The Two Purposes of a Trading Journal (Most Traders Confuse Them)
How to turn your journal from busywork into the most valuable part of your trading process.
Every trader I’ve met has journaled at some point. And almost every trader has also stopped journaling at some point.
The reasons sound familiar:
“I started but got inconsistent.”
“I don’t think it’s really helping me.”
“It feels like extra work after a bad day.”
From my experience, traders stop journaling for two main reasons:
Doubt about its usefulness or structure – They don’t know how to journal effectively, so they question whether they’re doing it “right.”
Avoidance after bad days – When trading feels painful, the journal becomes a mirror they’d rather not look into.
But here’s the truth: skipping the journal is like being an athlete who only shows up on game day—without reviewing tape, without training, without sharpening the edges in practice.
If you’re just executing, you’re not really trading, you’re just… clicking buttons.
Journaling gives structure to your trading. It makes the work intentional. It’s not optional—it’s part of every high-performing trader’s routine. If you want to move in that direction, you need to stay the course.
Here’s what we’ll cover today:
The two real purposes of journaling (and why most traders confuse them).
How to structure a performance journal that keeps you accountable to your plan.
How to build a strategy journal that uncovers your system’s true potential.
The elements most traders miss—and why they matter.
Why you need a separate psychology journal.
You’ll also get practical tools that I’ll reinforce in next Saturday’s live masterclass for paid subscribers.
If you want access to that webinar (and the full version of this post), consider upgrading.