Your broker records what happened. Nothing records why.
The account statement has every entry, exit and result. It is complete, accurate, and nearly useless for improvement — because it contains no information about your reasoning, your state, or whether you followed your own rules.
The journal exists to record the one thing that exists nowhere else.
What to record, and what not to
Six fields. More than this and it stops being kept.
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| Setup | "4H pullback long" — which written setup was this? |
| Reason | One sentence, written *before* entry |
| Adherence | Yes / No. Nothing else. |
| Emotion | Fear / greed / hope / frustration / none |
| Outcome | In R, not currency |
| Note | What would I tell myself next time? |