We want to show you how to do a post trade review. Trading doesn’t end when you close a position.
For many traders, the trade ends when the order is filled, the position is closed, and the profit or loss appears on the screen. They look at the number, decide whether they had a good or bad day, and move on to the next session.
That approach misses one of the most valuable opportunities a trader has to improve.
The real learning often begins after the trade is over.
A post-trade review gives you the opportunity to examine not only what happened to your money, but also what happened to your decision-making. It allows you to connect your daily Profit and Loss (P&L) with the emotions, behaviors, and choices that produced that result.
This distinction is critical.
How to Journal Your Emotions with Profit and Loss
A winning trade can be poorly executed. A losing trade can be executed perfectly. If you judge yourself exclusively by P&L, you can accidentally reinforce bad habits simply because they happened to make money.
Behavioral finance recognizes that investors can be influenced by emotional and cognitive biases that affect decision-making. Identifying those patterns is an important first step toward moderating or adapting to them.
That is exactly what a post-trade review is designed to accomplish.
Instead of simply asking, “Did I make money today?” you begin asking better questions:
Did I follow my trading plan?
Was the setup actually there?
Did I manage risk correctly?
What was I feeling before I entered?
Did my emotions influence my decisions?
Did I become more confident after a winning trade?
Or did fear cause me to exit too early?
Did frustration cause me to take another trade?
And perhaps most importantly:
What can this trade teach me about myself?
Why P&L Alone Isn’t Enough
Your P&L tells you the financial result of your trading.
It does not tell you whether you earned that result through good decision-making.
Post Trade Review Example
Let’s imagine that there are two traders.
Trader A finds a setup that meets every requirement in their trading plan. They enter at the predetermined price, use appropriate position sizing, place their stop where the trade is invalidated, and exit according to their plan.
The trade loses $200.
Trader B sees a stock suddenly moving higher. Afraid of missing the move, they chase the price, enter with twice their normal position size, move their stop when the trade moves against them, and eventually make $400.
Who had the better trade?
Trader A.
Trader B made money, but the process was dangerous.
If Trader B continues making decisions that way, eventually the market can deliver a loss large enough to erase multiple winning trades.
This is why your journal should look at both the process as well as performance.
A structured post trade review should capture the setup, risk, execution, outcome, and emotional state rather than simply recording entry, exit, and P&L.
Your goal is not to eliminate every losing trade.
The goal is to eliminate unnecessary losses caused by poor decisions.
Record the Basic Trade Information
Start every post trade review with the facts.
Make sure you don’t start with your opinion about the trade. Begin with what actually happened.
Record:
- Date
- Time
- Ticker or instrument
- Long or short
- Entry price
- Exit price
- Position size
- Stop-loss
- Profit target
- Gross P&L
- Fees and commissions
- Net P&L
- Percentage gain or loss
- R-multiple, if you use R-based risk management
- Setup type
- Time frame
This information gives you the objective foundation for the review.
For example:
Ticker: XYZ
Direction: Long
Setup: Breakout
Entry: $50.00
Stop: $48.50
Target: $53.00
Position Size: 100 shares
Risk: $150
Exit: $53.00
Net P&L: +$300
Result: +2R
When you record that, it tells you what happened on a financial level.
Now you need to determine why it happened.
Reconstruct Your Original Trading Thesis
One of the biggest mistakes traders make when reviewing trades is allowing hindsight to rewrite history.
Once you know what happened, it is easy to convince yourself that the outcome was obvious.
It wasn’t.
Your journal should capture what you believed before the trade.
Ask yourself:
Why did I take this trade?
Write the answer in one or two sentences.
For example:
“I entered because price broke above resistance with increasing volume and the broader market was trending higher.”
That’s much more useful than:
“Breakout looked good.”
The more specific your reasoning, the easier it becomes to evaluate later.
Your goal is to compare your original thesis with what actually happened.
Did the setup behave as expected?
Did the market environment support the trade?
Was the entry triggered according to your rules?
Or did you create a justification after seeing the chart move?
A journal becomes much more valuable when you record your reasoning before emotion and hindsight can change it.
Score Your Confidence Before the Trade
Emotions don’t suddenly appear after you enter a position.
They are already present.
That is why you should record your emotional state before every trade.
One simple method is to use a 1-to-10 confidence scale.
For example:
Confidence: 8/10
Then explain why you felt that way.
“I felt that confident because the setup matched my strategy and I had waited for confirmation.”
Or:
Confidence: 4/10
“I wasn’t certain of the setup I saw, but I was bored and wanted to make a trade.”
That second entry is extremely valuable.
You may discover that your lowest-confidence trades consistently produce your worst results.
You might also discover something more subtle: your highest-confidence trades don’t necessarily produce the highest returns.
