Appreciate the content you are putting out in the world. I often find journaling and post trade analysis the most tedious and and often find myself very disorganized. Would you be interested in sharing how you journal and do post trade analysis, the systems/software you use and the information you capture?
Hi Aaron, thanks for your comment. Your point about experiencing journaling and analysis as tedious got me thinking, and while I can't actually make anyone do those things, maybe it's something I can do a future stack on - how to help make those activities more interesting. A collection of tips or something. But that's only a vague idea at this point, and may materialise completely differently to what I have in mind now, or maybe not materialise at all. Either way, the raw idea is there, so thanks for planting it.
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To answer your other questions, I only use Excel. The information I capture has evolved over the years, but essentially encompasses 4 broad categories:
1. Stock information - ticker, theme, industry, sector, ADR, ATR, market cap, float, etc.
2. Entry details - setup/edge, market environment, direction, # shares, entry price, broker fees, stop, target, risk, R:R, portfolio position size, entry date, entry time, etc.
3. Exit details - exit price, broker fees, # shares, exit date and time, reason for selling, etc.
4. Analysis - whether and how I managed the position, whether I bought/sold partials, how good the fill was, % of opportunity captured, MAE, etc. Includes data I can derive from this info too, like updated R:R and changes in performance.
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Separate from the trade log, I also track overall stats, like strike rate and total capital, and track weekly and monthly stats of my performance.
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I journal every day, even if only to update my capital, and crunch numbers at least weekly. As for the 'how' - I look at the raw data captured (and other data derived from it - e.g. if I capture entry dates, Excel can automatically derive the weekday and month), and consider what patterns I've recently sensed or what questions I want to answer. Like the examples I gave in this article about the market cap - I wanted to know what patterns there were in my trades, both winning and losing ones, when breaking down my trades by market cap. Or what hard evidence there was for the detrimental effect of overtrading on my bottom line.
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You asked questions for which the answers could essentially be stand-alone stacks (and may well form the basis of a future stack(s)), but I tried to keep things as brief as possible here while still trying to answer the questions. I hope my response is helpful!
Appreciate the content you are putting out in the world. I often find journaling and post trade analysis the most tedious and and often find myself very disorganized. Would you be interested in sharing how you journal and do post trade analysis, the systems/software you use and the information you capture?
Thanks again!
Hi Aaron, thanks for your comment. Your point about experiencing journaling and analysis as tedious got me thinking, and while I can't actually make anyone do those things, maybe it's something I can do a future stack on - how to help make those activities more interesting. A collection of tips or something. But that's only a vague idea at this point, and may materialise completely differently to what I have in mind now, or maybe not materialise at all. Either way, the raw idea is there, so thanks for planting it.
--
To answer your other questions, I only use Excel. The information I capture has evolved over the years, but essentially encompasses 4 broad categories:
1. Stock information - ticker, theme, industry, sector, ADR, ATR, market cap, float, etc.
2. Entry details - setup/edge, market environment, direction, # shares, entry price, broker fees, stop, target, risk, R:R, portfolio position size, entry date, entry time, etc.
3. Exit details - exit price, broker fees, # shares, exit date and time, reason for selling, etc.
4. Analysis - whether and how I managed the position, whether I bought/sold partials, how good the fill was, % of opportunity captured, MAE, etc. Includes data I can derive from this info too, like updated R:R and changes in performance.
--
Separate from the trade log, I also track overall stats, like strike rate and total capital, and track weekly and monthly stats of my performance.
--
I journal every day, even if only to update my capital, and crunch numbers at least weekly. As for the 'how' - I look at the raw data captured (and other data derived from it - e.g. if I capture entry dates, Excel can automatically derive the weekday and month), and consider what patterns I've recently sensed or what questions I want to answer. Like the examples I gave in this article about the market cap - I wanted to know what patterns there were in my trades, both winning and losing ones, when breaking down my trades by market cap. Or what hard evidence there was for the detrimental effect of overtrading on my bottom line.
--
You asked questions for which the answers could essentially be stand-alone stacks (and may well form the basis of a future stack(s)), but I tried to keep things as brief as possible here while still trying to answer the questions. I hope my response is helpful!
Kay, this is a great and useful article. Thank you.
So glad to hear that! Thank you :)
Great info and great writing Kay. Thanks!
Glad you found it useful, Brook!
Wow, you really are an accomplished writer Kay; nice article
Thanks very much!