The best review process is not the most complicated one. It is the one you will complete while the trade, the chart, and your decisions are still fresh.
A ten-minute review forces useful compression. Instead of writing a long story about the market, you capture the evidence that explains your decision quality: what you planned, what you saw, what you did, and what changes tomorrow.
Minute 1–2: capture the facts
Start with details that should not depend on memory. Record the symbol, direction, quantity, entry and exit times, P/L, planned risk, and actual risk used. Attach the entry and exit charts if you have them.
This part is deliberately unemotional. You are creating a reliable record before your brain edits the story.
Minute 3–4: name the setup
Give the trade one setup tag. If you need five tags to explain why the trade existed, the setup may not have been clear enough before entry.
- Was the setup part of your playbook?
- Did the entry trigger match the rule you planned?
- Was the invalidation level known before the position was opened?
The goal is not to prove the trade was smart. The goal is to decide whether it belonged to a repeatable strategy.
Minute 5–6: review risk before outcome
Compare actual risk with planned risk before looking for lessons in the P/L. A profitable trade taken at twice the planned size is still evidence of a risk-control problem.
Review the decision first. Let the outcome be one piece of evidence—not the judge.
If risk exceeded the plan, tag it. Do not excuse it because the trade worked. Good outcomes can reinforce bad habits faster than losses do.
Minute 7–8: compare the charts
Look at the entry and exit screenshots side by side. Ask three concrete questions:
- Did the entry happen at the planned level or after the move had already expanded?
- Did the stop or invalidation remain consistent after entry?
- Was the exit based on a rule, new information, or discomfort?
Use chart evidence to reduce hindsight. The perfect exit visible after the session was rarely obvious while the trade was live.
Minute 9: grade the process
Give the day a process grade. A green day can receive a poor grade; a red day can receive a strong one. Grade preparation, execution, risk, and review—not whether the market paid you.
Minute 10: write one rule for tomorrow
Finish with one sentence you can act on. “Be more disciplined” is not a rule. “No entry after the trigger candle closes more than 0.3% beyond my level” is specific enough to follow.
Consistency beats intensity
A journal becomes valuable when entries are comparable across time. Ten focused minutes after every session will reveal more than an occasional hour-long review written only after a painful loss.
Capture the facts, name the setup, compare planned and actual risk, review the charts, grade the process, and leave one rule for tomorrow. Then stop. The purpose of the journal is to improve trading—not to become another task you avoid.