Amateur traders often look to external sources for the best Forex training opportunities. They try to find the latest ‘systems’ and purchase hundreds of dollars worth of books and videos. But one important (not to mention free) source that they often ignore is their own trading log.

Many traders know that they should keep a log (or record) of their own trading activities. But what kind of information should they keep, and how will that information help them improve on their trading?

Log Entry Detail #1 - Entry and Exit reasons

One of the most important details to keep is the reason(s) for entering or exiting your trades. If you entered a trade (for whatever reason), and you made money, you may then go back to analyze what went right for you. However, if you lost money on that trade, then you can also go back and think about how you could have done things differently.

Without a record of your trade entry or exit reasons, you won’t know what went wrong or what went right. Many retail traders keep making the same mistakes over and over again because they don’t know what they’re doing wrong… there’s no way for them to know because they don’t keep a trading log!

Log Entry Detail #2 - Your Feelings When Trading

Many traders who keep a trading log unfortunately don’t keep a record of this detail. They enter into their logs only objective information: entry/exit criteria, lot size, as well as the time and date. All these are facts that can be verified.

But they leave out the one important subjective piece of information: their feelings before, during and after a trade. As a human being, emotions play a big part in influencing the decisions that we make; and in the world of Forex trading this is no different.

It’s important to be aware of our own feelings when trading, so that when we look back to reflect on what we could have improved, we can better remember how we felt when trading at the time.

Were you confident before entering into the trade? What about just after the trade? Did you have any feelings of regret that influenced you into prematurely exit a trade? Or did you feel that prices were certain to go up again, and thus held onto a worsening short position?

Keeping a record of your feelings will help you become more aware of your psychological state when trading. This can be very useful in identifying your own trading patterns and behaviour, so that you can improve on them.