Trading Journal: How to use it.

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Trading Journal Tab: What It Is and How to Use It

The Trading Journal tab is your hub for logging trades, tracking performance, and learning from your results. It brings together your pre-trade planning, in-trade discipline, and post-trade review — with helpful automation and AI insights where available.

Below is a user-friendly guide to what you can do in this tab and how each part works.

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What You’ll See in a Trade Entry

When you open a specific trade (from your journal list), you’ll land on a detailed view that’s organized into clear sections:

1) Header

• Instrument and strategy label (e.g., “ES – Pullback Entry”)

• Status badge (Planned, Active, Closed, Cancelled)

• Direction chip (Long/Short)

• Timeframe and timestamp

• If closed: a result banner showing outcome (Win/Loss/Breakeven), P/L, and R-multiple

2) Charts

• Entry Setup: Your “before” screenshot of the chart at entry time

• Trade Result: Your “after” screenshot showing what happened post-entry

• You can add the after screenshot later if you haven’t closed the trade yet

3) Trade Plan (Pre-Trade)

• Planned risk and target in dollar amounts (if you entered them)

• A quick “Target R:R” display derived from your inputs

• The detected pattern/strategy label for fast reference

4) Pre-Trade Information

• Confidence (1–5 stars)

• Mood (e.g., Calm, Confident, Stressed)

• Session (e.g., London Open, NY Session)

• Checklist: Required and optional items to confirm before entering

• Notes: Any pre-trade notes or context

5) Post-Trade Review (after closing)

• Actual P/L and R-multiple (based on your planned risk if provided)

• Quick comparison against your plan (did you exceed target or fall short?)

• Exit reason

• Mistake tags (e.g., “Late Entry”, “Moved Stop Loss”)

• Lessons learned

6) AI Trade Review (optional)

• If you attach both the before and after screenshots and AI is configured, you can request an AI review

• The app shows quick scores (Setup, Execution, Exit Timing) and a button to “View Full Review” for detailed feedback

7) Analysis

• The app summarizes strengths, areas to improve, and suggestions based on your inputs:

   • Risk/reward quality

   • Rule adherence

   • Confidence vs outcome

   • Mistake tags and mood

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Creating a Journal Entry

You can create journal entries from:

• The Trade Plan flow (from a chart, tap “Generate Trade Plan” → “Log as Executed Trade” or “Save as Trade Idea”)

• A manual entry flow (if supported by your app’s top-level journal view)

The Trade Plan view pre-fills details from the AI suggestion (direction, rationale, key levels, etc.), and you fill in your instrument, entry/stop/target, and checklist. When you log it, a full journal entry is created with your “before” chart image attached.

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Closing a Trade (Recording the Outcome)

When you’re ready to close a trade, open the trade and choose “Close Trade…”:

• Optionally add an “after” chart screenshot

• Select the outcome (Win/Partial Win/Breakeven/Partial Loss/Loss)

• Enter actual profit/loss (in dollars)

• The app calculates your R-multiple if a planned risk was provided

• Add exit reason, mistake tags, lessons learned, and notes

• Save to finalize the trade as Closed

Tip: If you enter a positive or negative P/L, the app can infer Win/Loss/Breakeven automatically (you can still manually choose partial outcomes).

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Using the Pre-Trade Checklist

Before creating an executed trade, complete the pre-trade checklist:

• Required items cover essentials like trend alignment, S/R levels, confirmation signals, R:R ≥ 1:2, and risk rules

• Optional items add nuance (volume confirmation, multi-timeframe confluence)

• The app shows a completion indicator and warns if required items are unchecked

This helps enforce discipline and avoid emotional or rule-breaking trades.

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AI Assistance (Optional)

If your AI features are configured and you have a subscription:

• From a chart: “Analyze with AI Vision” for a full breakdown

• “Generate Trade Plan” creates a structured plan with direction, stop, targets, R:R, key levels, and invalidation point

• After a trade: “AI Trade Review” compares your before/after screenshots and provides an educational assessment of setup validity, execution, and exit timing

If AI isn’t configured, the buttons are disabled and you’ll see a short reminder to configure your key in Settings.

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Performance Tracking and Insights

Behind the scenes, the journal generates stats and insights from your closed trades:

• Win rate, average R, average win/loss, largest win/loss, total P/L

• Breakdowns by setup, instrument, session, timeframe, day of week, and even volume conditions

• “Best performing setups” and insight sentences like:

   • “You perform best with Pullback Entry (Avg R: 2.1, 8/12 wins)”

   • “Best performance on ES with 61% win rate”

   • “Most profitable during New York Session”

These insights help you double down on what’s working and avoid what isn’t.

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Rule Checks and Limits (Optional)

If you maintain a Trading Rules set, the service can check for:

• Max risk per trade violations

• Allowed trading hours

• Allowed/prohibited instruments

• Daily limits: max trades, max daily loss, consecutive losses

• Frequency warnings (e.g., many trades in a short time)

The app can surface violations to help you remain consistent with your plan.

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Tips for Better Journaling

• Always include a “before” chart image. It’s critical for review and AI analysis.

• Fill out planned risk and target if you can — it unlocks better R-multiple insights.

• Use mistake tags honestly. They power focused suggestions and reveal patterns over time.

• Record mood and confidence. If you consistently lose when stressed or after consecutive losses, that’s a powerful coaching signal.

• Add an “after” chart image when you close. It makes AI review and your own learning much stronger.

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Troubleshooting

• Can’t analyze or generate plans:

   • Ensure your subscription is active and AI key is configured (Settings).

• R-multiple not showing:

   • Make sure you entered planned risk (or at least entry and stop) and a P/L when closing.

• Checklist warnings:

   • Required items must be checked to proceed with “Executed Trade” logging in the Trade Plan flow (you can still save as “Trade Idea”).

• Futures tick P/L:

   • For supported instruments (e.g., ES, NQ, YM, CL), the app can compute tick P/L if you provide entry and exit.