5 Common Trading Journal Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

Key insights for traders:

Key insights: Record every trade (especially losses), be specific with details, and schedule weekly reviews.

Avoid overcomplicating your journal—start simple with essentials and add complexity later.

Always include emotions in your entries to track fear, greed, overconfidence, and FOMO patterns.

TrackIt's local-first approach makes consistent journaling easy with automatic P&L calculations.

Introduction

Keeping a trading journal is essential, but many traders make mistakes that reduce its effectiveness.

The Problem: Many traders only record their wins, creating a skewed view of performance.

The Solution: Record every single trade, especially the losses. You learn more from mistakes.

The Problem: Entries like "Bought AAPL, made money" tell you nothing useful.

The Solution: Be specific. Include exact prices, setup, emotional state, and what you would do differently.

The Problem: Writing but never looking back defeats the purpose.

The Solution: Schedule weekly reviews. Analyze patterns and identify areas for improvement.

The Problem: Creating elaborate systems leads to burnout.

The Solution: Start simple. Track essentials first, add complexity later.

The Problem: Treating trading as purely analytical ignores psychology's role.

The Solution: Include an emotions field. Note fear, greed, overconfidence, or FOMO.

Avoid these mistakes, and your trading journal will become your most valuable improvement tool.