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What to journal and why

Trader Psychology

More than just win or lose

A useful trade journal logs more than just profit and loss. It captures the entry price, the exit price, the reasoning behind the trade, plus how long the setup took to develop.

The pattern shows up across many entries

The real value of a journal shows up over dozens of entries, not one. Reviewing many logged trades together is how a trader spots a repeated failure pattern instead of reacting to a single bad day.

Emotions belong in the log too

Journaling emotional state alongside the trade details, not just the numbers, catches patterns like consistently forcing trades after lunch or oversizing after two wins in a row.

Check yourself

A useful trading journal entry should include…

  1. Entry price, exit price, reasoning, plus how the setup developed correct
  2. Only the final profit or loss number
  3. Nothing, memory is reliable enough

A full record of price and reasoning, not just the outcome, gives far more to actually learn from.

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