The essentials (every trade)
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Date & time | Reveals your best and worst hours and sessions. |
| Instrument | Some markets suit you; some don’t. |
| Side & size | Catches oversizing and long/short bias. |
| Entry, stop, target | Defines planned risk and reward (your R). |
| Exit & exit reason | Shows whether you follow your own exits. |
| Net P&L after fees | The only P&L that counts. |
| R-multiple | Lets you compare trades of different sizes. |
| Setup | The single most useful field for finding your edge. |
The analytics fields
- MFE (maximum favourable excursion) — how far price went in your favour. Large MFE on losing trades means you are giving back winners.
- MAE (maximum adverse excursion) — how far price went against you. Winners that first went deep against you hint your stop is in the wrong place.
- Exit efficiency — how much of the available move you captured.
- Hold time — many traders lose money on trades held much longer than their norm.
The behaviour fields
- Rules followed / broken — tick them per trade; later you can price each broken rule in dollars.
- Mistake tags — revenge, FOMO, moved stop, early exit, oversized.
- Mood and confidence — a 1–5 scale is enough.
- Screenshot — the chart at entry, so you remember what you saw.
Day-level fields
- Pre-market plan and bias.
- Daily P&L and number of trades.
- End-of-day review: one thing to keep, one thing to change.
- For funded or evaluation accounts: distance to your drawdown floor (see trailing drawdown explained).
Automate what you can
MFE, MAE, exit efficiency and R are tedious by hand and trivial for software. LoggingTrades calculates them for every trade from real price history, tracks the rules you break and what each one costs, and keeps prop-firm drawdown in view — so the only fields you type are the ones only you know.
FAQ
What is MFE and MAE in trading?
MFE is the furthest a trade moved in your favour; MAE is the furthest it moved against you. Together they show whether your stops and targets fit how price really moves.
Should I track emotions in my trading journal?
Yes — a simple 1–5 mood or confidence score, compared with your results, often explains bad streaks better than any chart.