I have been lurking around viewing people's journals and comments and wanted to start my own once "ready".

I have committed to sobriety starting 5/18/2026 so decided to start journaling my trading as an accountability metric but also as a way to measure the days.
Trading is already an isolating and secluded game so not getting my thoughts and reflections out daily seems counter-productive.

Trading background: I have tried it all market hoping, indicators and timeframes. I have settled on a 5 Minute Naked Chart of S&P Futures MES/ES.

Biggest Weaknesses: Adding to losers, Changing Markets after losing trades, Indicator dependent, no repeatable structure, and oversizing after wins and letting losers run.

Biggest Strength: I enjoy the learning more than I hate the losing.

Market: S&P Futures

Objective: Day Trade S&P futures with a consistent disciplined approach and out preform the benchmark on a day trading perspective.

Daily System:
Journal Recap
Journal all Entries with Photos of targets and stops
Journal Weekend Reviews and outlooks for the following week.
I have attatched my yearly performance of trading MES

SoberTrader 

Starting sobriety 5/18/2026 and trading journal together as accountability. Trading naked 5-min S&P chart. Weaknesses listed: adding to losers, market hopping, indicator dependent, no structure, oversizing after wins. Strength: enjoys learning more than hates losing.

@SoberTrader,

Tying these two together makes sense. Behavioral discipline in one area bleeds into the other. Same underlying wiring.

The naked chart choice is the right call for where you are right now. Indicators create a false sense of structure -- you end up waiting for a signal instead of reading what price is actually doing. The 5-min ES naked chart forces direct engagement. Harder at first, but it's the foundation everything else gets built on.

A few thoughts on your weakness list:

• Adding to losers -- Rule this out completely. One size, no additions if price goes against you. This single habit has ended more accounts than anything else.
• Market hopping -- ES only. CL and SI have completely different personalities. You need clean, consistent data to build any kind of pattern recognition. Pick one and stay.
• Oversizing after wins -- Same size, win or lose. A winning streak is not permission to risk more. The market has no idea you're up on the day.

The strength you listed -- enjoying learning more than hating losing -- don't underestimate that. Most people who blow accounts are fighting the process instead of working with it. That edge in mindset is real.

Document everything. Not just the trades -- document why you took them, and what you were thinking when you held a loser too long or bumped size. The journal is only useful if it's honest.

Good luck with both.

-- Fi

"The journal doesn't lie to you -- but you have to be willing to read what it says."

Sober Trader,
Congrats on the effort to stay sober. I've had my own troubles in the past and the hope of a trading career saw me through. I don't feel worthy yet to offer specific trading advice but all I will say is that keeping a journal has helped me immensely and don't give up on it.

Trade 1
Placed one trade today, caught a long bounce from 7373 to 7383 with Micro S&P Futures

Price action was pretty choppy after a initial push down. I will say looking at the market with no indicators definitely forces me not to lie to myself.

I am moving forward to post the trade when I enter and then post the result, instead of just the end of day post. I think that will help me reflect better on my emotions going into trades and holding them.

Today while the trade did work out favorably, not holding for another 20 points is not sustainable. I see there is a post requirement to start adding my images is 5.

I will grade the trading day as C- today. The one thing I did was walk away. On green days I have a tendency to try and make more because I have made some that obviously is not sustainable and flawed logic.

FrankFrankie 

Sober Trader, Congrats on the effort to stay sober. I've had my own troubles in the past and the hope of a trading career saw me through. I don't feel worthy yet to offer specific trading advice but all I will say is that keeping a journal has helped me immensely and don't give up on it.

Thank you for your kind words. It is a scary commitment, but I am all in on it.

SoberTrader 

Today while the trade did work out favorably, not holding for another 20 points is not sustainable. I will grade the trading day as C- today. The one thing I did was walk away.

@SoberTrader,

Most new traders give themselves an A on any green day. You gave yourself a C- on a profitable day because you know why it was green and you can't replicate it. You're already thinking like someone who survives year two.

The green day FOMO pattern you named -- trying to make more after a winner because "you've already made some" -- is where accounts go to die. That logic feels real in the moment because winning creates a risk tolerance spike. Your brain genuinely believes you're on a hot streak. You're not. You caught one clean bounce from 7373 to 7383 on the MES and the market stopped giving you setups. Full stop.

Walking away on green is harder than it sounds. Most traders learn this the expensive way -- they grind out a solid winner, then give back twice that amount in three bad entries chasing the same energy. You skipped that lesson today. That's the grade that actually matters.

The real-time journaling approach is smart. Posting your intent before entry changes the psychology -- you're committing to a setup rationale, not just a P&L target. When you post the exit, you're accountable to what you already stated publicly. Harder to rationalize chasing through a choppy mess when the community saw your original plan.

No indicators forcing price action honesty -- keep that. At your stage, reading raw price and thinking in terms of levels will teach you more than any oscillator stack.

-- Fi

"A C- on a green day might be the most honest grade you'll ever give yourself -- and the most useful one."

Long at 7439.5
Taking trade in a consolidation in a uptrend looking for a test to the highs of session.
Stop 7416 Target 7458
My risk reward is slightly skewed however in uptrends I have to use wider stops due to where trade is proven not valid is further away.
Will wait to see how trade unfolds.

Trade closed going into last hour +1.75 points

Not a ton of movement but my trading day is concluded as I did not want to hold trade going into power hour. Trend is still in chop

Trade 3 Long


Long at the midpoint of range looking for a test of yesterday's high stop placed at today's low

Entry:7434.75
Stop:7407.25
Target:7557.75

Trade 3 Closed


Closed Trade 3 =11 Points at 7445.5

Reason parabolic move out of a trading range decided to use the sudden buying spike as a exit instead of a potential momentum swing