex trading should look like. Obviously, I have very selfish motivations behind writing this postal service…this is something that I want to use.

Only similar any other idea, I can't guarantee that this thought would be successful. In that location would have to be some beta testing and pivoting.

Let's face it, trading journals aren't sexy. This is why I don't create this myself, I already have my easily full.

But if you lot hold with me, then this post could be a new concern idea for y'all or help you improve your existing idea.

…and if there is something like this out there already and I missed it, I would dear to hear about information technology. I still use Evernote because I haven't found anything nonetheless.

Before I start, let's get something clear…any journal is better than no journal. So, I'chiliad totally for using anything, no matter what it is.

Simply if nosotros were going to create something that is the best of the best, hither is what I call up it would expect similar…

Where Electric current Trading Journals Fail

In general, I call back that people who create trading journals are awesome and have their heart (and listen) in the right place, but approach the solution from the wrong bending. I'll get to what I think the right angle is, but here is a brusque list of what I think virtually journals do wrong.

Transmission Trade Data Entry

Seriously?! Is this 1995?

Things similar entry/exit price, finish loss, etc. should NOT have to be entered manually. The details of the merchandise should be retrieved alive (like MyFxBook) or uploaded from a CSV file.

Period.

Complicated Data Entry

Side by side, a lot of trading journals make you fill out and then much information when you lot enter a trade entry. Some things I have seen are:

Did you read your trading rules for this method?
Method traded
Electric current mood
Your cess of probability of success
Trade data (mentioned above)
Current moon stage
Did you have a BM today?

OK, obviously I'thousand just joking on the final two. But you might likewise throw that in, if you are doing to be filling out all that stuff anyway. Some of those metrics are useful, I don't deny that. Just when y'all have a trade, do yous really have time to enter those details?

A lot of these things are good in theory, just not practical in real trading.

Traders who accept a couple of trades a week might be OK. But if you have several trades a day, who has time to fill that all in?

My bespeak is that some traders will detect some of these metrics useful, but that vary from trader to trader. So why ataxia the screen with all these options?

Non Charging for the Service

I Desire TO PAY FOR A SERVICE THAT WORKS.

It'southward great that people provide services for free.

Just let's go real…

If you lot have a fluffy business model, and so chances are good that you will be closing shop sometime in the almost future. I pay for Evernote because I know that they will probably be around for awhile.

How do I know this? Because they have a real business model.

It's the same reason that trading blogs neglect. I don't want to lose my entire trading journal considering a service went downward.

At the same time, I don't really see the benefit of paying $100 a calendar month. If Dropbox tin can charge $9.99 a month, I don't run into how a basic Forex journal service tin charge a lot more than that.

Lack of Content

Many trading journals don't take a blog that shows the benefits of a trading journal. Things like example studies and practical examples.

Yes, information technology takes a lot of time to practice this, simply information technology is necessary.

Geeking Out on Metrics That Don't Matter

Akin to likewise many entry parameters is providing too many metrics. The i in particular that I don't discover useful is how much profit you missed out on.

If you have leave rules, then that shouldn't affair.

Am I wrong?

At that place are some metrics that tin certainly help you improve your trading. But once again, they will vary past trader.

Alright enough complaining…

The Trading Workflow

Before I get into solutions, it's important to take a look how I run across virtually traders trade. Obviously, unlike traders have different routines, but I recall most traders volition agree that this is their basic process.

Step 1 – Browse Charts / News

You will look for opportunities, either technical or cardinal. You will be looking for a chart design or some sort of news.

At this signal, you wouldn't need to enter anything in your journal. Maybe just some paper/whiteboard notes on which pairs to potentially merchandise.

Pace ii – Identify Opportunity

One time you see the entry, y'all will mark upward your chart, or make a note of the potential entry reason.

You should exist totally focused on inbound the merchandise parameters correctly and double checking your analysis. Inbound anything in your trading journal at this point would probably be distracting.

It is for me.

Step 3 – Enter Merchandise

And so y'all will place the trade and add your profit targets and take profits. If you lot are a technical trader, then you volition probably take a screenshot, but that is really all yous accept time for.

If there are multiple trading opportunities, you probably don't have time to enter a one thousand thousand things in your journal about a trade. Realistically, you would only enter information AFTER all the trades for the 24-hour interval are executed.

Stride 4 – Manage Trade

If there is any trade management, then yous will have to do that. Things like pyramiding, or multiple turn a profit targets are the mutual ones.

Again, y'all probably don't want to enter any details about the trades at this bespeak. You lot need to focus on managing the merchandise. Maybe a take screenshot, at about.

Step 5 – Review Trade

After the trade has closed, then you will journal the trade and see where y'all can possibly meliorate. This is were you tin now become back to your screenshots and trades to analyze each trade.

You lot would probably do this on a weekend or a not-trading weekday.

Well Duh!

OK, you are probably thinking: "No shit Sherlock."

Yeah, this is all pretty obvious, but I don't call back that software developers actually think near trading from a workflow perspective.

If they did, and then at that place would be more convenient trading journals available. Even traders might take the process for granted.

Before writing this, I know I did. It'due south not an like shooting fish in a barrel process to create an elegant solution, I totally realize this and I'm not talking shit. Just trying to propose a ameliorate solution.

