Trading journal

A trading journal is a record of every trade with its context: instrument, entry, exit, size, result, the chart as it looked, and the trader's note. Kept consistently, it turns a month of trades into measurable statistics such as expectancy, drawdown and results by hour or setup, so that decisions can be reviewed rather than remembered.

Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026

What a trade entry contains

  • The facts: instrument and contract, direction, entry and exit prices and times, quantity, fees, net result.
  • The context: a capture of the chart at the moment of the decision, the session and the level that justified it.
  • The intent: the setup name or tag, what was expected, and what was actually observed.
  • The review: a note written while the trade is fresh, then reread when patterns emerge.

What the numbers reveal

Once trades accumulate, a journal computes what memory distorts. Expectancy is the average net result per trade. Drawdown is the deepest fall from an equity high. The distribution of results by hour, weekday and setup shows where the account actually made or lost its money. Winners and losers can be expressed in R, the result divided by the risk taken at entry, which is the only expectancy that compares across strategies; a trade without a stop has no R.

  • Equity curve and its underwater periods, the time spent without a new high.
  • Streaks of consecutive wins and losses, which drive behaviour more than averages do.
  • Maximum adverse and favourable excursion per trade, which tell whether stops and targets are placed sensibly.

Filled automatically, reviewed manually

Typing trades twice is how journals die. A journal that fills itself from the broker's fills removes the friction: entries, exits and results arrive from the account feed, and the trader's remaining job is the note and the tag. The discipline that matters is the review, not the data entry.

In Senzoukria

The Journal page fills from your fills on a connected account: entries, exits and result per trade. You add notes and tags per setup, attach a screenshot of the moment, and export a PDF. The statistics shown are the equity curve, drawdown, expectancy, streaks, edge by hour and day, and a discipline score; the simulated account applies no commission, and the dip lived through mid-trade is not claimed when ticks were not replayed. "Review in Replay" opens the trade's CME session on the Replay page, which needs a CME contract and an entry time. A heatmap zone explanation or a backtest verdict from the assistant can be exported to the journal in one click.

Common mistakes

  • Recording only winners, or only the trades you are proud of.
  • Measuring in dollars across strategies with different stop distances instead of in R.
  • Reading a high win rate as an edge without looking at expectancy after costs.
  • Never rereading the notes, which is the part that changes behaviour.

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Frequently asked questions

What should I write in a trading journal note?
Write what you saw before entering, what you expected, and what actually happened, in plain words. Include the level, the session and the orderflow evidence, not just the outcome. A note written within minutes of the exit is worth more than a summary written at the end of the week.
Does a journal need a screenshot of every trade?
It is not required, but a capture of the chart as it was at the decision is the fastest way to reconstruct the reasoning later. Numbers tell you what happened; the picture tells you what you were looking at when you decided.
How does a journal fill itself?
The application listens to the account feed and records each fill reported by the broker, pairing entries with exits to produce closed trades with their result. The trader then adds the note and the setup tag. Trades on a simulated account are recorded the same way, without commission.

Keep reading

Strategy researchTest a trading strategy, from observation to challenge rulesDefine an observation, question it with the copilot, write a rule and explore costs, drawdown and fictional challenge limits in an interactive example.Quant · Start hereQuant trading for beginners: from idea to backtestDefine a testable rule, choose suitable data and evaluate later periods after costs.Order flow · HubOrder flow trading: the complete guideThe hub. What order flow is, what it shows — aggression, delta, imbalance, absorption, liquidity — and the tools that read it, each linked to a full guide.