What to track in a trading journal

Every journal needs the basics: market, date, timeframe, direction, entry, exit, stop-loss, take-profit, and final result. Without those fields, review becomes vague and emotional.

These facts should be captured as consistently as possible. If journaling depends on memory, the data will be incomplete exactly when you need it most.

The most valuable journal field is usually the reason for entry. Was it a breakout, pullback, support bounce, liquidity sweep, trend continuation, or something else?

Naming the setup lets you compare similar trades later. A simulated journal may look strong overall while one setup type quietly underperforms.

• Setup type.
• Market bias.
• Key level or zone.
• Confidence score.
• Whether the trade followed the plan.

A good trade can lose and a bad trade can win. Your journal should make that distinction. Otherwise a lucky win teaches the wrong lesson, and a disciplined loss feels like failure.

Tag behavior errors directly: chasing, revenge trading, early exit, late entry, moved stop, oversized risk, or trade taken outside the plan.

The dashboard view matters because individual trades are noisy. Review groups of trades by timeframe, setup, session, and day. Look for repeatable tendencies.

Candlune automatically saves replay trades to your journal and gives you performance breakdowns so the review starts from real data, not memory.