After ten years of trading gold, I've changed my journaling habits three times. At first, I recorded a bunch of indicator values, but later found them useless. For two years in between, I only recorded P&L, and ended up repeating the same mistakes. Now my journal has only five boxes to fill each day, takes five minutes to complete, but each box was bought with real money.
1. Where Did the Asian, European, and US Sessions Go?
Before the market opens each day, I draw three lines: previous day's high, previous day's low, and previous day's close. Then I record price action across three sessions.
For the Asian session (6 AM to 2 PM Beijing time), I focus on whether it tests the previous day's high or low. If the Asian session breaks the previous high but volume is thin, I usually don't chase because London open often retests. One day last November, the Asian session rallied from 2650 to 2662, breaking the previous high. I followed with a 0.5-lot long, but London open slammed it back to 2653 and stopped me out. Since then, I added a column to my journal: did the Asian breakout come with volume? If not, I'd rather wait for a retest.
The European session (3 PM to 11 PM) is my main trading window. I record two things: the high-low range in the first hour after European open, and whether this range overlaps with the Asian range. Overlap means the market is waiting; no overlap means one side is pushing. For the US session (8:30 PM to early morning), I focus on where the first 15-minute candle closes after data releases. On NFP days, I usually just record and don't trade, writing down the deviation between actual and expected moves for next week's review.
2. Stop-Loss Distance and Lot Size Must Be Written Together
This one took me two years of losses to figure out. I used to just write "stop at 2640" without lot size, and looking back I had no idea how much risk that trade carried. Now for every trade I write: entry price, stop price, stop distance (in dollars), lot size, and risk as a percentage of account.
For example, last Wednesday during the European session, price repeatedly tested 2638. I judged support was valid and went long at 2639.5 with stop at 2634.5, a 5-dollar distance. My rule is to risk no more than 1% of the account per trade. At that time, the account was $50,000, so 1% is $500. A 5-dollar stop corresponds to 0.1 lot (for gold, 1 lot is $100 per $1 move, so 0.1 lot is $10 per $1 move, and 5 dollars is $50... wait, I miscalculated here. 0.1 lot with a 5-dollar stop is $50, not $500. I actually traded 1 lot, and a 5-dollar stop is exactly $500). I've made this lot-size calculation error more than once, so I force myself to write out the formula in the journal: risk amount ÷ (stop distance × 100) = lot size. Writing it out prevents mistakes.
I usually keep stop distance between 4 and 8 dollars. If it's over 8, either the market is too messy or my entry is poor—I skip both. If it's under 3, it's easily taken out by normal volatility, especially in the Asian session.
3. Emotional Marker: One Letter Is Enough
On the last line of my journal, I write a letter: A, B, or C. A means followed the plan, B means hesitated but didn't act out, C means impulsive or revenge trading.
The frequency of C correlates highly with monthly P&L. Last September, I had three consecutive C days, and ended the month down 6%. The most typical case: during the day I shorted at 2655 and got stopped out. In the evening US session, price returned to 2658. I knew there was no signal, but still entered a 0.5-lot short, and it rallied to 2665, another loss. I still remember that C in my journal.
Now I set a rule for myself: if two Cs appear in a day, I shut down the computer immediately and only trade demo the next day. This rule is written on the first line of my journal template, so I see it every day.
4. Weekly Review Is More Important Than Daily Writing
Writing every day and leaving it at that is just a log. Every Saturday morning, I spend half an hour going through: which days had the most A's, and what commonalities the price structure had on those days; what I typically saw and ignored before C appeared. Last year I discovered a pattern: trades I entered 15 minutes before European open had a noticeably lower win rate than those entered 30 minutes after open. This finding directly changed my entry timing without changing any indicators.
The journal isn't for anyone else; it's evidence for my future self three months from now. The market offers opportunities every day, but my money and attention are limited. Recording these five things at least ensures I don't fall into the same pit a third time.