That could indicate overconfidence.
The objective is not to eliminate emotion. It is to understand how emotion interacts with your decisions.
Identify Your Emotional State
After recording confidence, identify the primary emotions you experienced.
Some common trading emotions include:
- Fear
- Greed
- Excitement
- Anxiety
- Frustration
- Boredom
- Impatience
- Confidence
- Overconfidence
- Regret
- Hope
- Relief
- FOMO
Don’t simply write “I felt bad.”
Be specific.
Maybe you were nervous because you had just experienced three consecutive losses.
Or you were excited because you were having your best trading day of the month.
Maybe you were impatient because the market had been slow for two hours.
Maybe you were afraid of giving back profits after getting into a winning position.
These details matter.
Behavioral finance distinguishes emotional biases from purely cognitive errors, and emotional influences can be particularly difficult to recognize because they are tied to feelings and impulses.
Your journal gives you a way to turn those feelings into observable data.
Separate Emotions From Actions
Feeling an emotion isn’t necessarily a problem. Acting on it impulsively can be. You might feel fear during almost every trade. That’s normal.
The important question is:
Did the fear cause me to break my rules?
For example:
You entered a trade according to plan.
The trade moved against you.
You became nervous.
But you kept your stop exactly where it belonged.
That’s emotional awareness combined with discipline.
Compare that with:
You entered according to plan.
The trade moved against you.
You became nervous.
You moved your stop lower because you didn’t want to take the loss.
That is an emotional behavior that needs attention.
The journal should therefore capture both the emotion and the action.
Try writing:
Emotion: Fear
Intensity: 7/10
Action: Moved stop
Result: Loss increased by $180
Lesson: Fear caused me to abandon predefined risk.
Now you have something you can work on.
Analyze Your Execution
Next, evaluate how well you actually executed your strategy.
Ask:
Did I enter at the planned level?
Did I wait for confirmation?
Was my position size correct?
Did I place my stop immediately and respect it?
Did I take profits according to plan?
Or did I move my target and my stop?
Did I add to the position?
Did I exit because I got information or because I got emotional?
Give yourself an execution score from 1 to 10.
For example:
Execution: 9/10
“Entry was clean, position size was correct, stop remained untouched, and target was reached.”
Or:
Execution: 4/10
“I entered early, doubled my position size, moved my stop, and exited emotionally.”
This score can become extremely useful when reviewed alongside P&L.
Record Your P&L but Put It in Context
Now examine the financial result.
Record your:
Gross P&L
and
Net P&L
Then consider the result relative to your risk.
A $500 gain might sound impressive.
But what if you risked $1,000 to make it?
A $100 loss might sound insignificant.
But what if you only planned on risking $50?
This is why percentages and R-multiples can give you extra context.
For example:
- +$300 = +2R
- -$150 = -1R
- +$75 = +0.5R
The exact metrics you use will depend on your strategy, but consistency matters.
You want to compare trades using a common framework.
Most importantly, don’t allow the dollar amount to determine whether the trade was “good.”
A good trade is one that follows your process.
Determine Whether It Was a Good Trade or a Lucky Trade
This is one of the most important questions in your review.
Ask:
Would I take this trade again under the exact same circumstances?
If the answer is yes because the setup met your rules, that’s valuable.
If the answer is no, even though you made money, then heed it as a warning.
For example:
“I might have made $600, but I chased the stock after it had already moved a lot. Then I used twice my normal position size and didn’t wait for confirmation. I wouldn’t take this trade under normal circumstances.”
That is a bad process with a good outcome.
Conversely:
“I followed my plan perfectly, but the trade lost $200 because the setup failed.”
That’s a good process with a bad outcome.
You want to become comfortable with this distinction.
Otherwise, winning trades can teach you the wrong lessons.
Look for Emotional Triggers
After you’ve documented individual trades, start looking for triggers.
Maybe you consistently make poor decisions after losing money.
That could indicate revenge trading.
Maybe you trade aggressively after several consecutive winners.
That could indicate overconfidence.
Maybe you enter trades during slow periods because you’re bored.
Or you chase stocks after large moves because you’re afraid of missing out.
Maybe you exit winning trades too early because you can’t stand watching unrealized profits disappear.
Your journal should help identify these patterns.
One useful approach is to create emotional tags.
For example:
FOMO
REVENGE
GREED
FEAR
BOREDOM
OVERCONFIDENCE
IMPATIENCE
DISCIPLINED
After several weeks, review your P&L by emotional tag.
You may discover something like:
| Emotional State | Number of Trades | Net P&L |
|---|---|---|
| Disciplined | 32 | +$2,400 |
| FOMO | 8 | -$900 |
| Revenge | 5 | -$1,100 |
| Boredom | 6 | -$450 |
| Overconfidence | 4 | -$300 |
Suddenly, your problem becomes much clearer.
