One great way to track your trade performance and determine which setups are working and which are not is to evaluate your trades at the end of each day and week. This is the breakdown I use and is derived from John Carter’s book Mastering the Trade.

5 – Target reached
4 – Out for win (due to technical factor that signaled me to exit)
3 – Break even
2 – 1 target hit
0 – Full stop out
I – Indicates impulse trade

Scoring

  • Add up daily score and divide by # of trades for average
  • Separate trades by setup and take overall average
  • Score trade setups with below criteria.

Grading

Grade trade on how well you follow setup; take an average at the end of each day, week and month and look for trends. Ask yourself these questions…

Did I… Jump in too soon? Jump in too late? Chase? Get out too soon?

All of the above are impulse trades and should be avoided at all costs. Illuminate your impulse trades and the profits will follow.