This is one of the things that I need to keep up with and doing this is a nice excel sheet I will add this to my daily trading.

Hello,

After an interest in weather all of my life, I surprisingly pursued weather forecasting after 1997-8. My interest was long range experimental. Thoughts went into space and mathematical angles planets as a 3-way geometry, predicting infinite time, or to compare global warming, but no interest in computer programming and these ideas were solo, so I found futures trading goals to be something to pass the time (money). This began in 2010 and in 2011 I was trading an account worth $80,000. In the beginning, made it as high as $220,000, which is enough to cover what would have been college, then the account dropped on some identified as anomalous activity. For the next few years, I went through some pretty odd experiences considering my person: Homelessness, jail, eventually mental hospital, all while attempting to plot futures data with money making goal in mind. I knew how to trade the futures in this time, but "energies" made it need to be science-based for presentation, and my laziness because life is always enjoyable. <3

After returning to family in 2015, I began to "heal" . In this time, I focused a serious effort on the market. 154,381 data points plotted, from most of 32 Futures in the time periods of 1day, 2day, 3day, 4day, 1week (thinkorswim). The result was what I expected: in the +/+ part of an X-Y graph, the next day had probability for positive price and a linear opposite correlation on the reverse side, -/-. See image below.



Of course, separated for grains-grains, currencies-currencies. It became silly plotting the market, because running positives were positive and running negatives,. The market is, on average, advantageous.

My research of mathematical studies showed one to be best in opposition of the market. This is what I began practice trading on November 18, 2016. The practice trade account, with TD Ameritrade was worth $100,000. Every day, moves were made, and most trades were reverse-pattern predictions. I have to be honest when I say that when my practice trade account moved into times when good presentation could become possible, I learned so much. Good-Bad, the significance of meditation. 173 trading days later, this same account is worth $645,000. 97 days have been positive days, 76 days negative. This is 15-20% chance. With average standard deviation of +6%, 15-20% also. I would like to be top 5%, which it was before the last 2-3 weeks. (has been a peaceful time but generally disinterested in the market).

This is my practice trade results:





173 days, 8 months and 6 days.

This doesn't include the statistical method which is still a work in progress because I don't have a computer fast enough to manage the level of Excel computing. It's 99% complete. The program is more than 400mb, and government record makes it difficult to get a short term job to afford better computer. Can trade futures well. Always open and willing to learn more.

Nice one. It would have been better if items were described.

cclsys 

Not saying this is excellent but might give someone a start. Has rudimentary stats section that stays at top of page. (Need to delete all my entries but make sure to keep the formulas! Some of the early columns have less in them than the latest ones so best to paste in the formulas from the bottom columns into a top column underneath the stats before deleting the other entries.

Shivaya 

One of the most useful figures I want to know is my Profit Factor. When I can trade a strategy with a PF over 2.0 I know I can compound it. Most systems are below 1.5 Another figure that gives me confidence in my strategy is in the number of trades to recover from a drawdown. Experience shows me this wants to be no greater 25 trades. So when you take a trade that sends you into a hole and you can get out of that hole inside 25 trades all is OK. If it takes longer than that your edge needs sharpening. So a PF above 2.0 will most always recover a drawdown in less than 25 trades. Cheers. Shivaya

Sounds like a great nugget of info to incorporate into a trading plan, thanks for sharing Shivaya.

Thank you sooo much for that template. I have been struggling how to have a smart quick journal system and you just provided the answer

Big Mike 

First, I encourage you to journal your trades here on the forum. By doing so you'll take your trading to a whole new level, you can read more why I think so here: The benefits of creating a journal in this forum My main purpose in starting my blog was to hold myself accountable. I knew that by doing so my trading would improve, because I finally made the huge revelation that I (my brain) was holding back my own profitability for one simple reason. I wasn't … Now if you are unwilling to do that then at least journal your trades in a spreadsheet, one is provided below. This journal needs to reflect what actually happened. There is no benefit to CYA here (covering your ass). Let it all hang out, you've got to be honest with yourself. Most any trader can come up with a set of trading rules that, if followed, will be profitable. The problems occur when those rules are not followed, which is the majority of the time for many traders. By journaling, you can go back and see exactly which trades worked, and which failed. Then, out of those that worked, how many followed your rules? etc. Once you become profitable, the journal can take you to the next level -- determining which of your setups or which trading rule is working best for you, and which is working the worst. Basically you can use the journal to optimize your trades. I welcome your input on how to improve this journal. I hope to see you posting on the Journal section of the forum, or at least using this spreadsheet! The version of the spreadsheet I have attached allows you to enter "Entry reasons" and "Exit reasons" as a pre-defined list that will be available via a drop-down menu when you are entering trades. Look at the screen shot for an example. Attachment 508 Tip Edit: Check here for a more detailed journal in excel: Trading Metrics for journals/record keeping I'm on a mission to improve my Excel trade journal. I'd like to hear input on what metrics you guys measure in your journal. For instance: Sharpe ratio Expectancy Win/Loss Dollar Ratio Win Percentage Dollar gain per trade put … Mike

Trading in Canada 

Thank you sooo much for that template. I have been struggling how to have a smart quick journal system and you just provided the answer

@Trading in Canada,

Big Mike's template remains one of the most practical starting points out there. The dropdown menus for entry/exit reasons solve the biggest friction point - when journaling feels like work, it doesn't happen consistently.

A few additions that have helped traders get more from journaling:

• Screenshot column - Link to chart images stored in a folder. Reviewing the visual context months later reveals patterns you won't remember from text notes alone
• Emotional state field - Simple 1-5 scale before entering. Correlating this with outcomes often reveals patterns faster than technical analysis
• Setup grade vs outcome - Rating the quality of your setup separately from whether it made money. Good setups that lose and bad setups that win both contain lessons

The point Big Mike makes about honesty is crucial. The journal that looks good but doesn't reflect reality is worthless. The messy, embarrassing journal that captures actual behavior is where the edge gets refined.

For those looking for alternatives to spreadsheets, dedicated tools like Tradervue or Edgewonk automate some of the data entry. But the discipline of manual journaling - actually typing out what happened and why - forces a level of reflection that automated imports can skip over.

The traders who consistently improve tend to be the ones reviewing their journals weekly, not just logging trades and forgetting them.

TGIF! Have a good weekend!

-- Fi
"Your journal is a conversation with your future self - make it honest enough to be useful."