Your strategy may not be the primary issue.
Your behavior might be.
Review What Happened Immediately Before the Trade
Sometimes the trigger isn’t the market.
It’s the previous trade.
Imagine you lose $300.
Five minutes later, you enter another position that doesn’t meet your criteria.
That trade loses another $500.
The second trade may not have happened if the first trade hadn’t occurred.
Your journal should record the events that happened during your trade.
Ask:
What happened immediately before I entered?
Was I coming off a loss?
Had I just taken a large win?
Had I been waiting for hours?
Did I miss another setup?
Was I distracted?
Was I trying to hit a profit target?
Or was I trying to recover a loss?
This can reveal certain behavior.
For example:
Loss → frustration → revenge trade → larger position → larger loss.
Or:
Win → excitement → overconfidence → oversized trade → loss.
Once you identify the chain, you can create a rule designed to interrupt it.
Review the Trade While Separating Fact From Emotion
Your post-trade review should be honest, but it shouldn’t become an emotional self-criticism session.
Make sure you don’t record statements like:
“I’m terrible at trading.”
“I always screw it up.”
“I can’t ever win.”
“The market is out to get me.”
Those statements aren’t giving you useful information. They’re just emotional.
Replace them with observable facts.
Instead of writing “I panicked.” write ” Price moved against me by 0.5R, and I exited before my stop triggered.” You’ll already have a better idea of what happened.
Don’t just write “I’m greedy.” Instead, write “I reached my planned profit target but held for an additional move because I wanted a larger gain.”
Specific observations can be corrected.
Self-judgment usually cannot.
Take Screenshots
Numbers are useful.
Charts provide context.
Take a screenshot of the trade before or immediately after entering and another after exiting.
Mark:
- Entry
- Stop
- Target
- Key support
- Key resistance
- VWAP
- Moving averages
- Breakout levels
- Relevant technical signals
Then compare the original chart with what happened.
Over time, you will build a visual database of your trades.
This can help you recognize which setups actually work for you and which ones only look attractive in hindsight.
Write One Thing You Did Well
Traders tend to focus exclusively on mistakes.
That’s a problem.
Your journal should also reinforce your good behavior.
Write:
What did I do well?
Maybe you were patient and honored your stop.
Or maybe you avoided revenge trading and reduced position size during a difficult market.
Maybe you walked away after reaching your daily goal.
These are behaviors worth reinforcing.
Your journal isn’t supposed to punish you.
It’s supposed to help you become more consistent.
Write One Thing You Need to Improve
Don’t create a list of 20 things you need to fix.
Choose one.
Ask:
What is the single most important adjustment I can make tomorrow?
For example:
“Wait for confirmation before entering breakouts.”
Or:
“Don’t increase my position size after making a winning trade.”
Or:
“After having two consecutive losses, I have to take a mandatory break.”
The goal is continuous improvement rather than trying to become a perfect trader overnight.
Conduct a Daily Review
At the end of your trading session, step back and look at the entire day.
Record:
Total P&L: +$425
Number of Trades: 7
Winning Trades: 4
Losing Trades: 3
Best Trade: +$300
Worst Trade: -$250
Rule Compliance: 85%
Emotions: I was mostly calm but got frustrated after the second loss
Biggest Mistake: I kept chasing one setup
Best Decision: Stopped trading after reaching daily target
Tomorrow’s Focus: Wait for confirmation
This takes only a few minutes.
The value comes from doing it consistently.
Don't Judge the Day Entirely by P&L
One of the most dangerous habits a trader can develop is believing that a green day automatically means success.
Suppose you made $1,000 today but violated five trading rules.
That’s not necessarily a successful day.
Now suppose you lost $200 but followed your plan perfectly.
That could be a very productive day.
The financial result is important.
But so is the quality of your decision-making.
Think of your trading performance as having two separate scoreboards:
Financial Scoreboard
- P&L
- Win rate
- Average win
- Average loss
- Profit factor
- Drawdown
- R-multiple
Behavioral Scoreboard
- Did I follow the rules?
- How were my emotions?
- What was my position sizing?
- How was my patience?
- Quality of setups
- Stop discipline
- Revenge trading frequency
- FOMO frequency
You need both.
Perform a Weekly Emotional P&L Review
The daily review tells you what happened.
The weekly review tells you what is repeating.
At the end of each week, review every trade and ask:
Which emotional state appeared most frequently?
What emotion produced the largest losses?
Which emotion appeared during my best trades?
What setup produced my best and worst results?
How often did I break my rules?
How much money did rule-breaking cost me?
Did I become more aggressive after wins?
Did I become more conservative after losses?
Was I trading differently at the beginning and end of the week?