So let'south start here…

A Different Arroyo

Why do we continue a trading periodical?

I think this is the best place to get-go.

Well-nigh traders basically want to know the following:

What issues tin they correct to merchandise more profitably?
What are common characteristics of winning trades?
What are my running metrics for each individual method I trade (for multiple rule based systems)?
Possibly: How do my backtesting results compare to my live trading (for technical systems)?

That's pretty much it. Can you lot think of annihilation else?

I can't.

Everything else is mental masturbation. Let'south look at this one past one…

Basic Characteristics of Winning/Losing Trades

I would similar to see all of my past trades and filter by winning trades and losing trades. So I would like to see a table of the entry chart and the leave chart, with the earlier/after charts side-by-side.

MyFxBook comes pretty close. They let you lot to filter past winning and losing trades and tags. But information technology kills me that you cannot run into your before/after charts at the aforementioned time.

You have to put your mouse over every single merchandise to see the charts. Even then, information technology is non so easy to run across the charts.

Trade Tagging

A lot of services accept this already, merely some don't. It is really useful to be able to create your own tags and filter and create reports by one or multiple tags.

Then you tin add things like moon phase into your filtering criteria and nobody has to know that you lot are a weirdo.

Just kidding.

That might be a legit characteristic for you (seriously, I keep an open mind). But the bespeak is that y'all can decide what works for you lot, non what the developer thinks was a good characteristic to filter by.

Tags likewise make it easy to runway different trading methods and give y'all the performance for each method, fifty-fifty in the same account. MyFxBook does this well, check out what they do.

Avant-garde Analytics

This could be available at a higher price and could exist optional. I wouldn't have a problem paying a little more for something like this.

What do my winning and losing trades have in mutual? Is it the day of the week? Is it the time of mean solar day? Trade elapsing?

This is stuff that I might not retrieve of myself, merely could be depression hanging fruit. Ideally, there would also be a statistical confidence level built in.

I don't want to hunt through a 1000000 esoteric metrics to find something useful.

Tell me, dammit!

Compare to Backtesting

It would also be great if the trading periodical could upload backtesing results from Forex Tester 2 or Metatrader. This would go far easier to see why your live trading is so different from your backtesting.

Tradingrex comes close, but information technology could be taken a step further. A existent-fourth dimension alarm, if you accept exceeded your backtesting parameters, would be perfect.

Follow Up Reminders

One more affair…

Journaling your trades is cracking, just you might not be in objective state of listen when you reviewed your merchandise. I think that the ideal trading periodical volition ping you lot some time after you closed your trade.

Take a reminder e-mail, maybe a week or two weeks afterwards. You will be surprised how differently a trade can await, when you are looking at it more than considerately.

How many times have you lot done that afterward step 4 higher up? Probably non as much as you should…I know that is the case for me.

Of course, if you haven't journaled a trade in the first place, so the journal will remind you of that as well.

An Upgraded Forex Trading Journal Workflow

That being said, allow's revisit the four steps that I mentioned in the beginning. Just now let's add together in what I think would exist the ideal journaling process.

Step 1 – Scan Charts / News

No alter hither. The journal wouldn't come into play yet.

Stride ii – Place Opportunity

Same thing here. Naught doing, journal wise.

Step iii – Enter Merchandise

Nope, no journal entries yet. Just accept a screenshot and store information technology somewhere rubber. Mql5.com makes it easy to take a snapshot in Metatrader and store it online for easy access later.

When yous enter the merchandise in Metatrader, y'all could fill out the comment field to remind yourself why you entered.

Ideally, the trading periodical would exist able to detect the comment and create a tag when it automatically uploads the merchandise.

After you enter all of your trades, then this would exist the ideal fourth dimension for the journal to automatically update your journal or for yous to upload your CSV file. At this point, you could enter some entry notes and tags, while it is fresh in your mind.

Step iv – Manage Trade

If the trade needs management, then you would do so. Only like in footstep iii, after you are done, you could update your notes at the end of the trading day.

Stride 5 – Review Trade

When the trades are airtight out, then information technology is time to upload your final screenshots and notes.

At this bespeak, you tin can upload your screenshots and get some concluding reports. Some useful ones would be:

Tag performance reports
Merchandise assay:
- Screenshots, risk, pips, conspicuously laid out on one page, for every winning/losing trade. Filter past winning/losing trade.
- Advanced analytics – results compared to backtesting
- Avant-garde analytics – suggested improvements

If yous haven't updated your airtight trades in ten days (or whatsoever), you lot would get a email reminder to update. Then in ii weeks, you would become a reminder to review your trades over again. You could then add additional notes and screenshots.

The most basic merchandise analysis written report would expect like:

That is a actually rough sketch, simply you get the idea. If all of your winning trades (or any tag for that thing) are in a list, it makes information technology much easier encounter common themes.

Last Thoughts on the Ultimate Forex Trading Periodical

The reality is that many trading journals are really close to creating what I would consider as the platonic trading periodical. But I still use MyFxBook + Evernote because they provide the ideal combination of features that I'g looking for.

Somebody volition figure it out. It's just a thing of time!

Will information technology exist you?

If you have something like this already, contact me! I would dear to feature you and use your product.

Source: https://www.tradingheroes.com/ultimate-forex-trading-journal/

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