Journal notes

Short pieces on reading your own trading data — drawdown, R, sessions and the numbers a journal is supposed to answer.

• How to keep a trading journal, step by step

  A step-by-step way to keep a trading journal: what to write before, during and after each trade, and a short weekly routine that turns entries into decisions.

• Trading journal columns: which fields to record

  Which columns a trading journal needs and why: identifiers, risk and result in R, model and session, execution tags, screenshots, and the fields to leave out.

• Expectancy and R-multiple in trading, explained

  What R-multiple and expectancy mean in trading, how to calculate them with a worked example, and why a high win rate on its own can hide a losing strategy.

• Weekly trading review: a repeatable checklist

  A repeatable weekly trading review: check the data, read the numbers in R, split by model and session, price your mistakes and pick one rule for next week.

• What your drawdown is actually telling you

  How drawdown is measured, max versus daily and trailing versus static, how deep is normal for your win rate, and what the curve says about sizing and edge.