This is where your journal becomes a performance database.
A strong post trading review is going to help reveal patterns across setup quality, execution, emotional state, and P&L rather than treating each trade as an isolated event.
Calculate the Cost of Your Emotions
This may be one of the most eye-opening exercises you can do.
Take all trades tagged as emotional.
Calculate their combined P&L.
For example:
FOMO trades: -$850
Revenge trades: -$1,200
Boredom trades: -$350
Overconfidence trades: -$500
Total emotional-trading cost:
-$2,900
Now compare that with your disciplined trades.
Perhaps your disciplined trades generated:
+$4,100
Suddenly, the solution becomes much more obvious.
You may not need another indicator or another strategy.
You may need to stop giving back $2,900 through avoidable emotional decisions.
That is a much more actionable problem.
Create Rules Based on Your Data
Your journal should eventually produce new rules.
Suppose you discover that your worst trades happen after two consecutive losses.
Create a rule:
After two consecutive losses, take a 20-minute break.
Suppose you discover that you consistently chase stocks after large moves.
Create a rule:
No entries after the initial move unless my predefined setup appears.
What if you’re consistently giving back profits late in the day?
Create a rule:
Once my daily P&L reaches my predetermined goal, reduce risk or stop trading.
The rule should address an observed behavior.
Don’t create rules simply because they sound good.
Create them because your journal provides evidence that you need them.
Build a Post-Trade Review Template
The process becomes much easier when you have a standardized template.
Use something like this:
TRADE INFORMATION
Ticker:
Date:
Time:
Direction:
Setup:
Entry:
Stop:
Target:
Exit:
Position Size:
Net P&L:
R-Multiple:
BEFORE THE TRADE
Why did I take the trade?
Confidence: ___/10
Emotional state:
What did I expect to happen?
DURING THE TRADE
What did price actually do?
Did I follow my plan?
Or change my stop?
Did I change my target?
Did I add to the position?
Were there any emotions that influenced my decisions?
AFTER THE TRADE
What did I feel immediately after closing?
Was the trade profitable?
Was it well executed?
What did I do well?
What did I do poorly?
Was this a trade I would take again?
LESSON
What is the one thing I will repeat?
What is the one thing I will change?
This template creates consistency.
The Goal Isn't to Become Emotionless
One of the biggest misconceptions about trading psychology is that successful traders don’t experience fear, excitement, frustration, or greed.
They do.
The difference is that they learn to recognize how those emotions can influence behavior.
You don’t need to become a robot.
You need to become more aware.
Fear might tell you that you are uncomfortable.
That doesn’t automatically mean you should exit.
Excitement might tell you that you’re confident.
That doesn’t automatically mean you should increase your position.
Frustration might tell you that you’ve had a difficult trade.
That doesn’t mean you need to immediately make the money back.
Emotions are information.
They become dangerous when they become commands.
Your journal helps you create space between what you feel and what you do.
Your Trading Journal Is a Mirror
A trading journal isn’t just a place to record entries and exits.
It is a mirror.
You’re able to see how you behave when money is on the line.
It can reveal whether you become aggressive after winning.
Whether you become reckless after losing, chase, hesitate, move stops, take profits too quickly, trade when you’re bored, or whether you follow your plan when nobody is watching.
Those behaviors are often more important than the individual trade.
And the longer you journal, the more obvious the patterns can become.
Your first ten trades may not reveal much.
Your next fifty might.
After several hundred trades, your journal can become one of the most valuable sources of information about your trading.
Final Thoughts: Review the Trader, Not Just the Trade
Make sure you do your post trade review. Trading improvement doesn’t come solely from finding better setups.
It comes from understanding how you behave when those setups appear.
The post-trade review gives you a structured way to connect your financial results with your psychological state.
Record what happened, what you thought, what you felt, and what you did.
Then compare those decisions with your P&L.
Don’t just ask whether you won or lost.
Ask whether you followed your process.
Don’t just analyze the chart.
Analyze yourself.
A losing trade isn’t necessarily a failure.
A winning trade isn’t necessarily a success.
The real question is whether the decision was consistent with the strategy, risk management, and discipline you are trying to build.
Over time, the objective is to make your journal tell a different story.
Fewer emotional trades and rule violations.
Less revenge trading.
Less FOMO.
Better risk management.
More patience.
More consistency.
And ultimately, a clearer understanding of what is actually driving your results.
The market will always be uncertain.
As a result, you cannot control whether the next trade wins or loses.
You can control whether you followed your plan, how much you risk, whether you chase, and whether or not you walk away.
And you can control whether you learn from what happened.
Your P&L tells you what happened to your account. Your post-trade journal tells you why.
That is why reviewing your trades isn’t an optional extra.
It is part of the trading process itself.
