How to review your trades

A useful trade review answers one question: what single change would most improve my process next week? Once a week, sort trades into rule-following and rule-breaking, total the net result of each group, and find the behaviour that cost the most after charges. Mark wins that broke your rules as lucky, and losses that followed your rules as good losses. Then pick one rule to focus on for the next week and write a one-line lesson. Keep the review short; a 15-minute review you do every week beats a long one you skip.

A 15-minute weekly review

Look at the week's discipline scores and the days that scored lowest.
Find the most expensive behaviour: which flag cost the most after charges?
Compare the net result of rule-following trades with rule-breaking trades.
Review a few trades with the result hidden: was each one per your rules?
Pick one focus rule for next week and write one lesson.

Monthly: check the bigger picture

Once a month, look at results by setup. A setup with a negative average result after a reasonable number of trades should be rewritten or retired. Also compare how long you hold losing trades versus winning trades; holding losers longer is a common and costly pattern.

Avoid these review traps

Reviewing only losing days.
Changing rules right after a bad day instead of after a waiting period.
Rewriting old notes instead of adding a dated note.
Fixing five things at once.

Educational content about trading process. Not investment advice.

Questions

Should I review every trade?

Do a quick tick for every trade (rules followed, exit reason, emotion) and a deeper review only weekly. Daily deep reviews tend to be skipped.

What is a blind review?

You look at the plan and the chart up to entry with the result hidden, decide whether the trade followed your rules, and only then see the outcome. It separates decision quality from luck.

Useful calculators

Put this into practice

DisciplineTrade turns these routines into a daily habit: rules re-read each morning, plans before entry, behaviours flagged automatically. Free.

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